June 29, 2023 • 52 mins
Ever wonder what it's like to build businesses across continents and cultures? This episode takes us on a captivating journey with our guest, Joe Matz. Life in foreign lands may seem intimidating, but Joe's experiences are a testament to the potential richness it can add to your life. From learning Italian to maintaining work-life balance, his unique experiences of transitioning between languages and cultures, make for some interesting listening.
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Speaker 1 (00:26):
There from the lovely city of Atlanta, georgia, and
today I have a special guestwith me here today, and it's Joe
.
Now, joe, you guys.
Is it Joe Mott or Joe Matt?
I didn't, i didn't ask in thebeginning here, let's just do
this live on the show.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah, all right.
The second one is right, matt's.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Matt's Joe, matt's All right, joe.
Now, joe, you have a unique,unique background here and we
talked prior about your businessbuilding on several different
continents and that sounds likea challenge.
It's hard to build one on thisin this state.
Let's just tonight, i'm gonnasay this continent, on this, in
this state of Atlanta, georgia,is difficult to build one
(01:04):
business that you built severalover the over the years.
So I'm just going to have youintroduce yourself to the
audience here and then we'regoing to kind of go into some of
the things, like the podcast, aguessing that you've been
working on here, and we'll talka little bit more about the
business later on.
But let's give a briefintroduction of yourself here to
the audience.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
All right.
Well, i am Joe Matt's.
I'm the chief gap biologist ata pexiblecom and you know I
started my career after collegeand I was working where I wanted
to be working, doing what Iwanted to do, and I got an offer
to go to Italy.
So that was a two year projectApparently that's what they told
me to look after a businessthere.
(01:42):
Felt lost his eyes on theground and asked me to go to be
the eyes on the ground, lookafter his interest.
That ended up being an 18 yearjoint journey overseas 18 years,
joe, 18 years.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Two from two years to 18 years.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Took me a little while to figure out what I was
doing in Italy.
Eventually I became the saleslead in Italy and when they
wanted to expand to SouthAmerica they asked me to go to
Brazil, and that was after fiveyears in Italy.
So then I spent nine years inBrazil and that was just an
amazing, amazing time in Brazil.
Beautiful country, beautifulpeople, just just fantastic.
(02:21):
And then I went back to Italy,changed what I was doing in
Brazil.
I got involved with publicspeaking.
I got involved with salesconferences and speaking at
sales conferences in Portuguese.
And then I went back to Italyand started a language school,
also started a mountain biketourism business and with a
(02:42):
buddy of mine we had somecontacts in the local government
.
So we worked to get productsinto Austria from the area of a
Brutso Wow.
So that was, that was just alot of fun.
I mean, we lived near the beach, we lived near the mountain, so
we're at the beach in themorning, we were mountain biking
in the afternoon.
It was just a wonderful,wonderful experience.
(03:04):
And then I was done with that.
It was time to come back to theUS.
You know, it kind of felt likeit.
After 18 years I came back andran a restaurant, got involved
with mortgages, got involvedwith selling and buying
businesses, and then I decidedto be a coach because somebody
said what are you going to donow?
(03:24):
And I said I don't know.
I said Joe with all thatexperience, you should be a
business coach, and my responsewas what's that?
I didn't know what that was, soI looked into.
It seemed like somethinginteresting.
I get my hands in lots ofbusinesses and and help people
and and used all that experiencethat I have accumulated to help
people grow businesses, and soI jumped in full force.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
That's amazing.
That's amazing.
Let's let's talk about one ofthe things that you're doing
here as of late, and that's withthe podcast Guesting.
Now basically here, joe, andlet's put this on screen for
people who want to know whatsubject we're on there at the
moment.
We this is something that Ihave looked at online because I
(04:11):
looked at a few things when Iwas first going down my journey
of becoming a guest myself.
You know kind of best practicessort of thing.
What even got you into teachingpeople how to grow their
business or podcast guestingsuccess and how did you learn?
like what did you learn throughPython?
How long did it take?
Like, how many shows were youdoing yourself before you
(04:32):
learned what may or may not workor what may or may not be the
best in practice for going onother people's shows?
And while a lot of times show,what I feel like is I want to go
on shows and give the host andtheir audience what they need,
but you're also trying to putyourself out there.
You don't want to take over theshow.
What would it would have?
some of the things that you,that you've learned on this
(04:55):
journey.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
So I started a podcast two and a half years ago
, okay, and about eight monthsago I became involved with a
networking group and I formed asubgroup.
I'm now a co what do you callthem?
Co-leader, co-author,co-organizer of this podcasting
group, and every few months wehave a mixer with podcast host.
(05:20):
Now, the objective of thepodcast group is so that we can
get better at our craft ofpodcasting.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I know what you mean there.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Every few months.
We have a mixer.
We brought in people wanted tobe guests on podcast, to mix and
get to know people who hadpodcast so they could.
The host could find guests, theguests could find podcast to be
on And we asked them what theywant from us.
How can we be a better service,how can we be of more service?
Provide you what you want, whatyou need at this time, and the
(05:53):
overwhelming response, reggie,was we want to be on more
podcast, we want to get some ROIfrom podcasts, we want to grow
our business And I had done 50episodes at this time.
I bet I can't.
I don't even remember how manytimes I've been a guest, but
along the way.
I've seen good guests, i've seenbetter guests, i've seen guests
(06:15):
that were I'd rather not haveon the show again, and I boiled
it down to seven steps for sevensteps Okay.
Seven steps for being a goodguest on a podcast.
And it's more than being a goodguest, it's being good for
(06:37):
yourself, good for the host,good for the audience.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
So it's a win, win, win situation.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
And I put together a program for the podcast guesting
success based on the secondTuesday of November 2002, when
we had this meeting and peoplesaid this is what they need.
So I put it together and amonth and a half, 2002, 2002.
(07:05):
Yeah, Wow.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
No, no, I'm sorry, No .
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I'm wrong, 2022.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
I was going to say Joe, you're a pioneer, pioneer
man, you're, you're, wow 20years in a podcasting game.
You know 2022.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
So, without giving away to program here, though,
because I want people to uh, wewill let people know at the end,
kind of where they can findthis program on and how that can
be beneficial to them.
Is there a summary of the steps?
Can we give them like a tidbit,a cliff notes, so to speak, of
what the steps would be?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, so you know.
The first thing, reggie, isyour why.
Why do you want to be a gueston podcast?
What's your objective?
And there could be numerousobjectives, not not exclusively
these few.
There could be more, but couldbe.
You launched a book and youwant to do a virtual book tour,
(08:04):
could be?
you want to reach out to moreaudiences.
You've, you've, you've pitchedto your product or your service,
to your LinkedIn friends, toyour Facebook friends, to your
family, to your neighborhood,and now you need more audiences.
Podcast guesting is a great wayto get in front of new audiences
.
Yeah, some people use thepodcast guesting as a way to
(08:27):
increase their back links totheir website.
So they're they're working onbuilding their SEO.
Oh, wow, yeah, so that's that'swhen you don't hear about very
often.
Podcast Guesting also allowsyou to position yourself as an
expert, as, as we talk here onthis podcast and your interview,
i'm exposing my expertise.
(08:48):
So also, you're introducing meto new audience.
So that's all working toincrease my business and
increase my exposure, which thenincreases my business.
And that's that's just onereason to do the podcast
guesting.
Yeah, some people do it tobuild their list, their email
list, so they have a freegiveaway.
(09:09):
They have a call to action Oh,get my free giveaway, and you go
to get their free giveaway.
You give them your first nameand your email address.
Now you're on their list.
Some people do it for that, sothat.
So you've got to have astrategy, you've got to know why
you're doing it and then buildyour strategy around that.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Okay, so then what is step?
So step one is the why for theaudience listening here.
What's step two?
Step?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
two is what your message is going to be.
Work on your message, work onyour message.
Get a good message out thereAnd, at the same time, know who
that message is for, cause youwant to talk with people who are
in your niche market, who areyour potential clients, right?
So if I were talking to topeople in the corporate world
(09:56):
who wanted to reach thecorporate, you know, apex of the
corporate ladder, that would bethe wrong audience for me.
Great audience, great people,but not my niche market.
I talked to small businessowners.
That's my niche market, right.
So you want to talk with yourniche market.
Find out where they'relistening to podcasts.
(10:16):
What podcast are they listeningto?
You can find that out there Joe.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Like what would be some of the steps, like two, two
, because that can be such adaunting task for some people,
especially if they're justtrying to get on the show and
just record and just press,press record and sit down.
What are they?
what has been some of thethings that have worked for you
in that regard?
Speaker 2 (10:40):
So there's a little bit of research involved here.
Now what you can do.
You're the key words for yourbusiness where you might have
Keywords on a social mediaprofile.
You might use keywords in yourwebsite If you do Google those
keywords.
But here's the trick Google thekeyword and after you put the
(11:01):
keyword in there, put podcast,hmm, interesting.
So if I were talking to someonewho is involved with lawn care
Very simple example I would sayGoogle lawn care podcast.
Okay, if I was talking to atart, a two artist, i Would say
tattoo artist Podcast orwhatever might be a keyword for
(11:25):
the tattoo artist, but alwaysput podcast afterwards.
So here's another secret sauceif you have colleagues, folks
that you listen to on podcast,people who are doing something
similar to what you're doing,put their name in Google and
then after their name, putpodcast.
You'll come up with a list ofpodcasts that they're on and
(11:49):
Those might be podcast where youcould be on also very
interesting, very interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
So what would you say ?
your third step is here.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
So Just one more thing on the second step there.
Reggie, i don't want to to missthis.
If you're on, if you use Google, if you use Google podcast or
you use Apple Podcast to listento podcasts, they have search
engines also where you can usethese tactics.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Interesting within within those search engines, so
within Google podcast, withinApple podcast, searching within
their versus just doing ageneral Google search.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Right, right, got it and I would do them.
I would do them all Right.
Third step you want to listento those podcasts.
You want to build relationshipwith the Podcast host.
So how do you do that?
Very simple, listen to theirpodcast, comment on their
podcast.
Get on their social media.
Say hey, if they're postingPromotions for their podcast on
(12:43):
social media.
Comment, hey, i liked it.
I especially liked in minute 10where you talked about The ink
that you use for tattoos.
I'm on, i'm on the tattoo themetoday, right.
So When they see you and youpitch yourself, this is the next
(13:04):
stage right, to say hey, i'dlike to be on your podcast.
Now It's a professional letter,it's done right.
You mentioned an episode.
You comment on their podcast.
You, you tell them how much youyou know What you like about
their podcast, why you thinkyou'd be a good guest.
But make it personal.
I Listened to episode 76.
(13:25):
I loved when, when Reggietalked about, you know, the
nightlife in Atlanta and thatone bar.
I think I'm gonna have to go tothat bar and then say I, you
know.
Then you transition to I'd be agood guest on your podcast
because you know That very nice,very nice.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
So what is?
it is the next step.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
We're at step four I might be.
I might be confusing the stepshere a little bit.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
As long as we have seven of them, I think we'll be
good.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
We're getting there, Okay.
So then you want to be.
So step three is Oh gosh, okay.
Anyway.
The next step Is you're on thepodcast, right?
Okay, Be a good podcast guest.
How do you be a good podcastguest?
edify your host.
Don't get into long answers.
(14:15):
I've had guests that got intoseven minute answers and by the
time they're done.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
I.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Forget the points I wanted to touch on, which were
points that my audience isinterested in, but, oh my gosh,
they've thrown on and on.
No, don't do that.
It's more of a back-and-forth,more of a conversation, right,
keep that in mind for sure.
So, yeah, so the letter we wentthrough, the letter we went
through being on the podcast.
(14:43):
You want to have a call toaction.
Call to action All right, callto actions are important because
otherwise It's just a niceconversation.
Yes, yes, call to action shouldbe easy for the listener to
activate, and One of the easiestthings to to activate is a
(15:05):
download of a PDF or a flip bookor something.
I've a video that delves deeperinto the Topic, right,
something that is easy to accept.
Some people have a lot of ofgood success with a 30 minute
(15:27):
conversation, free three minuteconsult.
For others, that doesn't workvery well.
So you have to experiment.
What works for you, what callto action is going to get the
most response for you and foryour audience?
Very interesting veryinteresting.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
So we're on the last couple of steps here to where
we're.
Where we are here with theselast couple of steps.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
So when someone Activate your call to action,
gather their email address Andnow they're on your list, you
can email them.
You can promote your product,promote your events, promote
what you have going on.
Build a relationship with thatperson.
Right, they've separatedthemselves from the crowd
because they've said hey, i'minterested in what you're
talking about, i want more.
Don't leave them out in thecold And don't leave your host
(16:14):
out in the cold either.
Build a relationship with yourhost, because podcasters know
podcasters.
Yeah, so it's a great way toget on more podcasts, and I was.
I was just featured in a bookthat's coming out next week From
a podcaster and I was on hershow and I comment on her
(16:35):
episodes.
I like her post on social media.
When she promotes an episode, ilike it, i comment on it And I
was one of the few people out oflike 500 guests that she's had.
She asked me to be a part ofthis book Interesting because we
built that relationship and wemet through podcasting.
That's amazing.
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
How do you is there?
are there any more steps beforeI go on?
I don't want to.
I don't want to run over anymore steps.
You have another step in here.
Yeah, that's about it.
I mean building relationship,building relationship and the
follow-up process is that'safter the show and that's that's
what you need to do.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
A lot of people Do a podcast recording and then it's
done.
They might never talk to a hostagain.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I've seen it happen quite a bit and you know one of
the things that's that's I'vediscovered that you that
resonates with me is Talkingbefore about how you, when
you're going on you to in myopinion, you got a podcast to
get good at podcasting.
You got a, you're gonna have todo it, and it's something that
you you should if you've takenlessons from your previous
podcast Get better with as timegoes on.
(17:40):
How long did it take for you tokind of get these things down
for yourself?
Was it an epiphany after acertain amount of appearances?
or how how long did it take youto kind of get these steps down
?
You know, i come from anexperience of speaking on stage.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
And I spoke in front of small audiences and large
audiences on stage in threedifferent languages.
So I've got some speakingexperience, but I'm still
learning.
I'm learning a lot of thingsExperience, but I'm still
learning.
I'm learning about speaking onstage and I'm still learning
about being a good podcast guestAnd how to do that.
(18:15):
I mean, you know, i mymicrophone is relatively new.
I got a new camera a few weeksago.
You know, i'm still upping mytechnology there, yeah, so I'm
not sure how long it took mewhen we she got it down.
I never feel like I've arrived.
I always feel like I'm learningsomething new me to me too.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
I could have that.
That kind of resonates as well.
We're gonna transition here alittle bit into the, into the,
the business subjects, becauseyou have a fascinating business
history And what kind of talkabout here, the different
challenges that you had withbuilding businesses abroad.
Now Let's walk me through alittle bit, because you started
in.
So was Italy, then Brazil,right, man?
(18:56):
I'm gonna Brazil.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
So bad, joe, my good, Oh yeah, I'm trying to get out
there.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
So so bad, i've not been able to, but I've
definitely been trying to.
Is on my bucket list, gonnamake it out there at some point,
but we'll start here in Italy,because that's you.
You were Italy, then Brazil,right, what are the different
challenges?
you'd say that that that youwent through being in Italy in
general.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
So it was kind of unique because I didn't go to
Italy with with a very long jobdescription.
My job description was keep aneye on my business.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
That was my job description very, very to the
point, right, very succinct,that's right.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Keep an eye on my business, keep me up on what's
really going on there.
That's why he felt he neededsomeone on the ground in Italy,
and that's what I went overthere with.
Took me a little while fumblingaround to try and figure out
What was going on and What I howI could be of service there.
What happened was that companythen brought in vitamins to
(19:52):
Italy and at that point And atthat point I had been taking
vitamins for ten years- Arethese like multi vitamins?
like like multi vitamins, i'mgonna see yeah, yeah, I got you
a whole range.
I knew vitamins, so I becamethe self-appointed vitamin
expert and I traveled around thecountry Teaching the
(20:14):
salespeople about vitamins andhow to sell vitamins.
Okay, and that that propelledme to be the sales lead And it
was like Joe, this, this is whatyou're doing.
You should have the title, youknow so.
So I did that and that was fiveyears, right, some of the
challenges.
I mean, i didn't speak thelanguage when I went.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, that's.
I was gonna ask you about themajor.
What would be the majorchallenge for me is getting over
that language barrier.
How, what helped you with that?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Oh, nothing really helped me.
I put up challenges andbarriers myself imposed.
I was in a course, reggie, andit was a two twice a week course
.
I didn't have time to study andI graduated with honors from
from college.
I'm a good student.
That's my, my self image.
I look in the mirror.
I see a good student.
(21:06):
I didn't have time to study andone of the students called me
out, said you're holding us back.
And I basically said I'm sorry.
I won't come back cuz I don'thave time to study.
I won't come back cuz I don'thave time to keep up.
And I never went back.
So here's the trick.
Now I'm a married man I'm veryhappily married at this point
(21:28):
But when I was in Italy I wassingle Now this is a good thing
And I was 23 years old when Iwent over.
So I put up a sign and I wouldrecommend any young men or women
going to Italy or any otherforeign country If you want to
meet people of your age, youknow and you want to learn the
language there.
So this is what I did.
I went to the Americanbookstore and I put up a sign
(21:53):
that said American male wants tolearn Italian.
I will teach you English if youwill teach me Italian.
Oh, very nice.
I got so many dates from that.
I was not really.
My objective was to learnItalian.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
You came with a bonus there, Jim.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Yeah, that's a good way of putting it, yes, so I
learned Italian.
I mean, i had a girlfriend andour activity was to communicate
It's like let's get thedictionaries out and communicate
.
But I found out so I had aninterest in bicycles.
I still have an interest inbikes.
I got a bicycling magazine andI got the Disney magazine.
(22:41):
So there was all the Disneycharacters and the pictures, the
cartoons They don't call themcartoons the comics.
And I started reading becausethat was simple Italian and it
had the pictures.
So that helped.
I still needed a dictionary.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
So you can get like context from the pictures and
stuff like that in other areasExactly.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
So I learned Italian with Donald Duck and Mickey
Mouse, and those guys Had togive that up when I started
sounding like Mickey Mouse inItalian.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
You're speaking Disney Italian, basically, which
is what you were speaking.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
That's right, and that's how it started And then
you know a little bit probablytook me two years before I was
feeling comfortable in aconversation.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Okay, but when you, when you're going down that road
because it seems just sodaunting, like an incredibly
challenging, to just get yourfooting abroad, in just living,
forget running a business justexisting abroad and kind of
getting your footing there, howlong did outside of the business
, how long did that take tomaterialize for you before you
(23:53):
really start to feel like, hey,i kind of have the hang of
things here.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
About a year, and it wasn't easy, you know.
It was a very lonely timebecause I couldn't even go to
the bar and cry to the bartenderof my sorrows and woes because
I didn't speak Italian, and soit was a lonely year.
But it took about a year beforeI started feeling comfortable.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Did you have?
and what about your social life?
Because I know that was alonely year, as you've just
described.
When did that start to pick up?
Because I believe I'm a bigbeliever in work-life balance.
I believe one kind of feedsinto the other.
When did your social life kindof start to pick up there?
Because a lot of people want togo and they want to meet
friends, And I think yoursuggestion of learning the
(24:42):
language is one that is veryactionable for many people that
can just go anywhere.
There's always people that areabroad looking to learn English
and you being able to have thatkind of trade-off is, I think,
attractive for a lot of people.
When did your social life kindof start to pick up?
Was it also within that sameyear?
Speaker 2 (24:58):
It was within the year Now, i avoided Americans.
There was an American church,there was an American bar near
the church And the folks whowere there, the expats who were
there a lot of them that I metthey had been there for four or
five years could not speakItalian.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
How are they existing ?
Well, they worked in a US firm.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Oh, in a bubble, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
That's right.
They went to the restaurantthat had the English menus.
They went to the English bar,the American bar, where the
folks who speak English hang out.
I met one couple The wife hadbeen there also four years.
She could barely order, shecould barely go to the market
and get what she needed.
And at that point I decided toavoid Americans because it would
(25:45):
be so easy to fall into thatcomfort zone.
And one thing I did, reg I wentto the campus, the university
campus, and I just asked people,do you speak English?
Do you speak English?
I met some great friends, youknow, because they wanted to
learn, They love my accent,because I had the real accent,
(26:07):
not the accent of their teacher,who was full blood Italian.
And we went out, you know,started just going for tea or
beer and talking, and that's howI met some friends.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Okay.
So then you start to develop.
You get there within the year,you start to develop friendships
and you're starting to kind ofget your legs kind of under you
here.
How did that affect thebusiness at all?
Because 18 years, that's quitea bit of time here.
You know, like you, that's alifetime for some people here.
So how did all of that start tokind of gel for you with the
(26:40):
business and everything likethat, where you kind of start
really get things rolling onboth sides?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Yeah, i mean, it just kind of came naturally after
that first year, after thatstruggle, and by the second year
I was speaking Italian.
by the third year I wasspeaking in public, on stage, in
Italian.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Very, nice And.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
I also got involved with skiing because we're near
the Alps and I would go up witha group to go skiing.
I got involved with mountainbiking and I would go mountain
biking with people, i meanthat's so.
that was my social life there,sports basically.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Okay, and then what were you reporting back to the
States at this time with thecompany that you were working
with, and did you stay with thesame company that entire time
you were there?
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Yeah, that entire five years I stayed with the
same company.
Yes, yep, and then, when theywanted to expand in South
America, they asked me to headup the operations in Brazil.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
So then you're chatting off to Brazil now, yes.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Also with a very, very short job description.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Which you should be used to now at this point right,
You're kind of used to have alonger job description.
You might not have been assuccessful for you there.
So when I'm trying to get afeel here for the timeline, if
you were there for 18 years,were you there going between
Italy and Brazil in this timeperiod?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
No, it was five years in Brazil and then nine years
in Italy, and then four years.
no, i'm sorry, five years inItaly, nine years in Brazil and
then back to Italy for fouryears.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Okay, okay, so I'll see that's in totality then, all
right.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Right In total Right.
And you know, in Brazil I gotinvolved with public speaking.
After a while, they let mespeak in public in Portuguese.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah, I was going to say Portuguese.
I think is the language there,That's interesting Very
different from Italian.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Yeah.
Yeah, it's still a Latinlanguage, so there's that.
I could understand probably 30to 40% the first day I arrived,
and then it was just keeping itstraight What's Italian and
what's Portuguese.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
So you know a lot of people ask this question,
because I have some people I'vedated, have been from other
countries, whether it's Japan,romania or like Korea, and a lot
of questions they ask them iswhat language do they think in?
Like, do you think in English,or do you think in Italian?
Or, in your case, do you thinkin Portuguese?
(29:06):
How is it all coming togetherup there?
Like, what are you actually?
what language are you thinkingin when you're speaking so many
different ones?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
After a certain amount of time speaking a
foreign language, a secondlanguage.
If you live in the country andyou're speaking that a lot, you
begin thinking in that language.
I'll give you an example.
My sister doesn't speak Italian, but when I was in Italy I
realized one time I was thinkingabout a conversation I want to
(29:35):
have with my sister and I wasthinking of it in Italian.
So my talking to her and hertalk responding to me in Italian
, and then I was like shake myhead.
It's like wait a minute, shedoesn't speak.
I should be thinking about thisin English.
It just comes naturally after awhile And it happens, and then
you realize that it happenedReally.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
So you're realizing it kind of like afterwards, that
that was even occurring.
basically, right.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Exactly, exactly, and that's normal, because you
become so comfortable in thatlanguage And there are things I
can express, even today I canexpress in Italian that I can't
express in English.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Really.
And so which one are you morefluent in, Would you say?
would you say more ItalianBecause you spent more time
there than Brazil with thePortuguese?
Speaker 2 (30:24):
I think more Italian because I was.
my last overseas adventure wasin Italy for four years, as
Portuguese is further.
but I keep friends in bothcountries and I'm talking with
them and in their language,sometimes English, sometimes
their language, but I would saymore Italian than Portuguese.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Okay, so when you went back to Italy, was it with
a different company or was itstill the same company?
that was kind of like sendingyou back and forth to these
places.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
I left the company when I went back to Italy, okay,
and I went to work for anothercompany with a boss right there,
and that was not a goodexperience for me.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Oh no, why is that?
Speaker 2 (31:13):
There was a miscommunication in what I
thought he hired me for and whathe wanted.
This was a guy who created carparts and he sold to BMW and
Mercedes car parts and he hadstarted the company.
He was a salesman but he wasalso the CEO and president and
running the company, which wasthe wrong place for him.
(31:34):
He should have been thesalesman and he realized that.
So he hired me to be theoperations manager to take over
that stuff internal to thefactory.
That was my thinking on it.
Then we had a financialagreement which he reneged on
(31:54):
after two months.
Oh man, i left.
I said what about thatagreement?
He said no, joe, no, no.
I said okay And I went back tomy desk.
I wrote my resignation letter,i gave it to him and I left.
And at this time you're in.
Italy, yes.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
So did you hit the help water ads in Italy Like are
you looking to come back to thestate?
What then?
Speaker 2 (32:20):
So at this point I said you know what, i don't need
that aggravation.
So I decided to teach EnglishAnd I made I took a regular
sheet of paper about 10 of themand I wrote if you want to learn
English, call Joe And I hung itup at local businesses And that
started my language school.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
That's very interesting.
That's very interesting becausewhen building a business like
that, you know, i always tellpeople when they're starting a
business at the beginning youown a job, you don't own a
business, you own a gig.
for the most part, you know andyou're central to that.
Is that something that you wereable to scale when you were
over there?
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yes, so in my mind I was not an English teacher.
Even when I was, when I had nostudents, when I had no piece of
paper on somebody's wall, inever thought of myself as an
English teacher.
I thought of myself as alanguage school owner, and that
was my mindset.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
I learned from the very beginning.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
From the very beginning, because I never
intended to continue teaching.
I said if this goes, it's gonnago, and I will be the owner of
a language school, so I might aswell start out that way today.
And I got students.
I ran out of time.
I raised my prices, idifferentiated prices from
daytime to nighttime.
I got into some schools where Iwas teaching and then I started
(33:47):
hiring people because Icouldn't keep up with it.
I got into businesses.
I made a flyer, i went tobusinesses and I said, hey, i'll
teach your people English, youknow.
And that was basically my pitch.
And I had to hire people.
I had seven language teachersworking for me within about two
years.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Wow.
Did you have to a brick andmortar type situation a
classroom, or would you justkind of go to their business?
save on that overhead?
go to their business, teachthem like on site.
What was that strategy?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
It was all on site.
Nice, all on site.
yep.
That way I was able to chargeless money and pay my teachers
more money, because my overheadwas so low.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
It's very interesting .
So how long did you do that andwhat made you transition out of
that business?
if you don't still have that?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Well, i did that for about three years.
while I was there, first year Iwas fumbling around, but then I
started the language school.
I did that for three years.
The only reason I stopped doingthat is because I moved back to
the US.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Okay, and what made you move back?
Was that always a plan?
Speaker 2 (34:54):
No, it was a divorce.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
In Italy, in Italy, yeah, you got married in.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Italy.
I met well, i met my wife inItaly.
We got married and moved toBrazil.
Our children were born inBrazil and then we moved back to
Italy and it just didn't workout.
We grew it in differentdirections For sure, and with
that divorce, kind of my reasonsfor being in Italy were done.
I'm like you know what It'stime to go back to the States.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
What was it like coming back after all those
years?
It was weird.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
I still spoke in a different language.
Sometimes I still thought inItalian and I had to translate
from Italian to English.
I also Reggie the interestingthing at all my clothes I had
bought for business in Braziland then in Italy.
In Italy was a fashion capitalof the world.
Yes, my casual clothes weremore formal than formal clothes
(35:57):
here.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
For sure, i can see that.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
And so that was.
You know, it took me a while toget out of that.
I had to.
It's just different.
It's different, yeah So youknow, fancy clothes.
it just clothes were fancier,They were colorful, They were,
the style was just great, youknow.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Are they like stooping or coats?
Is everybody wearing sportcoats out there to just casual
events?
Cause you know we're in theT-shirt and jean culture here,
man.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Right, no, it was sports coats, it was more classy
, It was button downs, it waspressed, it was I mean, it just
had style, more style.
And when I came back I moved tothe beach.
Very different, Very different.
Like shorts I got to buy shortsLike what I can't wear.
(36:52):
Nobody wears Speedos at thebeach here.
What I have to buy a longbathing suit Comes down to my
knees What?
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Is that a Speedo culture there?
Is that what they're doingthere in Italy?
They rocking those Speedos outthere on the beach Brazil and
Italy.
Yeah, Really Yeah.
I haven't even seen a SpeedoLike I more or less, wear a long
one.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
You're a lucky man.
You're a lucky man.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Ha, ha, ha ha ha.
So you come back to the States.
What made you then?
transition kind of into whereyou are now and the things that
you're doing as of late.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
I got into managing the day to day operations of a
few businesses And eventuallywhat happened was the restaurant
business took over most of mytime.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
For sure, as restaurant businesses tend to do
.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Yes, and I was working late nights and then I
was drinking.
I was going to bed at threeo'clock, i was waking up at nine
, going to work till one, comingback and napping, going back at
4.30, working till midnight.
My body couldn't take itanymore And I had to get out of
that.
It was a time about 2007 or soand I went into the mortgage
(38:01):
business And then 2008, 2009 hitAnd a lot of people in the
mortgage business left,including me For sure.
You know that was a rough timeAnd I was kind of looking at
what to do And somebody said,joe, you should be a business
(38:21):
coach.
I said what's that?
And then I looked into that, iinvestigated and I said, wow,
yeah, i probably could be abusiness coach.
I've had a lot of businesses,i've learned a lot along the way
, i've had a language school, soI'm a teacher.
Maybe I could be a businesscoach.
I looked into it, got into acourse a 13 month course, wow To
become certified as a businesscoach, And that's how that
(38:44):
started.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
So what does that entail?
as far as if somebody who'slistening and they're thinking
of they want to go down thatsame line of work, what would
you say?
that would be a good entrypoint for them And you kind of
explain the steps that you wentthrough.
But everybody's experience isgoing to be different, Joe.
So what would you say?
the prerequisite, experiencesand how somebody could get into
something like that?
Speaker 2 (39:08):
I would say have some experience in business That
would be important And then getinto a good school.
Get into a school that iscertified with the International
Coaching FederationInternational Coaching
Federation okay, right now theywill certify schools and you can
get certified as a member ofthe International Coaching
(39:29):
Federation If you go to a schoolthat is accredited with them.
It just talks about the qualityof the school.
That's what it references.
So you want a quality school,one that is longer than two
weekends.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
I think, yeah, about 12 hours.
We've got a 12 hour course, nowyou're Have you seen those
courses?
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Yes, i have 120 bucks .
Become a business coach in twoweekends, yeah, okay, do
something a little more seriousthan that.
13 months is good.
There are some that are a bitshorter, some that are a bit
longer, wow, but it does takesome time.
Along with those 13 months, ihad 120 hours of actual coaching
(40:15):
with a coach looking over myshoulder, with an experienced
coach looking over my shoulder.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
We all going out to like businesses.
Like what did that entail?
Cause you know, when a lot ofbusinesses, when there's a
training, there's some just sortof shadow, you see, to have
some person that's kind ofstanding behind the person and
they're just kind of doing theirthing.
Was that the same type ofexperience?
Speaker 2 (40:35):
for you.
It was very similar to that,yes, and then we would talk
about how it went, where thingscould have gone better.
You know that was part of thecourse.
The other course was was allkinds of lessons, about 160
hours of coursework, wow.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
And that's you're doing on your own at that point,
yeah Goodness.
So when you're, what is ametric for success for a
business coach?
I'd imagine, if I bring in abusiness coach and I'm a
business, i'm looking for sometype of ROI there, and what do
you hear from businesses thatyou've gone to that?
Speaker 2 (41:12):
that ROI expectation is 10 times their investment
Interesting.
That's kind of what they want.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
And they want that in revenues and productivity.
Is that kind of how they laythat out, for?
Speaker 2 (41:26):
you.
It's usually laid out inrevenue.
Sometimes it's laid out inbusiness growth And they're not
as interested in their revenueas they are in capturing market
share.
That depends on the business,and I've worked with business
owners who just want more time,who have been threatened by
(41:51):
their wife, that they need tospend more time with the family.
Joe, I'm going to be honest withyou.
I'm hiring you because my wifesays I need to get away from the
business, I need to spend theweekends at home.
We'll figure that out, myfriend.
We'll figure that out.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
Well, you know, time is a commodity.
It's a precious one for mepersonally.
I'm a very big work-lifebalance guy, so I could see how
people might want to come in andkind of help them out with
something like that.
And when they're asking you forthese things, are they giving
you, like a certain time?
Like, let's say, let's go withthe market share one.
Let's say they own 1% of themarket, they want a 10X.
(42:32):
That They say I want 10% of themarket now, and do they say I
want 10% of the market withinthe next 12 months, within the
next two years?
What are things like that theyask of you in the beginning?
Speaker 2 (42:44):
If they don't have a time constraint goal.
it's the first thing we work on, because you've got to have a
time constraint, Otherwise youcan just put it off.
So, we want to have that 12months or 24 month time frame
And then we want to break itdown into milestones.
What are we doing?
What are we doing this quarter?
(43:05):
What are we doing this month?
What are we doing this week, sothat we can reach our goals in
the future?
Speaker 1 (43:12):
Now that's interesting.
So when you're keeping up withthat because I would imagine you
don't really have like acustomer complaint line, so to
speak Or if they're calling youback three or four months on the
line, they're like oh, thisisn't what I expected.
How are you dealing withsituations like that?
Because I know, as businessowners, one of the things you're
doing a lot of it is psychology, because you're dealing with
human beings.
(43:32):
How does that something likethat, look for you when you're
kind of trying to give feedbackor have somebody maybe unhappy
with something and you're tryingto rectify that?
Speaker 2 (43:42):
So with my private clients.
I'm talking with them everyweek, Every week.
So if it goes three months,then there's a problem right
there.
If there's something that's notworking and they wait three
months to let me know, there's aproblem.
Sometimes results come veryquickly.
Sometimes results don't come soquickly.
(44:04):
You know, the tallest buildingin New York was first the
deepest hole in New York.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
Interesting.
It's very interesting.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
So sometimes you've got to water the plant.
You've heard the story of thebamboo plant, where you water it
, you water it, you see nothing,you see nothing.
you keep watering it, you seenothing, and then all of a
sudden, 10 days or two weeks, itjust grows up 30 feet.
So that's important to realize.
You want to see results rightaway.
(44:34):
So one thing that I look forare the low hanging fruit, the
quick kills.
What can we do right awaythat's going to provide massive
results?
Some of the other things thatwe get involved with take a
little bit longer.
But if right away, within a fewweeks, they see those results,
(44:55):
they're more likely to acceptthe fact that these other
projects to increase theirmarket share, in our example,
are going to take a littlelonger.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
Okay, so you can give them kind of like the immediate
and the looming issue and tryto tackle something that's going
to make them happier andimmediate, and I would imagine
it's different for differentbusinesses.
This is not a one size fits allsituation by any stretch of the
imagination.
Here, when you are, do you doyour consultations ahead of time
(45:25):
when you're dealing with this,because I would imagine you're
not going to just take everyperson that would give you a
dollar because some of theseexpectations might not be
realistic.
Speaker 2 (45:35):
That's right, very true.
Yeah, i've not allowed peopleto pay me because their
expectations were unrealistic.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
How do you go back explaining that to them?
Because nobody wants to hearthat.
I'll tell you that.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
They don't.
One guy said hey, for what Ipay you to meet once or twice a
week, i could hire a full-timeemployee.
I said, yes, you could.
You've been doing that for 15years.
How's that working for you?
He's like that's why I'mtalking to you.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
So, Adam, let's say that you do.
Let's just pick a nice round,number 10 of these.
Let's say 10, are all 10success For somebody looking to
get into this business?
what conversion rate to successwould be considered successful,
A successful business coach?
because nobody bats a thousand.
(46:32):
What rate of success If I have10, is it realistically to say
that I'm a decent business coachif six of these turn out great
and I'm a great business coachif eight, nine of these turn out
great?
What is there?
a metric like that where youcan kind of keep an inner
scorecard on how good you'redoing relative to other people
(46:54):
in the business?
Speaker 2 (46:56):
Yeah, I've never thought of it that way, But it's
the most important thing, orone of the most important things
in being a business coach ischoosing the right clients.
If you get the wrong client,someone who is not dedicated,
someone who's going to secondguess you, someone who is so set
(47:16):
in their ways, they're going todo things their way anyway, the
way they've always done it, andthey're always going to get
those results, and it's almostlike you're fighting with them.
That's going to be a difficultclient to work with and you're
not going to get the results.
In the coaching world we talkabout hiring clients who are
(47:37):
coachable.
It's a joint thing.
Someone has to want to becoached by me and I have to want
to coach them Interesting.
So it's not everyone that Italk to that, I think, is a good
client for me.
Sometimes I've recommendedother coaches because of their
(47:58):
particular issue, theirsituation.
I may not be the best personfor them.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
Is that done through like a general consultation,
like somebody they call you upto say, joe, i really need some
help here.
Do you set up like a 30-minutehour consultation first to see
if this is a good fit?
Yes, absolutely, okay, okay, sothen it's not, let's just go in
blind.
I'm just not to show it up atyour business the next day
randomly.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
I don't think that's doing me a favor or the
potential client a favor doingit that way I want to do.
I want clients.
Yeah, sure, i want clients.
Am I going to take every clientthat shows up and knocks on my
door?
No, Right.
Right, so we do have to talk.
I want to know what theirexpectations are.
(48:45):
I want to know how open theyare to doing things differently.
That's kind of important.
I want to know that they'regoing to show up for the
meetings when we have meetingsscheduled Very important Even in
podcasting business.
Speaker 1 (48:57):
I mean, you are the exact same way there in a sense
of who shows up on time, rightPunctuality.
We can schedule a show outthree months from now And some
of the people that I've doneshows with that have been
greatness business.
They don't need reminders, Sothey're going to be there.
At the time they said, whetherit's six months from now, six
days from now, they're going tobe there on time and it shows a
(49:17):
level of dedication, right.
Yeah, Is that the same kind ofthing that you're looking for
when you're doing theseconsultations?
Speaker 2 (49:24):
I am, i am.
I'm looking for someone who'sgoing to to respect my time.
I'm looking for someone who'sgoing to do the work, because
they're not hiring me to getinto the trenches and do the
work.
They're hiring me so thatthey're digging the right
trenches in the right area.
Does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (49:44):
It does, Absolutely, Absolutely.
And you know, initially I saidwe go for about 45 minutes or so
.
We've gone for our little.
It past that here.
I don't want to keep you onhere all day.
So let's tell people here wherethey can find you at and then
where they can find your courses, because you're only getting a
snippet of of of what you canprovide here for people.
So tell them where they can getmore.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
So they can get more at GapBologistcom.
It's a mini website.
It has links to my courses, tomy giveaways, to my podcasts, to
my website, to my social media.
Everything is at GapBologistcom, okay.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
And what is your final, your final thoughts?
If there's somebody's listeningto this, joe, and they this is
the only time they're going toever hear you for hopefully this
not, but if it is, what wouldyour final takeaway?
I know you don't need to give,like your, your key to life or
anything like that, but whatwould your, your, your final
thoughts be on somebody who'slooking to maybe do the podcast
(50:45):
guesting situation, or who'sstarting abroad, trying to grow
a business, or growing abusiness here, or getting into
business coaching.
What is there any kind of likewrap up there that you would
have for a?
a final statement?
Speaker 2 (50:56):
Yeah, that's kind of tough, but what I would say,
reggie, is get started, dosomething that.
Do something that moves you inthe direction of your goal Right
Now.
If you want to look like ArnoldSchwarzenegger you're not going
to do that tomorrow, no, butyou know what You can start
eating, right?
You can start lifting weights,and if you don't have weights,
(51:18):
lift rocks.
And if you don't have rocks,lift a milk jug.
But get started, do somethingthat moves you in that direction
.
If you want to start a business, look online, research that
business, find people who aredoing that.
Listen to podcasts.
Get on YouTube.
There's so much information outthere.
Speaker 1 (51:38):
But, joe, you've been very gracious with your time
here And you know what That wasamazing Cause, as I'm teaming
you up for that question, joe,in my head I'm thinking I don't
know how he's going to answerthis question like that.
I've given him like threedifferent areas and would, would
, would one statement, andbasically that one statement
encompasses just getting started, and I definitely think that
that's a it's excellent advice.
(51:58):
When people ask me aboutanything, i told them the first
thing you got to do is do likethat.
That's the first thing thatyou're going to have to do.
You're going to have to actuallydo it And then hopefully things
will go your way as you kind ofcontinue down your journey.
I definitely appreciate youtaking some time out here with
me and my audience here, Joe.
Speaker 2 (52:16):
That's been my pleasure, Reggie.
Speaker 1 (52:17):
Thank you for having me on your show Absolutely.
This is Reggie HL.
Check us out.
Stay dry heart radio.
Google podcast, apple podcast,spotify, wherever you find your
podcast.
See you next time, guys.
There from the lovely city of Atlanta, georgia, and
today I have a special guestwith me here today, and it's Joe
.
Now, joe, you guys.
Is it Joe Mott or Joe Matt?
I didn't, i didn't ask in thebeginning here, let's just do
this live on the show.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah, all right.
The second one is right, matt's.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Matt's Joe, matt's All right, joe.
Now, joe, you have a unique,unique background here and we
talked prior about your businessbuilding on several different
continents and that sounds likea challenge.
It's hard to build one on thisin this state.
Let's just tonight, i'm gonnasay this continent, on this, in
this state of Atlanta, georgia,is difficult to build one
(01:04):
business that you built severalover the over the years.
So I'm just going to have youintroduce yourself to the
audience here and then we'regoing to kind of go into some of
the things, like the podcast, aguessing that you've been
working on here, and we'll talka little bit more about the
business later on.
But let's give a briefintroduction of yourself here to
the audience.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
All right.
Well, i am Joe Matt's.
I'm the chief gap biologist ata pexiblecom and you know I
started my career after collegeand I was working where I wanted
to be working, doing what Iwanted to do, and I got an offer
to go to Italy.
So that was a two year projectApparently that's what they told
me to look after a businessthere.
(01:42):
Felt lost his eyes on theground and asked me to go to be
the eyes on the ground, lookafter his interest.
That ended up being an 18 yearjoint journey overseas 18 years,
joe, 18 years.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Two from two years to 18 years.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Took me a little while to figure out what I was
doing in Italy.
Eventually I became the saleslead in Italy and when they
wanted to expand to SouthAmerica they asked me to go to
Brazil, and that was after fiveyears in Italy.
So then I spent nine years inBrazil and that was just an
amazing, amazing time in Brazil.
Beautiful country, beautifulpeople, just just fantastic.
(02:21):
And then I went back to Italy,changed what I was doing in
Brazil.
I got involved with publicspeaking.
I got involved with salesconferences and speaking at
sales conferences in Portuguese.
And then I went back to Italyand started a language school,
also started a mountain biketourism business and with a
(02:42):
buddy of mine we had somecontacts in the local government
.
So we worked to get productsinto Austria from the area of a
Brutso Wow.
So that was, that was just alot of fun.
I mean, we lived near the beach, we lived near the mountain, so
we're at the beach in themorning, we were mountain biking
in the afternoon.
It was just a wonderful,wonderful experience.
(03:04):
And then I was done with that.
It was time to come back to theUS.
You know, it kind of felt likeit.
After 18 years I came back andran a restaurant, got involved
with mortgages, got involvedwith selling and buying
businesses, and then I decidedto be a coach because somebody
said what are you going to donow?
(03:24):
And I said I don't know.
I said Joe with all thatexperience, you should be a
business coach, and my responsewas what's that?
I didn't know what that was, soI looked into.
It seemed like somethinginteresting.
I get my hands in lots ofbusinesses and and help people
and and used all that experiencethat I have accumulated to help
people grow businesses, and soI jumped in full force.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
That's amazing.
That's amazing.
Let's let's talk about one ofthe things that you're doing
here as of late, and that's withthe podcast Guesting.
Now basically here, joe, andlet's put this on screen for
people who want to know whatsubject we're on there at the
moment.
We this is something that Ihave looked at online because I
(04:11):
looked at a few things when Iwas first going down my journey
of becoming a guest myself.
You know kind of best practicessort of thing.
What even got you into teachingpeople how to grow their
business or podcast guestingsuccess and how did you learn?
like what did you learn throughPython?
How long did it take?
Like, how many shows were youdoing yourself before you
(04:32):
learned what may or may not workor what may or may not be the
best in practice for going onother people's shows?
And while a lot of times show,what I feel like is I want to go
on shows and give the host andtheir audience what they need,
but you're also trying to putyourself out there.
You don't want to take over theshow.
What would it would have?
some of the things that you,that you've learned on this
(04:55):
journey.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
So I started a podcast two and a half years ago
, okay, and about eight monthsago I became involved with a
networking group and I formed asubgroup.
I'm now a co what do you callthem?
Co-leader, co-author,co-organizer of this podcasting
group, and every few months wehave a mixer with podcast host.
(05:20):
Now, the objective of thepodcast group is so that we can
get better at our craft ofpodcasting.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I know what you mean there.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Every few months.
We have a mixer.
We brought in people wanted tobe guests on podcast, to mix and
get to know people who hadpodcast so they could.
The host could find guests, theguests could find podcast to be
on And we asked them what theywant from us.
How can we be a better service,how can we be of more service?
Provide you what you want, whatyou need at this time, and the
(05:53):
overwhelming response, reggie,was we want to be on more
podcast, we want to get some ROIfrom podcasts, we want to grow
our business And I had done 50episodes at this time.
I bet I can't.
I don't even remember how manytimes I've been a guest, but
along the way.
I've seen good guests, i've seenbetter guests, i've seen guests
(06:15):
that were I'd rather not haveon the show again, and I boiled
it down to seven steps for sevensteps Okay.
Seven steps for being a goodguest on a podcast.
And it's more than being a goodguest, it's being good for
(06:37):
yourself, good for the host,good for the audience.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
So it's a win, win, win situation.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
And I put together a program for the podcast guesting
success based on the secondTuesday of November 2002, when
we had this meeting and peoplesaid this is what they need.
So I put it together and amonth and a half, 2002, 2002.
(07:05):
Yeah, Wow.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
No, no, I'm sorry, No .
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I'm wrong, 2022.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
I was going to say Joe, you're a pioneer, pioneer
man, you're, you're, wow 20years in a podcasting game.
You know 2022.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
So, without giving away to program here, though,
because I want people to uh, wewill let people know at the end,
kind of where they can findthis program on and how that can
be beneficial to them.
Is there a summary of the steps?
Can we give them like a tidbit,a cliff notes, so to speak, of
what the steps would be?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah, so you know.
The first thing, reggie, isyour why.
Why do you want to be a gueston podcast?
What's your objective?
And there could be numerousobjectives, not not exclusively
these few.
There could be more, but couldbe.
You launched a book and youwant to do a virtual book tour,
(08:04):
could be?
you want to reach out to moreaudiences.
You've, you've, you've pitchedto your product or your service,
to your LinkedIn friends, toyour Facebook friends, to your
family, to your neighborhood,and now you need more audiences.
Podcast guesting is a great wayto get in front of new audiences
.
Yeah, some people use thepodcast guesting as a way to
(08:27):
increase their back links totheir website.
So they're they're working onbuilding their SEO.
Oh, wow, yeah, so that's that'swhen you don't hear about very
often.
Podcast Guesting also allowsyou to position yourself as an
expert, as, as we talk here onthis podcast and your interview,
i'm exposing my expertise.
(08:48):
So also, you're introducing meto new audience.
So that's all working toincrease my business and
increase my exposure, which thenincreases my business.
And that's that's just onereason to do the podcast
guesting.
Yeah, some people do it tobuild their list, their email
list, so they have a freegiveaway.
(09:09):
They have a call to action Oh,get my free giveaway, and you go
to get their free giveaway.
You give them your first nameand your email address.
Now you're on their list.
Some people do it for that, sothat.
So you've got to have astrategy, you've got to know why
you're doing it and then buildyour strategy around that.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Okay, so then what is step?
So step one is the why for theaudience listening here.
What's step two?
Step?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
two is what your message is going to be.
Work on your message, work onyour message.
Get a good message out thereAnd, at the same time, know who
that message is for, cause youwant to talk with people who are
in your niche market, who areyour potential clients, right?
So if I were talking to topeople in the corporate world
(09:56):
who wanted to reach thecorporate, you know, apex of the
corporate ladder, that would bethe wrong audience for me.
Great audience, great people,but not my niche market.
I talked to small businessowners.
That's my niche market, right.
So you want to talk with yourniche market.
Find out where they'relistening to podcasts.
(10:16):
What podcast are they listeningto?
You can find that out there Joe.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Like what would be some of the steps, like two, two
, because that can be such adaunting task for some people,
especially if they're justtrying to get on the show and
just record and just press,press record and sit down.
What are they?
what has been some of thethings that have worked for you
in that regard?
Speaker 2 (10:40):
So there's a little bit of research involved here.
Now what you can do.
You're the key words for yourbusiness where you might have
Keywords on a social mediaprofile.
You might use keywords in yourwebsite If you do Google those
keywords.
But here's the trick Google thekeyword and after you put the
(11:01):
keyword in there, put podcast,hmm, interesting.
So if I were talking to someonewho is involved with lawn care
Very simple example I would sayGoogle lawn care podcast.
Okay, if I was talking to atart, a two artist, i Would say
tattoo artist Podcast orwhatever might be a keyword for
(11:25):
the tattoo artist, but alwaysput podcast afterwards.
So here's another secret sauceif you have colleagues, folks
that you listen to on podcast,people who are doing something
similar to what you're doing,put their name in Google and
then after their name, putpodcast.
You'll come up with a list ofpodcasts that they're on and
(11:49):
Those might be podcast where youcould be on also very
interesting, very interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
So what would you say ?
your third step is here.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
So Just one more thing on the second step there.
Reggie, i don't want to to missthis.
If you're on, if you use Google, if you use Google podcast or
you use Apple Podcast to listento podcasts, they have search
engines also where you can usethese tactics.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Interesting within within those search engines, so
within Google podcast, withinApple podcast, searching within
their versus just doing ageneral Google search.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Right, right, got it and I would do them.
I would do them all Right.
Third step you want to listento those podcasts.
You want to build relationshipwith the Podcast host.
So how do you do that?
Very simple, listen to theirpodcast, comment on their
podcast.
Get on their social media.
Say hey, if they're postingPromotions for their podcast on
(12:43):
social media.
Comment, hey, i liked it.
I especially liked in minute 10where you talked about The ink
that you use for tattoos.
I'm on, i'm on the tattoo themetoday, right.
So When they see you and youpitch yourself, this is the next
(13:04):
stage right, to say hey, i'dlike to be on your podcast.
Now It's a professional letter,it's done right.
You mentioned an episode.
You comment on their podcast.
You, you tell them how much youyou know What you like about
their podcast, why you thinkyou'd be a good guest.
But make it personal.
I Listened to episode 76.
(13:25):
I loved when, when Reggietalked about, you know, the
nightlife in Atlanta and thatone bar.
I think I'm gonna have to go tothat bar and then say I, you
know.
Then you transition to I'd be agood guest on your podcast
because you know That very nice,very nice.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
So what is?
it is the next step.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
We're at step four I might be.
I might be confusing the stepshere a little bit.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
As long as we have seven of them, I think we'll be
good.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
We're getting there, Okay.
So then you want to be.
So step three is Oh gosh, okay.
Anyway.
The next step Is you're on thepodcast, right?
Okay, Be a good podcast guest.
How do you be a good podcastguest?
edify your host.
Don't get into long answers.
(14:15):
I've had guests that got intoseven minute answers and by the
time they're done.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
I.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Forget the points I wanted to touch on, which were
points that my audience isinterested in, but, oh my gosh,
they've thrown on and on.
No, don't do that.
It's more of a back-and-forth,more of a conversation, right,
keep that in mind for sure.
So, yeah, so the letter we wentthrough, the letter we went
through being on the podcast.
(14:43):
You want to have a call toaction.
Call to action All right, callto actions are important because
otherwise It's just a niceconversation.
Yes, yes, call to action shouldbe easy for the listener to
activate, and One of the easiestthings to to activate is a
(15:05):
download of a PDF or a flip bookor something.
I've a video that delves deeperinto the Topic, right,
something that is easy to accept.
Some people have a lot of ofgood success with a 30 minute
(15:27):
conversation, free three minuteconsult.
For others, that doesn't workvery well.
So you have to experiment.
What works for you, what callto action is going to get the
most response for you and foryour audience?
Very interesting veryinteresting.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
So we're on the last couple of steps here to where
we're.
Where we are here with theselast couple of steps.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
So when someone Activate your call to action,
gather their email address Andnow they're on your list, you
can email them.
You can promote your product,promote your events, promote
what you have going on.
Build a relationship with thatperson.
Right, they've separatedthemselves from the crowd
because they've said hey, i'minterested in what you're
talking about, i want more.
Don't leave them out in thecold And don't leave your host
(16:14):
out in the cold either.
Build a relationship with yourhost, because podcasters know
podcasters.
Yeah, so it's a great way toget on more podcasts, and I was.
I was just featured in a bookthat's coming out next week From
a podcaster and I was on hershow and I comment on her
(16:35):
episodes.
I like her post on social media.
When she promotes an episode, ilike it, i comment on it And I
was one of the few people out oflike 500 guests that she's had.
She asked me to be a part ofthis book Interesting because we
built that relationship and wemet through podcasting.
That's amazing.
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
How do you is there?
are there any more steps beforeI go on?
I don't want to.
I don't want to run over anymore steps.
You have another step in here.
Yeah, that's about it.
I mean building relationship,building relationship and the
follow-up process is that'safter the show and that's that's
what you need to do.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
A lot of people Do a podcast recording and then it's
done.
They might never talk to a hostagain.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I've seen it happen quite a bit and you know one of
the things that's that's I'vediscovered that you that
resonates with me is Talkingbefore about how you, when
you're going on you to in myopinion, you got a podcast to
get good at podcasting.
You got a, you're gonna have todo it, and it's something that
you you should if you've takenlessons from your previous
podcast Get better with as timegoes on.
(17:40):
How long did it take for you tokind of get these things down
for yourself?
Was it an epiphany after acertain amount of appearances?
or how how long did it take youto kind of get these steps down
?
You know, i come from anexperience of speaking on stage.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
And I spoke in front of small audiences and large
audiences on stage in threedifferent languages.
So I've got some speakingexperience, but I'm still
learning.
I'm learning a lot of thingsExperience, but I'm still
learning.
I'm learning about speaking onstage and I'm still learning
about being a good podcast guestAnd how to do that.
(18:15):
I mean, you know, i mymicrophone is relatively new.
I got a new camera a few weeksago.
You know, i'm still upping mytechnology there, yeah, so I'm
not sure how long it took mewhen we she got it down.
I never feel like I've arrived.
I always feel like I'm learningsomething new me to me too.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
I could have that.
That kind of resonates as well.
We're gonna transition here alittle bit into the, into the,
the business subjects, becauseyou have a fascinating business
history And what kind of talkabout here, the different
challenges that you had withbuilding businesses abroad.
Now Let's walk me through alittle bit, because you started
in.
So was Italy, then Brazil,right, man?
(18:56):
I'm gonna Brazil.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
So bad, joe, my good, Oh yeah, I'm trying to get out
there.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
So so bad, i've not been able to, but I've
definitely been trying to.
Is on my bucket list, gonnamake it out there at some point,
but we'll start here in Italy,because that's you.
You were Italy, then Brazil,right, what are the different
challenges?
you'd say that that that youwent through being in Italy in
general.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
So it was kind of unique because I didn't go to
Italy with with a very long jobdescription.
My job description was keep aneye on my business.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
That was my job description very, very to the
point, right, very succinct,that's right.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Keep an eye on my business, keep me up on what's
really going on there.
That's why he felt he neededsomeone on the ground in Italy,
and that's what I went overthere with.
Took me a little while fumblingaround to try and figure out
What was going on and What I howI could be of service there.
What happened was that companythen brought in vitamins to
(19:52):
Italy and at that point And atthat point I had been taking
vitamins for ten years- Arethese like multi vitamins?
like like multi vitamins, i'mgonna see yeah, yeah, I got you
a whole range.
I knew vitamins, so I becamethe self-appointed vitamin
expert and I traveled around thecountry Teaching the
(20:14):
salespeople about vitamins andhow to sell vitamins.
Okay, and that that propelledme to be the sales lead And it
was like Joe, this, this is whatyou're doing.
You should have the title, youknow so.
So I did that and that was fiveyears, right, some of the
challenges.
I mean, i didn't speak thelanguage when I went.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, that's.
I was gonna ask you about themajor.
What would be the majorchallenge for me is getting over
that language barrier.
How, what helped you with that?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Oh, nothing really helped me.
I put up challenges andbarriers myself imposed.
I was in a course, reggie, andit was a two twice a week course
.
I didn't have time to study andI graduated with honors from
from college.
I'm a good student.
That's my, my self image.
I look in the mirror.
I see a good student.
(21:06):
I didn't have time to study andone of the students called me
out, said you're holding us back.
And I basically said I'm sorry.
I won't come back cuz I don'thave time to study.
I won't come back cuz I don'thave time to keep up.
And I never went back.
So here's the trick.
Now I'm a married man I'm veryhappily married at this point
(21:28):
But when I was in Italy I wassingle Now this is a good thing
And I was 23 years old when Iwent over.
So I put up a sign and I wouldrecommend any young men or women
going to Italy or any otherforeign country If you want to
meet people of your age, youknow and you want to learn the
language there.
So this is what I did.
I went to the Americanbookstore and I put up a sign
(21:53):
that said American male wants tolearn Italian.
I will teach you English if youwill teach me Italian.
Oh, very nice.
I got so many dates from that.
I was not really.
My objective was to learnItalian.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
You came with a bonus there, Jim.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Yeah, that's a good way of putting it, yes, so I
learned Italian.
I mean, i had a girlfriend andour activity was to communicate
It's like let's get thedictionaries out and communicate
.
But I found out so I had aninterest in bicycles.
I still have an interest inbikes.
I got a bicycling magazine andI got the Disney magazine.
(22:41):
So there was all the Disneycharacters and the pictures, the
cartoons They don't call themcartoons the comics.
And I started reading becausethat was simple Italian and it
had the pictures.
So that helped.
I still needed a dictionary.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
So you can get like context from the pictures and
stuff like that in other areasExactly.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
So I learned Italian with Donald Duck and Mickey
Mouse, and those guys Had togive that up when I started
sounding like Mickey Mouse inItalian.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
You're speaking Disney Italian, basically, which
is what you were speaking.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
That's right, and that's how it started And then
you know a little bit probablytook me two years before I was
feeling comfortable in aconversation.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Okay, but when you, when you're going down that road
because it seems just sodaunting, like an incredibly
challenging, to just get yourfooting abroad, in just living,
forget running a business justexisting abroad and kind of
getting your footing there, howlong did outside of the business
, how long did that take tomaterialize for you before you
(23:53):
really start to feel like, hey,i kind of have the hang of
things here.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
About a year, and it wasn't easy, you know.
It was a very lonely timebecause I couldn't even go to
the bar and cry to the bartenderof my sorrows and woes because
I didn't speak Italian, and soit was a lonely year.
But it took about a year beforeI started feeling comfortable.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Did you have?
and what about your social life?
Because I know that was alonely year, as you've just
described.
When did that start to pick up?
Because I believe I'm a bigbeliever in work-life balance.
I believe one kind of feedsinto the other.
When did your social life kindof start to pick up there?
Because a lot of people want togo and they want to meet
friends, And I think yoursuggestion of learning the
(24:42):
language is one that is veryactionable for many people that
can just go anywhere.
There's always people that areabroad looking to learn English
and you being able to have thatkind of trade-off is, I think,
attractive for a lot of people.
When did your social life kindof start to pick up?
Was it also within that sameyear?
Speaker 2 (24:58):
It was within the year Now, i avoided Americans.
There was an American church,there was an American bar near
the church And the folks whowere there, the expats who were
there a lot of them that I metthey had been there for four or
five years could not speakItalian.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
How are they existing ?
Well, they worked in a US firm.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Oh, in a bubble, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
That's right.
They went to the restaurantthat had the English menus.
They went to the English bar,the American bar, where the
folks who speak English hang out.
I met one couple The wife hadbeen there also four years.
She could barely order, shecould barely go to the market
and get what she needed.
And at that point I decided toavoid Americans because it would
(25:45):
be so easy to fall into thatcomfort zone.
And one thing I did, reg I wentto the campus, the university
campus, and I just asked people,do you speak English?
Do you speak English?
I met some great friends, youknow, because they wanted to
learn, They love my accent,because I had the real accent,
(26:07):
not the accent of their teacher,who was full blood Italian.
And we went out, you know,started just going for tea or
beer and talking, and that's howI met some friends.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Okay.
So then you start to develop.
You get there within the year,you start to develop friendships
and you're starting to kind ofget your legs kind of under you
here.
How did that affect thebusiness at all?
Because 18 years, that's quitea bit of time here.
You know, like you, that's alifetime for some people here.
So how did all of that start tokind of gel for you with the
(26:40):
business and everything likethat, where you kind of start
really get things rolling onboth sides?
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Yeah, i mean, it just kind of came naturally after
that first year, after thatstruggle, and by the second year
I was speaking Italian.
by the third year I wasspeaking in public, on stage, in
Italian.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Very, nice And.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
I also got involved with skiing because we're near
the Alps and I would go up witha group to go skiing.
I got involved with mountainbiking and I would go mountain
biking with people, i meanthat's so.
that was my social life there,sports basically.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Okay, and then what were you reporting back to the
States at this time with thecompany that you were working
with, and did you stay with thesame company that entire time
you were there?
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Yeah, that entire five years I stayed with the
same company.
Yes, yep, and then, when theywanted to expand in South
America, they asked me to headup the operations in Brazil.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
So then you're chatting off to Brazil now, yes.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Also with a very, very short job description.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Which you should be used to now at this point right,
You're kind of used to have alonger job description.
You might not have been assuccessful for you there.
So when I'm trying to get afeel here for the timeline, if
you were there for 18 years,were you there going between
Italy and Brazil in this timeperiod?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
No, it was five years in Brazil and then nine years
in Italy, and then four years.
no, i'm sorry, five years inItaly, nine years in Brazil and
then back to Italy for fouryears.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Okay, okay, so I'll see that's in totality then, all
right.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Right In total Right.
And you know, in Brazil I gotinvolved with public speaking.
After a while, they let mespeak in public in Portuguese.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah, I was going to say Portuguese.
I think is the language there,That's interesting Very
different from Italian.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Yeah.
Yeah, it's still a Latinlanguage, so there's that.
I could understand probably 30to 40% the first day I arrived,
and then it was just keeping itstraight What's Italian and
what's Portuguese.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
So you know a lot of people ask this question,
because I have some people I'vedated, have been from other
countries, whether it's Japan,romania or like Korea, and a lot
of questions they ask them iswhat language do they think in?
Like, do you think in English,or do you think in Italian?
Or, in your case, do you thinkin Portuguese?
(29:06):
How is it all coming togetherup there?
Like, what are you actually?
what language are you thinkingin when you're speaking so many
different ones?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
After a certain amount of time speaking a
foreign language, a secondlanguage.
If you live in the country andyou're speaking that a lot, you
begin thinking in that language.
I'll give you an example.
My sister doesn't speak Italian, but when I was in Italy I
realized one time I was thinkingabout a conversation I want to
(29:35):
have with my sister and I wasthinking of it in Italian.
So my talking to her and hertalk responding to me in Italian
, and then I was like shake myhead.
It's like wait a minute, shedoesn't speak.
I should be thinking about thisin English.
It just comes naturally after awhile And it happens, and then
you realize that it happenedReally.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
So you're realizing it kind of like afterwards, that
that was even occurring.
basically, right.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
Exactly, exactly, and that's normal, because you
become so comfortable in thatlanguage And there are things I
can express, even today I canexpress in Italian that I can't
express in English.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Really.
And so which one are you morefluent in, Would you say?
would you say more ItalianBecause you spent more time
there than Brazil with thePortuguese?
Speaker 2 (30:24):
I think more Italian because I was.
my last overseas adventure wasin Italy for four years, as
Portuguese is further.
but I keep friends in bothcountries and I'm talking with
them and in their language,sometimes English, sometimes
their language, but I would saymore Italian than Portuguese.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
Okay, so when you went back to Italy, was it with
a different company or was itstill the same company?
that was kind of like sendingyou back and forth to these
places.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
I left the company when I went back to Italy, okay,
and I went to work for anothercompany with a boss right there,
and that was not a goodexperience for me.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Oh no, why is that?
Speaker 2 (31:13):
There was a miscommunication in what I
thought he hired me for and whathe wanted.
This was a guy who created carparts and he sold to BMW and
Mercedes car parts and he hadstarted the company.
He was a salesman but he wasalso the CEO and president and
running the company, which wasthe wrong place for him.
(31:34):
He should have been thesalesman and he realized that.
So he hired me to be theoperations manager to take over
that stuff internal to thefactory.
That was my thinking on it.
Then we had a financialagreement which he reneged on
(31:54):
after two months.
Oh man, i left.
I said what about thatagreement?
He said no, joe, no, no.
I said okay And I went back tomy desk.
I wrote my resignation letter,i gave it to him and I left.
And at this time you're in.
Italy, yes.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
So did you hit the help water ads in Italy Like are
you looking to come back to thestate?
What then?
Speaker 2 (32:20):
So at this point I said you know what, i don't need
that aggravation.
So I decided to teach EnglishAnd I made I took a regular
sheet of paper about 10 of themand I wrote if you want to learn
English, call Joe And I hung itup at local businesses And that
started my language school.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
That's very interesting.
That's very interesting becausewhen building a business like
that, you know, i always tellpeople when they're starting a
business at the beginning youown a job, you don't own a
business, you own a gig.
for the most part, you know andyou're central to that.
Is that something that you wereable to scale when you were
over there?
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yes, so in my mind I was not an English teacher.
Even when I was, when I had nostudents, when I had no piece of
paper on somebody's wall, inever thought of myself as an
English teacher.
I thought of myself as alanguage school owner, and that
was my mindset.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
I learned from the very beginning.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
From the very beginning, because I never
intended to continue teaching.
I said if this goes, it's gonnago, and I will be the owner of
a language school, so I might aswell start out that way today.
And I got students.
I ran out of time.
I raised my prices, idifferentiated prices from
daytime to nighttime.
I got into some schools where Iwas teaching and then I started
(33:47):
hiring people because Icouldn't keep up with it.
I got into businesses.
I made a flyer, i went tobusinesses and I said, hey, i'll
teach your people English, youknow.
And that was basically my pitch.
And I had to hire people.
I had seven language teachersworking for me within about two
years.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Wow.
Did you have to a brick andmortar type situation a
classroom, or would you justkind of go to their business?
save on that overhead?
go to their business, teachthem like on site.
What was that strategy?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
It was all on site.
Nice, all on site.
yep.
That way I was able to chargeless money and pay my teachers
more money, because my overheadwas so low.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
It's very interesting .
So how long did you do that andwhat made you transition out of
that business?
if you don't still have that?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Well, i did that for about three years.
while I was there, first year Iwas fumbling around, but then I
started the language school.
I did that for three years.
The only reason I stopped doingthat is because I moved back to
the US.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
Okay, and what made you move back?
Was that always a plan?
Speaker 2 (34:54):
No, it was a divorce.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
In Italy, in Italy, yeah, you got married in.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Italy.
I met well, i met my wife inItaly.
We got married and moved toBrazil.
Our children were born inBrazil and then we moved back to
Italy and it just didn't workout.
We grew it in differentdirections For sure, and with
that divorce, kind of my reasonsfor being in Italy were done.
I'm like you know what It'stime to go back to the States.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
What was it like coming back after all those
years?
It was weird.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
I still spoke in a different language.
Sometimes I still thought inItalian and I had to translate
from Italian to English.
I also Reggie the interestingthing at all my clothes I had
bought for business in Braziland then in Italy.
In Italy was a fashion capitalof the world.
Yes, my casual clothes weremore formal than formal clothes
(35:57):
here.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
For sure, i can see that.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
And so that was.
You know, it took me a while toget out of that.
I had to.
It's just different.
It's different, yeah So youknow, fancy clothes.
it just clothes were fancier,They were colorful, They were,
the style was just great, youknow.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Are they like stooping or coats?
Is everybody wearing sportcoats out there to just casual
events?
Cause you know we're in theT-shirt and jean culture here,
man.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Right, no, it was sports coats, it was more classy
, It was button downs, it waspressed, it was I mean, it just
had style, more style.
And when I came back I moved tothe beach.
Very different, Very different.
Like shorts I got to buy shortsLike what I can't wear.
(36:52):
Nobody wears Speedos at thebeach here.
What I have to buy a longbathing suit Comes down to my
knees What?
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Is that a Speedo culture there?
Is that what they're doingthere in Italy?
They rocking those Speedos outthere on the beach Brazil and
Italy.
Yeah, Really Yeah.
I haven't even seen a SpeedoLike I more or less, wear a long
one.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
You're a lucky man.
You're a lucky man.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Ha, ha, ha ha ha.
So you come back to the States.
What made you then?
transition kind of into whereyou are now and the things that
you're doing as of late.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
I got into managing the day to day operations of a
few businesses And eventuallywhat happened was the restaurant
business took over most of mytime.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
For sure, as restaurant businesses tend to do
.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Yes, and I was working late nights and then I
was drinking.
I was going to bed at threeo'clock, i was waking up at nine
, going to work till one, comingback and napping, going back at
4.30, working till midnight.
My body couldn't take itanymore And I had to get out of
that.
It was a time about 2007 or soand I went into the mortgage
(38:01):
business And then 2008, 2009 hitAnd a lot of people in the
mortgage business left,including me For sure.
You know that was a rough timeAnd I was kind of looking at
what to do And somebody said,joe, you should be a business
(38:21):
coach.
I said what's that?
And then I looked into that, iinvestigated and I said, wow,
yeah, i probably could be abusiness coach.
I've had a lot of businesses,i've learned a lot along the way
, i've had a language school, soI'm a teacher.
Maybe I could be a businesscoach.
I looked into it, got into acourse a 13 month course, wow To
become certified as a businesscoach, And that's how that
(38:44):
started.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
So what does that entail?
as far as if somebody who'slistening and they're thinking
of they want to go down thatsame line of work, what would
you say?
that would be a good entrypoint for them And you kind of
explain the steps that you wentthrough.
But everybody's experience isgoing to be different, Joe.
So what would you say?
the prerequisite, experiencesand how somebody could get into
something like that?
Speaker 2 (39:08):
I would say have some experience in business That
would be important And then getinto a good school.
Get into a school that iscertified with the International
Coaching FederationInternational Coaching
Federation okay, right now theywill certify schools and you can
get certified as a member ofthe International Coaching
(39:29):
Federation If you go to a schoolthat is accredited with them.
It just talks about the qualityof the school.
That's what it references.
So you want a quality school,one that is longer than two
weekends.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
I think, yeah, about 12 hours.
We've got a 12 hour course, nowyou're Have you seen those
courses?
Speaker 2 (39:51):
Yes, i have 120 bucks .
Become a business coach in twoweekends, yeah, okay, do
something a little more seriousthan that.
13 months is good.
There are some that are a bitshorter, some that are a bit
longer, wow, but it does takesome time.
Along with those 13 months, ihad 120 hours of actual coaching
(40:15):
with a coach looking over myshoulder, with an experienced
coach looking over my shoulder.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
We all going out to like businesses.
Like what did that entail?
Cause you know, when a lot ofbusinesses, when there's a
training, there's some just sortof shadow, you see, to have
some person that's kind ofstanding behind the person and
they're just kind of doing theirthing.
Was that the same type ofexperience?
Speaker 2 (40:35):
for you.
It was very similar to that,yes, and then we would talk
about how it went, where thingscould have gone better.
You know that was part of thecourse.
The other course was was allkinds of lessons, about 160
hours of coursework, wow.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
And that's you're doing on your own at that point,
yeah Goodness.
So when you're, what is ametric for success for a
business coach?
I'd imagine, if I bring in abusiness coach and I'm a
business, i'm looking for sometype of ROI there, and what do
you hear from businesses thatyou've gone to that?
Speaker 2 (41:12):
that ROI expectation is 10 times their investment
Interesting.
That's kind of what they want.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
And they want that in revenues and productivity.
Is that kind of how they laythat out, for?
Speaker 2 (41:26):
you.
It's usually laid out inrevenue.
Sometimes it's laid out inbusiness growth And they're not
as interested in their revenueas they are in capturing market
share.
That depends on the business,and I've worked with business
owners who just want more time,who have been threatened by
(41:51):
their wife, that they need tospend more time with the family.
Joe, I'm going to be honest withyou.
I'm hiring you because my wifesays I need to get away from the
business, I need to spend theweekends at home.
We'll figure that out, myfriend.
We'll figure that out.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
Well, you know, time is a commodity.
It's a precious one for mepersonally.
I'm a very big work-lifebalance guy, so I could see how
people might want to come in andkind of help them out with
something like that.
And when they're asking you forthese things, are they giving
you, like a certain time?
Like, let's say, let's go withthe market share one.
Let's say they own 1% of themarket, they want a 10X.
(42:32):
That They say I want 10% of themarket now, and do they say I
want 10% of the market withinthe next 12 months, within the
next two years?
What are things like that theyask of you in the beginning?
Speaker 2 (42:44):
If they don't have a time constraint goal.
it's the first thing we work on, because you've got to have a
time constraint, Otherwise youcan just put it off.
So, we want to have that 12months or 24 month time frame
And then we want to break itdown into milestones.
What are we doing?
What are we doing this quarter?
(43:05):
What are we doing this month?
What are we doing this week, sothat we can reach our goals in
the future?
Speaker 1 (43:12):
Now that's interesting.
So when you're keeping up withthat because I would imagine you
don't really have like acustomer complaint line, so to
speak Or if they're calling youback three or four months on the
line, they're like oh, thisisn't what I expected.
How are you dealing withsituations like that?
Because I know, as businessowners, one of the things you're
doing a lot of it is psychology, because you're dealing with
human beings.
(43:32):
How does that something likethat, look for you when you're
kind of trying to give feedbackor have somebody maybe unhappy
with something and you're tryingto rectify that?
Speaker 2 (43:42):
So with my private clients.
I'm talking with them everyweek, Every week.
So if it goes three months,then there's a problem right
there.
If there's something that's notworking and they wait three
months to let me know, there's aproblem.
Sometimes results come veryquickly.
Sometimes results don't come soquickly.
(44:04):
You know, the tallest buildingin New York was first the
deepest hole in New York.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
Interesting.
It's very interesting.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
So sometimes you've got to water the plant.
You've heard the story of thebamboo plant, where you water it
, you water it, you see nothing,you see nothing.
you keep watering it, you seenothing, and then all of a
sudden, 10 days or two weeks, itjust grows up 30 feet.
So that's important to realize.
You want to see results rightaway.
(44:34):
So one thing that I look forare the low hanging fruit, the
quick kills.
What can we do right awaythat's going to provide massive
results?
Some of the other things thatwe get involved with take a
little bit longer.
But if right away, within a fewweeks, they see those results,
(44:55):
they're more likely to acceptthe fact that these other
projects to increase theirmarket share, in our example,
are going to take a littlelonger.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
Okay, so you can give them kind of like the immediate
and the looming issue and tryto tackle something that's going
to make them happier andimmediate, and I would imagine
it's different for differentbusinesses.
This is not a one size fits allsituation by any stretch of the
imagination.
Here, when you are, do you doyour consultations ahead of time
(45:25):
when you're dealing with this,because I would imagine you're
not going to just take everyperson that would give you a
dollar because some of theseexpectations might not be
realistic.
Speaker 2 (45:35):
That's right, very true.
Yeah, i've not allowed peopleto pay me because their
expectations were unrealistic.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
How do you go back explaining that to them?
Because nobody wants to hearthat.
I'll tell you that.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
They don't.
One guy said hey, for what Ipay you to meet once or twice a
week, i could hire a full-timeemployee.
I said, yes, you could.
You've been doing that for 15years.
How's that working for you?
He's like that's why I'mtalking to you.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
So, Adam, let's say that you do.
Let's just pick a nice round,number 10 of these.
Let's say 10, are all 10success For somebody looking to
get into this business?
what conversion rate to successwould be considered successful,
A successful business coach?
because nobody bats a thousand.
(46:32):
What rate of success If I have10, is it realistically to say
that I'm a decent business coachif six of these turn out great
and I'm a great business coachif eight, nine of these turn out
great?
What is there?
a metric like that where youcan kind of keep an inner
scorecard on how good you'redoing relative to other people
(46:54):
in the business?
Speaker 2 (46:56):
Yeah, I've never thought of it that way, But it's
the most important thing, orone of the most important things
in being a business coach ischoosing the right clients.
If you get the wrong client,someone who is not dedicated,
someone who's going to secondguess you, someone who is so set
(47:16):
in their ways, they're going todo things their way anyway, the
way they've always done it, andthey're always going to get
those results, and it's almostlike you're fighting with them.
That's going to be a difficultclient to work with and you're
not going to get the results.
In the coaching world we talkabout hiring clients who are
(47:37):
coachable.
It's a joint thing.
Someone has to want to becoached by me and I have to want
to coach them Interesting.
So it's not everyone that Italk to that, I think, is a good
client for me.
Sometimes I've recommendedother coaches because of their
(47:58):
particular issue, theirsituation.
I may not be the best personfor them.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
Is that done through like a general consultation,
like somebody they call you upto say, joe, i really need some
help here.
Do you set up like a 30-minutehour consultation first to see
if this is a good fit?
Yes, absolutely, okay, okay, sothen it's not, let's just go in
blind.
I'm just not to show it up atyour business the next day
randomly.
Speaker 2 (48:24):
I don't think that's doing me a favor or the
potential client a favor doingit that way I want to do.
I want clients.
Yeah, sure, i want clients.
Am I going to take every clientthat shows up and knocks on my
door?
No, Right.
Right, so we do have to talk.
I want to know what theirexpectations are.
(48:45):
I want to know how open theyare to doing things differently.
That's kind of important.
I want to know that they'regoing to show up for the
meetings when we have meetingsscheduled Very important Even in
podcasting business.
Speaker 1 (48:57):
I mean, you are the exact same way there in a sense
of who shows up on time, rightPunctuality.
We can schedule a show outthree months from now And some
of the people that I've doneshows with that have been
greatness business.
They don't need reminders, Sothey're going to be there.
At the time they said, whetherit's six months from now, six
days from now, they're going tobe there on time and it shows a
(49:17):
level of dedication, right.
Yeah, Is that the same kind ofthing that you're looking for
when you're doing theseconsultations?
Speaker 2 (49:24):
I am, i am.
I'm looking for someone who'sgoing to to respect my time.
I'm looking for someone who'sgoing to do the work, because
they're not hiring me to getinto the trenches and do the
work.
They're hiring me so thatthey're digging the right
trenches in the right area.
Does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (49:44):
It does, Absolutely, Absolutely.
And you know, initially I saidwe go for about 45 minutes or so
.
We've gone for our little.
It past that here.
I don't want to keep you onhere all day.
So let's tell people here wherethey can find you at and then
where they can find your courses, because you're only getting a
snippet of of of what you canprovide here for people.
So tell them where they can getmore.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
So they can get more at GapBologistcom.
It's a mini website.
It has links to my courses, tomy giveaways, to my podcasts, to
my website, to my social media.
Everything is at GapBologistcom, okay.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
And what is your final, your final thoughts?
If there's somebody's listeningto this, joe, and they this is
the only time they're going toever hear you for hopefully this
not, but if it is, what wouldyour final takeaway?
I know you don't need to give,like your, your key to life or
anything like that, but whatwould your, your, your final
thoughts be on somebody who'slooking to maybe do the podcast
(50:45):
guesting situation, or who'sstarting abroad, trying to grow
a business, or growing abusiness here, or getting into
business coaching.
What is there any kind of likewrap up there that you would
have for a?
a final statement?
Speaker 2 (50:56):
Yeah, that's kind of tough, but what I would say,
reggie, is get started, dosomething that.
Do something that moves you inthe direction of your goal Right
Now.
If you want to look like ArnoldSchwarzenegger you're not going
to do that tomorrow, no, butyou know what You can start
eating, right?
You can start lifting weights,and if you don't have weights,
(51:18):
lift rocks.
And if you don't have rocks,lift a milk jug.
But get started, do somethingthat moves you in that direction
.
If you want to start a business, look online, research that
business, find people who aredoing that.
Listen to podcasts.
Get on YouTube.
There's so much information outthere.
Speaker 1 (51:38):
But, joe, you've been very gracious with your time
here And you know what That wasamazing Cause, as I'm teaming
you up for that question, joe,in my head I'm thinking I don't
know how he's going to answerthis question like that.
I've given him like threedifferent areas and would, would
, would one statement, andbasically that one statement
encompasses just getting started, and I definitely think that
that's a it's excellent advice.
(51:58):
When people ask me aboutanything, i told them the first
thing you got to do is do likethat.
That's the first thing thatyou're going to have to do.
You're going to have to actuallydo it And then hopefully things
will go your way as you kind ofcontinue down your journey.
I definitely appreciate youtaking some time out here with
me and my audience here, Joe.
Speaker 2 (52:16):
That's been my pleasure, Reggie.
Speaker 1 (52:17):
Thank you for having me on your show Absolutely.
This is Reggie HL.
Check us out.
Stay dry heart radio.
Google podcast, apple podcast,spotify, wherever you find your
podcast.
See you next time, guys.
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