066: How To Break Every Glass Ceiling In Life!

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Breaking through glass ceilings is the entrepreneur's constant challenge. Every stage of business growth demands new skills, knowledge, and experiences—gaps that must be identified and filled to reach the next level.

Our guest reveals the bittersweet reality of entrepreneurship when he shares the heartbreaking moment his young daughter brought him her piggy bank saying, "So you don't have to work no more." This pivotal experience transformed his approach to work-life balance, teaching him to prioritize family while maintaining his business ambitions.

Now, years wiser, he's intentional about creating meaningful moments with his children—from impromptu golf outings and vacation time to bringing his teenage son into the business. This "60% forced, 40% interest" approach gives his son professional skills and experiences 6-8 years ahead of his peers, what our guest calls "the golden ticket" his son doesn't yet appreciate.

The entrepreneurial journey is undeniably lonely. Without a boss providing direction, self-motivation becomes essential. Successful entrepreneurs treat their business with disciplined structure, "clocking in at 8 and out by 5," doing the uncomfortable work that drives growth. Surrounding yourself with the right people—peer groups and business mentors who've already broken through your current ceiling—accelerates progress dramatically.

For those building businesses, remember that comparing your journey to others only creates unnecessary stress. Every path is unique. Instead, be relentless, embrace discomfort, and recognize that continuous personal development powers business growth. The freedom waiting on the other side makes this challenging journey profoundly rewarding.

Ready to secure your business and focus on growth rather than IT problems? Reach out today and let's elevate your company together.

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Hi, I’m Marc Thomas, Founder and CEO of Current TEK Solutions and CYBER GUARDIANS. If you or someone you know could benefit from our cutting-edge IT and cybersecurity services, we’d love to help. Reach out to us today to learn how we can secure and elevate your business. https://www.currentTEKsolutions.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
you know, just keep at it and just be relentless
about you, what you want to get,and and just realizing that
every stage there's a glassceiling you have to break,
there's something you have tolearn.
And if you have that mindset oflike, okay, the reason I'm not
where I need to be is becausethere's a gap in knowledge and a
gap of an experience.
Okay, what skill sets do I needto learn?

(00:22):
You know what books I need toread?
Who do I need to talk to to getto the next level?
And then, okay, now I crackthat.
Now there'll be a new glassceiling you have to break.
I remember I was just working atthe kitchen table on my laptop.
Didn't want to be botheredbecause I was working.
She wanted to play with me andI was just dismissive.

(00:43):
Looking back, I feel terribleabout not spending more time
with her.
But I remember she came up tome and she gave me money,
because she always said why doyou have to work so much?
Because I got to buy a house, Igot to do this, I got to do
that.
And she comes up to me and shebrings me her piggy bank and she
gives me her money.
She goes what's this?
So brings me her piggy bank andshe gives me her money.
Right, she goes what's this?

(01:04):
So you don't have to work forno more.
You know you can be with memore and I broke my heart, oh.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
I bet Even right now it makes me sad.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
It was just like an innocent little child just
wanting to more time with you,right, yeah, and yeah, those
little moments I look back I'mjust like shit.
I you know I should have donemore with them, you know when I
had the opportunity to do so,and so I kind of reflect on that

(01:34):
moment with her and you knowthings that I miss, you know,
like being so busy working anddoing the stuff I had to do, but
what I'm doing now is justevery moment I can spending time
with them.
We just went on a one-weekvacation.
We were at Puerto Vallarta fora week with the family Nice very
nice.

(01:55):
Took the grumpy teenagers withme but I know they had fun, but
it's just really making the mostamount of time that I can.
The little one has it betterbecause I learned and I'm wiser
now and so, even though I mightbe tired because I'm older now,
if she wants to go golfing or Ithink two weeks ago she's like I

(02:20):
want to go to Topgolf.
It was like Monday evening.
I'm like all right, let's go.
You know I was tired but I'mlike let's roll.
It was just me and her and justout there swinging the golf
club, eating chicken wings andhaving a good time.
And we had a little date night,and you know, with my son.
Actually he's 14 years old andhe's been in the office all

(02:42):
summer, so you know he's been inhere studying for his CompTIA
A+ and so I've been justallowing him to listen in to a
lot of the meetings I've had.
Anytime I'm talking to anyvendor, I have my son join me on
the call.
He gets to listen to whatthey're pitching me and see my

(03:03):
interaction.
I've taken my son to go visitsome customers already as well
and just showing him how toshake a hand and how to
introduce himself and things todo and with my oldest right now,
I think, raising a teenager.
She is my first teenager.
I'm figuring that out a littlebit.
It's about being patient,giving them their space, being

(03:30):
there when they need you around.
And again, we still have ourvacation time, we still have a
family time, we still makedinner.
I work on coming home earlierthan I used to, and last year I

(03:52):
actually also ended up coaching.
I asked her if she wanted totry out soccer.
She said yes, she was 15 yearsold, so I ended up being an
assistant coach for AYSO, forher team as well, so I got to
coach 15, 16-year-old girls aswell.
That was an experience initself, but that's me leaving
work early to be part of herteam and spending time with her,

(04:15):
prioritizing that time.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
That's wonderful.
You mentioned bringing your soninto the business to learn at
the age of 14.
Is this something dad's forcingon him?
Is this something he has ageneral interest in?
How's he receiving that?

Speaker 1 (04:34):
I would say 60% forced, 40% interest.
I think at 14 years old hewants to be playing GTA or
Fortnite and be at home or sleepin.
But once he's in here he's partof our meetings.
Every Tuesday we have a companymeeting and he logs in.

(04:59):
He has a company email.
Now he's on Teams and he'sassisting with tearing down
e-waste and bringing inworkstations, formatting
computers.
Would he rather be at home?
Yes, absolutely, but I knowthat this is good for him and I

(05:21):
think also just interacting withother adults is also really
good.
I've had vendors that come inmy team clients and because most
of the time they're justinteracting with teachers right,
it's a life skill.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Obviously those know because most of the time they're
just interacting with teachers,right.
So it's a life skill, obviously, those interactions Right.
And teaching me young, right.
I would think you're onlygiving him that competitive
advantage when it comes to hispeers or his.
You know other kids his age oryou know those.
You're giving him experiences,whatever, six, 10 years ahead of

(05:56):
time.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, I know exactly what I'm doing and I'm like this
is your golden ticket.
He doesn't see it that way, ofcourse, sure of course not, but
I know that once he gets out onthe world and even if he sticks
to IT, he'll either know what hewants to do or doesn't want to
do, but I'm sure he'll have hisA+ network+, he'll have

(06:18):
experience under his belt andhe's already six, eight years
ahead of most people Interactingwith adults understanding what
it is to be in the office, howto shake a good hand, how to
introduce yourself,communication skills All those
things are important in life andin business.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Definitely, skills, yeah, all those things are
important in life and inbusiness, Definitely, yeah,
Definitely.
Well, Ivan, I want to touch onone more thing with you and that
is like, obviously, yoursuccess in business and the
growth you had in business, andyou know once again the Inc 5000
list as you continue to forgeon there and, um, what advice
would you give to those um thatare wanting to build and or grow

(07:01):
their own business based offyour successes?

Speaker 1 (07:07):
Yeah, so I think every.
I think it's just understandingthat every person's on their
own journey and you can'tcompare your path to someone
else's path, Because a lot oftimes it's tempting to look at
someone else's success and belike, oh why am I not there yet

(07:28):
and you put more stresses onyourself.
There's companies that aredoing way better than I am as an
organization in the IT industryand the best thing you can do
is just learn from them as muchas you can.
The advice that I mostly havefor individuals would be to be

(07:50):
relentless in a way and,especially when you're smaller,
to just get out there and getuncomfortable.
Do the hard work that needs tobe done, not give up Because,
again, it's very lonely andreally you have to keep yourself
motivated through this journey.
Really, you have to keepyourself motivated through this

(08:12):
journey.
Being an entrepreneur, you don'thave someone on top of you
telling you to make 100 callsand fix 10 networks or, if
you're a restaurant owner, goout there and pitch your
services to different businesses, so you have to basically rely
on yourself.
Your services to differentbusinesses so you have to
basically rely on yourself.
If you were starting, I wouldsay that treat it like a real

(08:34):
business that you have to clockin at 8 and by 5 and put the
work that needs to be put in.
The other thing, too, would beto surround yourself with good
people, and what I mean by thatis in our industry we have peer
groups.
I think peer groups have beenvery important in a lot of the

(08:55):
success for MSPs.
I've been a part of peer groupsas well, but also business
mentors.
There's a lot of people thathave already gone through the
path that you've gone through,broken through a lot of the
glass ceilings that you'retrying to break, and being able
to build those relationshipswith business mentors and take

(09:16):
that and apply it in your ownorganization is, I think, very,
very important.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
Mentors and coaches, those that have already made
those or learned from thosethings and maybe can help you
from not making the samemistakes or realizing things
that you didn't realize Right.
So definitely.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yeah, wonderful, and yeah, but it's, it's.
I think it's again it's.
It is a lonely road.
It's very rewarding becausethere's a lot of freedom.
It gets better as you moveforward.
You know, make sure you'repassionate about what you're
doing and just keep at it andjust be relentless about what

(09:57):
you want to get and justrealizing that every stage
there's a glass ceiling you haveto break.
There's something you have tolearn and if you have that
mindset of the reason I'm notwhere I need to be is because
there's a gap in knowledge and agap of an experience.
What skill sets do I need tolearn?
What books do I need to read?
Who do I need to talk to to getto the next level?

(10:20):
And then, okay, now I crackthat.
Now there'll be a new glassceiling you have to break and
like, okay, what do I have to dothere now?
And it's just this ongoingjourney of always
self-development, developingyour team, speaking to coaches.
So if you're into that, it's abeautiful, rewarding career

(10:42):
journey that a lot of people cando.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
Wonderful.
There's definitely some keythings in there that I noted,
and one of those you mentionedwas being uncomfortable, getting
uncomfortable, and I'm a firmbeliever that it's impossible to
grow without beinguncomfortable.
You have to get uncomfortableto grow.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
And that's something that I know I'm practicing quite
frequently.
Lately, this podcast in itselfis getting very uncomfortable
for me at times right theconcept.
Lately this podcast in itselfis getting very uncomfortable
for me at times right.
Like I'm just saying, theconcept is very uncomfortable.
But here we are, you know, ummany episodes later and we're
still pushing forward and was in1% better with every episode.
So, ivan dude, thank you somuch for for taking the time

(11:23):
today to speak and have thisconversation with me, um to
share this with our listeners.
I look forward to hopefully,here in the near future, you and
I can reconnect somewhere inperson, and whether that means
taking a trip to the other coastto come and see you something
we definitely need to plan outOkay, absolutely, I would look

(11:46):
forward to that.
Awesome, ivan.
Thanks again.
Have an awesome month.
Hi, I'm Mark Thomas, founder andCEO of Current Tech Solutions
and CyberGuardians.
We know business owners likeyou want to focus on growing
your company, not worrying aboutIT problems or security threats
.
That's where we come in.
Our team uses AI to protectyour business from cyber risks

(12:09):
and keep everything runningsmoothly.
If you're ready for peace ofmind and a stronger future,
reach out to us today.
Let's secure and elevate yourbusiness together.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

(12:37):
oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.