Surviving the Side Hustle

From Marine to Millions: Richard Walsh's Journey

• Coach Rob • Season 1 • Episode 95

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Ever wonder what happens when a Marine's discipline meets entrepreneurial fire...and then crashes into economic reality? Richard Walsh's story is the ultimate entrepreneurial rollercoaster.

From swinging a pickaxe for $5 an hour to building an internationally recognized custom water feature and steel sculpture business, Richard's journey took an unexpected turn when the 2008 economic crash wiped out half a million dollars in a single day. The devastating loss of his business and home forced him to confront a profound truth about success: his six children didn't care about his business achievements—they just wanted their father present.

This wake-up call transformed Richard's approach to entrepreneurship. "More is caught than taught with kids," he explains, highlighting how our actions shape our children's futures more than our words ever could. His rebuilding process centered on a revolutionary idea: creating a business that served his life rather than consuming it.

Now as CEO of Sharpen the Spear Coaching and a bestselling author, Richard helps business owners recover profits they didn't know they were missing through strategic planning and proper exit strategies. His approach challenges entrepreneurs to ask themselves two critical questions before launching any venture: "How long do I want to do this?" and "How much do I want when I exit?" This simple framework forces business owners to reverse-engineer success rather than blindly pursuing growth.

Richard's candid reflections on ego management might be his most valuable offering. "Put your ego in a box and lock it away," he advises, recounting how pride prevented him from heeding wealthy mentors' advice and led to costly financial decisions. His parting wisdom? "Do hard things." Business only moves forward or backward—there is no maintaining—and pushing beyond your comfort zone is the only path to exponential growth.

Connect with Richard and explore his coaching programs at SharpenTheSpearCoaching.com to discover how you can create profit, freedom, and impact in your business journey.

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Speaker 1:

What's going on? Everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Surviving the Side Hustle. On today's episode we've got Richard Walsh, rich man, how's it going? What's going on?

Speaker 2:

Rob, I'm doing outstanding. What's going on? So much is going on. Why wouldn't it be going on? We've got to make things go on. Yeah, that's what it's all about. We've got to make things happen. Yeah, for sure, man, imperfect action.

Speaker 1:

That's what you take. Just do it, love it. So why don't we, before we kind of dive in too deep, would you mind sharing a little bit about yourself and who it is you help and what do you do kind of situation for the audience so they can hear you and kind of connect with you?

Speaker 2:

Sure you bet. So again, Richard Walsh. I'm CEO of Sharpen the Spear Coaching. I'm a bestselling author. I'm a podcast host. I'm a speaker. I'm a US Marine champion, boxer black belt. I'm a US Marine champion, boxer black belt. I'm a husband and father of six kids. I'm an internationally recognized steel sculptor and a business advisor. I help business owners recover lost profits they didn't even know were missing.

Speaker 1:

Wow.

Speaker 2:

How's that. So, in short, you're a badass whatever you got, yes, I will punch you in the face um, all right.

Speaker 1:

Well, so how does so? What inspired you or led you into this? I heard military background, some athletics and things like that. So where, where did things kind of kick off for you?

Speaker 2:

so it's really interesting coming out of the marine corps in the late 80s. Um, you know I'm working, I'm swinging a pickaxe digging trench okay, in tucson, arizona, which has what's called caliche.

Speaker 2:

No matter how hard you throw that pick, you go two inches at a time, Okay, and there's a guy cleaning out behind you. I did that for five bucks an hour every day, all day. And one day a guy came up and said hey, I got a little side job for you. Would you be interested in moving some gravel? You know they do granite crust, granite stuff down there for yards instead of grass. I'm like, yeah, man, I'm in Whatever it takes, man, I'm making $5 an hour. So showed up on Saturday. I bought a wheelbarrow and a shovel with my last $85 before payday and he had 35 tons of granite in the street. Wow, Okay, he's like you need to shovel this, bring it to the back and spread it in the yard. I'm like I got this, Do this all day, man, no problem. So soup started. 10 hours later I'm finished, Wipe myself off hosing down a little bit with the garden hose and he comes up and he probably puts a thousand bucks in my hand.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

And I'm looking at that going dang. I did this yesterday for 40 bucks. I'm like I know my future. You know, I will shovel rock till I die. If I can do $1,000 a day, Okay, back then. So I did. I started a landscape business, basically, and that morphed into custom water features so ponds, waterfalls, streams became one of the best in the country doing that. Then I added steel sculpture to it. I'm like, well, I want to do things with steel. So I taught myself how to weld and started making these incredible things. And next thing, you know, I'm doing like world-class exhibits and big shows and winning awards and got stuff on Michigan Avenue, commissions from the Shedd Aquarium and Chicago. I'm just doing all this like, wow, how cool. And I'm just this guy. I started doing stuff because I wanted to and it's really going well for about 20 years Got married, ended up having six kids in about three and a half years, four years, whole nother story.

Speaker 2:

We won't get into that. We don't have time for that today, but that was wild. And then 08 comes, and then, specifically, november 5th of 2008, a day after the election. I lost a half a million on that day. That was the beginning of the cliff. No one needed a pond, rob, no one had to have a waterfall in their backyard to get by, okay, so it kind of like I, really, I like god. I remember at the end of the day I looked at my office manager. I'm like I, I think it might be over. I think this we've done.

Speaker 2:

We limped through part of 09 and, uh, struggle, I'm like this, you know, and one day, just kind of wrap the whole thing up here is I had this real epiphany, like I woke up one morning I'm thinking about my six kids and I'm thinking, you know, they don't care how many trucks I have, they don't care what kind of house we live in, they don't care what I do for a living, they just want me to be around. And I couldn't be around, you know, one day my four-year-old chased me down the driveway as I'm leaving, crying, and I had to go. I got to stay, number one, I got to stay out front. So I'm laying there and go, man, if I stay on this course, because more is caught than taught with kids.

Speaker 2:

My kids are going to grow up and they're going to have failed marriages, broken relationships. Right, they may be good at business, but everything else in their life is going to be trash because of what they saw me do that kind of thing, because again, they're not going to do what you tell them. You, that kind of.

Speaker 1:

Thing.

Speaker 2:

Because again they're not going to do what you tell them.

Speaker 2:

You can wish that, but it can happen. You've got to walk the walk. So I got out of bed, rob, I went in the office and I said we're done today, shut it down, went to my construction yard with my guys Been working with me over 10 years, same guys had our last cup of coffee together, like we're finished, we can't do this. So lost the business, lost my home, had to relocate, moved from Illinois to Wisconsin. Everything else I had to start over. So that, in a nutshell, is where it was. And then I did. I began to repeat. It did two more businesses, started mentoring other people, wrote my best selling book, create an academy around us, started coaching. And now here we are today.

Speaker 1:

Wow, that's crazy the.

Speaker 2:

I love that what you said. There, too, more is caught than taught. That is pretty powerful there. And so now most of your day, I guess in the garden these last couple weekends for my wife, you know, like a lot of work. I'm like dang. I'm not the man I used to be, you know, I used to do this the whole day. I still did 10 hours, 12 hours, okay, but I'm like I was feeling it. Yeah, it's inside in the air conditioning.

Speaker 2:

Yeah but you know what it's profit and impact that you can have when you own a business. That's what it's all about. I mean that great joy comes from that for me seeing others succeed, helping them get to that point, because if no one helps them, they'll never get there.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, why is that?

Speaker 2:

Because what they do, rob, when someone starts a business, right, you're going to wear all the hats, you're going to work, right, you're going to work hard. There's no secret sauce. I've been doing this 35 years. I haven't figured out the no working hard in the beginning phase. Okay, so if you know about it, please share, but there's no such thing. So that's great. They hustle and they're doing all this stuff, but the problem is, you know, 10 years has gone by and you've repeated the first two five times. Because that's like what you know, you don't.

Speaker 2:

You started something because you're good at it, not because you're a good business person, right, most of us, we have a craft, a skill, a trade, whatever it is, and we go, we leverage that, but we don't know how to remove ourselves from the day to day. That's the key, right? So, as I started helping businesses, when I started my next two businesses, I made that the point not to be that, not to be owned by the business, right, like it had to serve me, I'm not going to serve it. So people started asking. I started helping them and, as I helped all these other businesses, the exact same patterns.

Speaker 2:

Every business is doing all the same wrong things I'm like well, this is really common. I thought I was special, okay, I didn't think anyone else operated at a level like me, okay, who just didn't get it, okay, so, but they do, most of them do, the majority do so that's why that was the catalyst for the book. I weave my story in there and everything else and do all these you know, fundamentals that people don't do, that they should do, and really started helping them deeper and deeper, and that's really why it happens that way.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and you know that really hits home because my background is in strength and conditioning. I got my undergraduate degree in kinesiology, master's in exercise science, performance enhancement, injury prevention, and so I was pretty good at what I was doing, and it made it easy for me to scale my book of business up to the point where I had all these clients and all these sessions and stuff. But nobody teaches you what to actually do, how to turn it into a business and what to do outside of just working in the business, and so that was a learning experience for myself, and I wish I had somebody like you in the beginning who had just been like dude. You got to do X, y and Z to kind of get this moving and smoothing it out a little bit faster.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you know, to tie this in with what you did. So I got my first personal training certification in 1993. One of the first ones. They didn't even have them before then. Right, so I'm training people. I did the whole thing Same, similar to you, right? Not quite you have way more education than I do.

Speaker 2:

But we got to a point where I'm after I quit the business right now, what am I going to do? I got six kids. I had to move. I'm like, well, what do I want to do? Because I was not going to do water features or sculpture ever again. And to this date, 16 years later, I haven't touched.

Speaker 2:

But I'm like, well, I love to train people. I'll go be a trainer. Look, anytime Fitness, I'll go there and be a trainer. Okay, because I know how to train. And next thing, you know, like I'm all of a sudden I build like 40 clients. I got, you know I'm killing it. Right Now I'm trainer of the year at Anytime Fitness. Okay.

Speaker 2:

So I'm like well, I'm an entrepreneur. What does that mean? Right, let's go open a gym. So I opened a boot camp style training gym. Man, it was awesome. Created like a belt system and progressions Really cool, did a lot of fun, scaled that.

Speaker 2:

But my thing was, if my wife calls me, I need to be at home in 15 minutes to help her out. We're homeschooling our kids and all this stuff. You know I'm like. So that was my like, that was my plan. Not much of a plan, but I said, you know, roofing, siding and windows started the contracting business to do more. And that same principle have other people do the work. You know as well as I do in that industry most trainers do their cap really fast, like you can do. Okay, even if you're training high-end clients, you're still the ceiling's low. You know you got to be able to leverage yourself. So I had to really teach myself that. How does that look? You know.

Speaker 2:

So then I went high-end subscription model, right, boot camp style training, 30-minute workouts. You know, let them pay $200 a month, right, get 100 clients. Okay, we're doing good. Right, like you're. Now we're rolling. You know that's good, it's manageable. No showers, nothing. Come in, work out, get out. You got a 35-minute workout, get out. Oh, I got a juice shot for you on the way out. Take that, don't go. You know. So I did that kind of stuff. But you really had to really start to look at like how is this going to affect the rest of you know, like you probably found out in that arena.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah. You think a lot of business owners or like solopreneurs, when they're kind of kicking off, do you think that they don't think that, or they just never get to that question or that realization like, hey, maybe this isn't what I want to be doing my entire life.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's, they don't think about it. You know the lure I don't know how do I say this I want to say the lure of easy money. Well, you know, we know that's a lie.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

But the whole thing is that work for yourself and do this Like I make my own time, and all that stuff which is it's such a fallacy. Okay, but there's no one there to tell them that and even if there was, they're probably not going to listen, especially if you're like me, young. Hey dude, I was just out working. I'll make how much you need. I'll go make more money. And I would just go make more money and more and charge more. I keep doing that stuff.

Speaker 2:

You know, never thinking about the business side. Do you want to want? And I felt like I was going to do it my whole life. I mean, I'm a world-class guy, man, I'm internationally recognized. I had a four-page spread in Practical Welding magazine Like I taught myself how to weld. You know what I mean.

Speaker 2:

So, like this is crazy man, what do I have? I can't be stopped, but you all can be stopped. So, yeah, I really don't think they put the thought into it. They're not. We have a little thing we do start with the end how long and how much? Just ask yourself that question. I don't care what you're going to do, how long are you going to do it and how much do you want when you get done, you know what's the payout. If you start with that alone, you may go oh, because then you're going to reverse engineer how you're going to achieve that in this business that you want to do right, and all of a sudden you go oh, I don't know anything. I know nothing. All I thought is I had to do it and I get to keep all the money instead of the boss getting most of it right, so like that's the quandary, right.

Speaker 2:

But the good news today there's coaches out there, right? There's people out there who can help you have been where you want to go hire them. Didn't have that 30 plus years ago right.

Speaker 1:

So there's always a way. So how? So how did you like did you have any mentors or role models that kind of helped you along the way? Or do you kind of like reflect off, like take some ideas from so-and-so over here, or how did you kind of piece it through? Or was it all just trial and fire?

Speaker 2:

I had really great mentors that I didn't listen to. Okay, like billionaire clients who loved me and would give me like, hey, maybe you should think about doing this. Yeah, yeah, what do you know, man? You don't build water features, you just own professional sports teams and manufacturing plants. What do you know about building? I mean, that's the level of stupid I operated at A lot of people like that in my life.

Speaker 2:

Like, just, I'm a little, I guess, a little intimidating, you know, especially younger, but they're like, they just give me these hints Like, hey, you know what? I think you need a bean counter. You know, like you need someone paying attention to the money. Brother, you're making a real lot of money and you don't look like it doesn't look like you're spending it wisely. You know like and here's the funny thing, I don't have any devices like nothing like that, except like machinery. Okay, ooh, a $53,000 skidster I could use that. I already got one, but another one I got cash. I bought it for 53,000 because I'm really smart, I'm debt free, right, Just ask Dave Ramsey. Okay, I'm debt free. And then I didn't think this way. Hmm, you know, I could rent the same machine for about $4,000 for the season when I need it and invest the other 45, 48,000. Now that'd be ridiculous. Who wants to do that?

Speaker 1:

Right, that doesn't make any sense.

Speaker 2:

I'm just telling you, it's like I I built a website dude spent 41 grand on a website, e-commerce website. This is like 2004. Okay, jeez For my sculpture stuff right, and I get in. This guy's doing it, he's building it. Yeah, insane, like you go to Wix now and you build the same thing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that I was paying 41 grand for so. But I'm like, okay, then the guy gets it up and I'm looking and going oh, wait a minute, I, I don't do two of anything. I'm not gonna make these benches again. I'm not gonna make this again like there's no way, it's sold, it's sold. I go shut this thing down and I shut the whole thing down oh, that's a great investment yeah, 41 gram.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my wife was like, luckily I hit the guns because she probably would have killed, right, but it's like it's that kind of stupid. It's that kind of ego and pride that was driving me. Just super cash, rich you know, but no investments, no strategy, no anything. Just do more. Get in another magazine, win another award, be out front, do the next great thing. I was totally obsessed with that. It was so, man, it was bad. Like I tell my kids now I said you need to be who I am, not who I was. Let's just have a distinction there. Okay, that's why I didn't have kids, luckily, when I was in my twenties, because that would have been bad.

Speaker 1:

Well, so you just mentioned a second ago about exit strategy and how much and how long. So what is that kind of looking like for you now? Are you trying to grow this and then eventually exit the academy and the coaching and stuff?

Speaker 2:

Yeah Well, we have really looking to help 10,000 business owners create profit, freedom and impact in their business. So there's a lot to do. It's going to be a very high number. It's exciting and I'm going to take that. I'm not a retirement guy. I'm going to take that. I'm not a retirement guy, I'm under that.

Speaker 2:

My favorite saying is retire, put four new tires on and keep going down the road. That's me, okay. There's no stopping and playing golf or whatever they do in Florida. I'm not doing that stuff, right. So so my plan is to scale that to reach that number. That's my next point, right?

Speaker 2:

But at the same time, what I do with my clients, too, is you're doing well, you're making money. Right, we have what we call active business income. Okay, you have to take that active business income and now create passive income, right. So your other investments it doesn't matter what it is, it could be real estate, it could be Bitcoin, for all I care. I don't care what it is, but you got to do that. So we make a plan for it.

Speaker 2:

And that exit strategy, rob, when you've gone to the end, you understand your reverse engineering say hey look, I'm a seven figure earner right now. You know I'm going to do that for the next eight years. Sell my business for 10 million. Let's say, well, great, I got the 10 million, sold the business, but what did I lose? A million year income Okay, that kind of hurts. A million year income yeah, okay, that kind of hurts. Okay, that 10 million is not going to last forever, right?

Speaker 2:

So instead, now we begin. Hey, if I'm going to purchase real estate, what do I need? I have to create $83,000 a month in passive income to replace that seven figure income I have right. Well, if you plan that and you allocate your money to go there and do this, you can get that. Now, when you exit, you get to 10 mil, you walk away, you got a million, even if you don't work again. Now you got something to do. Now you can move into the next thing, right, and you're loaded for bear. So that's what we try to teach. And there's two times I tell people the two best times to do an exit strategy is before you begin, before you launch the business. Exit strategy is before you begin, before you launch the business.

Speaker 1:

And the second time would be right now. Yeah, I love that. That. Uh, that reminds me of, uh like best time to grow a tree 10 years ago. Second best time is like right now. Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. It's important to look at this because, yeah, we're excited, we want to get a business, we're concerned about sales. Let's be real If I don't make any money, I don't have a business, okay. So we're all in. You've got to be this way. It's the economic engine. Sales is the fuel for the economic engine that is your business. But we have to look out. We have to be more strategic, and the more strategic you can be in the beginning okay, the more rapid your success is going to be what we want to do. I like to talk about time compression. I'll take 10 years and I'll put it into a year for you. Who doesn't want that? It's awesome. Mistakes, bad decisions, possibly losing your whole business that's what coaching does. That's what bringing on experts. You don't know everything and you don't need to know everything. Matter of fact, if you think you know everything, I got news for you. Okay, You're going to get punched in the face a few times.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, that's so powerful because I believe that so much. Like coaching, you just expedite the process. You skip over, like a lot of the dumb mistakes. Obviously you can't skip over all the dumb mistakes, because we're all always going to make dumb mistakes, but you want to minimize the damage that does happen when it does pop up, that's it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and if you can, just again, you're leapfrogging. Yeah, you're going over there. Oh well, and you're there, and you're there, and if you ever get out in the world, I'll call it and you talk to these businesses. That all started kind of at the same time. What do you do? This guy got a coach. He had a mentor, couldn't afford a coach, so he got a mentor. Someone like my guy. Right, like I really should have listened to him. Okay, like that would have really helped my business. Maybe I'd still be doing it, who knows, but you've got to get that.

Speaker 2:

And then what's the next level? And you're always learning, you're always going to the next conference, you're always trying to, you're investing in yourself, all that. There's a huge ROI to this kind of stuff that people don't understand. I never believed it. I was so full of myself. Man, I'm a Marine man. I'm going to do this by myself, by myself. I just put my shoulder on, I work a little harder.

Speaker 2:

You know you get caught up in hustle and grind nonsense. I'll just work harder. Well, you can't. It's just like training and being a trainer. Right, there's a ceiling. There's only so many hours in a day. There's only so much leverage you can get from yourself. So you know, if you're going to think you're going to do it all, you may succeed. I'll air quote succeed. But dude, it's going to be a crawl, it's going to be brutal and you might feel good like you overcome all this and you got the grit. Yeah, why? Why, when the fast track is there for you, why do you want to sidestep a faster way to it in a better way? That's what I ask people you know, because I get it.

Speaker 1:

Now you're kind of talking to putting a lot of highlights on the coaching, and I know too. Just with coaching you also get a lot of access to other networks. Obviously there's other clients that your coach knows, a lot of people who can set you up with connections and things like that. So I want to ask you about that how has connections and the network, how has that helped you over the years? Because I hear you said you had some clients that are worth billions of dollars. How did you get around all of those in the first place? And even if you could share a little bit too on those competitions and stuff, how did you even get in front of those magazines and things?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's kind of wild. Like I ended up when I was training. Early on, I was a member at the Union League Club of Chicago, right, biggest money in the city goes there, right, remember, there's a business club, hotel, restaurants, athletics, three-fourths of athletics pool, the whole thing, right. So I was around these people, okay. Now I grew up with no money, nothing, right, I'm the Marine, I'm swinging a pickaxe, I'm doing this Now I'm trying to build a business.

Speaker 1:

Well, five bucks an hour, that's pretty good. Five bucks an hour, yeah Well.

Speaker 2:

I'm killing it. Yeah, I think you go to jail now if you only pay someone five bucks an hour. I don't know how that works today, but so I'm like well, is who you surround yourself with? Now I'm around all these guys who are like big hitters, like they're all big hitters. You're like everything from I mean like federal judges to you know business guys. I mean some of the best patent attorneys in the world are there and I know these guys right, I'm like hanging out with them and they're taking me on vacation and doing stuff like that. But it really was. They watched me like I'm struggling to build this business, right, and I'm literally moving boulders and rock and stuff like that, and they're like that's really interesting. And I got a job. This was really cool and it was about a $40,000 job, okay. And now the guy owed me like 25,000 at the end decided he wasn't going to pay me. Okay, just cause. So I'm like okay.

Speaker 2:

So I went to one of my friends. I said, listen, who's I knew Wasn't? It was a retired attorney, owned a big law, one of the biggest. I didn't know at the time, but he had the largest like law firm in the country, like collecting for all the banks of the world, like for all of them, right? So I'm like, oh, I go hey, dave, can you help me out? Like this guy's not going to pay. He goes, yeah, here here, go talk to this guy. So he gives me a guy at his firm. I go there, he goes. I tell him what happened. He goes okay, all right, just give me a couple days, I'll let you know. I'm going to send him a letter. I'm like, okay, a letter. I'm like my client calls me and goes, oh man, you and your high-priced lawyer is terrified because this guy whatever he wrote, dude, had this guy like shaking, shaking. He's like I'll pay, you Come get your check, all this kind of stuff. I'm like, oh, that's really powerful. That was a letter the guy wrote free for me and just sent this thing. I'm like, no wonder they collect for all the banks.

Speaker 2:

But it's that kind of those connections and other people in business like they would help me out. They didn't. They didn't give me anything. Most of these guys were self-made, which is really cool because their mindset was a little bit of them, but they loved the struggle because they went through it. So they would, they would, they would connect me with the right people. That's like you said. It's the network, okay, and it's not like you're going to a networking thing and I'm with a carpet cleaner and whatever, a painter and this stuff. We're all trying to get each other to do work and it's a larger. It's a bigger. You have to think bigger. You know who you want to get around. It's not another, and I don't mean this in a derogatory way at all. It's not another tiny business guy.

Speaker 2:

Okay, that's not going to move your business forward. You're going to commiserate and, like, slap each other on the back and have a beer and and nothing changes Okay, except you might get a job from him and he might get a job from you. These guys are getting up here, they're in your head, they're showing you strategy. They're talking about, they're introducing you to the people who are giving you growth, wisdom, like here's where you need to be looking, here's where you need to set your targets right. So it's so critical to get around the right people. You know, like you're saying, I mean, it changed my life. It changed my whole, everything I did in business.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that growth wisdom. I don't think I've heard that being said before, so that's powerful stuff to kind of consider and think that's great, I love it and stuff.

Speaker 1:

But like you got to, you got to kind of train your eye to see people who can kind of bring more value to it. And you got to look bigger, past that quick cash, like a little someone can refer you a client here or somebody that you refer a client there, that's great. That's only feeding that short term stimulus for yourself. You got to think that bigger term picture right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, there's, it's. It's a level of humility that again, I couldn't get to my first 20 years. But now I actually do the same with new clients. I get a real nice wooden box, you know it's hinged, got a little latch on it and there's a brass name tag on it and it just says my ego. And that's why I said to him I go just put it in there and lock this thing and put it on the shelf.

Speaker 2:

Whenever you think you're all that man, you just look at that box. That thing stays in there. You don't let the ego out. It will ruin you, it will destroy your business Once in a while. There's a place for that.

Speaker 2:

But it's not relieving ego. You know there's an assertiveness that you need to apply at certain times that are higher levels than others. You know, kind of like last 30 seconds of the round yeah, turn it on, knock the guy out, right, it's knockout time. Okay, you got those. It's a short burst, but it's going to take care of business, right, that's what I want to do. So I kind of think of it that way. But you really need to understand your. Your ego needs to be put in check. Go in that box and go with humility, but find the right person, because they'll recognize that instantly and no one who's super successful will ever look down on someone trying to be successful. They will put their hand down, man, and they will get you to the mountaintop, because they know what it takes and they love that initiative, that enthusiasm, that willingness to do it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that and I was always terrified about like making sure that I could, or terrified that I was going to get stuck and not find more people like that. And I found that, really, voicing out your dreams, your goals and talking to more people about it, you can kind of start to suss out some of those individuals and, like I had a lot of close friends and family members even when I first launched my business and I started my supplement line and all these other things and was getting into public speaking and such, and people are like oh yeah, but do you really think that that's probably the best fit for you? And like, oh, maybe you should be doing something a little bit different. They're coming from a state of protection because they don't want me to go out and push, whereas some of my very wealthy and successful clients and buddies would just be like yeah, dude, you know you got to double down on that. Like, keep pushing for it. It's going to be uncomfortable, but you got to get into that.

Speaker 2:

I tell people I was doing a startup workshop here, where I'm at this big co-working space and I'm doing this thing for people. I said, okay, here's who. You're never going to ask an opinion from your family, your friends. They are disqualified for saying is your product good or bad, what's wrong with it? Nothing, they say, holds any water. I said I want you to go to a stranger on the street, hold up your product and say hey, tell me what's wrong with this. Poke some holes in the sink for me. Do that, You're going to get the most honest opinion. You give them permission to be negative and then you're going to get they don't know you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I'm not worried about your feelings. Okay, and I get it. I mean, that's how to love is the family part, but it's totally biased. Yeah, you can't, of course, unless they want to loan you money, but other than that they don't have any. Say, right. So it's just something to remember because you have to understand where this advice, air quoting advice here is coming from. From. Where is it Like? There's this protection, like you said, his is dude, you got to get in gear. We got to see you People will still talk about when I start dude, you're talking about rocks, like we're like dude, what's this guy talking about?

Speaker 2:

Like boulders and all that. And then you know like, oh, and you asked where, like, like, so I did shows like big Chicago flower and garden show and you build these big gardens in Navy pier and 180,000 people come by in a week and take a look at it, right, so you get some exposure right. Newspapers there, tvs there. Uh, I have clubs. I have people reaching out on cable back in the day. You know, like I was doing something new that people didn't have. You know, I created these unbelievable sculptures, right, and then people were seeing, like the practical welding people coming by and they're, oh, a little power outage, very cool. Hey, there we go. You know what I mean. You start to add this stuff to the portfolio, right, yeah? And you keep building, you get the next thing, and the next thing and you keep going. You know I got. I'll give a quick story on the Shedd Aquarium right? So you got John G Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, right, it's huge.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I had done this amazing project at Navy Pier at a show walking through waterfalls, all this stuff out of steel and everything. So they had asked me like hey, we want you to do a commission. We got a new project we're doing at the Shedd Aquarium called the Amazon Rising and we're looking for these artists. We're going to do like 30 of them around the city and all this stuff.

Speaker 1:

But I had to submit a picture.

Speaker 2:

They go well, you do a drawing. I go, oh man, I don't draw, I can't draw anything. And he'd go well, it'll be okay. I go okay, dude, this is going to come from a three-year-old. So I did like it was a really crappy drawing. And sure enough, I got the commission. I did my thing it's on Michigan Avenue, it's amazing. And they sold it to Beaufort, north Carolina, or something else. So I got all that and they did all that, raised all this money.

Speaker 2:

But the issue but then the designer, I saw him tell you you know, when we're selecting who's going to do what, I'm passing your drawing around, right? And people are laughing and go this is a joke, right, you're kidding, you're going to pay this guy, you're going to pay him money. He goes, you got to see his work, you just got to see. So he went to bat for me, man. But again, there's a network thing. You know I'm like oh, I didn't, I didn't know, I just I just thought I'm awesome and they're all just laughing at my picture. So you know, amazing things can happen, you know, if you're just out there and you get in front of the right people.

Speaker 1:

Well, so, speaking of making amazing things happen, where do people go if they're looking to connect with you, if they're looking for some coaching, some guidance, and how do they stay connected with you?

Speaker 2:

SharpenTheSpearCoachingcom Best place to go. Great stuff on there, Everything from simulators. You can do stuff for your business on there. You can reach out to me, talk to me via there, send emails. Whatever you want to do, SharpenTheSpiritCoachingcom is probably the best way to go.

Speaker 1:

Awesome, you guys heard it there. Well, dude, I really appreciate you coming on professionalism. You're sharing a lot of tips and tricks, great stories, and I know you're a busy, busy guy, so I appreciate you carving some time out to chat with me and share with the audience here. So thank you so much for that.

Speaker 2:

I love it, rob. Thanks for having me man Appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but right before I let you go, though, I got to ask you that good old cliche question. If you were to boil all the information, all the hard lessons that you learned down, and you were to give it to your youngest, what would you tell them?

Speaker 2:

I really keep it like three words. It's just do hard things. You've got to always reach in for uncomfortable. You got to do what you think you can't. What's going to stretch you? What's going to do you? It needs to become what you do and who you are. Business only goes two ways it goes up or it goes backwards. Right, there's no maintaining. It doesn't exist Nothing in the world. We are dying every day. Right, we got to move forward and the only way you're going to do that truly is to challenge yourself and do hard, and that it can be physical, it could be mental, it could be whatever you got.

Speaker 2:

You can write a book and I got to write 500 pages a day. That's hard for me. That's a challenge. I got to do it. I got to create 50,000 words, you know. So, whatever that is, if you can live in that mindset, you will watch your growth become exponential. You will do things. You will leave friend groups and go to better friend groups because you can be around people who want to do hard things. You, the better friend groups, because it can be around people who want to do hard things. You know it from the gym. Right, we go, and I still. I kill myself daily in the gym. Okay, people don't talk to me. Okay, I'm rocking a heavy bag. I'm working battle ropes, I'm just crushing it 35 minutes slamming this, 300 squats. I'm like I don't care. Okay, like.

Speaker 1:

I'm probably the oldest guy in the gym, but I'm that, I'm that nut Right Cause I need that, I need to know I can. Well, for me it's staying dangerous Right. So that that's what I recommend is really get out there and push yourself in ways you're you don't want to guys SharpenTheSpearCoachingcom best place to connect, find out more about coaching and what else. He's got going on Again. Richard, I appreciate this. Thank you so much. This was a great episode, very, very helpful. I would love to chat again with you again soon, man.

Speaker 2:

Anytime, Anytime Rob.

Speaker 1:

All right, that's it for us today, guys. Catch you guys next episode.