March 20, 2023 • 51 mins
This week we invite a guest that has a wealth of entrepreneurial experience and a whole diverse amount of charisma. Richard Blank is the CEO of a Costa Rica call center. We all have our opinions on call centers, however; Richard brings a different level to the playing field with respect to call centers. Tune into this week's episode as we smash the pre-conceived connotations of call centers and educate on his journey within entrepreneurship.
#callcenter #management #charisma #highlevelattitude #fyp #newepisodealert #podcast #business #entreprenuership #choppinwithfire
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Episode Transcript
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Dustin Steffey (00:00):
Welcome Chop nation to another new week,
which you all know what thatmeans. Another new exciting
episode. I missed you guys. Iknow it's only been a week but
I'm excited to dive right intoit introduce our new guest
speaker and to provide relevantinformation so you all know what
that means. Let's chop it upWelcome to your top rated global
(00:27):
podcast that is your one stopshop for everything
entrepreneurship, selfdevelopment, and smart
investment decisions. Thispodcast is hosted by owner Dr.
And creator Dustin Steffey wereblessed to have accolades that
include a 2022 nomination by thePeople's Podcast Awards, in the
(00:47):
category of business moneydonated to two amazing causes
cystic fibrosis, and the Boysand Girls Club. Lastly, global
recognition of gaining top 50podcast in four countries.
Without further ado, let's chopit up.
(01:14):
I do have an exciting guest on Ithink you guys are gonna love
him. He's very charismatic. He'sfun to be around. Let's
introduce him in so I have theCEO of Costa Rica call center.
And before you guys startsaying, oh, call center guy.
Let's Let's give him a chance.
All right. He also has thelargest pinball collection in
(01:34):
Costa Rica. So if you all likepinball, you're gonna love this
guy. And then he did get his BSdegree from the University of
Arizona. I am going todefinitely ask him how he got a
degree from the University ofArizona considering all the cute
girls that are there when I wasthere last so Richard Blanc,
welcome to our show, my friend.
Richard Blank (01:57):
So happy to be here today. Can't wait to be
chopping with fire insurance,some great ideas with you and
your audience.
Dustin Steffey (02:03):
Absolutely. It's going to be fun. But first and
foremost, how the hell did yougraduate from the University of
Arizona with all the beauty overthere all the everything over
there? I mean, you know, it's alot.
Richard Blank (02:16):
The main thing is how did I get into the
University of Arizona if itwasn't for avington Senior High
School given me a collegerecommendation letter, there's
no way I would have been able toget into that university. And so
what I've done is I doubled downon my favorite class, which was
Spanish. And when I moved out toArizona, I decided to also be a
communication major. I focusedon rhetoric, public speaking and
(02:40):
nonverbal communication. Andcombining those skills. I landed
a job with Telemundo duringcollege as an intern and post
grad with Corona beer. And thenat 27 years old, my good friend,
I was given a one in a millionopportunity to move to Costa
Rica. And here we are today.
Dustin Steffey (02:57):
And you sure as heck took it, which is awesome.
So I mean, Spanish I flew. Itook Spanish from kindergarten
all the way through my undergradmyself. I studied abroad in
Torino, Italy. And I alsostudied abroad in San Sebastian.
So yeah, I have some traveladventures. I definitely got
(03:18):
saved when I got back homebecause the cultures are so
different. But we're waitingfast paced here compared to
where I've been. So
Richard Blank (03:29):
I figured this out as a young man. You know, a
lot of the times you might haveopinions that are provided for
you and pressures in regards tochoosing your career. And I
didn't go to Harvard Law likegrandpa, I didn't go to Columbia
Business like Potts. And Ididn't go to Washington and Lee
like my older brother. So Ididn't have the structure,
discipline or the maturity. Butthis one I did have, I had the
(03:50):
drive. And I knew that languagescould open doors for me, I it
came naturally to me, I had thefidelity so I studied it and did
the dedicated practice outsideof class. So obviously I was I
was growing. And I knew that ifI was the only one out of 20 of
my friends that was bilingual,there is a very good chance that
(04:11):
could translate for an attorney,speak for a doctor and read
contracts. I saw the advantageand there was also a huge
positive reinforcement, All theworld's a stage. So every day
when I left, I could go outsideand speak with people and have
fun and ask what words were andit really just from movies and
music, to books, to justeverything you couldn't help but
(04:33):
continue to grow this skill. Andso I tripled down on it. I
wanted to earn a living from it.
And I believe that if you canget past your parents guilt, and
you can live life with honorableintentions, then by all means
you should have the grit to gofor it. And I don't regret a
single day.
Dustin Steffey (04:53):
You know, it's funny because as I was growing
up, I feel the same sentimentlanguages are important. like
English, for me, obviously is myprimary, right. But I know how
to speak for other languages aswell, too, because I saw the
importance of understandingthem. And I use some of that in
all of my businesses, to behonest with you. So I think it's
(05:16):
a scalable skill. That'simportant. And if you have a
passion to learn it, you shouldlearn it.
Richard Blank (05:23):
Of course, but how about this, I'm a guest in
this country, Dustin, and I'm3000 miles away from you and my
mother. So the things that Ihold important in Philadelphia,
in Arizona really sometimesdon't have any importance here.
It's really about your essence.
And we spoke prior to jumping ona podcast about keeping an open
mind, and respecting differenttraditions and cultures. And
(05:44):
even though I might have aslight accent, I believe that
anyone that speaks languages,bears the mark of higher
education. So I was able toinitially, really show good
faith, really show my intentionsto understand where somebody
else was coming from. And, andI'm the kind of person that
likes to talk last, to where,you know, I like to really know
(06:06):
about more people. So I canbecome better friends with you.
And that's the most importantthing. And so this really has
been keeping me on my toes, I'venever lived a more enriched
life, every day is new for me.
And it's very humbling. The factthat I'm celebrating a 15th year
(06:27):
in business and an extremelycompetitive industry. I've had
people with me over a decade.
And having that sort ofreinforcement. And people that
are encouraging me to continue.
I must be doing the right thing.
I I follow labor laws, I extendempathy and dignity. And I tried
to do my utmost to try to be thebest boss they ever had. And to
(06:54):
be a mentor, my goal is to bethe last boss they ever have.
And what's interesting, Dustinis the first day prior to going
into any training class, I putthem into my arcade. So they
start with recess and dessertfirst. And I ask you a question,
how many owners of a company doyou know that have worked with
you, and about 10% Raise. And Isay that's a shame for them, but
(07:15):
a benefit for you. Because youdo deserve this, you deserve
this sort of momentum and windin your sails. And don't put me
on a pedestal where I know yourname. I mean, I'm just a man.
And then the kind of thing iswhere I put my pants on the same
as everybody else. And so if youcan reduce any sort of fear,
(07:38):
because it's a morbidanticipation is something that
hasn't happened yet. Anycampaign is 10 times easier in
the learning a second language.
But why fear may? If you're notbreaking the law, why are you
afraid of a cop? You're notcheating on a test? Why? Why
fear a teacher. And if you'recoming to work, Dustin Pena at
the ready, on time, eager tolearn, and for me to delegate,
(08:00):
so I can extend my branches androutes and grow with you. This
is not playtime anymore. This isnot kindergarten, you're making
power moves now. And I take thissort of career and this early
20s stage of their lives in avery delicate way. With leverage
my friend, you could hire firemake or break. I prefer the
(08:23):
former. And with that leverage,all I want to do is increase
your self confidence. And Dustinyour self reliance that I
believe is the best leaders.
Dustin Steffey (08:33):
See, and that that's that's some good stuff
right there. Because watch this,we all know that we've worked
for someone where we'veabsolutely disliked it right.
And it makes us less likely toperform. In my opinion. I know,
I have a bunch of friends thatwe've talked about, like our
(08:55):
different jobs, we've talkedabout the different managers,
we've talked about the differentbosses, and the most common
pattern that I see is in a worldof constant change. And the job
roles changing and piling onmore work and whatever are out
tends to take a dip and nobody'saddressing it in and you're an
(09:19):
anomaly my friend. So let's,let's let's put your pedestal to
the side for a sec. You're ananomaly, right? Like you are
what everybody dreams of havingas a boss owner, whatever, you
know, but the reality is, andthe reason why people are going
into entrepreneurship right nowis they're tired of working for
(09:40):
the man. They're tired ofworking for other people.
They're tired of doing someoneelse's job chasing someone
else's dream and making theirdreams a reality wall. This this
employee is just hitting a deadend, right? And so that's kind
of a it's kind of a big deal andI Uh, you hit a couple of these
(10:01):
points. But what I was going towhat I was going to lead into
was obviously, we're anentrepreneurship podcast. So
what made you? And what sparkedyou to open up your own business
and go into entrepreneurship?
And how did you to add on tothat? How did you develop and
who you are today? How did youdevelop into knowing what your
people need, getting to knowthem all that stuff to create
(10:25):
this sort of success track thatyou have? We will be right back
after a quick break. Hello, chopnation, I hope all of you are
enjoying the guests and contentwe share weekly. Now, I need a
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(10:47):
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(11:08):
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dropping more fun and relevantcontent.
Richard Blank (11:27):
These allow me to zig and zag and give you a
supreme pizza. Versus you usethe word for no I believe in the
word with someone who works withme it's synergy. So if I can't
even start there, there's noroundtable that's number one.
Number two, I believe in theChucky Cheese philosophy. No one
shows up at your birthday party,guess who has no friends. The
(11:49):
people have leverage, you cankeep pushing that morale low and
keep bending until they break.
But the market speaks. Peoplecan always quit. And in my
industry, Amazon is here HP,Intel an Oracle so I'm going to
be hard the following day. Andso what happened? Let's let's
look at this in a very realisticway. I have more natural
(12:10):
attrition Dawson than thenforced attrition. Listen, if if
Billy is not coming to work ontime and Joey's getting stoned
at lunch and Bobby is just notmaking his calls for labor law.
I'm gonna have to cut you fromthe team. I am accountable for
this. But let's talk naturalattrition. Let's say there's a
scheduling conflict fewUniversity How about if your
(12:31):
boyfriend or girlfriend workssomewhere you might want to work
there could be closer to yourhome and transportation is
pretty big i i know there'shybrid, but some people still go
into an office for training. Andalso finally there are certain
certain centers that might bemore lucrative than mine. Let's
be realistic, they might have acampaign that that deals in
larger commission. And so butnobody will ever leave my call
(12:55):
center because I made them cry,I had to face them on the floor.
Worst case scenario gave them awalk of shame. We don't do
things like that here. I'veinvested in you, I believe in
you. If you don't give me twoweeks notice and you just bounce
that's on you. And I startedstrong with you, you could at
least give me the benefit of thedoubt. But I understand I it's
(13:16):
difficult sometimes in regardsto hiring and some people are
burned out. But let's just notgo there. What happens then,
then I'll call my clients withno surprises, I will make
suggestions. And then I willalso be able to solidify and
have a foundation in arelationship because character
is judged during chaos, you'rechopping with fire. Fire can be
(13:39):
used for warmth there can burnit depends on how you use it.
And so I'm not calling somebodyup happy with that news. But I I
run to that situation as quicklyas I can. Because the more time
that you use with it, the morefrustration and I'm a big boy,
now I have my impulse controland maturity but But getting
(14:01):
back to the people I invest intheir future, I let them know
that I just don't write checksfor any entrepreneur that would
like to start a company. It'sbest to know it from the ground
up even if you need to sweep thefloors first just to see how
long the rows are in a callcenter. And so for me, I sat in
the cubicles for four years Isaw the good and the bad, the
(14:23):
happy and the sad. I heard thegripes and I saw when people
were elated. I understood howmetrics could be reached. And
when people are asked for anunrealistic expectation. Or
possibly supervisors or ownersdo not extend any sort of
empathy or bedside mannerbecause there may be things
outside of the office that couldbe affecting your performance,
(14:45):
your beautiful daughter for anexample, if she's having a great
day you're bouncing on clouds.
If she said that breaks, itdied, and I can completely
understand that. And so ifsomebody wants the best out of
you, they need to know to you.
And prior to you, I need to knowme first. And I need to look in
the mirror, I need to make myown bed I need to work out I
(15:06):
need to show up on time. Becauseif I can't be the example, how
in God's name Can I ask thesepeople to do the same? But I do
give them some Philly guilt, Ido call the balls and strikes. I
just won't call you Chief, as ayo das and you did great. Last
Thursday, you got 14, what'sgoing on today? I know what you
can do. And so, you know, I'llcall you out on it because I
(15:27):
want you to win. And maybe I'mthe only mentor that ever did
it. Maybe I'm the only teacherthat told you that your tie is
crooked. Or even someone likemyself, like being an individual
that would that would reallyemphasize looking at the
Thesaurus so you can expand onyour similes, that you can work
on your vocabulary. So you avoidwords like help us like guide
(15:51):
asst lend a hand. These arethings that can adjust tones.
These are things that can besaid. And so I have a lot of
very astute and advanced tipsand tricks not for manipulation
for lying, but both forpreserving conversations for
allowing me to for 15 rounds tomake my case and then doesn't
(16:12):
from an educated point of view,my clients will make a decision
to either move or not moveforward with me.
Dustin Steffey (16:23):
So let's address let's address what we were
talking about in the beginning,which is sure, I'm sure my
listeners are like you work in acall center, you own a call
center. What What led you tothat and let's let's kind of
smash some assumptions on callcenters as well too, because I
sure as hell know how importantthey are. Because when I need
(16:45):
something done, or some help orsome tech help, I'm going to a
call center so I know howimportant they are. I just know
that today in this day and age,a lot of people just dislike
them and kind of have their ownpreconceived notion on them.
Sure,
Richard Blank (17:03):
every vertical has bad players, you might have
a bad dentist, a bad mechanic, abad restaurant, you know, might
get that bad experience andHollywood glamorizes The Wolf of
Wall Street and boiler roomGlengarry Glen Ross, the prime
gag, you name it, there's somany movies out there where
(17:24):
people are slinging stock. Well,listen, there's five campaigns
we don't do here. I don't docasinos, sportsbooks pharmacies,
sweepstakes or stocks. I've,I've nothing against it. But
this is a very strict Catholiccountry. So I want to ensure
that the agents can go home andtell their parents what they do
(17:44):
for a living. And I don'tcompromise my ethics values or
morals to earn $1. But today, alot of companies are preferring
omni channel, non voice support,filling out forms sending emails
chat, well, it's Layton, youmight be Miss communicating, and
(18:07):
increasing your frustration.
I've recommended even encouragedas strongly as I can to my
clients in the industry to stillkeep those channels of live into
personal communication. And I, Ican give you four very, very
good reasons why it's worth themoney. The first is you can get
an upsell. How about aretention? What about a
(18:28):
referral. And let's be big boyabout this worst case scenario,
Dustin, you're losing theclient. But they're kind enough
to give you an exit interview.
And so you might be losing $1today, but you could be earning
$20 In regards to the advicethat they give you, or what your
(18:50):
competition had done in order toearn their business. And so
there was a sort of things thatI take personal, of course, but
then again, the only way forself improvement is self
analysis. And if multiple peopleare saying something, and you
see a pattern that should beaddressed, and you can put your
ego so I just just try to lookat things in a certain way and
(19:11):
solve them. And so those are thesort of steps that I've taken
and for my own mental stability,so I can calm down I can land
the plane and so the hard upintense situations I have to be
able to manage with a levelhead.
Dustin Steffey (19:31):
So when you were 27 and you had the opportunity
to go to Costa Rica, where youalready under the assumption you
were going to own your ownbusiness and it was going to be
a call center and did it justlead to that?
Richard Blank (19:42):
Absolutely not my friend. I had no clue but I
didn't know this. I knewmomentum. I was bilingual and
Spanish barn door was openopportunity was there a good
friend of mine owned a callcenter. I wasn't going in sea
level. But it was very nice. Ihad a nice desk by a window with
a nice chair. As I was reallygreat, and my friend extended me
(20:03):
for years of employment where itwas only supposed to be 60 days,
but I never fought for somethingharder in my life when I walked
off the plane in Costa Rica,August 15 2000. Besides the
weather being beautiful, I fellin love. And when I went to the
call center for the first time,it's a very young environment.
This was even for cell phones,people were old enough. And so
(20:26):
you're working off old Ciscophones and excel sheets with
highlighter pens. But I saw someengaged engagement, I saw people
standing up and speaking I sawhigh fives I saw intense
concentration. I saw pride intheir work. Most people in the
United States see call centerwork and telemarketing as a
transitional job that they mightlook down upon it while in Costa
Rica if you're talented thatpays more than most vocation,
(20:48):
so, so Dustin, some of my agencyhere can earn more than doctors
and attorneys, and some of themeven have those titles. So what
did I say? misconceptions, I sawan extremely young environment,
I got the skin one last time, Iwas put in an environment where
it was not a forced fit. Sure, Ihad to learn what a CRM was a
(21:10):
Plantronics headset andunderstand metrics and KPIs and
scripts and rebuttals. Well,fine. That's, that's the, you
know, the tough part. The easypart for me was my personality.
And for most people, it's thereverse. What do I do I love to
(21:30):
name drop. I love to askclarifying questions. I love
transitional sentences. I loveusing personal pronouns to reset
tones by using your Rs, I cangive it a quarter second slide.
I was one of the cats that usedto use military alphabetic. When
I was prospecting, I used to doa company named spike. So I
would say the name of thecompany better than you and ask
(21:52):
how the company's doing, I wouldsnap you out of it, where you
would say, Oh, we're good.
Thanks. Or what are you selling?
Oh, no, I sounded like a mysteryshopper that belong there. And
then when I was properlyintroduced the gatekeeper, I
gave them a positive escalation.
So if Kathy transferred me toyou, prior to introducing
myself, I'd like to know howamazing he is. I'll do it
verbally. And I would also do itin writing. And then I would at
(22:15):
least put me at a foul pointpercentage compared to three
point or even half court. Andthen the Richard circle Dustin's
complete, because when I callyour company back chopping with
fire, and I'm happy to be back,Kathy just answered the phone
again, and remembers me, notonly remembers me, says,
Richard, in the five years I'vebeen working here, you're the
only one that mentioned the workthat I did. Not only that,
(22:35):
Richard, but I am going to giveyou a plethora of our company
culture, I'll give you hisdirect extension, his daughter's
birthday was going on here. Sowhen you custom make your
voicemail, you're right, thatemail, you might not even go to
the LinkedIn profile or thewebsite, you're getting all the
goodies. So they realize you'vedone your due diligence, that
(23:00):
you're really showing good faithprior to contact, and playing
those percentages, which couldbe repeated over and over again,
because it's authentic andsincere. It's beautiful. And so
most people when they calm down,they look at my credentials. And
from an educated point of view,after speaking with me a couple
of times in answering theirquestions and feeling my fire
(23:22):
that aside the throw their hatin the ring and move forward and
work with me. And it's beenbeautiful that way. I've only
seen about 20% of my clients 80%and worked with me. So I don't
see any Go figure. My smile cancan span 3000 miles.
Dustin Steffey (23:43):
I mean, I think that's the problem with today's
society, to be honest with you,everything that you had just
mentioned, is what I call softskills, right? Of course, it's
no secret, that technology hasbeen evolving and evolving and
evolving. And I even see thiswith my daughter, my daughter
does not have the same softskills that I do, does not talk
(24:06):
to people in the same way as Ido. Because she's grown up with
a phone in her hand or a tabletor internet or whatever the case
may be. So I think a lot of theissues that entrepreneurs and
businesses and even employeesand employers have is the fact
(24:26):
that we aren't as good at thesoft skills anymore as we used
to be like back in 1960. Rightthere. There are no handshake
deals anymore or good faith.
It's all like, show me yourcards, or my data can disprove
you or whatever the case may be.
There's none of thatpersonalization anymore. And I
(24:48):
think that that's so criticallyimportant. I know for me, as
chopping wood fire gets bigger,I know I'm going to have at some
point a staff at Some point,whatever the case may be, I want
to be able to be personable withthem, I want to be able to make
sure they enjoy the job thatthey're working, and that
(25:10):
they're growing and gainingvalue. And I sometimes feel
like, that's kind of thedisconnect these days is, what
value are people getting workingfor the companies that they're
working for? And morale, maybehis down, because people aren't
really, really diving into thedetails to keep people on with
(25:32):
personal stuff, you know?
Richard Blank (25:35):
I do. But I also believe that if you can get 1/10
of 1% of a certain industry, youcould be a millionaire. So
listen, I like people that likeme. And if someone's better, I
may not have the time for them.
I will see if I can readjust thetone. Don't blame me on what
happened on the last call. Andmaybe it's just a dog that likes
to bark. I'm okay with that.
(25:57):
Maybe someone likes to drop Fbombs and meetings. Fine. But I
tell you what, I'll allowsomebody to work with me a
certain way. But there'sabsolutely no way I will allow
an overzealous supervisor tostart cursing on the floor. I
know you do it in Chicago, wedon't do it here. And I don't
(26:18):
like when people write inuppercase letters. And it's
almost like they're yelling atyou or, or I've had some people
even do things in the color red.
They wrote in red, my call myclient go, yo Ryan writes in
red, you don't do things likethat. And so it's not good. And
so things that happen back homemay not work here. And so as I
say before, you have tounderstand the Costa Rican
(26:40):
culture, and realize that porvida, pure life is our mindset
here. We're exceptionallytalented. But then again, we're
peaceful. And that's going tocome over the phone. And so, you
know, it's kind of fun, he does.
And I'll actually reject moreclients than I accept. It's not
that I don't want the business.
But it might just not be rightfit for the Costa Rican agent.
(27:02):
And I tried to explain that. Andso I can live with myself
ethically, by default. It'salmost like I'm pushing it away.
And sometimes you're like,Richard, even with all those
bombs, I still want to work withyou I go, that's just not going
to do it. Because as much as Iput the ads out there, you might
have an attrition, as much asyou would have a list that's a
(27:22):
size of 400 numbers, I'm goingto burn through that within a
day on a predictive dialer,milking it on manual dialing
three. But that's not enough fora month where the work and you
keep talking about morale forthe agent, you need to put gas
in that car. And you got to havea certain balance of them, or
they'll burn out or getfrustrated with you. It's very
labor intensive. And there's aton of investments that we make
(27:44):
in them. And so, once again, Ithink that entrepreneurs that
are younger should keep an openmind and not be afraid to ask
questions. I myself if I may. Igrew up in the 70s and 80s. But
my speaking influence came frommuch earlier than that I I used
(28:06):
to enjoy Basil Rathbone andJeremy Brett to BBC actors that
had amazing rhetorical delivery.
As Sherlock Holmes, I rememberRemington Steele and, and Dirk
Benedict is Faceman on the 18th.
Templeton pack. And so peopletoday, if they need to study
certain sort of deliveries,those are the ones that I chose.
(28:29):
They were old school cool beforethe technology. And they really
did their due diligence inregards to their delivery and
their strategy and diplomacy.
And that's my style. And sothere's nothing wrong with
listening and practicing andborrowing somebody's
transitional sentence, in youropinion that that was done
(28:53):
perfectly. And someone that's sowell practice and well versed.
It's okay to share or colleaguesof speech. In fact, what you're
doing us is incredible, you'rereaching 10s of 1000s. In fact,
your work is so good. I wroteyou and said you're the man and
may I come on the show. Andthere's so many people out there
(29:14):
you have even met yet and willnever meet that you've
influenced. And that sort ofbutterfly effect can go a long
way. And so, you know, really,I'm thinking about paying it
forward. And I always thinkabout the good coaches, bosses,
teachers and friends that I had.
That said, Go Richard go.
(29:36):
Because at the end of the day,my friend, you're on your own
forced march, as many people whomay cheer you on the sideline.
Dude, you're in the game withthe ball and there's nothing you
can do. And mommy can't make aphone call for you and your
buddy can throw down a 20 andget you out of it. It's all on
you. And as long as you put yourchest out, shoulders back and
(29:57):
chin up and you do the things IAs you were raised by your
grandparents, and you have thefull faith in yourself, then by
all means, go for it. And Ithink this chances are in your
favor.
Dustin Steffey (30:14):
You brought up something that I can relate
with, which is everyone that'sbeen in my corner from grade
school all the way up until now,the whole reason and the whole
point that I started this wasbecause I wanted to give back
where I got my education, whatI'm able to provide and
influence individuals in a way,or a manner that helps them. And
(30:38):
I think that that's so superimportant. And I think it's also
important to pay homage to whereyour roots are and where you
came from. And I'm not talkingabout just my parents or
grandparents, because we allknow like some people, including
myself, have had a roughupbringing. But what about the
people that were around for myrough upbringing, that propped
me up instead of me, proppingmyself down? You know, so I
(31:04):
agree with you and kind ofeverything in every aspect that
you had brought up with that. SoI just wanted you to know that
and I'm sure, with every episodeyou've listened to you kind of
have an idea of where I comefrom. So
Richard Blank (31:18):
Oh, yeah, I pay forward because I believe in
chivalry. And besides my familyand friends, I also have a very
strong loyalty to my highschool. If it weren't for that
college recommendation letterfrom the late principal, Norman
Schmidt, I would have nevergotten into Arizona, my grades
were not that good. I was justvery active in sports and, and
student government. But I'vebeen giving a Second Language
(31:40):
Scholarship for the past sixyears for graduating senior
second language so I can pay fortheir books freshman year. And I
was asked to be the 68thinduction National Honor
Society, keynote speaker aswell. And this is a kid that did
not get honor grades. And soit's a spiritual thing. I'm
(32:03):
doing this for not only myclassmates, but it's the
tradition that came before me.
And the fact that I'm that sortof man that did not break that
sort of loyalty and commitment,and really tries to bring people
together and get so excited forthings and it's not like I'm
living vicariously through highschool, what do you expect, I
was the class partier and hadthe best time in my entire life.
(32:25):
I'm keeping that period ofmiles, and a dime, Gozzo and
treasured. But it also propelledme into other areas of my life
and other chapters. And if itweren't for that, there's, I
believe in nature versusnurture. And so I have to, as
you say, give homage and saythank you 1000 times, success is
(32:45):
built on a million thank yous.
And I don't know how much more Ican do for people to show my
appreciation without begging ordoing something, I still want to
keep that honor. And, and I'mcool with that. I like things
(33:05):
like that. And I encourage mypeers and my classmates who have
been successful in their owncareers that have done podcasts
or become doctors and attorneysor have had things published or
have raised beautiful families.
I love it. And I and I'm thefirst one to write things and
make phone calls. And, and I'malso the kind of friend that
calls not to ask for anythingjust to see how you're doing. I
(33:28):
don't need anything from you.
I'll just go and say, Hey,Dustin, what's up, man? How you
been, though. And those are truefriends. Those are friends that
call when the cameras are off.
And those are the friends thatremember details about yourself,
and are interested in your life.
And that love you sincerely, andno questions asked will take
(33:51):
your phone call. And those arethe greatest people I've ever
met. And I was very fortunategrowing up where it was to find
those kinds of people that hadthat sort of commitment towards
one another at such a young age.
And they were tough. And theywere great in athletics, and
they fell in love and we wereconfident and cocky and we had
(34:11):
our Northeast Philly thing. Andwhatever that special sauces
that I got, it enabled me totake this smile, this
personality and this bravadointernationally and be very,
very well received.
Dustin Steffey (34:32):
I know you're not distant while you are
distant because you're in CostaRica. But I know you're not
distant to what's going on inbusiness today and something
that we had brought up in thepast, like 20 minutes ago,
right? was the fact that moraleis down in some of these
businesses and there are unhappyemployees and all of these
(34:56):
negatives which I don't want toI don't want to be negative My
question for you is actually onthe positive side of things.
Sure, what? First and foremost,what do you think some of these
businesses opportunities arebased off of what you're seeing?
And how would you if you hadadvice, how would you do things
differently, kind of like whatyou're doing when you run your
(35:18):
own business, to create morale?
That is, it just create anenvironment where people want to
come and work, they want to comeand work and produce whatever
needs to be done to besuccessful.
Richard Blank (35:34):
I can only speak for myself, and I'll get to my
own company culture, for sure.
Other people have to pay theirdues. And I don't know what
anyone is expecting for DaddyWarbucks to walk out of his
office, pat you on the head andsay, great job, and I appreciate
your compliment earlier about mebeing a boss. I'm just old
school man, I like to high fivepeople on my sports team. But
why don't we do this in Spanish,there's an expression por lo
(35:56):
Manos, which means at least atevery job I had, I was selective
of the jobs that I had withTelemundo and Barton beers and
selling Corona. But that's notthe point. I had leverage. I was
marketable. So I could choose Ijust didn't have to go work
somewhere. But also, there wereother jobs. And I'm not going to
mention certain names. I was awaiter a couple times and I had
to do other things. And I had mymoments of clarity. But I also
(36:19):
said, If I can't master thislevel, how am I going to get to
the next level? If I can't showup on time other than other
people? How am I going to get tothe next level? So I was I was
trying to get a lot of firstdowns to get touchdown. And even
though I'm making $10 an hour,the experience I'm getting could
be worth $100 An hour later.
(36:40):
What do you mean, Richard willlook at me now by working at
Corona, beer and Telemundo anddoing that grunt work, and
following up with emails orprior to that, phone calls, and
visiting people, and showing upto the office at the ready and
taking notes and taking notes.
You want to hear a funny story.
(37:03):
The first job I had postgraduatewith Frontier Communications. I
was selling broadcast faxing,and domestic rates against ATT,
MCI and Sprint. No, I wasn't Iwas going to southwest Phenix
and doing international racewhere I was crushing it. I was
doing exceptionally well. I evensold a T one for anyone in the
industry. But my story is abouttaking notes. I had no idea some
(37:26):
of this technology and I wassitting there one day and my
supervisor Bob was tellingeverybody the 10 of us what
broadcast faxes and that faxmachines had analog and
monologue settings depending onyour phone. Do you remember that
back in the day? And so whatwould happen was this one guy
Rob was on this deal. And he wastrying to show how to do
(37:48):
broadcast faxing. And forsomething happened at the last
minute. It didn't work kind oflike when they do these Apple
presentations, you know, infront of people. And so I turned
to page seven Aiko, did you putit in mono? The analog, and the
boss looks at me. He goes, Welldone, Richard. Yeah, well done.
Richard. I had no clue what Iwas. But after that, I talked
about it. You know, 25 yearslater. What did I do? I took
(38:12):
notes I showed up on time Ilearned people's names. I didn't
do backstabbing, I earned itthrough merit. I made my phone
calls. I was a good kid. Ifsomeone got a deal, I
congratulated. I knocked on thedoor of my supervisor and ask
clarification questions. Istayed late not because it's
because I was making phone callsto set up for the following day.
Don't you get it? If you pass bymy office, and you see me here
(38:35):
on a Saturday night, it's notbecause I'm behind gotcha golf.
I'm two weeks ahead. I'm wayahead. And so those are the
kinds of things that you see insomebody, you have no idea what
their dedicated practice is, youhave no idea what it takes for
me to be successful. I make itlook easy. It is easy. But when
(38:57):
you're building buildings, ittakes a lot of bricks and it
takes time. And so the greatestthing for somebody to do is just
have foundations, do all thebasics that were taught to you
know your manners, and realizeyour common sense. If your
intuition is kicking in, saysomething to somebody, oh, if
(39:20):
you have the luxury of time,then why don't you write a draft
and not send it? Why don't yousleep on it and make the phone
call the next day? Becausethere's a very good chance you
might have overextendedyourself. You might be able to
readjust your tone. And you cansee where the priorities are.
I've been able to save businessrelationships, people have saved
(39:41):
Thanksgiving dinners and evenworst case scenarios marriages
by listening by literallyunderstanding and there are
certain you can fall on certainswords. For an example, if your
dog is barking on a phone call,and I literally can't hear you
And it's killing the callinadvertently and passive
(40:03):
aggressively, I'm going to askyour dog's name, what breed it
is, and how old is your puppy,you'll get the head, we'll talk
about your dog for a little bit.
And that's a great way for me toanchor something that's a me to
technique, then you'll usuallycome back and ask my name, again
for clarification and named dropme the rest of the call. If
people are not in the now dos,and they're jumping ahead for
(40:25):
the future, the past, they'regonna miss that you're on a 10
minute call, it just took onesecond to hear that dog barking.
And that's the sort of thingthat could have angered me to
get you the upsell to be able toclose this deal. And so that's
the sort of thing that we dohere. I need somebody to be
balanced, I need somebody tobreathe. And when I listen to
(40:50):
your phone calls, and we discussyour KPIs and your coaching and
training, you said it best, Ipay you to confirm your email
address and to talk about my myproducts. Dustin has a frickin
genius was talking about softskills, bedside manner, this
sort of thing, as you know, isworth 10 times more than what
(41:11):
you're pitching. And that'swhere I give the most points if
if the client says your name andthe body of the call, not the
introduction or the conclusion,but if you can land that anchor
in the middle of the call bydoing a confirmation question
falling on those swords forclarification, to not do rabbit
holes and and adjust tones I am.
(41:36):
I like stalking open endedquestions for people because
sometimes people desert pitchesjust go through a whole list
without any reinforcement. Andknows that the sort of things
that you need to pause and makecamp from time to time, people
may react with a sound withtyping with clicking with a
noise. You know, when you'rewhen you eliminate three of your
(42:00):
senses on a phone called us yourtaste, touch and smell, you
should expand your hearing fine.
But a lot of my class will arguewith me in regards to site on
the phone and and I believe inImage Streaming, I believe in
metaphysics, I believe indescriptions and imagination.
There's nothing wrong withmaking your speech more
(42:20):
colorful. So you become apainting instead of print. Can
this be taught? Everyone's gotit in them. But the moment
you're not afraid to walk acrossthe eighth, eighth grade dance
floor and ask that girl todance. You're the man. And I
need these people to break thatsort of final 10% demon that
(42:42):
they have that is holding themback. And then they can change
that head from a negative to apositive and live in a sort of
whoo way. No resistancephilosophy. Don't be surprised
if their numbers don't gothrough the roof. They're making
(43:03):
a fortune.
Dustin Steffey (43:08):
The devil is in the details. That's the biggest
piece of advice that I've gottenfrom being born all the way up
until now. And he justsolidified that in 45 minutes,
pretty much in my opinion. Soit's, it's all about how you
approach things. And it's allabout how you use the soft
(43:30):
skills that I know everybodyhas. But they blatantly don't
use sometimes right? To createthat door
Richard Blank (43:37):
or the don't wanna use them. They're in a bad
mood that they got to snap outof it. Yeah, it's like a boxer.
Remember Chuck Wepner verseOllie Rocky. Yeah, he literally
almost made he did go thedistance. But in the 50 the God,
something happened. How do yougo 14 and 15 and a half rounds
perfectly. What happened in that15 rounds without one second
(44:01):
that I lead took advantage ofand got him down. Because he was
doing it minute by minute.
Second by second and round byround this guy was more focus
more are laser focused thananything in his entire life. And
if people can focus on 32nd totwo minute intervals there,
there might be a better controlthere.
Dustin Steffey (44:23):
I agree. 100%.
So now, since we're nearing theend of our time, I do want to
bring up something important. Wegot two more things. The first
thing is, is we kind of alludedto it right? You are the CEO of
your call center in Costa Rica.
Let's talk about what you do.
Richard Blank (44:45):
We are a bilingual nearshore dedicated
Call Center currently 150 agentslike about 300 of my location.
So very my 15th year February 6.
It's a competitive industry butit's a beautiful industry. I
still believe in the art ofspeech. We work in campaigns
that deal with outbound leadgeneration appointment setting
sales, inbound customer store,back office support. I have a
(45:06):
CTO of floor manager, humanresources director, accountants,
attorneys. I needed people toassist me to grow. I couldn't do
it all on my own. These areexperts here. And I have that
leap of faith. That's fine. Mywife Grace per bone. And I, we
started this together. And so Imight be the owner. But she's
(45:27):
the boss. Remember thatgentleman? But I love what I do.
Is it a grind? Well, so iseverything just like Sisyphus
pushing that rock up the hill?
Nothing's easy. Why do you thinkdiamonds and gold are deep
underground, and you got totravel so far to the stars. And
(45:49):
I knew that if I could conquerSpanish, I could almost do
anything else. And to answeryour question about this, about
this business environment, thesedays I It could happen and
anything could happen. And Ikind of see my life like Zorba
the Greek, I'm willing to put myarms out and dance on the beach,
if my fishing boat happens tosing. If I had closed one deal
(46:10):
for one week, it would have beennor have more than enough to
last me the rest of my life. Andthe fact that I've come this
far, and I have enough money topay for enough dinners for the
rest of my life, I'm, I haveenough acorns to last winters.
So I don't have that sort ofpressure anymore. So really, if
(46:31):
you can get to this sort ofstage in life, that the best
thing for you to do in in thisbusiness just to pay it forward.
But I don't want people to burnout, I want to give them clean
campaigns, I want to focus ontheir QA, so they become more
marketable and better. And I tryto promote people as much as I
can in this industry. And if youcan record yourself, and you can
(46:53):
write and you can listen toyourself, besides work, you
should have some of the bestrelationships possible. And just
by being in this industry, whichis so focused on on your vocal
skills and being glib andclever, as a match made in
heaven, I was able to use thingsoutward outside of the office to
have some best friends and abeautiful life. And so maybe I
(47:16):
gravitated towards this. Maybeit was my vision, quest and
destiny that brought me here.
You tell me some six year oldthat tells her Mommy didn't want
to be a telemarketer, let alonea CEO of a call center. And
nobody does. I wanted to be afire man. But I'm glad I left my
castle slayed a dragon, save theprincess and became a prince, my
brother, I had my adventure. Idid it. And I did it my way.
(47:40):
Maybe I was a little selfish. Ihad to get past certain
pressures and guilt andexpectations. But at the end of
the day, at the end of the day,Dustin, I lived my life. And I
did it well. And at the end ofthe day, the family's proud of
you too. They might have notunderstood it. They expected
(48:03):
other things. But if my greatgrandfather came to the United
States at the turn of the 20thlearned English and was in the
garment industry in New York,came from Russia and Romania.
Why can I do the same, justskipped a couple generations.
And I'm going south because theweather's better. But it's in
our blood, my man, we're nomads,we needed that adventure. And if
(48:27):
I didn't have that, I don'tthink I'd be able to look in the
mirror, give myself five andrespect myself for the rest of
my life.
Dustin Steffey (48:39):
And for my listeners i As you can tell, I
enjoy my conversation withRichard because he's very
articulate one two, he's he'sbeen through a lot. And three,
he just said a key thing that Ibelieve in which is we we aren't
we aren't bound to what ourparents or grandparents or
(49:00):
whatever did we're bound to whatwe make of life. And Richard's
made quite a life for himself,doing what he does best. And
yeah, I agree. At six year yearsold, I didn't say I was going to
be an influencer or a podcast,podcast owner or any of that
stuff. I wanted to be a sportsagent. Well, I fell a little
(49:23):
short of that. But I still amdoing some similar stuff to what
they do, which is talking withpeople relating with people
giving information to people tohelp them be the better version
of themselves.
Richard Blank (49:36):
Exactly. That's why we're here today my man.
Dustin Steffey (49:39):
Yeah, I mean, I couldn't ask for anything
better. I do have one morething. And I do this with
everyone. Of course one bigpiece of advice that you would
leave to my listeners. Whatwould that be?
Richard Blank (49:51):
Just don't be so hard on yourself. Fortune favors
the brain. Patience is a virtueyou want many coaches six other
things but I also believe Ibelieve in me time. Listen, I do
pinball marathons on Sunday, Idrive my convertible to work
listening to in excess. And Ihit the gym every day. I need
(50:12):
Richard time. If I can't find mybalance and center, how can I
extend that energy to others.
And so make your bed Eat Wellrest. Tell those, you love that
you love them very much. And tryto live a beautiful life you
only get one and you only get100 years and I'm halfway there.
So let's see what happens in thesecond half.
Dustin Steffey (50:35):
There's nowhere to go but up in the second half
in my opinion.
Richard Blank (50:39):
I can't get any Balder wherever you're gonna go
Dustin Steffey (50:43):
that hey, listen, we're gonna make that
second half work. I'm I'm, let'ssee, I'm in the second quarter
of the half right now. So,exactly. Well, Richard, I
enjoyed my time with you. I'msure my listeners have enjoyed
listening to this. So Iappreciate you coming on. And of
course, appreciate all thewisdom that you've given to us
today.
Richard Blank (51:03):
Thanks, my brother. I'm a huge fan of you
and chopping with fire and I'mgoing to continue to listen to
you and all of your guests.
Dustin Steffey (51:11):
I appreciate that my friend. Thank you for
coming on. And I look forward toactually having you again
probably for a repeat to behonest
Richard Blank (51:18):
with you. My pleasure. I got tons of things
to talk about.
Dustin Steffey (51:21):
Me too. We can talk forever. So thank you
again. I appreciate that.
Richard Blank (51:26):
You got it, my man. Have a great day. You too.
Welcome Chop nation to another new week,
which you all know what thatmeans. Another new exciting
episode. I missed you guys. Iknow it's only been a week but
I'm excited to dive right intoit introduce our new guest
speaker and to provide relevantinformation so you all know what
that means. Let's chop it upWelcome to your top rated global
(00:27):
podcast that is your one stopshop for everything
entrepreneurship, selfdevelopment, and smart
investment decisions. Thispodcast is hosted by owner Dr.
And creator Dustin Steffey wereblessed to have accolades that
include a 2022 nomination by thePeople's Podcast Awards, in the
(00:47):
category of business moneydonated to two amazing causes
cystic fibrosis, and the Boysand Girls Club. Lastly, global
recognition of gaining top 50podcast in four countries.
Without further ado, let's chopit up.
(01:14):
I do have an exciting guest on Ithink you guys are gonna love
him. He's very charismatic. He'sfun to be around. Let's
introduce him in so I have theCEO of Costa Rica call center.
And before you guys startsaying, oh, call center guy.
Let's Let's give him a chance.
All right. He also has thelargest pinball collection in
(01:34):
Costa Rica. So if you all likepinball, you're gonna love this
guy. And then he did get his BSdegree from the University of
Arizona. I am going todefinitely ask him how he got a
degree from the University ofArizona considering all the cute
girls that are there when I wasthere last so Richard Blanc,
welcome to our show, my friend.
Richard Blank (01:57):
So happy to be here today. Can't wait to be
chopping with fire insurance,some great ideas with you and
your audience.
Dustin Steffey (02:03):
Absolutely. It's going to be fun. But first and
foremost, how the hell did yougraduate from the University of
Arizona with all the beauty overthere all the everything over
there? I mean, you know, it's alot.
Richard Blank (02:16):
The main thing is how did I get into the
University of Arizona if itwasn't for avington Senior High
School given me a collegerecommendation letter, there's
no way I would have been able toget into that university. And so
what I've done is I doubled downon my favorite class, which was
Spanish. And when I moved out toArizona, I decided to also be a
communication major. I focusedon rhetoric, public speaking and
(02:40):
nonverbal communication. Andcombining those skills. I landed
a job with Telemundo duringcollege as an intern and post
grad with Corona beer. And thenat 27 years old, my good friend,
I was given a one in a millionopportunity to move to Costa
Rica. And here we are today.
Dustin Steffey (02:57):
And you sure as heck took it, which is awesome.
So I mean, Spanish I flew. Itook Spanish from kindergarten
all the way through my undergradmyself. I studied abroad in
Torino, Italy. And I alsostudied abroad in San Sebastian.
So yeah, I have some traveladventures. I definitely got
(03:18):
saved when I got back homebecause the cultures are so
different. But we're waitingfast paced here compared to
where I've been. So
Richard Blank (03:29):
I figured this out as a young man. You know, a
lot of the times you might haveopinions that are provided for
you and pressures in regards tochoosing your career. And I
didn't go to Harvard Law likegrandpa, I didn't go to Columbia
Business like Potts. And Ididn't go to Washington and Lee
like my older brother. So Ididn't have the structure,
discipline or the maturity. Butthis one I did have, I had the
(03:50):
drive. And I knew that languagescould open doors for me, I it
came naturally to me, I had thefidelity so I studied it and did
the dedicated practice outsideof class. So obviously I was I
was growing. And I knew that ifI was the only one out of 20 of
my friends that was bilingual,there is a very good chance that
(04:11):
could translate for an attorney,speak for a doctor and read
contracts. I saw the advantageand there was also a huge
positive reinforcement, All theworld's a stage. So every day
when I left, I could go outsideand speak with people and have
fun and ask what words were andit really just from movies and
music, to books, to justeverything you couldn't help but
(04:33):
continue to grow this skill. Andso I tripled down on it. I
wanted to earn a living from it.
And I believe that if you canget past your parents guilt, and
you can live life with honorableintentions, then by all means
you should have the grit to gofor it. And I don't regret a
single day.
Dustin Steffey (04:53):
You know, it's funny because as I was growing
up, I feel the same sentimentlanguages are important. like
English, for me, obviously is myprimary, right. But I know how
to speak for other languages aswell, too, because I saw the
importance of understandingthem. And I use some of that in
all of my businesses, to behonest with you. So I think it's
(05:16):
a scalable skill. That'simportant. And if you have a
passion to learn it, you shouldlearn it.
Richard Blank (05:23):
Of course, but how about this, I'm a guest in
this country, Dustin, and I'm3000 miles away from you and my
mother. So the things that Ihold important in Philadelphia,
in Arizona really sometimesdon't have any importance here.
It's really about your essence.
And we spoke prior to jumping ona podcast about keeping an open
mind, and respecting differenttraditions and cultures. And
(05:44):
even though I might have aslight accent, I believe that
anyone that speaks languages,bears the mark of higher
education. So I was able toinitially, really show good
faith, really show my intentionsto understand where somebody
else was coming from. And, andI'm the kind of person that
likes to talk last, to where,you know, I like to really know
(06:06):
about more people. So I canbecome better friends with you.
And that's the most importantthing. And so this really has
been keeping me on my toes, I'venever lived a more enriched
life, every day is new for me.
And it's very humbling. The factthat I'm celebrating a 15th year
(06:27):
in business and an extremelycompetitive industry. I've had
people with me over a decade.
And having that sort ofreinforcement. And people that
are encouraging me to continue.
I must be doing the right thing.
I I follow labor laws, I extendempathy and dignity. And I tried
to do my utmost to try to be thebest boss they ever had. And to
(06:54):
be a mentor, my goal is to bethe last boss they ever have.
And what's interesting, Dustinis the first day prior to going
into any training class, I putthem into my arcade. So they
start with recess and dessertfirst. And I ask you a question,
how many owners of a company doyou know that have worked with
you, and about 10% Raise. And Isay that's a shame for them, but
(07:15):
a benefit for you. Because youdo deserve this, you deserve
this sort of momentum and windin your sails. And don't put me
on a pedestal where I know yourname. I mean, I'm just a man.
And then the kind of thing iswhere I put my pants on the same
as everybody else. And so if youcan reduce any sort of fear,
(07:38):
because it's a morbidanticipation is something that
hasn't happened yet. Anycampaign is 10 times easier in
the learning a second language.
But why fear may? If you're notbreaking the law, why are you
afraid of a cop? You're notcheating on a test? Why? Why
fear a teacher. And if you'recoming to work, Dustin Pena at
the ready, on time, eager tolearn, and for me to delegate,
(08:00):
so I can extend my branches androutes and grow with you. This
is not playtime anymore. This isnot kindergarten, you're making
power moves now. And I take thissort of career and this early
20s stage of their lives in avery delicate way. With leverage
my friend, you could hire firemake or break. I prefer the
(08:23):
former. And with that leverage,all I want to do is increase
your self confidence. And Dustinyour self reliance that I
believe is the best leaders.
Dustin Steffey (08:33):
See, and that that's that's some good stuff
right there. Because watch this,we all know that we've worked
for someone where we'veabsolutely disliked it right.
And it makes us less likely toperform. In my opinion. I know,
I have a bunch of friends thatwe've talked about, like our
(08:55):
different jobs, we've talkedabout the different managers,
we've talked about the differentbosses, and the most common
pattern that I see is in a worldof constant change. And the job
roles changing and piling onmore work and whatever are out
tends to take a dip and nobody'saddressing it in and you're an
(09:19):
anomaly my friend. So let's,let's let's put your pedestal to
the side for a sec. You're ananomaly, right? Like you are
what everybody dreams of havingas a boss owner, whatever, you
know, but the reality is, andthe reason why people are going
into entrepreneurship right nowis they're tired of working for
(09:40):
the man. They're tired ofworking for other people.
They're tired of doing someoneelse's job chasing someone
else's dream and making theirdreams a reality wall. This this
employee is just hitting a deadend, right? And so that's kind
of a it's kind of a big deal andI Uh, you hit a couple of these
(10:01):
points. But what I was going towhat I was going to lead into
was obviously, we're anentrepreneurship podcast. So
what made you? And what sparkedyou to open up your own business
and go into entrepreneurship?
And how did you to add on tothat? How did you develop and
who you are today? How did youdevelop into knowing what your
people need, getting to knowthem all that stuff to create
(10:25):
this sort of success track thatyou have? We will be right back
after a quick break. Hello, chopnation, I hope all of you are
enjoying the guests and contentwe share weekly. Now, I need a
favor from all of you. There's aton that goes into making it
successful podcast. And most ofthis can't be done without your
(10:47):
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Richard Blank (11:27):
These allow me to zig and zag and give you a
supreme pizza. Versus you usethe word for no I believe in the
word with someone who works withme it's synergy. So if I can't
even start there, there's noroundtable that's number one.
Number two, I believe in theChucky Cheese philosophy. No one
shows up at your birthday party,guess who has no friends. The
(11:49):
people have leverage, you cankeep pushing that morale low and
keep bending until they break.
But the market speaks. Peoplecan always quit. And in my
industry, Amazon is here HP,Intel an Oracle so I'm going to
be hard the following day. Andso what happened? Let's let's
look at this in a very realisticway. I have more natural
(12:10):
attrition Dawson than thenforced attrition. Listen, if if
Billy is not coming to work ontime and Joey's getting stoned
at lunch and Bobby is just notmaking his calls for labor law.
I'm gonna have to cut you fromthe team. I am accountable for
this. But let's talk naturalattrition. Let's say there's a
scheduling conflict fewUniversity How about if your
(12:31):
boyfriend or girlfriend workssomewhere you might want to work
there could be closer to yourhome and transportation is
pretty big i i know there'shybrid, but some people still go
into an office for training. Andalso finally there are certain
certain centers that might bemore lucrative than mine. Let's
be realistic, they might have acampaign that that deals in
larger commission. And so butnobody will ever leave my call
(12:55):
center because I made them cry,I had to face them on the floor.
Worst case scenario gave them awalk of shame. We don't do
things like that here. I'veinvested in you, I believe in
you. If you don't give me twoweeks notice and you just bounce
that's on you. And I startedstrong with you, you could at
least give me the benefit of thedoubt. But I understand I it's
(13:16):
difficult sometimes in regardsto hiring and some people are
burned out. But let's just notgo there. What happens then,
then I'll call my clients withno surprises, I will make
suggestions. And then I willalso be able to solidify and
have a foundation in arelationship because character
is judged during chaos, you'rechopping with fire. Fire can be
(13:39):
used for warmth there can burnit depends on how you use it.
And so I'm not calling somebodyup happy with that news. But I I
run to that situation as quicklyas I can. Because the more time
that you use with it, the morefrustration and I'm a big boy,
now I have my impulse controland maturity but But getting
(14:01):
back to the people I invest intheir future, I let them know
that I just don't write checksfor any entrepreneur that would
like to start a company. It'sbest to know it from the ground
up even if you need to sweep thefloors first just to see how
long the rows are in a callcenter. And so for me, I sat in
the cubicles for four years Isaw the good and the bad, the
(14:23):
happy and the sad. I heard thegripes and I saw when people
were elated. I understood howmetrics could be reached. And
when people are asked for anunrealistic expectation. Or
possibly supervisors or ownersdo not extend any sort of
empathy or bedside mannerbecause there may be things
outside of the office that couldbe affecting your performance,
(14:45):
your beautiful daughter for anexample, if she's having a great
day you're bouncing on clouds.
If she said that breaks, itdied, and I can completely
understand that. And so ifsomebody wants the best out of
you, they need to know to you.
And prior to you, I need to knowme first. And I need to look in
the mirror, I need to make myown bed I need to work out I
(15:06):
need to show up on time. Becauseif I can't be the example, how
in God's name Can I ask thesepeople to do the same? But I do
give them some Philly guilt, Ido call the balls and strikes. I
just won't call you Chief, as ayo das and you did great. Last
Thursday, you got 14, what'sgoing on today? I know what you
can do. And so, you know, I'llcall you out on it because I
(15:27):
want you to win. And maybe I'mthe only mentor that ever did
it. Maybe I'm the only teacherthat told you that your tie is
crooked. Or even someone likemyself, like being an individual
that would that would reallyemphasize looking at the
Thesaurus so you can expand onyour similes, that you can work
on your vocabulary. So you avoidwords like help us like guide
(15:51):
asst lend a hand. These arethings that can adjust tones.
These are things that can besaid. And so I have a lot of
very astute and advanced tipsand tricks not for manipulation
for lying, but both forpreserving conversations for
allowing me to for 15 rounds tomake my case and then doesn't
(16:12):
from an educated point of view,my clients will make a decision
to either move or not moveforward with me.
Dustin Steffey (16:23):
So let's address let's address what we were
talking about in the beginning,which is sure, I'm sure my
listeners are like you work in acall center, you own a call
center. What What led you tothat and let's let's kind of
smash some assumptions on callcenters as well too, because I
sure as hell know how importantthey are. Because when I need
(16:45):
something done, or some help orsome tech help, I'm going to a
call center so I know howimportant they are. I just know
that today in this day and age,a lot of people just dislike
them and kind of have their ownpreconceived notion on them.
Sure,
Richard Blank (17:03):
every vertical has bad players, you might have
a bad dentist, a bad mechanic, abad restaurant, you know, might
get that bad experience andHollywood glamorizes The Wolf of
Wall Street and boiler roomGlengarry Glen Ross, the prime
gag, you name it, there's somany movies out there where
(17:24):
people are slinging stock. Well,listen, there's five campaigns
we don't do here. I don't docasinos, sportsbooks pharmacies,
sweepstakes or stocks. I've,I've nothing against it. But
this is a very strict Catholiccountry. So I want to ensure
that the agents can go home andtell their parents what they do
(17:44):
for a living. And I don'tcompromise my ethics values or
morals to earn $1. But today, alot of companies are preferring
omni channel, non voice support,filling out forms sending emails
chat, well, it's Layton, youmight be Miss communicating, and
(18:07):
increasing your frustration.
I've recommended even encouragedas strongly as I can to my
clients in the industry to stillkeep those channels of live into
personal communication. And I, Ican give you four very, very
good reasons why it's worth themoney. The first is you can get
an upsell. How about aretention? What about a
(18:28):
referral. And let's be big boyabout this worst case scenario,
Dustin, you're losing theclient. But they're kind enough
to give you an exit interview.
And so you might be losing $1today, but you could be earning
$20 In regards to the advicethat they give you, or what your
(18:50):
competition had done in order toearn their business. And so
there was a sort of things thatI take personal, of course, but
then again, the only way forself improvement is self
analysis. And if multiple peopleare saying something, and you
see a pattern that should beaddressed, and you can put your
ego so I just just try to lookat things in a certain way and
(19:11):
solve them. And so those are thesort of steps that I've taken
and for my own mental stability,so I can calm down I can land
the plane and so the hard upintense situations I have to be
able to manage with a levelhead.
Dustin Steffey (19:31):
So when you were 27 and you had the opportunity
to go to Costa Rica, where youalready under the assumption you
were going to own your ownbusiness and it was going to be
a call center and did it justlead to that?
Richard Blank (19:42):
Absolutely not my friend. I had no clue but I
didn't know this. I knewmomentum. I was bilingual and
Spanish barn door was openopportunity was there a good
friend of mine owned a callcenter. I wasn't going in sea
level. But it was very nice. Ihad a nice desk by a window with
a nice chair. As I was reallygreat, and my friend extended me
(20:03):
for years of employment where itwas only supposed to be 60 days,
but I never fought for somethingharder in my life when I walked
off the plane in Costa Rica,August 15 2000. Besides the
weather being beautiful, I fellin love. And when I went to the
call center for the first time,it's a very young environment.
This was even for cell phones,people were old enough. And so
(20:26):
you're working off old Ciscophones and excel sheets with
highlighter pens. But I saw someengaged engagement, I saw people
standing up and speaking I sawhigh fives I saw intense
concentration. I saw pride intheir work. Most people in the
United States see call centerwork and telemarketing as a
transitional job that they mightlook down upon it while in Costa
Rica if you're talented thatpays more than most vocation,
(20:48):
so, so Dustin, some of my agencyhere can earn more than doctors
and attorneys, and some of themeven have those titles. So what
did I say? misconceptions, I sawan extremely young environment,
I got the skin one last time, Iwas put in an environment where
it was not a forced fit. Sure, Ihad to learn what a CRM was a
(21:10):
Plantronics headset andunderstand metrics and KPIs and
scripts and rebuttals. Well,fine. That's, that's the, you
know, the tough part. The easypart for me was my personality.
And for most people, it's thereverse. What do I do I love to
(21:30):
name drop. I love to askclarifying questions. I love
transitional sentences. I loveusing personal pronouns to reset
tones by using your Rs, I cangive it a quarter second slide.
I was one of the cats that usedto use military alphabetic. When
I was prospecting, I used to doa company named spike. So I
would say the name of thecompany better than you and ask
(21:52):
how the company's doing, I wouldsnap you out of it, where you
would say, Oh, we're good.
Thanks. Or what are you selling?
Oh, no, I sounded like a mysteryshopper that belong there. And
then when I was properlyintroduced the gatekeeper, I
gave them a positive escalation.
So if Kathy transferred me toyou, prior to introducing
myself, I'd like to know howamazing he is. I'll do it
verbally. And I would also do itin writing. And then I would at
(22:15):
least put me at a foul pointpercentage compared to three
point or even half court. Andthen the Richard circle Dustin's
complete, because when I callyour company back chopping with
fire, and I'm happy to be back,Kathy just answered the phone
again, and remembers me, notonly remembers me, says,
Richard, in the five years I'vebeen working here, you're the
only one that mentioned the workthat I did. Not only that,
(22:35):
Richard, but I am going to giveyou a plethora of our company
culture, I'll give you hisdirect extension, his daughter's
birthday was going on here. Sowhen you custom make your
voicemail, you're right, thatemail, you might not even go to
the LinkedIn profile or thewebsite, you're getting all the
goodies. So they realize you'vedone your due diligence, that
(23:00):
you're really showing good faithprior to contact, and playing
those percentages, which couldbe repeated over and over again,
because it's authentic andsincere. It's beautiful. And so
most people when they calm down,they look at my credentials. And
from an educated point of view,after speaking with me a couple
of times in answering theirquestions and feeling my fire
(23:22):
that aside the throw their hatin the ring and move forward and
work with me. And it's beenbeautiful that way. I've only
seen about 20% of my clients 80%and worked with me. So I don't
see any Go figure. My smile cancan span 3000 miles.
Dustin Steffey (23:43):
I mean, I think that's the problem with today's
society, to be honest with you,everything that you had just
mentioned, is what I call softskills, right? Of course, it's
no secret, that technology hasbeen evolving and evolving and
evolving. And I even see thiswith my daughter, my daughter
does not have the same softskills that I do, does not talk
(24:06):
to people in the same way as Ido. Because she's grown up with
a phone in her hand or a tabletor internet or whatever the case
may be. So I think a lot of theissues that entrepreneurs and
businesses and even employeesand employers have is the fact
(24:26):
that we aren't as good at thesoft skills anymore as we used
to be like back in 1960. Rightthere. There are no handshake
deals anymore or good faith.
It's all like, show me yourcards, or my data can disprove
you or whatever the case may be.
There's none of thatpersonalization anymore. And I
(24:48):
think that that's so criticallyimportant. I know for me, as
chopping wood fire gets bigger,I know I'm going to have at some
point a staff at Some point,whatever the case may be, I want
to be able to be personable withthem, I want to be able to make
sure they enjoy the job thatthey're working, and that
(25:10):
they're growing and gainingvalue. And I sometimes feel
like, that's kind of thedisconnect these days is, what
value are people getting workingfor the companies that they're
working for? And morale, maybehis down, because people aren't
really, really diving into thedetails to keep people on with
(25:32):
personal stuff, you know?
Richard Blank (25:35):
I do. But I also believe that if you can get 1/10
of 1% of a certain industry, youcould be a millionaire. So
listen, I like people that likeme. And if someone's better, I
may not have the time for them.
I will see if I can readjust thetone. Don't blame me on what
happened on the last call. Andmaybe it's just a dog that likes
to bark. I'm okay with that.
(25:57):
Maybe someone likes to drop Fbombs and meetings. Fine. But I
tell you what, I'll allowsomebody to work with me a
certain way. But there'sabsolutely no way I will allow
an overzealous supervisor tostart cursing on the floor. I
know you do it in Chicago, wedon't do it here. And I don't
(26:18):
like when people write inuppercase letters. And it's
almost like they're yelling atyou or, or I've had some people
even do things in the color red.
They wrote in red, my call myclient go, yo Ryan writes in
red, you don't do things likethat. And so it's not good. And
so things that happen back homemay not work here. And so as I
say before, you have tounderstand the Costa Rican
(26:40):
culture, and realize that porvida, pure life is our mindset
here. We're exceptionallytalented. But then again, we're
peaceful. And that's going tocome over the phone. And so, you
know, it's kind of fun, he does.
And I'll actually reject moreclients than I accept. It's not
that I don't want the business.
But it might just not be rightfit for the Costa Rican agent.
(27:02):
And I tried to explain that. Andso I can live with myself
ethically, by default. It'salmost like I'm pushing it away.
And sometimes you're like,Richard, even with all those
bombs, I still want to work withyou I go, that's just not going
to do it. Because as much as Iput the ads out there, you might
have an attrition, as much asyou would have a list that's a
(27:22):
size of 400 numbers, I'm goingto burn through that within a
day on a predictive dialer,milking it on manual dialing
three. But that's not enough fora month where the work and you
keep talking about morale forthe agent, you need to put gas
in that car. And you got to havea certain balance of them, or
they'll burn out or getfrustrated with you. It's very
labor intensive. And there's aton of investments that we make
(27:44):
in them. And so, once again, Ithink that entrepreneurs that
are younger should keep an openmind and not be afraid to ask
questions. I myself if I may. Igrew up in the 70s and 80s. But
my speaking influence came frommuch earlier than that I I used
(28:06):
to enjoy Basil Rathbone andJeremy Brett to BBC actors that
had amazing rhetorical delivery.
As Sherlock Holmes, I rememberRemington Steele and, and Dirk
Benedict is Faceman on the 18th.
Templeton pack. And so peopletoday, if they need to study
certain sort of deliveries,those are the ones that I chose.
(28:29):
They were old school cool beforethe technology. And they really
did their due diligence inregards to their delivery and
their strategy and diplomacy.
And that's my style. And sothere's nothing wrong with
listening and practicing andborrowing somebody's
transitional sentence, in youropinion that that was done
(28:53):
perfectly. And someone that's sowell practice and well versed.
It's okay to share or colleaguesof speech. In fact, what you're
doing us is incredible, you'rereaching 10s of 1000s. In fact,
your work is so good. I wroteyou and said you're the man and
may I come on the show. Andthere's so many people out there
(29:14):
you have even met yet and willnever meet that you've
influenced. And that sort ofbutterfly effect can go a long
way. And so, you know, really,I'm thinking about paying it
forward. And I always thinkabout the good coaches, bosses,
teachers and friends that I had.
That said, Go Richard go.
(29:36):
Because at the end of the day,my friend, you're on your own
forced march, as many people whomay cheer you on the sideline.
Dude, you're in the game withthe ball and there's nothing you
can do. And mommy can't make aphone call for you and your
buddy can throw down a 20 andget you out of it. It's all on
you. And as long as you put yourchest out, shoulders back and
(29:57):
chin up and you do the things IAs you were raised by your
grandparents, and you have thefull faith in yourself, then by
all means, go for it. And Ithink this chances are in your
favor.
Dustin Steffey (30:14):
You brought up something that I can relate
with, which is everyone that'sbeen in my corner from grade
school all the way up until now,the whole reason and the whole
point that I started this wasbecause I wanted to give back
where I got my education, whatI'm able to provide and
influence individuals in a way,or a manner that helps them. And
(30:38):
I think that that's so superimportant. And I think it's also
important to pay homage to whereyour roots are and where you
came from. And I'm not talkingabout just my parents or
grandparents, because we allknow like some people, including
myself, have had a roughupbringing. But what about the
people that were around for myrough upbringing, that propped
me up instead of me, proppingmyself down? You know, so I
(31:04):
agree with you and kind ofeverything in every aspect that
you had brought up with that. SoI just wanted you to know that
and I'm sure, with every episodeyou've listened to you kind of
have an idea of where I comefrom. So
Richard Blank (31:18):
Oh, yeah, I pay forward because I believe in
chivalry. And besides my familyand friends, I also have a very
strong loyalty to my highschool. If it weren't for that
college recommendation letterfrom the late principal, Norman
Schmidt, I would have nevergotten into Arizona, my grades
were not that good. I was justvery active in sports and, and
student government. But I'vebeen giving a Second Language
(31:40):
Scholarship for the past sixyears for graduating senior
second language so I can pay fortheir books freshman year. And I
was asked to be the 68thinduction National Honor
Society, keynote speaker aswell. And this is a kid that did
not get honor grades. And soit's a spiritual thing. I'm
(32:03):
doing this for not only myclassmates, but it's the
tradition that came before me.
And the fact that I'm that sortof man that did not break that
sort of loyalty and commitment,and really tries to bring people
together and get so excited forthings and it's not like I'm
living vicariously through highschool, what do you expect, I
was the class partier and hadthe best time in my entire life.
(32:25):
I'm keeping that period ofmiles, and a dime, Gozzo and
treasured. But it also propelledme into other areas of my life
and other chapters. And if itweren't for that, there's, I
believe in nature versusnurture. And so I have to, as
you say, give homage and saythank you 1000 times, success is
(32:45):
built on a million thank yous.
And I don't know how much more Ican do for people to show my
appreciation without begging ordoing something, I still want to
keep that honor. And, and I'mcool with that. I like things
(33:05):
like that. And I encourage mypeers and my classmates who have
been successful in their owncareers that have done podcasts
or become doctors and attorneysor have had things published or
have raised beautiful families.
I love it. And I and I'm thefirst one to write things and
make phone calls. And, and I'malso the kind of friend that
calls not to ask for anythingjust to see how you're doing. I
(33:28):
don't need anything from you.
I'll just go and say, Hey,Dustin, what's up, man? How you
been, though. And those are truefriends. Those are friends that
call when the cameras are off.
And those are the friends thatremember details about yourself,
and are interested in your life.
And that love you sincerely, andno questions asked will take
(33:51):
your phone call. And those arethe greatest people I've ever
met. And I was very fortunategrowing up where it was to find
those kinds of people that hadthat sort of commitment towards
one another at such a young age.
And they were tough. And theywere great in athletics, and
they fell in love and we wereconfident and cocky and we had
(34:11):
our Northeast Philly thing. Andwhatever that special sauces
that I got, it enabled me totake this smile, this
personality and this bravadointernationally and be very,
very well received.
Dustin Steffey (34:32):
I know you're not distant while you are
distant because you're in CostaRica. But I know you're not
distant to what's going on inbusiness today and something
that we had brought up in thepast, like 20 minutes ago,
right? was the fact that moraleis down in some of these
businesses and there are unhappyemployees and all of these
(34:56):
negatives which I don't want toI don't want to be negative My
question for you is actually onthe positive side of things.
Sure, what? First and foremost,what do you think some of these
businesses opportunities arebased off of what you're seeing?
And how would you if you hadadvice, how would you do things
differently, kind of like whatyou're doing when you run your
(35:18):
own business, to create morale?
That is, it just create anenvironment where people want to
come and work, they want to comeand work and produce whatever
needs to be done to besuccessful.
Richard Blank (35:34):
I can only speak for myself, and I'll get to my
own company culture, for sure.
Other people have to pay theirdues. And I don't know what
anyone is expecting for DaddyWarbucks to walk out of his
office, pat you on the head andsay, great job, and I appreciate
your compliment earlier about mebeing a boss. I'm just old
school man, I like to high fivepeople on my sports team. But
why don't we do this in Spanish,there's an expression por lo
(35:56):
Manos, which means at least atevery job I had, I was selective
of the jobs that I had withTelemundo and Barton beers and
selling Corona. But that's notthe point. I had leverage. I was
marketable. So I could choose Ijust didn't have to go work
somewhere. But also, there wereother jobs. And I'm not going to
mention certain names. I was awaiter a couple times and I had
to do other things. And I had mymoments of clarity. But I also
(36:19):
said, If I can't master thislevel, how am I going to get to
the next level? If I can't showup on time other than other
people? How am I going to get tothe next level? So I was I was
trying to get a lot of firstdowns to get touchdown. And even
though I'm making $10 an hour,the experience I'm getting could
be worth $100 An hour later.
(36:40):
What do you mean, Richard willlook at me now by working at
Corona, beer and Telemundo anddoing that grunt work, and
following up with emails orprior to that, phone calls, and
visiting people, and showing upto the office at the ready and
taking notes and taking notes.
You want to hear a funny story.
(37:03):
The first job I had postgraduatewith Frontier Communications. I
was selling broadcast faxing,and domestic rates against ATT,
MCI and Sprint. No, I wasn't Iwas going to southwest Phenix
and doing international racewhere I was crushing it. I was
doing exceptionally well. I evensold a T one for anyone in the
industry. But my story is abouttaking notes. I had no idea some
(37:26):
of this technology and I wassitting there one day and my
supervisor Bob was tellingeverybody the 10 of us what
broadcast faxes and that faxmachines had analog and
monologue settings depending onyour phone. Do you remember that
back in the day? And so whatwould happen was this one guy
Rob was on this deal. And he wastrying to show how to do
(37:48):
broadcast faxing. And forsomething happened at the last
minute. It didn't work kind oflike when they do these Apple
presentations, you know, infront of people. And so I turned
to page seven Aiko, did you putit in mono? The analog, and the
boss looks at me. He goes, Welldone, Richard. Yeah, well done.
Richard. I had no clue what Iwas. But after that, I talked
about it. You know, 25 yearslater. What did I do? I took
(38:12):
notes I showed up on time Ilearned people's names. I didn't
do backstabbing, I earned itthrough merit. I made my phone
calls. I was a good kid. Ifsomeone got a deal, I
congratulated. I knocked on thedoor of my supervisor and ask
clarification questions. Istayed late not because it's
because I was making phone callsto set up for the following day.
Don't you get it? If you pass bymy office, and you see me here
(38:35):
on a Saturday night, it's notbecause I'm behind gotcha golf.
I'm two weeks ahead. I'm wayahead. And so those are the
kinds of things that you see insomebody, you have no idea what
their dedicated practice is, youhave no idea what it takes for
me to be successful. I make itlook easy. It is easy. But when
(38:57):
you're building buildings, ittakes a lot of bricks and it
takes time. And so the greatestthing for somebody to do is just
have foundations, do all thebasics that were taught to you
know your manners, and realizeyour common sense. If your
intuition is kicking in, saysomething to somebody, oh, if
(39:20):
you have the luxury of time,then why don't you write a draft
and not send it? Why don't yousleep on it and make the phone
call the next day? Becausethere's a very good chance you
might have overextendedyourself. You might be able to
readjust your tone. And you cansee where the priorities are.
I've been able to save businessrelationships, people have saved
(39:41):
Thanksgiving dinners and evenworst case scenarios marriages
by listening by literallyunderstanding and there are
certain you can fall on certainswords. For an example, if your
dog is barking on a phone call,and I literally can't hear you
And it's killing the callinadvertently and passive
(40:03):
aggressively, I'm going to askyour dog's name, what breed it
is, and how old is your puppy,you'll get the head, we'll talk
about your dog for a little bit.
And that's a great way for me toanchor something that's a me to
technique, then you'll usuallycome back and ask my name, again
for clarification and named dropme the rest of the call. If
people are not in the now dos,and they're jumping ahead for
(40:25):
the future, the past, they'regonna miss that you're on a 10
minute call, it just took onesecond to hear that dog barking.
And that's the sort of thingthat could have angered me to
get you the upsell to be able toclose this deal. And so that's
the sort of thing that we dohere. I need somebody to be
balanced, I need somebody tobreathe. And when I listen to
(40:50):
your phone calls, and we discussyour KPIs and your coaching and
training, you said it best, Ipay you to confirm your email
address and to talk about my myproducts. Dustin has a frickin
genius was talking about softskills, bedside manner, this
sort of thing, as you know, isworth 10 times more than what
(41:11):
you're pitching. And that'swhere I give the most points if
if the client says your name andthe body of the call, not the
introduction or the conclusion,but if you can land that anchor
in the middle of the call bydoing a confirmation question
falling on those swords forclarification, to not do rabbit
holes and and adjust tones I am.
(41:36):
I like stalking open endedquestions for people because
sometimes people desert pitchesjust go through a whole list
without any reinforcement. Andknows that the sort of things
that you need to pause and makecamp from time to time, people
may react with a sound withtyping with clicking with a
noise. You know, when you'rewhen you eliminate three of your
(42:00):
senses on a phone called us yourtaste, touch and smell, you
should expand your hearing fine.
But a lot of my class will arguewith me in regards to site on
the phone and and I believe inImage Streaming, I believe in
metaphysics, I believe indescriptions and imagination.
There's nothing wrong withmaking your speech more
(42:20):
colorful. So you become apainting instead of print. Can
this be taught? Everyone's gotit in them. But the moment
you're not afraid to walk acrossthe eighth, eighth grade dance
floor and ask that girl todance. You're the man. And I
need these people to break thatsort of final 10% demon that
(42:42):
they have that is holding themback. And then they can change
that head from a negative to apositive and live in a sort of
whoo way. No resistancephilosophy. Don't be surprised
if their numbers don't gothrough the roof. They're making
(43:03):
a fortune.
Dustin Steffey (43:08):
The devil is in the details. That's the biggest
piece of advice that I've gottenfrom being born all the way up
until now. And he justsolidified that in 45 minutes,
pretty much in my opinion. Soit's, it's all about how you
approach things. And it's allabout how you use the soft
(43:30):
skills that I know everybodyhas. But they blatantly don't
use sometimes right? To createthat door
Richard Blank (43:37):
or the don't wanna use them. They're in a bad
mood that they got to snap outof it. Yeah, it's like a boxer.
Remember Chuck Wepner verseOllie Rocky. Yeah, he literally
almost made he did go thedistance. But in the 50 the God,
something happened. How do yougo 14 and 15 and a half rounds
perfectly. What happened in that15 rounds without one second
(44:01):
that I lead took advantage ofand got him down. Because he was
doing it minute by minute.
Second by second and round byround this guy was more focus
more are laser focused thananything in his entire life. And
if people can focus on 32nd totwo minute intervals there,
there might be a better controlthere.
Dustin Steffey (44:23):
I agree. 100%.
So now, since we're nearing theend of our time, I do want to
bring up something important. Wegot two more things. The first
thing is, is we kind of alludedto it right? You are the CEO of
your call center in Costa Rica.
Let's talk about what you do.
Richard Blank (44:45):
We are a bilingual nearshore dedicated
Call Center currently 150 agentslike about 300 of my location.
So very my 15th year February 6.
It's a competitive industry butit's a beautiful industry. I
still believe in the art ofspeech. We work in campaigns
that deal with outbound leadgeneration appointment setting
sales, inbound customer store,back office support. I have a
(45:06):
CTO of floor manager, humanresources director, accountants,
attorneys. I needed people toassist me to grow. I couldn't do
it all on my own. These areexperts here. And I have that
leap of faith. That's fine. Mywife Grace per bone. And I, we
started this together. And so Imight be the owner. But she's
(45:27):
the boss. Remember thatgentleman? But I love what I do.
Is it a grind? Well, so iseverything just like Sisyphus
pushing that rock up the hill?
Nothing's easy. Why do you thinkdiamonds and gold are deep
underground, and you got totravel so far to the stars. And
(45:49):
I knew that if I could conquerSpanish, I could almost do
anything else. And to answeryour question about this, about
this business environment, thesedays I It could happen and
anything could happen. And Ikind of see my life like Zorba
the Greek, I'm willing to put myarms out and dance on the beach,
if my fishing boat happens tosing. If I had closed one deal
(46:10):
for one week, it would have beennor have more than enough to
last me the rest of my life. Andthe fact that I've come this
far, and I have enough money topay for enough dinners for the
rest of my life, I'm, I haveenough acorns to last winters.
So I don't have that sort ofpressure anymore. So really, if
(46:31):
you can get to this sort ofstage in life, that the best
thing for you to do in in thisbusiness just to pay it forward.
But I don't want people to burnout, I want to give them clean
campaigns, I want to focus ontheir QA, so they become more
marketable and better. And I tryto promote people as much as I
can in this industry. And if youcan record yourself, and you can
(46:53):
write and you can listen toyourself, besides work, you
should have some of the bestrelationships possible. And just
by being in this industry, whichis so focused on on your vocal
skills and being glib andclever, as a match made in
heaven, I was able to use thingsoutward outside of the office to
have some best friends and abeautiful life. And so maybe I
(47:16):
gravitated towards this. Maybeit was my vision, quest and
destiny that brought me here.
You tell me some six year oldthat tells her Mommy didn't want
to be a telemarketer, let alonea CEO of a call center. And
nobody does. I wanted to be afire man. But I'm glad I left my
castle slayed a dragon, save theprincess and became a prince, my
brother, I had my adventure. Idid it. And I did it my way.
(47:40):
Maybe I was a little selfish. Ihad to get past certain
pressures and guilt andexpectations. But at the end of
the day, at the end of the day,Dustin, I lived my life. And I
did it well. And at the end ofthe day, the family's proud of
you too. They might have notunderstood it. They expected
(48:03):
other things. But if my greatgrandfather came to the United
States at the turn of the 20thlearned English and was in the
garment industry in New York,came from Russia and Romania.
Why can I do the same, justskipped a couple generations.
And I'm going south because theweather's better. But it's in
our blood, my man, we're nomads,we needed that adventure. And if
(48:27):
I didn't have that, I don'tthink I'd be able to look in the
mirror, give myself five andrespect myself for the rest of
my life.
Dustin Steffey (48:39):
And for my listeners i As you can tell, I
enjoy my conversation withRichard because he's very
articulate one two, he's he'sbeen through a lot. And three,
he just said a key thing that Ibelieve in which is we we aren't
we aren't bound to what ourparents or grandparents or
(49:00):
whatever did we're bound to whatwe make of life. And Richard's
made quite a life for himself,doing what he does best. And
yeah, I agree. At six year yearsold, I didn't say I was going to
be an influencer or a podcast,podcast owner or any of that
stuff. I wanted to be a sportsagent. Well, I fell a little
(49:23):
short of that. But I still amdoing some similar stuff to what
they do, which is talking withpeople relating with people
giving information to people tohelp them be the better version
of themselves.
Richard Blank (49:36):
Exactly. That's why we're here today my man.
Dustin Steffey (49:39):
Yeah, I mean, I couldn't ask for anything
better. I do have one morething. And I do this with
everyone. Of course one bigpiece of advice that you would
leave to my listeners. Whatwould that be?
Richard Blank (49:51):
Just don't be so hard on yourself. Fortune favors
the brain. Patience is a virtueyou want many coaches six other
things but I also believe Ibelieve in me time. Listen, I do
pinball marathons on Sunday, Idrive my convertible to work
listening to in excess. And Ihit the gym every day. I need
(50:12):
Richard time. If I can't find mybalance and center, how can I
extend that energy to others.
And so make your bed Eat Wellrest. Tell those, you love that
you love them very much. And tryto live a beautiful life you
only get one and you only get100 years and I'm halfway there.
So let's see what happens in thesecond half.
Dustin Steffey (50:35):
There's nowhere to go but up in the second half
in my opinion.
Richard Blank (50:39):
I can't get any Balder wherever you're gonna go
Dustin Steffey (50:43):
that hey, listen, we're gonna make that
second half work. I'm I'm, let'ssee, I'm in the second quarter
of the half right now. So,exactly. Well, Richard, I
enjoyed my time with you. I'msure my listeners have enjoyed
listening to this. So Iappreciate you coming on. And of
course, appreciate all thewisdom that you've given to us
today.
Richard Blank (51:03):
Thanks, my brother. I'm a huge fan of you
and chopping with fire and I'mgoing to continue to listen to
you and all of your guests.
Dustin Steffey (51:11):
I appreciate that my friend. Thank you for
coming on. And I look forward toactually having you again
probably for a repeat to behonest
Richard Blank (51:18):
with you. My pleasure. I got tons of things
to talk about.
Dustin Steffey (51:21):
Me too. We can talk forever. So thank you
again. I appreciate that.
Richard Blank (51:26):
You got it, my man. Have a great day. You too.
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