Surviving the Side Hustle

Navigating Challenges & Triumphs: Roy Kirshner's Journey to Business Empire

• Coach Rob • Season 1 • Episode 69

Share episode

Send us a text

Discover the transformative power of connection and resilience with Roy Kirshner, a serial entrepreneur from Tampa Bay, Florida, who turned car sales into a thriving business empire. Despite overcoming a learning disability and weathering recent hurricanes, Roy's story highlights the significance of authenticity, mentorship, and community support in achieving success. His journey is a testament to the importance of building genuine relationships and continuously learning from those around you, especially during challenging times.

Navigate the astonishing world of 3D printing and additive manufacturing during turbulent times. Experience the tale of a company that not only survived but thrived through the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, catapulting itself to new heights. The story takes an introspective turn with a life-threatening health scare, prompting a reevaluation of priorities. Discover how this experience shifted the focus from relentless ambition to balancing success with meaningful legacy, culminating in an inspiring keynote speech that reflects the importance of sharing wisdom and empowering others.

Explore the dynamic landscape of personal branding and artificial intelligence, where innovation meets opportunity. Unlock the secrets of finding the right mentor to guide your personal and professional evolution, and delve into the potential of AI to revolutionize businesses. From social media strategies to public speaking, we cover it all. Conclude with the heartwarming journey of a young car detailer whose dedication transformed a simple craft into a passion-fueled expertise, urging listeners to become experts in their own fields.

New intro with ad space to SurvivingtheSideHustle.com/freecall

Surviving the Side Hustle Kit @ SurvivingtheSideHustle.com/kit

New outro with CTA to review & share the episode

Speaker 1:

what's going on, guys? Today on the show we've got roy roy man. How is it going? Just surviving those hurricanes and everything and taking time to hop on today? Appreciate it, man, but fill me in, dude, what's going on?

Speaker 2:

yeah, absolutely so, roy kirshner. I I'm a serial entrepreneur, but I'm down here in Tampa Bay. Florida Just literally had two hurricanes that came through here, so a lot of. I feel like it was getting prepared for the hurricane, doing a lot of prepping work and then taking it all apart after the hurricane came, so it was like putting Humpty Dumpty back together again. So, um, but it's uh, we, we survived. Um, all my people, my entire team, um did good, um lost some time at work, of course, and struggles and different things like that, but uh, everybody's good, so that's, that's the most important thing. There's a lot of people that are not.

Speaker 1:

Um, so it's it's good that when, uh when we are good, we can help those that were unfortunate, so we've done that quite a bit as well. Into the Roy before the hurricane kind of guy. Let me hear a little bit about how did you get into the serial entrepreneurial world? Where did you begin with all of that?

Speaker 2:

I begin with. That is. You know, I started my career, believe it or not, selling cars. So I started by selling cars. I graduated high school with a disability. I had a fourth grade reading level. I really didn't know how to read or write and luckily enough, I found a way into selling cars in the car business. What was the most amazing thing is people come in to buy a car and a lot of everyone typically fills out an application. They tell you where they live, how much their house costs, how long they've been there, where they work, how much they're making, and when I saw successful people that I would one take care of before, during and after the sale and truly help them get a car because buying a car for me wasn't buying a car, it was becoming my friend I said the same thing to him. I said can we pretend like I'm your son or I'm your nephew and can I go to work with you one day? And they're like what? And I'm like, yeah, I would love to see what you do and how you're so successful. Because I got to become that person one day and I found mentors along the way that guided me and made me into who I am today and realized that I wasn't just because I had a learning disability and that it don't let it hold you back. You know that, get to the next level.

Speaker 2:

And, uh, I grew up, you know, with a single parent, mom. Um, we weren't poverty stricken, but we weren't. She wasn't crushing the world. She worked three jobs to support me and my sister and I knew that in life the most important thing was take care of my mom, help my mom, because she helped me so much. So anytime we wanted something as a young kid, she would do whatever it took to kind of get it for us. And it was kind of crazy, I mean, she put us first and that's the amazing thing. So it was really I.

Speaker 2:

I knew that once I I graduated high school, um, that the most important thing was, was is finding success, or being successful not in the way of for me, but in the way of, like, reduce the stress on my mom, the stress on my mom. So that was my main thing at that point in time. And I was lucky enough to be really good at selling cars, because I wasn't selling somebody a car, I was becoming their friend and when I sold them a car, they were like we hate buying a car, but not from you, and I'll send my sister and uncle, brother, cousin, friend to you to buy a car, because you're not a typical car salesman and I wasn't. My main goal was to take care of somebody and build a connection with them.

Speaker 1:

How do you think you knew how to build a connection. I'm reading a book right now. Are you familiar with John Maxwell, the author? Yes, I'm reading one of his books. Everybody Communicatesates but Few Connect, and just reading through that it makes a lot of sense to me and I've been investing a lot of my time in communication skills, leadership skills and things like that and learning how to connect with people. I also believe that I have a relatively decent job, or do a decent job, with connecting with other individuals, but I feel like there's always room for improvement, and you're telling me that you came in pretty much right out of the gate, jumping into this car sales position, but looking at it as an approach of just becoming friends with these individuals, and that's exactly what I try to do with my clients. So I'm interested to hear where did you get that from? How did you? Was it just like snap? You're like who am I need to connect Somehow? I just know how to connect with these individuals.

Speaker 2:

I think in some ways it is, but I, I, you know, over the years you get better and better at it because the more you can be open and it's so hard for people to be open, open, and it's so hard for people to be open, right, it's so hard for them to tell you like they have disabilities and that they they're not the best, like I'm not, like I learned over years and years, like to be a life student, to always learn to never know everything and I don't, and to count on like be not the smartest person in the room and you'll be more successful than you've ever been because you're around successful people, but most people, I guess they have to take that chip off their shoulder and become that person, and it doesn't matter what age you do it, the more you can be who you are and truly be who you are. Tell people anything and everything about you. Once they see that you're open. They're going to be open, right, they're going to be open. They're going to talk to you. They're going to tell you things. They're going to tell you things that they typically wouldn't tell, but a friend or a family, right, because you're becoming that friend to them.

Speaker 2:

Um, so I just I don't know if it was just my personality, um, but I, I, I was really. I feel that God gave me truly he. He gave me disabilities, but he gave me this gift to connect with people right, and when he did that, I was so thankful that now I'm that person as well, like I want to help people, right. I want to. I want to, I want to give back to people because I want to make the younger generation understand that you do have the opportunity to be anything that you want to be. Um, and I was lucky enough, like the little.

Speaker 2:

Over a year ago, I built a school here in Tampa Bay with Thaddeus Bullard, titus O'Neill, the WWE wrestler. He has a school here and I helped him build it and he took and it has a wellness center for young people that are experiencing problems to be able to go in there, and he has educated people to be able to help them with mental health. It has a video production studio. It has a robotics lab. I mean it's just. It's just this amazing place. So I'm glad that I'm capable of doing that, because I think in this world, it's not just those types of things that's helping a lot of people. Sometimes it's just sitting down with somebody and you know communicate, letting them communicate to you and you being able to help give them advice.

Speaker 2:

You know, I sat down the other day at. I was I was going to an event, but I sat down at a bar real quick because it was right across the street from the event and the lady had just left. She's like I just came out to get a drink and I said, and I said, you know, she said to me she's like I lost everything, I lost my house, I like in the hurricane, and she's like, you know, everybody in the communities come together. But next thing, she knows, she's like it's so overwhelming and I knew, because I just I have some connections, but I knew that the Economic Development Center was putting on this thing to give people information and walk them through how to help them, right, and I was able to tell her that. And she's like how do you know that? And I said, well, I own a business and I do these things. And next thing, you know, she's like hugging me and she's crying and she's like you've helped me tremendously and it's, you know, it's just things like that.

Speaker 2:

I think that you know, I think that it's those types of things that if, if we slow down um in our day to day sometimes, and it and trust me, I'm not the slow guy. Um, I wasn't the slow guy. I almost passed away in 2021. So I almost passed away, I almost died, and I realized that life is truly precious, right, and uh, and, and you kind of got to slow down a little bit. You know what I mean. And, um, and you know, take time with your friends and your family. Um, I was always that eager entrepreneur that I had to crush the world, you know. But crushing the world, I realized, is so many different things, my friend, like the crushing the world is so different for so many people. Crushing the world could be, you know, the, the friends and the family you have. It's not your wealth, it's the friends and the family you have. And then some people, it is their wealth 's the friends in the family you have. And then some people, it is their wealth, like, that's that's what motivates and drives them. So everybody is different in that acts. In that way, you know, some, everything motivates. But the thing that I learned, um, that I gotta say is one of the most empowerful things I I love to share with people is you only live one life and you gotta love what you do every single day. Like you only live one life and you got to love what you do every single day, like you got to do it. So if you're not doing what you love every single day, it may be scary, but stop it and find something that motivates you, that you truly enjoy, and be around people that you want to be around. You know what I mean, because life is chat short. You know. Be around those types of what I mean, because life is chat shore. Be around those type of people, the teams and the team that I built. I don't feel myself as a boss of any business. I hate that word. I think I'm a leader of a team and every single person is not an employee. They're a team member and we all help each other and I'm the leader of the team and I'm guiding the team and I'm I'm bringing the culture and I'm bringing the stability and things like that. But it's, it's the team together that really makes the difference. You know, um, it's those types of things in in a lot of times in business, right, you're, you're there more than you're anywhere else, so you gotta have that culture, right, you're, you're there more than you're anywhere else, so you gotta have that culture, right. You gotta keep people um, happy and motivate. You know and and, and, and I think it's picking them right. You pick people that have a purpose, um, and have the same drive as you and see the vision that the leader is putting out. That leader is putting out a vision, and if those people have the exact same vision, they're part of your culture and they're part of see the vision that the leader is putting out. That leader is putting out a vision, and if those people have the exact same vision, they're part of your culture and they're part of your team. If they don't, then you kind of have to part ways and you have to say listen, you know, you got to go find what's going to drive you, because this is not the place for you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's not. There's nothing wrong with that too, like there's no right people for right situations and industries and professions and things like that. Um, and I've really loved everything you were saying there about like locating, like really identifying yourself, being aware of what it is you enjoy and surrounding yourself with other things that make you happy and finding that right career and team and and looking at people as perspective, looking at the perspective of everybody as team members and friends and stuff. Dude, everything you're saying I just love it. It's great stuff. But can you share a little bit more? So we kind of got the idea of the early version Roy at the car salesman. Now we know the serial entrepreneur. I kind of breezed right over the fact that you almost died at one point. So I'd love to hear a little bit about that too. Kind of bridge the gap a little bit, if you don't mind. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So one of my businesses that I started in 2015 is 3D printing, additive manufacturing, and it's very interesting. It took off and I'll give you a snapshot. The day before the country shut down with COVID, I had four employees, like seven to 10 calls a day and we were in a 1,900 square foot facility. The country shut down. We went to two to 300 calls a day. Every single day we went from four employees to 38 employees. We went from 1,900 square feet to occupying 65,000. In less than 90 days, we became the sixth fastest growing company in Tampa Bay, florida, by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. And growing that fast. People are like congratulations, right, and yes, there's congratulations, but it's chaos. You can't put in policies, procedures, manuals in these ways that you need to right. You're trying to figure out how to organize and I'm in a business 3D printing, additive manufacturing. There's no school for it. This is brand new technology. This is innovation, right.

Speaker 1:

So, you're.

Speaker 2:

You're, you're training people from the ground up right. And you're experiencing this during an era where COVID is going on and, in one way, error. Where COVID is going on and in one way you're like you walk down, I leave my house and I have my dog and I'm walking down the street and on my street there's other entrepreneurs and there's other business owners and when I stop and talk to them they're all dying right, because COVID's here and they're shut down and they're not making any money and their business is going down. And meanwhile I'm thinking I'm doing something wrong. Like I'm really thinking I'm doing something wrong. I can't say to them like I'm busier than I've ever been, but in the back of my head I'm like well, I've given my employees stability. Like they're working, shoot, they're working more than anybody you've ever seen. Like no-transcript to tell me we got an award.

Speaker 2:

They actually wanted to come out with a news crew and that exact day I was in the hospital. No joke. The doctor walked in my room and looked me dead in the eye and said Roy, I don't know if you're going to live or die. I was on my deathbed so I didn't even know. We became the sixth fastest growing company. It's still emotional to me right now, to this day, because I'm there, what I'm realizing at that point in time, nobody can come in the room. My wife can't come in, my soulmate can't come in because of COVID, this is the Delta virus, june of 2021. My friends, my family, nobody can come in. And Rob, if you walked in the room and you said, roy, I can take away your pain, but I need to cut off your arms and legs, I would have said cut them off. That's the most pain I was in. So I'm laying there and I'm realizing what matters in life.

Speaker 2:

Right, I'm realizing a different way, like it changes who you are in a way that it kind of the way I try to explain it to people, it humbles you out in a way of, if you're an older person, like kind of me and you, we remember what 9-11 did. Right, 9-11 was the terrorist attack and it made everybody stand still, right, it like made people like open their eyes and look and be thankful and grab their kids and their wives and their family and like just be like, oh my gosh, like this is crazy and that's what that did to me. Like I'm sitting there and I'm, I'm, I'm. I'm like, if I survive right, I have to make sure that I do the things that I really want to do. Right, and I have to.

Speaker 2:

I, I, I realized, like what's most important while I'm on this planet, right, like what's most important for me and my wife is a breast cancer survivor, so we don't have any kids and I realized at that exact time I said, what's most important for me, right is sharing information, just like I'm doing now with people, right, and helping people become bigger, stronger, better. Right, because that's my legacy. Like, if I can do it and I can overcome obstacles and I can overcome disabilities and I can overcome any obstacles like we all face traumatic obstacles. We all have, like I almost passed away, right, and I and I've had several things happen in my life and if I can strive through these things right, then if I can show somebody else how to do it or I can help them do it right, then I'm a better person and I made a difference. Right, I made a difference. I left a mark on this plan. I left this place better than I found it.

Speaker 2:

Like I can't control everything in this world, right, I'm not that big. I'm not. Like you know, elon Musk is changing the world in a different way. But I can change people that I'm around and I can change my team. I can give knowledge and I can give guidance and I can accept knowledge. Right, I can accept knowledge that I can pour out to other people and I and I can, I can carry messages and I think that's that. That's that's what drives me Right. It would kind of drives me.

Speaker 2:

Um, it was, it was before that it was crushed the world, right, it was like it was. It was like I gotta be the sixth fastest, I gotta be the first fastest every year, and some of it changed. It did. I'm not like fastest every year, and some of it changed it did. I'm not like I want to have a successful business, but I want to enjoy life, I want to help other people, I want to make my mark right on these types of things.

Speaker 2:

So I did a keynote speech here in Tampa Bay. They asked me to speak in front of like 500 people this year and one of them was Rick Scott you know the senator and I did this keynote speech. I just talked about my life, right, and kind of what we're doing here, and at the end I got a standing ovation and I got a letter from Rick Scott saying like you need to share your message. I have the letter Like. He wrote me a personal letter saying you know your message is very powerful. He wrote me a personal letter saying you know your message is very powerful and the things that you've gone through and the things that you've overcome, you can help other people right.

Speaker 2:

So that's some of the things that I'm doing now is I have my business but I'm really looking at how do I help other business owners right? How do I share all the things that happened to me, especially with growing as fast as I did, and all the pain and suffering and all the things I learned right, because hindsight's 20-20. You can look in the past and you can see everything you did wrong, right, everything, and you know you're never going to make those mistakes again. But the beautiful thing is, if I can get to a business owner before he actually makes those mistakes and I can do what is called the knowledge game, I can give him that knowledge so that he doesn't make that mistake and he overcomes something without making that mistake. Man, that's powerful, right, that's truly powerful. That's saving him a ton of aggravation, saving him a ton of money too. I lost millions. I lost millions learning this on my own right, especially during a pandemic and coming out of a pandemic. So if I can do that and I can show him how to bring a team together because the most important thing to be successful, the hardest thing is people, is people finding people To grow a business it's people, it's dedication, it's culture, it's finding people.

Speaker 2:

And that's what they say Nobody wants to work anymore these days. Right, it's not that they don't work. You have to make sure that they align with your values and align with your business and align with the technology right or the vision, and they strive for it as much and you empower them to strive for it. You know it's such an amazing thing to strive for. You know it's such an amazing thing Like if, if somebody in my company doesn't know something and somebody else does, I don't want that person just to do it. I want them to slow down and teach that person next to them. Not just do it, but teach them how to do it. So the next time they know and it takes a while for me to learn to do that with my team, right, but then when I do that. You're empowering all, everyone to get better, right yeah.

Speaker 1:

Wow, yeah, that's some powerful stuff. Yeah, but how do you? Because taking that extra time to make sure that you're teaching and bringing everybody up at the same level, does that slow you down at all? Or does that just multiply the speed on the back end Because you are dedicating a little more time to bringing up the bottom line? I guess?

Speaker 2:

know the bottom line. I guess it's so interesting that you asked that question. Right, it's. This is what people.

Speaker 2:

The one answer I can absolutely give you is to grow right is structure. It's those things that we just talked about policies, procedures, manuals. It's accountability and a lot of people don't realize that I didn't even realize it right. No, to grow it's those things, because the number one thing that slows you down is hiring the wrong person and then keeping that person right, because people don't realize how much time you actually put into a new hire right, how much you got to train them, how much you got to build them up right. And if you have the wrong person, the last thing you want to do is have a revolving door, and the revolving door a lot of times occurs because there's not enough structure. There's not enough structure to where that person feels that they're getting that hand on their shoulder every single day saying great job.

Speaker 2:

But if you have that structure, you're giving that to them. Right, because you're being able to look at reports. You're being able to look at data that's showing what that person's doing, or a manager. Right, people too. Don't get me wrong, but as AI creeps more into business and we can get into that a little bit, but creeps more into business. Those accountabilities are definitely going to be there, right, and you use those as a positive thing, right, to keep people motivated and keep in. Like you said, one of the most powerful things I learned and this took a long time for me as a business owner is go behind somebody and put your arm on them and say, from the CEO of the company, right, saying great job, because that means so much, and you don't realize it when you get to this level sometimes how much that meant, but you remember when you were that person, right, yeah, and how much it meant to you.

Speaker 1:

So it's those types of things, yes, but structure is definitely the key to success, yeah yeah, I want to spin it back a little bit here because I know you're getting into the speaking, sharing the knowledge and things like more. It sounds like more keynotes and things like that. Is that just another avenue for you? Are you also using that for some of your other businesses and what is that looking like? Are you doing tours other than podcast tours? Are you speaking at conferences and things like that? I'm just curious to hear.

Speaker 2:

I'm building all that up. So I have a coach. She's world-renowned, she's a keynote speaker. You know who she is. I'm kind of going to leave that out right now, but I tracked her down and then I hit her land, sea and air like a military attack. He said I truly want you to be my coach because I know we're a great fit together. Right, because it's finding the right people, the right mentor, the right coach, right.

Speaker 2:

So I'm learning all these types of things and I'm just being, you know like, I'm learning it. And one thing that I can tell you is it's so incredibly hard, like it's outside the box, right. Like understanding social media and personal branding and in speaking and going to branding, and in speaking and going to like Toastmasters, and you know, being part of the National Speaking Academy and learning how to talk perfectly. You know to be able to do a TED talk. You know in how to put all those types of things together. Um, all this is brand new for me at 44 years old, right? Um and uh. It's interesting because, you know, you see a younger person they can make like six TikTok videos in a day easily, like they're so used to talking to the camera, right?

Speaker 2:

No, I got to take a 30 day challenge to talk to camera. And then that after that 30 day challenge, it's like the 60 day challenge we're actually got to go into a restaurant, right, and I got to eat a meal with a camera and I'm only talking to the camera and everybody's looking around Like this guy's just talking to a camera, right. But that's part of the challenge, right, because I've never talked to camera before, right? So you're like it's outside of your comfort zone. I can tell you that. I can honestly, humbly tell you it's outside of my comfort zone, but I'm learning it, right, and I never don't take on a challenge, but it's a new challenge. So, yeah, that's some of the things that I'm doing. One thing that I get into is I get up at 4.30 in the morning and it's my time and I pick something, right, I pick something that I want to learn and, of course, the buzzword in the room and the buzzword all over the place is artificial intelligence, ai, right. So I sought out an expert in AI, in artificial intelligence, right, and I grabbed him and I kind of kidnapped him and kind of put him in duct tape to a chair and I said listen, I own a business. I own a business and like I'm scared, like I'm scared, like I need to know, like, what do I need to know? Like, do I need to learn? Do I need to take half my day to understand AI? Is it going to affect my business that much? Is it not going to affect at my business just to study AI? Right, so that we were ready and things like that. And you know, he kind of walked me through as a business owner what things I needed to learn right, and along the way I started embracing the technology of AI to the point where I've kind of fallen in love with a new strategy. It's an AI video strategy that I have started beta testing, that I want to kind of roll out in January, and it allows a company to differentiate themselves from their competitors and dominate their market. And what I mean by that is they can 10x their market. They can really differentiate themselves by companies and they are literally closing deals left and right. I can see it 10xing their companies. Those are some of the things.

Speaker 2:

I'm that guy that when I start learning something, I have to become what is called an SME, a subject matter expert, what is called an SME right, a subject matter expert. And this is an interesting thing because I talked to a young gentleman the other day right, and he details cars. Right, and he says, well, I want to become more. And I said but you love detailing cars? And I said yes, and I said so, how do you become more at detailing cars? Right, and he's like well, I'm not sure I said the power of YouTube. Start getting up every morning an hour early, start watching other detailers. Right, start learning that you can do different things besides just cleaning the car. You can do tint with it, you could put on a coating, you could do all these things. Right, and I said stay with what you love, because he loves cars and he loves detailing cars, he loves owning his own business and he's a young entrepreneur, but he's not making enough money. Right, but you stay focused in that and you become a subject matter expert in that field. Right, and you put in.

Speaker 2:

I could see it in his eyes. He had the dedication. Right, and the customer can see that. Right, the customer that he's getting ready to detail their car. It's going to shine through. Right, there's not going to be a dot, there's not going to be a thing out of place. Right, he's going to make it so different and that's the word different, right, he's going to make it. He's going to be different than the other detailers out there because he's going to put his passion into it and he's going to make it different. He's going to put his passion into it and he's going to make it different and he's like, wow, roy, I never looked at it that way, right, and I said, yeah, and that's what he's doing now, like I've got him focused on getting up an hour early and not only watching videos. But then I got him focused on contacting big detailers that are maybe influencers, right, and asking them tips and tricks and becoming a mentor to him to be successful. But I said, you don't need to go back to school and get in a different field. If you love what you do, just become an SME, just become a subject matter expert. It's not a job, right? It's not a job. It's what you love, right, and that's what you could see in his eye. And when you love something, it's not a job, so you could spend day and night doing it right, because when weekends, you could do those things.

Speaker 2:

With the world changing with this type of technology, ai, the way it's been put to people in tons of TED Talks I've listened to is you have to realize it's 100% a new species. So, just like a dog, a cat, it's a brand new species. That's how you have to look at that Like it's like a new species coming to the world and just because it's a new species, it's not bad. You just need to understand that it's a new species and how to embrace that new species. Right, you don't want it to. You don't want to put your hand out. If it's a dog, right, that doesn't know you and he bites your hand. Right, so AI can do the same thing. You got to learn it, right, and you got to understand it a little bit. So those are the types of things but you don't need to go crazy on it. But if you're a business owner, you absolutely need to lift up your head.

Speaker 2:

So sometimes people work in their business, not on their business, and I can tell you, it's an absolute 100% time where you have to lift your head up and you definitely have to look at artificial intelligence, right, because it's going to change things. This innovation is going to. There's going to be more innovation in the next couple years than we've had in our entire lifetime, right, yeah?

Speaker 1:

I mean it's happening on a daily basis. There's like new stuff coming out left and right every day. There's new updates, new software, new new types of ai, too popping, everyone's got their own version and everything too. So yeah, exactly like you said, if you're not at least paying attention or looking around, you're slow, you're stuck behind. I don't know, but I do want to be courteous with our time here. So I know, serial entrepreneur, you're speaking more. What are we looking for next from you, specifically, roy? Is it eventually getting into? I know you mentioned a little bit about personal branding. You have a book or anything. Are you coming up with more stages and stuff, or are you just diving deep into the speaking world?

Speaker 2:

No, so you just kind of hit on it, man. I'm all of the above. I'm learning from my coach, I'm taking it slow, I'm learning how to do social media, I'm writing a book, I'm creating a podcast, I'm going to be speaking on stages. I've spoke on some stages. I'm going to be speaking on some more, because I have the ability to give a message to help people and, with this AI and video strategy, I'm working on that to open that before the beginning of the year to help a business owner that is in an area that they want to grow right and they need the right coaching from somebody like that has done it right and they need to know, because some of it's not just the coach.

Speaker 2:

Some of it that was for me was at a time when I was growing. I got I had every wrong thing happen to me right. I got the wrong employees. I got the wrong vendors. I got the actual wrong vendors right. I got the wrong people that were there to support me right, and then you finally find all these things right and you have this book of vendors and you know how to build the right team and I think there's several business owners out there that are in that place that they just need that help, right?

Speaker 2:

Um, and I think that's my biggest thing is is being able to help somebody else. Um, because I truly enjoy it. I truly would enjoy connecting with another business owner and sharing my knowledge and helping them. What 10x their company, you know, things like things like that, just like I've done, you know. So that's some of the things, but, yeah, I'm having fun. I'm having fun, man, I'm enjoying life, all these types of things, and that's the most important thing, right, is those types of those. But I'm that entrepreneur that I do love challenges, man. I, I don't. I look at challenges as something I love, like, not not, you know, it's those obstacles to overcome. Like you said, talking on camera and sitting in a restaurant, you know, and looking all unique and weird and um you know in, in in finding ways to overcome obstacles that we have.

Speaker 2:

But I've done that my entire life, you know.

Speaker 2:

so I enjoy it literally helping somebody get to the next level without having the trials and tribulations that I experienced, and I can give them that learning gap to not have those. It's so valuable. I mean, can you imagine in 2015 if there was, if there was, if somebody had like McDonald's, right, but they had it for 3d printing? They had like the entire manual, like the policies, procedures, manuals, like sometimes still, as an entrepreneur, I wake up in the morning and I'm like why did I just buy a McDonald's? Like everything's figured out.

Speaker 2:

Right, like everything's figured out. But I'm not that guy. You know. I like that challenge. You know, I think the one of the biggest challenges that I didn't realize about my industry was I didn't realize that I was going to be a worldwide connector, because every import I'm importing from everywhere from China, from Taiwan, from Hungary, from Dubai, from the UK and I'm bringing the technology to the United States and I can. I can tell you one thing that I learned is none of them understand how we do business, not even till this day, and I've been doing business with them since 2015. They don't understand the way America, america and Americans work. They don't understand our culture, um, and they, they just don't. So it's it's a very unique thing to import things for this long from all these countries and have these relationships, but they still don't understand us. You know what I mean. We are that much of a different species.

Speaker 1:

I guess you know. So, Roy, you're talking about all the social media. How do are you talking about All the social media? How do people find you and follow you on social media?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so LinkedIn is probably one of my biggest ones. You just go and find Roy Kirshner on LinkedIn. My Instagram account I'm building Roy Kirshnercom, so that will be available very soon. That would have all my my information on there. Like you said, speaking podcast books, you know, training, sales, training, things of that nature, AI and video expertise, those types of things. All that will be out soon, Cool.

Speaker 1:

Cool, yeah, man, this is. This has been awesome, a lot of value, dude, and I can see that we're so well aligned, so I really appreciate you taking the time to come on here and kind of share a lot about your experience and your insights. Before I let you go, though, I got to ask you the common question If you were to boil it all down, I know you shared a lot on communicating and connections and AI and all these other things, but if you were to boil it all down, I know you shared a lot on communicating and connections and AI and all these other things, but if you were to boil it all down and give one piece of advice for a young entrepreneur out there looking to survive the side hustle, what would be your number one piece of advice for them?

Speaker 2:

I'm going to give you two because I always have to you two because I always have to right and they're not from me. It's stuff that I've learned. I 100% cannot credit this, but I will absolutely tell you. These are the two most vital things as any type of entrepreneur out there. And one is financial literacy understanding money, money. So there's Damon John the shark. He has books on financial literacy. I would 100% say you need to start understanding financial literacy. They don't teach it in school, so you need to find that out. And the second one I would absolutely tell you and this is organization is traction the book Traction and the book Rocket Fuel. That's your processes, your policies, procedures. You're building an organization. Those are the two most vital things I could possibly offer as advice is financial literacy, and then processes with like traction and EOS, and so traction is a book and rocket fuel is a book, and definitely read both of those or listen to the audibles. And then the same with financial literacy Boom love it, dude.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much. This is powerful, a lot of value, man. I appreciate it and I'd love to have you back on once you get some of these other the website up and the book and love to continue this conversation down the road.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, man, A hundred percent. I appreciate you having me, Rob. I I like I said, I love coming on here, I love getting to to know you and in letting our audience hear everything that is capable out there. For sure, yeah, man.

Speaker 1:

Thank you.