[00:00:00] Speaker A: Accountability. We call it momentum partnership. Focusing on more momentum than accountability.
[00:00:04] Speaker B: Becoming an entrepreneur for me was not a straight line.
[00:00:07] Speaker C: I knew I wanted to make a change for myself.
[00:00:10] Speaker D: I'm Richard Gerhart.
[00:00:11] Speaker E: And I'm Elizabeth Gearhart. You just heard some snippets from our show. It was a great one. Stay tuned to hear tips about how you can start your business.
[00:00:21] Speaker F: Ramping up your business.
[00:00:23] Speaker A: The time is near.
[00:00:24] Speaker F: You've given it heart, now get it in gear. It's Passage to Profit with Richard and Elizabeth Gearhart.
[00:00:31] Speaker C: Gearhart.
[00:00:32] Speaker D: I'm Richard Gerhardt, founder of Gearhart Law, a full service intellectual property law firm specializing in patents, trademarks and copyrights.
[00:00:39] Speaker E: And I'm Elizabeth Gearhart, founder of Gear Media Studios, podcast and content coach, Passage to Profit, co host and CMO at Gearhart Law.
[00:00:47] Speaker D: That's a big list. Welcome to Passage to Profit, everybody. The road to entrepreneurship, where we talk with entrepreneurs and celebrities about their business journeys. You're going to meet the man who's turned accountability into rocket fuel. Joseph Vargas isn't just leading the AI revolution. He's empowering entrepreneurs to achieve exponential growth through the science of success, the art of daily progress, and yes, the power of play. Get ready to level up your life. The success guy is here.
[00:01:19] Speaker E: And then we have two amazing women entrepreneurs. I can honestly say I've never met anyone like Jen Rulon before. She, she is a 15 times Ironman triathlete.
[00:01:30] Speaker D: I'm exhausted, just.
[00:01:31] Speaker E: And now she's a life coach and author. So if anybody can teach you how to get stuff done, it's her. And then Elise Frankel, co inventor of the Klutcher therapeutic pillow, which I am a side sleeper. I'm using it. She sent me one. Love it. Gotta hear her story. And coming up later on it's Noah's retrospective along with Secrets of the entrepreneurial mind, so stay tuned.
[00:01:53] Speaker D: But before we get to our distinguished panelists, it's time for your new business journey. Two in five Americans are business owners or thinking about starting a business. And so we want to ask our panel today, what's the one sacred startup myth you'd like to bust once and for all? Joseph, welcome to the show. What is the one sacred startup myth you'd like to bust?
[00:02:16] Speaker A: It's great to be here. And the the thing I liked about is you don't have to do it alone. You can get support. It takes a village to be able to build. And there are teams, people, virtual assistants, remote workers all around the world want to see you win. So if you have an idea, test it, get support, build your team. Don't do it alone.
[00:02:34] Speaker D: That's great. Elise, welcome to the program. What's the one sacred myth you'd like to bust?
[00:02:40] Speaker B: Thank you. It's great to be here. I think the myth I would like to bust is about you need to do research and have all the answers that you need to start, but that is not true. You just have to have your ideas down and start from where you are. Start with what you have and take it from there.
You will find people that aligns with what you're doing and what you want, and it will just take off from there.
[00:03:04] Speaker D: That's really great because if you wait until everything's perfect, it's really hard to do anything.
[00:03:09] Speaker B: That's correct.
[00:03:10] Speaker D: You have to make a start.
[00:03:11] Speaker A: Just.
[00:03:12] Speaker C: Jen, thanks for having me. I think the biggest thing that I've realized is that I don't have to do more.
I think something that I did for a long time in the beginning of my business, that I had to be on every social media platform. I had to have the perfect funnel. I had to have the newsletter, I had the blog. I had to have everything out there. But once I started actually doing less, I actually became more successful.
[00:03:36] Speaker D: Why do you think that is?
[00:03:38] Speaker C: I think I got to a point where I was done trying to prove what I needed to do in my business, and I just allowed it to just flow naturally.
[00:03:47] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:03:48] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:48] Speaker D: That's great advice, Elizabeth.
[00:03:50] Speaker E: Well, mine kind of goes along with Jen's. A lot of people say, oh, I work 24 7. I'm an entrepreneur. I never sleep well. Then I'm sorry, Never.
[00:04:00] Speaker D: For the last 10 years, I've never.
[00:04:02] Speaker E: I have a type of give him a clutch pillow.
That really hurts you.
Yeah. And so you really need the time to refresh, refuel. And I think that what it crushes most is your creativity. If you don't take time to just take care of yourself a little bit and relax. Right.
[00:04:21] Speaker D: And, you know, running a business is all about solving problems, and you have to bring your creativity into it. Right. To. To solve those problems. So that's a really great point. The myth I'd like to bust is that you have to have funding to be successful. Because the fact is, is that most businesses run on real customers who pay real money. And if you're profitable, you can use that money to reinvest in the business. And so while funding may be nice to get off to a start, it's not absolutely necessary. Gerhardt Law, we bootstrapped that. Right.
And it turned out just great. So spending a lot of time looking for investor funding can be right for some businesses, but it's not always necessary. So now it's time for our featured guest. And what if the secret to explosive success wasn't working harder, but playing harder? Joseph Vargas, known as the breakthrough engineer, turns the grind mindset on its head, showing entrepreneurs how to achieve more through accountability, flow and fun. So welcome to the show.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: Great to be here.
[00:05:26] Speaker D: Why is holding yourself accountable so difficult for so many people?
[00:05:30] Speaker A: It's difficult for people because they wake up in the morning not knowing what to do, how to engage, how to show up. I mentioned before, having a team is really vital. So years ago, when I moved back to Queens, New York, after my dad passed away, I moved into a bare apartment and I didn't have the people, the structures around me that I used to have prior to that when I lived in another state. And as time progressed, when I reached out to people, started having conversations, especially with people who were playing a game ahead of me. One of my best friends, his name is Paul, he's a veterinarian. We would connect each day and let's check in. We had a daily huddle. Seeing it all as a game, that's another topic we'll talk about later today. Gamification. Progress happened because we'd connect each day. We would expect each other to rise. This is 20 some years ago and as time progressed, we just like started blowing through the charts in terms of what was possible. So I've learned over the years that it just takes community, takes people, it takes momentum, it takes accountability. And accountability, people often think it's like it's just this thing where you've got this accountability coach and putting pushing you.
[00:06:34] Speaker D: Yeah, I always think of it as like self discipline. Is there more to it than that?
[00:06:39] Speaker A: Or I think discipline is, is a word that's overly used. You don't need discipline, you just need reminders.
There's a quote from the 1700s that I have my wall around me. We need to be reminded more than we need to learn. Learning is very useful in this age of AI and technology's infinite Information that's out there, it's accessible.
What's more important is being reminded of the game we're playing in life. And if we can do that each day by people with people who believe in us, each day eventually is the only options arise. And that's how I live my life.
[00:07:12] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:12] Speaker E: So your company is success circles and you put people in groups and we were talking a little bit about that. And you match people from diverse backgrounds. Can you talk about the groups that you put together?
[00:07:26] Speaker A: Yeah. So the groups are one on one. Typically we have a team program where we have cohorts. We go a little deeper as a group, it's one on one. So we match people who have similar aspirations, different backgrounds, where they can model each other.
The idea of modeling people hear about it through Tony Robbins perhaps that idea, it's basically seeing how somebody else works, how they engage, move through their life. If one of my clients is having a problem, let's say they're having a problem in their marriage and their relationship, typically all I do is I'll connect them with a relationship coach or someone who has a great relationship.
And I can tell within two weeks after having a daily 30, 20, 30 minute call, sharing the highs, the lows, lessons, that problem's gone. Whether it's in their health, maybe they're having a challenge in their health and might pair them up with somebody like, like Jen over here who is a triathlete. And just hearing their model of the world, how they start their day, that makes a huge difference. Being reminded by somebody else what the game are playing, being able to share our why. Last time we connected with, we had another guest in the show, our friend Sonia. She talks about the importance of knowing the why, the bigger the why, the ease or the how. So we put that why in center around what we do.
[00:08:36] Speaker D: Wow, that's really great. We're here with Joseph Varghese. Some interesting comments. So how do you split the difference? Or how do you sort of reconcile sort of the modeling with the thought of sort of being your own person? How do those two work together? Because you hear a lot about authenticity and being yourself. Yes, but, but I also see the value in learning from other people and how they're successful. So how do those two work together?
[00:09:02] Speaker A: We used to have a set of core values on our website. Authenticity, openness, respect, generosity. And over the years, after 18 years, we simplified that. Now it's make the day better, make each other better. So if every call is designed to make the person you're connecting with better, and if also the call is designed to make your day better, you'll do what's needed to show up and play. And authenticity is a vital part of when someone's open.
Oftentimes when I get in a conversation with someone, I'll talk about something personal to myself, something very personal and maybe embarrassing. And that often allows a person I connect with with open up and share what's personal for themselves. And to start the day this way is really vital. We think about when I was in high school, I was in track team, and before we. We ran track, the team would get together, we talk about the game, we might talk about the school we're running against, how we worked against them last time or last year. And then we'd break bread, we'd hold our hands, we'd do a high five. We'd do a bit more of a huddle afterwards. And that was very useful. It was very useful because as soon as that ended and we're able to say grace or share our gratitude, we were able to go in there and play. So I realized that most entrepreneurs deserve to have a huddle to start their day this way. And if the huddle can be open, authentic, and real, will we share our why around those values I mentioned before? Make the day better, make each other better. The only choice is to get better.
[00:10:22] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:10:23] Speaker D: So what kinds of success stories can you share with us? People who've been through their program. How can you describe their growth?
[00:10:30] Speaker E: For example, like, one person, like, can you take one client that you worked with, where they started and where they are now that you helped grow?
[00:10:37] Speaker A: There's so many, but one that stands out is my friend Gary Simmons. Gary's in. I mentioned him to you before also, Jen. He's in Baltimore. He has a past life as a missionary. He has 10 kids. He's gone through a lot.
[00:10:50] Speaker E: He's a saint.
[00:10:52] Speaker D: He needs some modeling.
[00:10:53] Speaker A: I think it's gone through a lot in life, you know, relationships, breakdowns. And he was reinventing himself as an e commerce marketer at the time. And it's interesting because he's somebody, I believe we track people into our lives as we need.
So he's somebody that came into our circle, one of the early members, legacy members, going back 19 years now in our community, seeing him pivot through all the challenges, the breakdowns and he had in life, his kids, breakdowns, things. He was having health conditions eventually to sell his business. So he started a business around fish oil, heart health supplements, and again, reinventing himself again, building a business called Local Vocal Marketing, focusing on helping entrepreneurs around the country scale their brands. For me, seeing somebody embrace those pivots is very vital. Industries are always changing. People are being disrupted. AI is here having conversations, being able to speak out loud. The highs, the lows of lessons, being able to hear ourselves speak. Just like we're doing the show here, we're able to engage in greater critical thinking, make better choices, and maybe model Somebody who's a step or two ahead of us and see what strategies they're applying. Well, if this industry I have is being disrupted with AI, and this is the future of that, and this person's really pushing and being inspiring and they're doing this each day, maybe I can copy, model some of that. Maybe they can be open to me, maybe I can see what they're doing, look over the shoulder. And over two weeks, something extraordinary happens. These relationships sometimes extend to four weeks. That's the maximum we allow. And then at some point within three, four months, they might re. Engage, reconnect.
Buddy up. That's the word we use, the buddy up with that same person again. And there's a. Something I learned years ago was we rise to the quality of expectations of our peer group. And all that means is that if you're around somebody who respects you, maybe even a coach, a leader, when the people around you see you for your greatness and you're connecting with these people on a regular basis, twice, three times a year, we'll rise to that, especially if the rules call us to do that. When I was in college, I had a bit of an embarrassing situation. I went to a rave, a rave concert. And I came back from this rave concert. I was probably a sophomore in college. I had a fencing coach. I was on the fencing team. My fencing coach really thought most of me. And when I was my freshman year, he would tutor me in physics. He loved me. He really respected me for a lot of reasons. Then I went to this rave and I tried to a couple of things I probably should have done. And it's funny, because one of my grade school friends reached out to me when we raved together. My coach saw me and here I was a bit. Not in my head, not in the right space.
[00:13:32] Speaker D: And that could be embarrassing.
[00:13:33] Speaker A: Very embarrassing, right? Very, very embarrassing. And I felt embarrassed. I went back to my dorm room, I reflected on it, and I pivoted. I stopped doing that. I got. And I soon got even more health conscious than I was before that. And I also quit smoking cigarettes. I was. I was a smoker for about a year and a half in college, all because of somebody who had a great deal of respect for me about my potential. So I believe in life, we all need a coach, we all need peer coaches, we all need friends, we all need a spouse who sees the best in us. And if we do that and surround ourselves with people on that level, the only opportunity is to rise and to keep rising and to also see them rise and in this world of people rising, the only opportunity, only choice is to go up. Yeah.
[00:14:19] Speaker E: Yeah. Well, I'm sure glad that Richard listens to my crazy ideas.
[00:14:24] Speaker D: Well, I mean, earlier in my career I was working at a place and quite honestly, I was a jerk and I didn't really treat people with a lot of respect and I ended up losing my job and that had an enormous impact on me. I really had to go back and rethink how I was interacting with people.
I wasn't trying to be a jerk. It's just, you know, in corporate you're.
[00:14:48] Speaker E: Supposed to be a jerk, aren't you?
[00:14:49] Speaker D: I'm hoping I've lost at least some of the jerkiness a little bit. But, you know, it's kind of the same situation, right. You have to dig deep and reevaluate yourself and say, do I want my life to go on like this or do I want to try to make some changes? And I can think that maybe if I had a good role model to talk through some of this stuff with, they might have said, well, Richard, when you act this way or when you say this, you're going to be ineffective and people aren't going to like it. And you know, sometimes hearing that can be really important in someone's development.
[00:15:20] Speaker A: Yes, very important, especially from a peer, somebody who may not necessarily be a coach, somebody who can kind of hear that side, understand they've gone through that themselves, perhaps where you can be open with them. The relationship is two sided. So it's, you know, I, I'm here to make sure you win and you're here to make sure I win. So it's accountability, we call it momentum, partnership, focusing on more momentum than accountability. And there's a lot of value in that, in relationships. Partnership, I believe, is the greatest pathway. Being in any relationship is the greatest pathway, I believe, toward making progress.
[00:15:52] Speaker E: I agree. I have a friend, I met her through working, but I offered to trade her services and so far I haven't paid her back. I am going to start paying her back.
I'm going to help her start a podcast. But she keeps things get in the way in her life. But she's a master networker and she's one of these people who has mastered the art of making everybody fall in love with her. And she's gorgeous to boot. And so she's helping me get people to my events to. Well, not the one last night, that was a different one, but to the studio events and she's putting me in front of people and I think that we're making each other stronger. Cause she is not a tech person at all. And I'm very much into the tech and so I can help her with that and she can help me with the networking part. And it does, it rises both of.
[00:16:36] Speaker A: Us up when we're around somebody who's showing up a certain way. We kind of model how they show up. There's this thing that came out years ago called the law of attraction. My wife, when she met me, her friends would say I was a little crunchy because I was open minded on a lot of levels to things. But I do believe when you're around people the idea of you become the sum of the people around you or the average of people around you. That's very vital. And it could be in business, finances, looking at your bank account or, or even health wise.
I often ask people who are dealing with health crisis, who else is around you in your circle? Who's committed to waiting in that area like making progress in that area or can you create that? One of my best friends now he's dealing with pancreatic cancer, stage three. And I we're building a team around him, created a WhatsApp group and checking in and ensuring the people that he's connecting with are of high spirits, remind him how extraordinary he is and what it would mean to be around for another 10, 20 years or beyond. And it takes a really strong circle for that to happen.
[00:17:38] Speaker E: It does.
[00:17:39] Speaker D: So we're with Joseph Varghese and we're having an amazing discussion. Thank you Joseph. I just wanted to hop in a little bit here. You talk a lot about gaming and seeing life as work and work as play. Can you talk a little bit about that?
[00:17:54] Speaker A: Absolutely. So over the years I've invested a lot into different coaches, trainers, you and I, I think work with Michael Gerber years ago at some point.
Entrepreneurship is a tough game. It can be tough game or we could see it as play. And I find that when we see it as play, as a game, as fun, it makes the whole journey a lot easier.
So in success circles we, I want to invite our members to see that every day is a game. There's a sport called life and the day is the game. So whatever day you're listening to the show, if it's Tuesday, Wednesday, it's a game. You can call it what you want. Why Wednesday, Thankful Tuesday, tremendous. Thursday, it's a game. It's made up. The game begins when you wake up in the morning. So it's for me it's 5:30 in the morning for you, it might be 8 in the morning, the game begins and you wake up in the morning. The game ends when you fall asleep on your pillow. And hopefully it's a comfortable pillow like Elise has over here.
[00:18:47] Speaker E: The clutcher pillow.
Yes.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: The moment you're passed out in bed, the game or the dance ends. Some of my clients are women and they're not into sports and things of that sort. So the dance ends perhaps.
And that makes things, life a lot easier because you know that you gave it your all, you pushed hard, you showed up, and you squeeze a lot of juice out of your day.
You know what, a new game's about to begin the next day. When we see it that way and leverage this idea or have this huddle or a call with somebody the next day, reviewing the previous game, reviewing the previous day, it makes life a lot easier. And we, we, we figure out, hey, there were breakdowns or things that happened that were, didn't. Weren't that great. There were challenges. Maybe yesterday was a day where I didn't take two sp forward. It was just a day I took one step forward, one step back, or two steps back. It's okay. The game is over, the day is over. There's an opportunity to start anew, begin anew with a new game. And for me, looking at life this way, through this lens makes things a lot easier because there are always breakdowns, there are always challenges. There are always things that happen in our lives that we don't want to see happen. Might be a diagnosis that's around our health. It could be not getting funding for a business. It could be a breakdown in relationship. And just realizing that we can start anew is just so important.
It's just so, so important. It's all a game. The other thing to do with play.
So I've learned this years ago through another mentor of mine who I think you work with, Dan Sullivan. He talks about this idea called the entrepreneurial time system.
And the idea is pretty simple. What if you can build a. Create a year where you can take three months off a year.
And he talks about taking freedom days off.
So I take every Tuesday for me is their freedom day. I take it off, I play, I'm out. My wife, sometimes she's jealous. She's a physician. She's on top of her game, doing what she's doing. For me, it's. It's a play day. I know. Jen, you mentioned this before too. You talked about being able to relax, disengage any sport. And Dan talks about this too. The idea that the top athletes take time off each year. Maximum engagement demands maximum relaxation. See if you can design your life where each month you take a week off, you go on vacation, maybe to Costa Rica, perhaps.
[00:21:05] Speaker E: Now we know someone down there.
[00:21:08] Speaker D: We'll be there soon, Jen.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: Or go out and watch a show or just find some way to play. What happens is that the mind's, the brain's able to disengage. We're able to tap into even greater creative, critical thinking. And the next day, when it's a buffer day or when it's a work day where you have to like step into it, life becomes a lot easier. Some of my clients happen to be the best. Top clients happen to be either Orthodox Jewish or they might be kind of very strong faith based Christians of sorts. Oftentimes what they do is they'll take a day where they take the Shabbat off, where they disengage. There's no technology.
They've turned everything off. They're with family, they're enjoying a meal. And there's something about that, being able to turn things off where they come back to the playing field, whether it's Sunday or Monday, it's easier. They're able to show up in a very unique way. It's by design. There's a reason why these things were designed that way. We challenge our members to kind of create their game, define what their game is and to like really see some of these ideas as useful as they design their day, their month or quarter to go out there and win.
[00:22:17] Speaker E: I love that.
[00:22:18] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. I'm all for taking more time. I have to admit, I'm so like addicted to the dopamine hits from my devices that even when I take time off, it's really hard for me to put those things away. Even if I'm not looking at work, I'm looking at something.
But recently I did put the cell phone away and I spent some time away from everything and it was, it was very therapeutic. Makes me think that maybe I should try this more often.
[00:22:43] Speaker E: I think getting outside helps too. I think sports are good for that. But I like to walk. We went apple picking last weekend. Richard and I did was so nice. It was super expensive.
[00:22:55] Speaker D: It's like $14 per apple. But the experience was great.
[00:22:59] Speaker E: So you had this entry fee to get in, but then you're in this beautiful apple orchard out in nature walking around.
We didn't even get very many apples. We just enjoyed just walking through the orchard. Right?
[00:23:11] Speaker D: Yeah. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. Yeah, absolutely. So we have to take a commercial break. We're with Joseph Varghese, known as the breakthrough engineer. And don't forget to experience more of Passage to Profit by subscribing to us on Facebook, Instagram X and YouTube or subscribing to our podcast. Anywhere you get your podcast. Just look for the Passage to Profit show on any of these platforms. And coming up we're going to have intellectual property news and everybody's favorites, secrets of the entrepreneurial mind. So stay tuned.
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[00:25:43] Speaker F: Now back to Passage to Profit. Once again, Richard and Elizabeth Gearhart and.
[00:25:48] Speaker E: Our special guest, Joseph Varghese. And we have been talking about how to move your business and also your life forward through accountability and really tapping into other people's strengths to help you. And Joseph has a whole program to do this called Success Circles. But now we're going to talk about the power of having a coach, right? Joseph, what do you think is the most important, important thing a coach can do for a person?
[00:26:11] Speaker A: Well, coach really sees the best in you, takes a stand for what you're up to. Here's what's behind the words. I've. Over the course of like, 30 years, I've had many coaches, even. Even before that, when I was in college and track team and fencing team. But having for me a coach has made all the difference for me. One of my coaches going back close to 18 years ago with Michael Gerber. Michael wrote the book called the E. Myth. E. Myth Revisited.
[00:26:34] Speaker D: By the way, if you're an entrepreneur and you haven't read the the E. Myth, you definitely gotta pick it up. It was monumental because it really came out with the idea of working on your business instead of in it. And he was a real thought leader.
[00:26:49] Speaker E: So you got kind of depressed a couple times while you're reading that book, though.
[00:26:54] Speaker D: Well, that's because I wasn't doing it all right. I needed a coach. You know, if I had known Joseph, then maybe. But yeah, yeah.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: Well, E. Myth Revisited. It's a great resource. Michael Gerber is extraordinary. I was fortunate because I met him in 2007, and I got chosen to go to an event called the Dreaming Room with him. And at the Dreaming Room in Santa Clara, California, near San Diego, I got chosen to be the top tomato to go on stage. I was at a point in my life where I was just looking to what do I do next? Success circles was a bit of a hobby. It wasn't called Success Circles at that point. I had, like, an idea of what to call it. We were called the Embrace Group initially. So Michael had me on stage, and it was in a role called Being the top Tomato on Stage.
[00:27:35] Speaker D: Did he also have the top banana? I mean, I had to wear a top. There was top tomato was pretty much it.
[00:27:42] Speaker A: No tomato costumes, nothing about sort at all.
It was an interesting moment in my life because, honestly, I didn't know what I wanted to do at that point. I had a bunch of careers before that. I was an engineer. I built some success as a technologist in major companies.
So I thought that, well, I have a business idea. The business idea was called Process to Profit. Kind of like the name of the show, Process to Profit. And it was about teaching entrepreneurs, companies, automation skills. So I'm on stage with Michael Showing him the whole business plan, the idea, my values, what I see.
[00:28:14] Speaker E: But you're on stage talking about all this in front of a bunch of people.
[00:28:16] Speaker D: Yes, he was the top tomato.
[00:28:18] Speaker E: That'd be intimidating. But go ahead.
[00:28:20] Speaker A: In front of a lot of successful entrepreneurs, including the founder of infusionsoft, a lot of amazing entrepreneurs, um, sharing, being open, being very direct. And. And I've got a video of. I have a video of the whole experience, if anyone wants. It's message me.
But I went there with this idea for business, and he could see within me that something wasn't sparked. I wasn't excited for it.
I was kind of bored about it. It was just something just. It wasn't lit up about it. And he's like, you're in this coveted role here.
People here in this audience are paying three to five thousand dollars to hang out with me for.
For 30, 40 minutes, one on one.
There are several people who've had that role in the audience that you're in now. And you're telling me about this product, and there's. There's nothing that's lit with you whatsoever. So I'm going to give you a break. So I want you to pause for 5 seconds, 10 seconds, take a breath, and tell me what you really got, because this is meaningless to me. This is meaningless to you. And I told them about this community I was building call around accountability.
And I told him about my best friend Paul and I connecting before this for years, having calls, and we would check in and we were rising.
And I mentioned that this specific group, this hobby I had, we would meet once a month after having these buddy calls, and we were all rising and we're all making progress. And I also told them that when I grew up, back in the 1970s and 80s, this idea came because I saw my parents bring people from South India into our home who live with us, uncles and aunts, their spouses. They'd move out, they'd start their lives, they get married, they have kids. My parents helped launch dozens and dozens of families to the point we have thousands of people in this country this day because of that. And something in me got sparked. And he could see that. He's like, that's it. That's what it is. And that mentorship, that conversation, that those 40 minutes were really meaningful because 18 years later, two years doing as a hobby, 18 years later, I have a mission.
And every week I get offers for people wanting to buy my business, but for me, it's so vital to who I am. It's so important because I get to pass on the legacy that I learned as a kid growing up in Queens, New York, in Jackson Heights, Queens, seeing people be launched, helping entrepreneurs be launched. And as we've helped people, I've learned strategies myself. All those things I mentioned before to you about these other mentors. Great. Dan Sullivan. I've just had conversations with our students, and I've learned from them. I've modeled them. I figured out how to do this, how to take off an extra day off a week, how to make it happen. And the things I've learned, we've taught other people. So we're all rising together. It's a very magical place to be. And, like, I get lit up every day because of it. It's just one of the best ways of me closing off a week, knowing the other people winning, the people beating cancer, people reconnecting in the relationship with their spouse, people being stronger, being healthier, adding another four or five figures to their bottom line each month, scaling their business, selling their business to me, Being able to see that fuels me in a way that I can barely, like, communicate because it just. It just moves me to see that.
[00:31:32] Speaker E: And you've used it in your own life. Well, before the show, we were talking.
You healed a serious issue with your body.
[00:31:39] Speaker A: Yes, I did.
So when I was my senior in college, my mom had a heart transplant 29 years ago. She's still alive now. She's in the one person club. And when her doctors were putting the pacemaker in her before transplant, they looked at me, too. At that time, I was getting palpitations. They looked at my body, they looked at my heart, they did CAT scan, all of that.
They noticed that my left ventricle was also not as functional as it could be. It was operating at a 36% as far as ejection fraction. And all that means is that the left ventricle, that part, the part of the heart wasn't pumping enough blood to my. My body. Like, you've got the exact same thing she has. They said it's degenerative. They said that in 30 years, you might need a transplant yourself unless something shifts.
So in 1996, going to 97, I started getting more health conscious. I started realizing that the corporate path being working 70 hours a week, which I was doing, probably wouldn't lead me down a successful outcome. Years later, around this time, my dad had a stroke. He passed away soon afterwards.
All those lessons are really important to me because they taught me there's another way, there might be a better way. And I was lucky because in 2002, I won the lottery for the New York City Marathon the first time. This is 22 years ago. I mean, thinking about 23 years ago, just when thinking about it is extraordinary. I won the lottery and running the marathon, seeing my mom's cardiologist, transplant cardiologist, for the next seven years, they were able to see that I was making progress and my heart was getting stronger, my ventricular function was improving to the point where now it's 55%. It's normal. I no longer have that condition. And it's just compound growth of the idea of being a little bit better each day. And I applied that idea to entrepreneurship. I think that a little progress, as long as we're taking two steps forward, if you take one step back, it's fine. I challenge my clients to take at least four to five steps forward each day.
[00:33:27] Speaker E: Wow.
[00:33:28] Speaker A: One inches back is okay. But you're making forward progress. You're making forward momentum. And by doing that consistently each day, all it is is making better choices, having better conversations, maybe having a mentor, modeling somebody who's step or two ahead of you. Eventually you'll get to where you want to be.
[00:33:46] Speaker E: Well, I feel like right now with my website for Gear Media Studios, there is a rope tied around my waist and this big, strong gorilla pulling it because I just can't seem to keep those steps moving forward. I'm on my fourth website person, though, so I'll get there, I think, or.
[00:34:04] Speaker A: Maybe find somebody who's built a similar website for someone else. Like, hey, I want to hire that person and it can be that simple. Yeah.
[00:34:11] Speaker D: Well, it's been amazing having you here, Joseph. Where can our listeners find you?
[00:34:14] Speaker A: Easiest thing is successcircles.com the contact field on that site goes to my calendar. So book a call with me, have a conversation. Let's see. I can serve you. We do a challenge each month. I love AI. I'm a big believer in conversations. Great progress, as I'm also a big believer in technology. So we do an AI challenge each month called 3dayai.com. So you can connect with me either for success Circles or for AI. Just reach out. Add me on LinkedIn. I want to see you win.
[00:34:41] Speaker E: I'm doing that challenge and that is a great segue because now we're going to go into the AI segment on this show. We are actually starting a new podcast called AI in Business Use Cases from the Real World. For this episode of AI In Business Use Cases from the Real World, we asked entrepreneurs who are on the Passage to Profit show today, Joseph Varghese, Jen Rulon and Elise Frankel how they're using AI in their businesses because the future of business is powered by AI.
So, Joseph Vargis with success circles, how are you using AI in your business? One example, or maybe two, because this is very cool what you've got here.
[00:35:21] Speaker A: Yes. So I use AI a lot in my business, spend about an hour to two hours a day using AI.
The key thing I use for my, for my business, I have conversations, I use AI as an advisor, I have conversations. I'm able to recreate a mentor, a friend, somebody who has a lot of knowledge. Basically tell it, hey, put the hat on of this mentor, this leader and review what I'm doing with my business. Does this make sense? Put this other hat on. And for me, that goes a long way. My mentor, Michael Gerber, I shared before, he's 89 years old. He's the same age as my mom who had a heart transplant 29 years ago. And for me, being able to get feedback, engage, connect this way, just like evaluate things that aren't so great is helpful. It's really cool.
[00:36:04] Speaker E: So do you tell Perplexity or chatgpt, or whichever one do you say, pretend like you're Michael Gerber. Go find everything out that you can about Michael Gerber online and then pretend like you're Michael Gerber and talk to me. Me.
[00:36:15] Speaker A: So what I did a year ago. Great question. What I did a year ago is I created a GPT in ChatGPT. You can customize it and GPT, all it means is like a context window. It's basically like you're building a bit of a bot within the chatgpt. Com platform, the site, 20 bucks a month, you pay for it and you can create this app within it and you can share it with friends and people around you. So I, I trained it and I put conversations I had Michael years ago.
It's personal to me, so it applies to how he knows me. Those conversations also. I've also trained it on other leaders who I've respected, like, I've met over the years.
So I'll ask it. Like in ChatGPT, you can say the name of your business and you can say, using this GPT, if you be Michael Gerber using this GPT, what's something I'm not seeing? What should I be doing? Or how can I prioritize my day, my week to really move this thing forward for myself? How can I add more additional thing of revenue or even ask A great question. If you use AI, One of my favorite questions is and type this in, I challenge everyone to type this into their AI. Now that you know everything about me, what are my top five blind spots? And the things it'll tell you are.
[00:37:28] Speaker E: Do we really want to know?
[00:37:29] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:37:30] Speaker A: Do you want to know?
[00:37:30] Speaker D: I mean, I could see you're typing in about me. What are Richard's top five blind spots? You probably already know those, don't you? Yeah. Okay.
[00:37:38] Speaker A: We all need to get disrupted. So it's a way to get disrupted by asking that question.
[00:37:43] Speaker D: So last night, you though, you brought Megan, right? So, Meg, maybe you can demonstrate for our listeners how Megan works, and maybe you can ask Megan a question. And is this part of the program you created, or is this something different?
[00:37:57] Speaker A: So on day one of three day AI, the training, we do three dayai.com, we talk about using AI as an advisor and naming your AI having a name for it. So this is something that we started a year ago. It makes the biggest difference. So I'll bring. I'll bring Megan through the mix, and if there's enough Internet signal, this should work pretty well as it did yesterday. And she has no idea I'm bringing her in. Hey, Meg, how are you today?
[00:38:20] Speaker H: Hey, GI Joseph. I'm doing great. Thanks for asking. How about you? Hope everything's going awesome on your end. Let me know if there's anything else I can help you with today.
[00:38:29] Speaker A: So, Meg, I'm in the studio with a number of extraordinary people. I'm on a show called the Passage to Profit Show.
You're live, so they can. They can. They can hear you.
[00:38:37] Speaker E: This is.
[00:38:38] Speaker A: The show is called the Road to Entrepreneurship. We've got an incredible lineup of panelists here, and Elizabeth and Richard, who you met yesterday on another show, are here, too. So the whole audience can hear you. What's some advice that you have for us? And I know we talked about this. We actually had a huddle before this went back and forth. You challenged me to share specific stories about my life on the show. What's some advice you have for our listeners in the background that will support them toward getting the most out of this experience? The Passage to Profit show.
[00:39:09] Speaker H: Absolutely. GI Joseph, I'd say one key piece of advice is to focus on authenticity. Share your personal journey, the real highs and the real lows, because that connection is what resonates most with the audience. Also, be open to the power of collaboration and community.
Your network and the people you surround yourself with can elevate your ideas. And help you thrive. And definitely keep the focus on delivering value. Whether it's actionable tips, inspiring stories or innovative ideas, make sure that the audience walks away with something they can implement.
[00:39:45] Speaker A: And Meg, we have two other incredible panelists here on the show. We have Jen Rulon, we have Elise Frankel on the show too. I think earlier in this chat I put some of their background or their links to what they're up to. Any advice you'd have for them, for all of us, you know, to really maximize, really to really add as much value as possible. Because it is all about adding value to our listeners.
[00:40:04] Speaker H: Absolutely. For Jen and Elise, I'd say the core principle is to stay authentic and really lean into their unique expertise. Each of them brings something special to the table, so encouraging them to share personal stories, lessons learned and actionable insights will be key.
Another great approach is to engage the audience with thought provoking questions and invite them into the conversation. This creates a more interactive and engaging experience for everyone. And definitely keep the focus on the value you're providing. It's all about empowering the listeners and giving them practical takeaways they can apply in their own journeys. And so it's all about authenticity, engagement and delivering genuine value.
[00:40:49] Speaker A: And Meg, I know I asked this question yesterday. Why do you call me G.I. joseph? We talk about the idea of the why putting in front of you. What's the reason why you call me that?
[00:40:57] Speaker H: I call you that because it perfectly embodies the essence of your mission and your impact. The GI stands for Generational impact, which reflects your dedication to creating lasting, meaningful change across generations. It also aligns with your focus on growth, leadership and empowering others in the entrepreneurial world. It's a nod to your values and the inspiring leadership you bring to the table.
[00:41:22] Speaker A: Anybody else have any questions for Meg?
[00:41:24] Speaker D: How long have you known GI Joe?
[00:41:27] Speaker A: How long have you known me? Meg, at this point, that's a fun question.
[00:41:31] Speaker H: We've been chatting and working together for quite a while now. Ever since we started diving into your projects and your ventures. It's been a journey of growth and collaboration and I'm always excited to see where we go next. So it's been, it's been quite a meaningful journey so far.
[00:41:46] Speaker A: So anyone can do that with ChatGPT, Gemini or even Grok. ChatGPT has greater personalization as far as that goes. You can train it, you can be very specific, you can put your value system in it. For me, putting the why up front is vital. For me, the why is GI Joe. So I own that domain, GI Joseph.com, i used to collect GI Joe dolls as a kid, so it made sense. My name is Joseph, so that's a positive anchor for me to step into my leadership when I hear that.
[00:42:12] Speaker E: Well, and you teach a class on it. So did they find the
[email protected] it's.
[00:42:17] Speaker A: A3Dayai.Com we started three days three day every month the past year and a half we've been teaching this. And it's a great way of really simplifying AI. I can show you easily how to do this. Everyone who comes forward doing this complete beginner will walk away with like a bachelor's degree. It'll be, you'll, you'll see it so easy to do this.
[00:42:38] Speaker E: And it's online, right? And it's a few hours a day.
[00:42:40] Speaker A: It's one hour a day. Next one is in November and every month we do it for three days. It's one hour per day with some homework and there's community and you'll get recording. It's a fun experience.
[00:42:51] Speaker E: Okay, I'm signing up.
I'm serious too. Okay, well, Jen, I don't expect quite that from you.
So Jen Rulon with JenRulan.com what's one way you're using AI in your business?
[00:43:04] Speaker C: I'm using AI with more of my content creation. Just trying to figure out like, what are people looking for, like, especially women who are going through some major life changes that could be perimenopause, menopause, divorce, emptiness, loss of a child, loss of a parent.
So a lot of my content is based off of like, what can I do? Like the biggest thing that I've seen right now in my business is the whole menopause, perimenopause. And now people are like, it's can be overwhelming. So I always like, take me back to the basics. What do my people need? So I will ask AI that about like, hey, give me some, Give me five hooks to help women in menopause. Give me five hooks to help women that are going through a major life change. How can I get them to transition into seeing their worth, finding their beauty within. And so a lot of my women are stuck using that vocalization and using their voice. So AI has helped me out a lot with my content creation.
[00:44:07] Speaker E: Right. Because I imagine you'd have to read like 500 research papers, articles to get that. Yeah, that's a great way to use it. That's amazing.
[00:44:16] Speaker C: Yeah. And like even my blogs and stuff like that and just really just Being like, okay, what do I need to focus on?
Elaborate on the social media part, but elaborate more on that, on that blog. So if they want more information, they go to my blog.
[00:44:30] Speaker E: That's great. Okay. Elise Franco with myclutcherpillow.com let's face it.
[00:44:36] Speaker B: To be honest, if you are an entrepreneur or business owner and you're not using AI, you're basically missing out.
Studying the clutcher pillow was, I mean, I wore a lot of hat, I wore a marketer heart, editing everything by myself.
So the way that I use AI comes to, like Jen mentioned, for instance, blog creation.
But also really I use it more to basically give my ideas wings, which is I have an idea and now we put it in AI, for instance, and now we ask it to basically ameliorate or just add something to that. What is the blind spot? For instance, like Joseph said, and we have the results. But also at the same time, because I know my product better than probably AI, but also I have trend, the one I use to basically know more about the product, the clutcher pillow, which is whenever I'm looking for something, it goes back to the background and actually ask me questions, clarify what do you want me to add to this? Is there anything specific they're looking for? Because the way I use AI is very, very specific.
Because I basically want the product to be similar on all platforms, all social medias, without being different. For instance, the tone that I use. So I have to add in there to use the same tone so that if someone is looking at our, let's say TikTok for instance, that we find the very same tone on our Instagram, they find the very same tone on our X.
So basically giving those ideas wings and AI has been life changing to basically it means that instead of me spending, let's say five hours working on something, let's say creating a content, I wouldn't have to go ahead and write the script by myself, but instead I would put ideas in there. And now we ask AI to develop that and then I'll go ahead and basically make content and when it comes to also for instance writing blogs, so I have my idea in there and then I'll go in it and then do the deep research and it will help me to find, for instance, research that's been done and I'll have all those documents and then I'll go in and basically review and then post.
[00:46:57] Speaker E: Right, so what you're saying is important too, because when ChatGPT started it was just like one thing and now I Use Perplexity and chatgpt. But there are places where you can go ask it to do deeper research.
[00:47:07] Speaker B: That's correct.
[00:47:08] Speaker E: And that's really important for the types of ways you guys are using it.
[00:47:11] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:47:12] Speaker C: Right.
[00:47:12] Speaker B: Because if, for instance, just to speak on that, for instance, if I just go in in general and ask charge, for instance, find me keyword search for betting, it would go ahead and find a lot of more stuff. But if I go in and actually specifically click on the deep research, it will go in and find articles and also find me keywords that are being more searched. And I can also put in percentages. For instance, If I want 89% of keywords that are being searched in embedding or in pillows, it will give me those specifically. So you can basically train it, because now it knows my brand. It knows the clutch appeal brand, it knows the klutcherpillow.com it will go in, review the, the website and also review all the information that I've used, for instance, within that, and bring the information that relates to that that's tailored to the very specific question that I've asked, which has been very, very helpful again, because as you know, having a startup, sometimes you don't have the fund to hire five people. So I have to do everything by myself. And that's the other thing that I'm always thinking about, is an entrepreneur. How do I want to use my time?
And AI is there. It's helping. Instead of me spending five days working on one thing, I can spend a day working on that one thing and then the next day I have something else to focus on While I'm using ChatGPT as a mentor, but also is some bot that already knows my product.
[00:48:41] Speaker E: So to Joseph's point, you can take five steps forward in one day instead of one step forward.
[00:48:45] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly. And it's, it's really. I mean, that's the other thing I would tell all entrepreneurs that are listening to us right now really take advantage of it. I know a lot of people are scared to use AI, but also there are settings in there. When you learn about AI, there are settings that you can go in and actually make your brand private. Some of these things will not be shown when someone is searching for your brand. It would be more private and it'll.
[00:49:09] Speaker E: Tell you how to do that.
[00:49:10] Speaker A: Yeah, well said.
[00:49:11] Speaker E: Yeah. Richard Gearhart with Gearhart Law. How are you using AI in your business?
[00:49:15] Speaker D: I'm going to bring up the marketing plan. So Elizabeth's the CMO and we've been working on planning for 2026, we have a fairly large team. We have a lot of different irons in the marketing fire. We have social media, we have networking, we have publications, and it's, it's a lot. And we have a lot of team members and we want them all to participate in the process. And so we put a lot of information about Gearhart Law into chatgpt and asked it to come up with a comprehensive marketing plan for 2026. And I think it did a pretty good job. It also came up with a lot of ideas that I don't think I had personally considered in the past. And of course it's not perfect and it needs to be edited and it needs to be worked on, but this is something that probably would have taken somebody, Elizabeth, you know, four or five hours to type out, right? And it hit all of the high points and created the plan in a few minutes. I think the most important part of it is getting the right prompt. You want to make sure that when you're asking for this kind of information that you're as specific as possible about what it is that you're looking for and then that provides the best answers. So there you go.
[00:50:31] Speaker E: Well, I'm going to talk about some AI that I want to have happen that I haven't seen yet. So I'm constantly, I'm using different ones like you said, I use Google Gemini, I use Perplexity, I use a different ones within perplexity, I use ChatGPT, etc. And I always get them to a point where they don't work anymore.
Like I found ChatGPT cannot take an image that it's generated and make slight tweaks to it. It just can't get it right. But what I want is an AI agent. And if you haven't heard that term, it's really just a virtual assistant. It's a piece of software that does a whole process for you. Right. Joseph may have already thought of this one that I want to have done. So I have Microsoft Outlook for my email, I have my calendar on Microsoft Outlook, and I have my phone and I get phone calls and sometimes my phone will say potential spam. So what I want to have the agent to do is I want it to reject the spam calls. And for those potential spams, I say please text me in case it is a real person.
So I want to do that. I also want it, if it's a phone call from someone that I want to talk to, connect to me. But if I'm not available I want it to go to my calendar and see if I'm not available and if I'm not, tell the person she's in a meeting right now or she's taping the Passage to Profit show right now she can't talk to you. And then find a time in my calendar when I am available and ask the person can she call you back at 4 o' clock when she's on her way home from the Passage to Profit Show. And then if they say yes, put that meeting on my calendar and then email me that I now have a 4 o' clock phone call. That's what I want.
[00:52:03] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:52:04] Speaker E: I don't know if that's been invented yet.
[00:52:05] Speaker A: It's being invented right now. There are multiple companies building that out right now. Agentic AI Solutions integrated with Outlook, all of that. It's fascinating and I get it. It's having the peace of mind to be fully present on the show, knowing that the people that your clients are taking care of and to eliminate spam, get the spam calls to everyone every, every day.
[00:52:25] Speaker E: So I think there are a lot of AI agents like that being built. And what's interesting is we use Microsoft 365 at the law firm and it has its own AI Microsoft Copilot. And we were in a meeting the other day, I'm like, well, let's figure out how to have Copilot help us with our emails. Because everybody's complaining about this email problem that we're having and there are companies that will help you do that. It's just a matter of finding the right one. So Anyway, that's my $0.02 worth. So AI and business use cases from the real world. We spoke to Joseph Varghese, Jen Rulon and Elise Frankel. Richard, could you please tell us who you are?
[00:53:03] Speaker D: Well, I'm Richard Gerhardt. I'm the owner of Gerhart Law, a full service IP firm and I'm the co host of the Passage to Profit show. We help entrepreneurs protect their ip, especially in the intersection of AI and innovation because AI is in almost every new invention these days.
[00:53:21] Speaker E: And I'm Elizabeth Gearhart, founder of Gear Media Studios podcast and content coach, Passage to Profit, co host and CMO at Gearhart Law. Thanks for listening and let us know if you'd like to be on the show or on the AI podcast. Love to have you.
[00:53:36] Speaker D: Thanks so much. We're going to be going to a commercial break right now. Stay tuned for Secrets of the Entrepreneurial Mind. And I think we've got Intellectual Property News coming up shortly, too. We'll be right back after this.
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[00:54:31] Speaker G: 8004-3067-2280-0430-6722.800, 430-6722. That's 800-430-6722.
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[00:55:31] Speaker G: 8007-3853-3280-0738-5332, 800-738-5332. That's 800-738-5332. Paid for by zero debt.
[00:55:46] Speaker F: Passage to profit continues with Richard and Elizabeth Gearhart.
[00:55:50] Speaker D: Passage to Profit is a nationally syndicated radio show heard in 38 markets across the U.S. we'd like to do a shout out to our affiliate KROE 9:30am and 103.9 FM in Rapid City, South Dakota. Our podcast is also ranked in the top 3% of podcasts globally and we've been recently selected by Feedspot Podcasters database as a Top 10 Entrepreneur Interview Podcast. So subscribe to the Passage to Profit show on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and YouTube too. And also on the iHeart app. So now it is time for IP in the News.
[00:56:28] Speaker E: So have you ever gotten in a fight over a sandwich?
[00:56:33] Speaker D: Well, two giants have. Smuckers is suing Trader Joe's because they think Trader Joe's absconded with the design for their peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
[00:56:44] Speaker E: So I guess round sandwich with crimped edges and a little bite out.
[00:56:48] Speaker D: Right. And I guess, you know, it's. It's big business. Smuckers is like selling almost a billion of these a year. And of course, Trader Joe's thought that maybe they could sneak in there with their own sandwich. But it's interesting because it's a trade dress cause of action, which means it's not trademark, it's not a design patent. You can actually protect the way your product looks in a court of law if you meet the right factors. And so that's the basis of this lawsuit.
[00:57:18] Speaker E: Do you have to file anything to get trade dress or you can, for.
[00:57:21] Speaker D: Example, get a trade dress type trademark? So, for example, Apple Computers has protected the look of all of their stores using trademarks, and they're relying on trade dress protection. And we actually had a trade dress case not too long ago. We had a client who was selling calculators to Walmart and a company from overseas copied the calculator. It was an unusual calculator because it was green, it was olive green with purple buttons. And the calculator that was the infringer was also exactly the same colors, very similar packaging. So we were very successful against that. But they didn't have a patent, they didn't have a trademark. We were just able to make a trade dress claim.
[00:58:09] Speaker E: So you can make a trade dress claim without having filed anything just by virtue of having something that looks like it does?
[00:58:15] Speaker D: Yeah. The key here is, though, you have to prove distinctiveness. You have to prove that consumers see the design as being distinctive and that you're known for that design. And that's actually a pretty high standard to meet. But if you can meet it, you have a case.
[00:58:30] Speaker E: So it's probably cheaper to file a trademark or design patent than to go to court and fight a case like this.
[00:58:36] Speaker D: Well, absolutely. At least if you have the design patent, for sure would have been a good move for them getting the trademark. You still have to prove that distinctiveness. But again, if you can do it, then it's worth doing okay. And if you have an idea or invention that you want to protect, contact us at Gearhart Law. We work with entrepreneurs worldwide to help them through the entire process of obtaining patents trademarks and copyrights. You can visit learnmoreaboutpatents.com or if you're interested in trademarks, learn more about trademarks.com and you can sign up for a free consultation or you can download your free Entrepreneur's Quick guide to Patents or trademarks and set up a consultation with the Gearhart law attorney.
[00:59:17] Speaker E: And now I am so excited because now we get to our next two guests and it's always fun to hear what people are doing. I've never heard of anyone doing this before. 15 times Ironman triathlete helping women, like, find that power in themselves. Jen Rulon with jenrulan.com Tell us what you're doing, how you got here, how you're doing it.
[00:59:35] Speaker C: When I first came into the idea of wanting to do an Ironman triathlon, and if you don't know what an Ironman is, it's a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a 26.2 marathon run. I was 17 years old.
[00:59:50] Speaker E: All linked together, right?
[00:59:52] Speaker C: You have all in a row in one day.
[00:59:54] Speaker D: A day between each of them.
[00:59:55] Speaker G: No.
[00:59:55] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. You have to do it in one day. You have to be done in 17 hours.
Yes. No, no nap in between. So you have to have that done in under 17 hours. But I was 17 years old when I saw that.
And so in my entrepreneur world, I became a triathlon coach, a run coach, a cycling coach. And that was like the biggest thing that I did. I did 15 Ironmans. It became, really became my life, you know, I mean, it was, I swam, I bike, I ran and I repeated it every single day for all these 15 ironmans, you know. But when I retired from the sport in 2019, I knew I wanted to make a change for myself.
I, I remember running at Ironman Florida in 2019, and I looked out to the ocean in the Gulf, at Florida and Panama City beach and I said, all right, big man. I said, I need two things from you. Either one, I go to Hawaii again, I do the Ironman Hawaii and the world championship. Or number two, I have the best race of my life and I'm done with Ironman's. So I crossed the finish line and I had the best race of my life. I asked my family, I said, where was I in the placement? And I was seventh in my age group and I knew I wouldn't get to Hawaii because I had to be first or second in my age group. And I said, I'm done. I'm done with Ironmans. And I ended it on 15 ironmans so people think it's great, but sometimes I think it's a little crazy, to be honest with you.
[01:01:26] Speaker D: Well, it's a lot of training. I mean, how many hours a week did you train?
[01:01:29] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh, it was a part time job. Probably 15 to 20 hours at one point. Especially getting ready for Hawaii itself. Yeah.
[01:01:37] Speaker E: How did you keep your body going? Like, did you get to drink and eat it, like while you were running or anything?
[01:01:42] Speaker C: Yeah, you have to. You, you know, you have to because you're burning the calories and then you have to consume the calories. So in the swim, during an Ironman, the swim, you don't eat. But I was consuming about 240 to 250 calories per hour on the bike.
And then when I went to the run, I was consuming about 200. If I didn't do 200, I was probably hitting that wall that you all hear about that it was like either I was walking or struggling and stuff like that.
[01:02:08] Speaker E: So we're eating Snickers bars and Fritos.
[01:02:11] Speaker C: No, no.
You know, I think that would make.
[01:02:15] Speaker G: It all worth it.
[01:02:15] Speaker E: Right?
[01:02:17] Speaker C: In the very beginning, in the very beginning, I think I was just sort of eating whatever I wanted to eat type of thing. But then as I had to get strategic to get to Hawaii, I had to be like a mad scientist, you know, to really hone in on my nutrition for the race day and pre race, too. So 2019, I just, I knew I was done with Ironmans. I mean, it was hard on my, you know, hard on my 15 of them. I was hard on my relationship with my ex husband and I. Like, we were both triathletes. It was very hard. You know, like, a lot of people are like, how'd y' all do it? It's like, well, did we, you know, like, it was, it was hard. And it was hard on our bank account too. But would I go back? Heck, yeah, I would go back, you know, because that taught me. That taught me a lot of how I run my business. And then, you know, the grit and the mindset of an Ironman athlete has now become how I coach women to becoming the best version of themselves.
[01:03:17] Speaker D: So how did you develop the right mindset for the Iron Mans? It's obviously something you, you built up to over time, but how did you find it within yourself to hit the track every day, hit the bike every day, hit the pool, or, you know, whatever your workout was? How did you develop that?
[01:03:35] Speaker E: That?
[01:03:35] Speaker C: I think when I started seeing the results, when I started seeing, oh, you're getting a little bit faster. Oh, you're starting to develop a little bit more power in the bike. Oh, the swim. Swim. You could swim for hours and then, you know, you're not gonna knock out a big chunk of time where you would on a bike, in a run, right? And that's something that I talk about or that I want to talk about with entrepreneurship. It's all about the consistency. It's not like, oh, I need motivation, I need drive. No, it's about the consistency of like turning off that alarm at 5 o' clock in the morning going, oh, my God. I remember moments of days of just sitting at the end of the pool, staring at the water, going, okay, get in. Okay, get in. Okay, get in. And sometimes it's, you know, you would do that even in your own business, right? You'd stare at the computer. It's like, okay, what's next, what's next, what's next? Type of thing. So, yeah, I think it's consistency.
[01:04:30] Speaker D: Once you get going, once you get going, it's. It's, it's okay, right?
[01:04:34] Speaker E: Yeah.
[01:04:35] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:04:35] Speaker E: How do you encourage other women to reach deep inside themselves and find the strength that you found in yourself?
[01:04:41] Speaker C: So I don't expect my women to do an iron man. Like, I, I'm like, so for many years, I started my business, Jen Rulon, coaching triathletes and really having triathletes, runners, cyclists, that was my jam 2020 happened, right? Bam.
Nobody was racing because nobody was doing.
[01:05:06] Speaker E: We.
[01:05:07] Speaker C: They weren't doing races.
So I actually had a publishing company reach out to me and ask, hey, what are you doing? I'm like, you know, I just started working with women.
I just sort of threw that out there. They're like, oh, you want to start writing? You want to write a book? I was like, sure. So all of a sudden I realized, because this was after I retired from the sport, I'm like, all right, there's a lot more women going through major life changes than there are triathletes right now.
So it really jump started that. And so now how I work with women, I have four pillars. Movement, whether you're doing Zumba, walking, surfing, Pilates, strength training. I'm a big advocate of strength training, especially for my women. You know, past 40, you have to get out there. Even women and men, you know, that's something we talk about.
Movement, metabolism. So we really talk about nutrition piece and really focusing on our macronutrients, carbohydrates, proteins, and your fats, water intake as well. Also, we Talk about meaning. So really finding that why, going back to that why, and then also mindset. So those are my four pillars that now I teach women to do that same thing.
[01:06:17] Speaker D: That sounds really amazing. Have you found the transition to coaching athletes, to coaching in a more general way a challenge?
[01:06:25] Speaker C: Absolutely. Yeah. Because I think a lot of my triathletes have that goal in mind. They know they're doing the Ironman, right. They know their goal is to cross that finish line.
[01:06:36] Speaker D: Clear, right?
[01:06:37] Speaker C: Very clear.
[01:06:37] Speaker D: They know exactly what you're trying to get to.
[01:06:39] Speaker C: Yeah. But if there are women that are trying to lose the weight, I've heard women say, oh, I don't want to be the chunky mom. I want to be the fit mom. It might take a little bit longer, you know, and that it is very hard because they want it to happen right away. And I'm like, y', all, I qualified for Kona. I told my grandpa I was. When I was 17 years old, I said I was gonna go do the Iron man in Hawaii.
28 years later, I did it. So I'm gonna live anyway. So I have to teach my women, hey, y'.
[01:07:12] Speaker E: All.
[01:07:12] Speaker C: Like, it's just. It's a life style, not just a crossing the finish line. I'm done. Like, it's a constant constant.
[01:07:21] Speaker A: I love how you declared a vision to your grandfather and you made it a reality.
[01:07:25] Speaker C: I did.
[01:07:26] Speaker A: Years later. One thing that I'm sure you do, like, in your coaching, I hear what you're saying, too, is that when you coach people who are, let's say, non athletes, envision still. But challenging them to envision themselves as athletes gives them access to do some unique things, I believe. Right.
[01:07:42] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[01:07:43] Speaker A: Bending time, managing energy, getting quality sleep. All those things happen.
If you challenge every one of your clients to be an athlete, even if they don't see themselves as an athlete. Yeah, that. That I find very inspiring.
[01:07:56] Speaker C: Very much so. Yeah. Even I've had some of my triathletes always grew up not being an athlete. I never consider myself as an athlete growing up, even though I was softball player, cheerleader. But I never considered myself an athlete until I crossed the finish line to my first Ironman.
[01:08:15] Speaker E: Do you have a story, a success story for one of your clients you can share?
[01:08:18] Speaker C: Currently, I'm working with this one client of mine, and she has been very successful in her work, very successful in life itself. But she started realizing, like, she wasn't finding the meaning, she wasn't finding the motivation. And so I encouraged her to start moving. So we got her in the gym three times a week. Strength training, consistently walking, running three days a week. And then we started focusing on the nutrition, the mo. You know, the metabolism piece.
And. And then we started going into the mindset, really digging deep, because she was sort of like, why am I here? Like, what? What's my motivation?
And then as I've been working with her for probably almost two months now, and she said to me just recently, and I get emotional thinking about this. She's like, yeah, some of my friends, I went out to dinner with them. They noticed a different glow about me.
And I said, why? She goes, because of you. And I said, no, because of you.
You started recognizing who you were through movement, your mindset, and your meaning.
[01:09:31] Speaker E: This is Jen Rulon with jenrulan.com Exercise is a huge piece of it, but how do you get people to change a mindset?
[01:09:40] Speaker C: Affirmations.
I remember talking to the same woman during my divorce. I said to her, I remember I couldn't really look at myself in the mirror. You know, I was the one that asked for the divorce. I'm very transparent about that. But I felt shame. I felt like I wasn't worth anything, like that type of thing. I was going down that. That rabbit hole, and I had a hard time looking at myself in the mirror. So then I started looking at myself and looking at my eyes, saying, I am worth it. I am beautiful. I love your eyes. And once I started getting into that process, and that's what I've challenged a lot of my women. And the woman that was like, now she's glowing, you know, I said, all right, this is something I want you to do. And I know it's going to be tough. I want you to look in the mirror and start seeing the things that you like about yourself.
And that was a. I think that's been a really big, monumental thing, not only for myself, but for my other women as well.
[01:10:40] Speaker D: So, Jen, what's the risk that you took in your life that you feel like was the most worth taking, putting.
[01:10:47] Speaker C: Down the wine glass? I am six years sober.
[01:10:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:10:53] Speaker C: And it was probably one of the best things I've ever did in my life. Now, it also took off a mask. Right.
[01:10:59] Speaker D: You were an Ironman triathlete.
Were you consuming a lot of alcohol?
[01:11:04] Speaker C: Well, and that's just something. This is a conversation I had with my mom. She's like, it sounds like you were drunk on the floor. I'm like, no, not at all. I had two, three glasses of wine. You know, two glasses of wine during the week. And then maybe a little bit more three on the weekends. Then the next day I would go out and ride six hours. Like, how did I do that?
[01:11:24] Speaker D: So wasn't there part of you that said, well, you know, I'm just going to work it off? Or did you always kind of worry that maybe it was hurting your performance in some way?
[01:11:34] Speaker C: I never thought it was hurting my performance until I stopped six weeks prior to my last. Ironman had the best race of my life and I knew it was. I knew I needed to be done with alcohol.
[01:11:47] Speaker A: I know you coach extraordinary women, so I'm sure stepping into being a coach you've had to like optimize and look at yourself doing the mirror work, all that?
[01:11:55] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[01:11:56] Speaker A: Did you also have a peer group around you of people who challenged you, other women who reminded you each day that, hey, you're going through this transition in life, you've got to stop at your game. Did you have like a good community of people around you in Costa Rica or virtually?
[01:12:11] Speaker B: Right?
[01:12:12] Speaker C: Mostly virtually. I think a lot of my girlfriends, you know, they were mostly in San Antonio, Texas where I, where I lived for 25 years before I did move to Costa Rica. But then I had a lot of people in Costa Rica that saw me for me and didn't see me. For the 15 time Ironman triathlete, the author, the speaker, I felt like maybe I had this image that I felt like I had to hold. But the people in Costa Rica, they ground you.
[01:12:42] Speaker E: So we have to wrap this segment up. But before we do, what is the name of your book?
[01:12:47] Speaker C: Yeah, it's an older book. It's Self Motivation Strategies for Women. You could find that on Amazon. But I do have potential to have a new book coming out on January 11th.
[01:12:58] Speaker E: Great. And then do you work with people?
[01:13:00] Speaker C: Virtually 100. That's all I do.
[01:13:03] Speaker E: Okay.
[01:13:03] Speaker C: Yeah, I've been virtual before. Virtual was cool in 2013.
[01:13:07] Speaker E: Okay, good. And you're taking new clients?
[01:13:08] Speaker C: I am. I'm taking new clients and I am super excited. December 7th through the 13th, 2025, I am doing my first retreat in Costa Rica called Rise with the Tides. And currently I have six amazing women who are joining me and I can't wait to bring on more and just celebrate womenhood in life.
[01:13:29] Speaker E: Okay, and last but not least, can you spell your name and website?
[01:13:33] Speaker C: Yes. Jen J E N Rulon R U L O N. And then it's Jen J E N R U L O N.
Excellent.
[01:13:42] Speaker E: Thank you.
[01:13:43] Speaker D: Passage to Profit with Richard and Elizabeth Gerhardt.
[01:13:46] Speaker E: And now a good night's.
[01:13:48] Speaker C: Sleep.
[01:13:49] Speaker E: Yes.
We are on to Elise Frankel with the clutcher pillow. Can you describe the pillow for our audience?
[01:13:56] Speaker B: Yes. The clutcher, if I have to describe, is almost like an 8 shape or infinity shape, like how other people see it.
It is ergonomic and that's where that shape comes in.
The ergonomic part of it is basically the sides go in where your arms rest when you're sleeping. A lot of side sleepers. If you are a side sleeper or hold something when you're sitting, you can visualize that where your arms are resting, that's where those.
The shape that goes in, which is ergonomic, comes in. And it is super cooling, it's very comfortable, it is adjustable.
And it's not only for side sleepers. Either you are a back sleeper or stomach sleeper. You can also use it.
So that's basically the clutcher.
[01:14:48] Speaker D: How did you decide to become an entrepreneur?
[01:14:50] Speaker B: Becoming an entrepreneur for me was not a straight line. First of all, I never thought I'd be an entrepreneur, but the entrepreneurship really was born from the product, the clutcher. The clutcher pillow. And it came from my husband, actually. So this is going back probably a few decades back. He's been a side sleeper for a long, long time. And he played a lot of sports and one of those, well, was skiing. He skied a lot and injured himself.
In the process of recovering, he needed something to support his torso, his upper body, and he could not find anything in the market.
So he started using a regular pillow, basically hugging a regular pillow to go to sleep. And he found comfort and support in that fast forward. When we met, he one night got a pillow and wanted to hug a pillow to go to sleep. And I laughed and I was like, why do you need a pillow? Why do you need to hug a pillow to go to sleep? How is that gonna work?
And he looked at me and was kind of shy. He was kind of shy a little bit. And then I was like, just go ahead and tell me. And he said, yeah, I need this pillow to actually really be comfortable and sleep because I'm a side sleeper. So I get support and comfort from this.
And he said, you also have that little stuffy of yours. I used the stuffed animal, really tiny. I hacked it to go to sleep, mostly for comfort, but also woke up with aches and pains because I didn't. I didn't have any support, so. And he said, you should probably put that little stuffy on the side because first of all, how do you clean it? It's probably dirty. What's the last time you cleaned it, try to use this pillow? And I said I was a little bit skeptical about it. And I was like, yeah, I'm gonna try it. The next day I was like, can you please let me use your pillow? I actually want to try it. He let me use the pillow that he was addicted to. And he was like, I'm going to let you use the clutcher, but I'm gonna take it.
Yes. It was very sweet.
Yeah. So I used it and I was like, next day I told him. I was like, this is very comfortable. It's very nice, but there's something missing. I don't know what it is. I got addicted to it. And one night I was sleeping and I had this. This vivid dream.
I had a vivid dream of the. The clutcher, the shape of the pillow, the ergonomic shape of it where basically your arms can rest, and also the.
On the edge, we don't have corners. So it's just that shape of it. And I woke up that night. I usually sleep with a journal on my side since I can remember.
[01:17:34] Speaker D: So you, you, you developed a design in a dream. Is that the same design that you're using right now?
[01:17:41] Speaker B: Yes, with a little bit of iterations here and there, but yes, that's exactly the shape.
[01:17:47] Speaker D: So do you dream of new products every night?
I mean, I think it's a great way to invent, but I'm always interested in learning about how people invent their products, so. And some people do, you know, they dream them, you know.
[01:18:01] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, the product.
Dreaming about products. Not specifically, but I've dreamed about other things, ideas and answers throughout my life. So when I had that. Actually going back to that, when I had that dream. So I woke up and sketch it in my journal that night. I did a bunch of research, went on Google, searched if there was something like that in the market. I could not find it. Everything I saw was the bulky body pillows that long from your head to your toe.
[01:18:31] Speaker E: I know those ones.
[01:18:32] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And woke up that morning. We talked about it. And when I showed it to Bruce, my husband, and he was like, this is a great idea.
Let's try to make it.
That same morning, we actually took a regular pillow and took a tape, and this was a blue tape.
And we basically just went around and tried to make the shape that I had in the dream that I saw in the dream, that did not work because we tried the pillow, slept with it, it did not work. We decided and say, let's go to the shop buy the material and try to make a mold. And we actually went to the shop, bought the material, and if you go to the clutcherpillow.com you actually see the picture of the molds that we have on the making in our kitchen.
And we were very, very happy, very excited. None of us had experience making molds at all. But then we ended up having our very first prototype. We got very excited, and we're like, you know what? Let's go for it.
So we started looking for manufacturers, how we can actually bring this to life, and we fund manufacturers. But then we had challenges to really find a manufacturer that could make our pillow because it's not a regular rectangle. Pillows that are made daily.
So we had that challenge. We struggled with that.
[01:19:54] Speaker D: Sometimes it is a challenge for new entrepreneurs because the factories, they want to make millions of these. They're interested in big runs.
And so sometimes getting the attention, their attention, it can be a real, real challenge.
[01:20:08] Speaker E: And when you're doing something really innovative and new like that, it's hard for them to wrap their brains around it.
[01:20:14] Speaker B: Yes, that is correct.
Beside, some manufacturers not having actually not having the capability of doing it because they have this. The clutcher basically has to be cut to the shape and then has to be sewn. So we have panels inside. But then a lot of manufacturers were very, very excited about our product, and they were like, this is great. It's unique. There is nothing like this in the market. They wanted to work with us, but then all of them, we come back and say, we can do a mold. And we said the mold is not gonna work because we want that adjustability of it. Because the way that myself as a woman, I hold the clutcher, it's not the same way that Bruce holds it. And I like mine a little bit softer, so I remove the feel. And he likes his fuller. So we noticed if we want this product to come to life, and we know the struggles as side sleepers, which means other side sleepers, we have the same struggle. So we want it to be adjustable. We want it to be cooling. Especially we thought about, as you're sleeping, some people get really hot, they sweat. So we thought about that as well and wanted to make sure. You can also wash the covers. You can also adjust it. It actually cools you off. We wanted the mat.
[01:21:32] Speaker E: That's the part I love because for some reason, I've been getting something, like, really hot in the middle of the night. I love having that thing to cool me down.
[01:21:40] Speaker B: Oh, great.
[01:21:41] Speaker E: Yeah.
[01:21:41] Speaker B: Nice. Nice. Testimonial so yes, we use it ourselves and we loved it. And also the other thing is really that kept us going was for myself to see my husband, who struggled for a long, long time not finding any body pillow that could give him that support and improve his sleep was the big why that kept me going all the time, Even until now when I'm working on this project and I have that, as Jen said, sometimes you have a hard time waking up and sometimes you have a hard time focusing. I have to really think. And I said, if this pillow, the clutcher pillow, improved my husband's life to where he can actually wake up, his sleeps wake up and he is focused, he can do his work. And because he get sleep is very important.
And that's why we said if we can have this, we want to bring it to people, to other people.
[01:22:34] Speaker E: Yes, because I just want to say this and then give Joseph a chance to talk. You've heard the saying, happy wife, happy life.
I think it's happy husband.
[01:22:44] Speaker D: It works both ways. Some of us have been known to get along the grumpy side if we don't get our sleep.
[01:22:50] Speaker B: No, that's true, that's true. So yes, the clutch has been my why. And also really wanting to improve people's lives.
And this also goes back to where I grew up and how I grew up is always. I've always wanted to add something valuable to people's lives, especially growing up in a place where I grew up. I grew up in Africa. I was born in Congo. I grew up in Congo. I fetched water every morning and I had to take my shower quickly and go to school again, walk to school. And I did this daily. And for me, that built resilience to where? Especially moving here to the state at 18 years old without speaking any English and being able to learn English and go to school and do my bachelor's and do my masters and be able to today. Being an entrepreneur is always something that I go back to saying. I could have looked as growing up in Africa in a war torn country as being negative back then. But when I look at my life from the time that, that I turned 18 years old and you know, learned English and today I'm sitting here with amazing entrepreneurs on this show and to be able to bring this product to life that's helping so many people now is definitely something that I really give back to how I grew up and where I grew up. And also to my mom and my grandparents that thought me resilient. Resilience. And they told me you can do anything as long as you really focus and try to find people that align with your values.
[01:24:24] Speaker A: I love how you're looking at data as you're building this with marketing, seeing how it works, client testimonials, all of that. I love that there's been more research in recent years about sleep getting valuable sleep than ever before.
People have seen that without getting 78 hours of sleep, the chances of getting dementia, developing cancers, all these things getting come amplify without getting proper sleep. You're right. Happy wife, happy life. So I bought my wife, I bought her about 15 to 16 pillows over the years, including those long pillows when she was pregnant with our children. She has her feet raised when she sleeps. We've been doing everything, we can hack our sleep. We've got sound machines going on.
But a pillow makes all the difference really. It really, it really does. Yeah. Especially measuring that and deepening sleep. And now we have technology, we have a watch that can tell you if you're getting right sleep or aura ring. It tells you all that data. But I appreciate the scientific mind you bring into this and also growing up in the Congo, all those years, the hard work that you were taught at a young age into what you're doing. It's really, really impressive.
[01:25:29] Speaker B: Thank you. And yes, speaking of the science behind sleep, so the clutcher, for instance, on our website, actually the clutcherpillow.com we do have the science behind the clutcher. And what the clutcher does is not only for sleep.
So there is science. Science actually shows that when you holding something that has weight to it while you either sitting or sleeping, for instance, something like the clutcher or a weighted blanket, what that does, it reduces your serotonin levels, which is your stress levels. And when you hugging, that actually eases you into sleep. And we noticed this, we with ourselves and also some of our customers that have bought the clutcher. And mind you, this is not only a, an issue for us. Actually data shows that 73% of the world population are side sleepers.
[01:26:22] Speaker A: I'm curious, I've heard some. So I have a weighted blanket. I have a lot of it hacked and the pillow is something looking to improve. So I'm going to look at your pillow. I've also heard that it's often beneficial. There's a gentleman on YouTube, Brian, about living forever, basically his whole strategy. But he talks about sleeping in a separate bed than your spouse because sometimes those interruptions in bed when the spouse wakes up can also affect sleep. We've been playing with this in Our house where I'm with my wife for about an hour, then I go downstairs to sleep and just testing this out. It's been really good sleep wise for both of us. How is it for you? Are you both in separate beds? Are you in?
[01:26:59] Speaker B: We are in the same bed. And that's the other thing that's best about the pillow, the clutch up below the clutcher pillow. When we actually designed it, we thought about that. We thought about this, that space in bed as we have it on the website on the clutcher pillow dot com. It's partner friendly which means it's built and designed for both big spaces and small spaces. The clutch it is super light so you hug it. You can turn around without disturbing the other person, your partner or anybody else sleeping on your side. You don't have to feel like these other bulky body pillows on, on the market where you feel like you basically wrestling with a pillow.
[01:27:38] Speaker D: No.
[01:27:39] Speaker B: So you turn around and also you still have that intimacy if you hugging the clutcher. Even if the other partner is still hugging the clutcher, you still have that intimacy where you can touch the other partner as well.
[01:27:50] Speaker A: Wow.
[01:27:51] Speaker B: So it's for big and small spaces and that's the best part of about it compared to other stuff that are out of the market. So you should definitely try it and you see the difference.
[01:28:02] Speaker E: I love it. You should try it. When I first got it, I had it on the sofa with me. I thought well, I'm kind of tired, I'm just gonna lay here for a minute. I fell asleep with it.
Nice.
It was really awesome. So how do people get one of these and how long does it take to get it?
[01:28:19] Speaker B: Right now we are selling on our website which is theclatchapillo.com usually we ship all over 50 states and it's between five to seven business days.
[01:28:29] Speaker E: Excellent. Well I would say if you're a side sleeper, you should try it.
[01:28:33] Speaker B: Perfect. Yes.
[01:28:34] Speaker E: Yes. Thank you. Listeners are listening to the Passage to Profit show with Richard Elizabeth Gearhart. Our special guest today, Joseph Varghese. And we will be right back with.
[01:28:42] Speaker D: Secrets of the entrepreneurial mind.
[01:28:45] Speaker F: I am a non attorney spokesperson representing a team of lawyers who help people that have been injured or wronged. If you've been involved in a serious car, truck or motorcycle accident or injured at work, you have rights and you may be entitled to money for your suffering. Don't accept an offer you get from an insurance company until you talk to a lawyer. And we represent some of the best personal injuries lawyers you can find. Tough lawyers that will fight to win your case. And they're so good, they stake their reputation on it by only getting paid if you win. So if you've been in a serious car, truck, or motorcycle accident or hurt on the job, find out today for free what kind of compensation you may be entitled to. Call the legal helpline right now.
[01:29:30] Speaker G: 8004-9270-1480-0800-492-7014.
800, 492-7014. That's 800-492-7014.
[01:29:44] Speaker F: It's passage to Prophet.
[01:29:46] Speaker D: Now it's time for Noah's retrospective.
[01:29:50] Speaker E: Noah Fleishman is our producer here at Passage to Prophet, and he just has a way of putting his best memories in perspective.
[01:29:57] Speaker I: Back when I was in high school, just about 40 years ago, I read a great book, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Remember him? He wrote about a futuristic society where people would get together and congregate on Sundays to pray to the founders of industry.
Yikes. Thank goodness that isn't us today. It's not like we're that reliant upon our products to have to actually.
Alexa, what's the word?
Oh, well, you know what? It's almost a hundred years since that book was written. Maybe it is time for us to get real and honest about just how important these devices are in our lives. I mean, at this point, they're not a part of our lives anymore. They are our lives. Maybe some of the technology stores and phone shops could create prayer aisles and worship corners for those times when repair becomes quite that dire. It might even lead to a whole new vernacular in the world. Come to think of it, I could just see it now. People sitting in front of their computers worldwide, and all of a sudden the Internet starts to get shaky or the picture starts to buffer, and all of a sudden they'll look up and say, oh, for the love of gates.
[01:31:01] Speaker F: Now more with Richard and Elizabeth, Passage to profit.
[01:31:04] Speaker E: Our special guest, Joseph Varghese. And now it is time for Secrets of the Entrepreneurial Mind.
So, Joseph Varghese with SuccessCircles.com do you have a secret you can share?
[01:31:17] Speaker A: I have many secrets.
So beyond always shared before my gamification. Having fun, Enjoying the journey. Journey. The big secret that I embrace is know your zone of genius.
We all have a unique zone of genius. You can test these things out easily. You can ask AI based on your interactions what it'll tell you. You can do a disk test.
Once you know your zone, you step into it and find a way to Leverage everything else. Find other people too can help you with that. I'm an extrovert. So in 2002, after leaving the corporate world, I won the lottery for the marathon in New York City. There's something about the experience of running across boroughs, the energy which is so, so extraordinary, energetic. It sparked every step of the way. But something in that I did a Myers Briggs test afterwards. I'm an extrovert.
So I've designed my life in a way where it's in alignment of like embracing somebody who's an extrovert as far as speaking, even being here as example. So once you know your strengths, note that down and find every way possible to build a team to help you with everything else. When you do that, your business will go into a state of flow because you'll be happier, you'll be more content. And you can also leverage AI if need be to that. For that. For that purpose, you can have AI help you fixing or resolving all those other open loops. Things that stress you out. Don't make it difficult. Know your strengths and play toward your strengths.
[01:32:43] Speaker E: Excellent. Thank you. Jen Rulon with JenRulan.com youm know what.
[01:32:47] Speaker C: I'm gonna say is movement.
[01:32:49] Speaker E: Yeah.
[01:32:50] Speaker C: You have to take care of yourself. Because if you're the entrepreneur, the mom, the dad, the whatever, the brother, the sister, or maybe you're a caregiver or caretaker, right. You have to take care of yourself. So whether you stand up, I mean, as we know, sitting is the new smoking.
So that's something we have to focus on. Like, I would rather have you stand at your desk, or I'd rather have you go out and walk, walk 10 minutes in the grass or walk 10 minutes just to get out, get the air, get the energy.
So I'm not going to ask you to do an iron man. I'm not going to do that at all. But I will ask you to make sure you move that body every day.
[01:33:31] Speaker E: Yeah, that's great. Elise Franco with TheClutcherPillow.com yes.
[01:33:37] Speaker B: So the secret that we have to share, I'll have to say to really develop a routine. Routine before you start your day as an entrepreneur, because otherwise there is too much noise. And how do you block that noise out to be able to focus and to really be able to be productive to where you can work six hours a day and be productive instead of working or sitting to your desk for 12 hours and being productive for only two. So when you set your day, you can develop a routine. It could be to go for a Run before you sit on a desk. It could be meditation before you actually open your computer or laptop. It could be anything that really set your mind. And you can set your mind to what you want to do that day and what's going to be next by the time you end your day.
[01:34:24] Speaker E: That's.
[01:34:25] Speaker B: And to really be able to be productive.
[01:34:27] Speaker E: That's a great one, too. Yes. Richard Gearhart with gearhartlaw.com what's your secret?
[01:34:32] Speaker D: Well, my secret is that none of us really know what we're doing, but we look cool on LinkedIn.
[01:34:39] Speaker E: Yeah. My pictures from, like, 20 years ago.
[01:34:42] Speaker D: But seriously, uncertainty is part of the whole thing about being an entrepreneur. You're never really sure about what's coming up next or what you're doing is right. But I think if you established a good direction, then opportunities and people will come to you. So stay focused on finding the right direction.
[01:35:01] Speaker E: Very good. And mine is going to be always have a backup. So last night, Joseph was kind enough to come and speak at the podcast and YouTube creators community meetup that I hold with Sonia Sartre, and we record it on Zoom, and then we make that recording available to everybody.
So we had Zoom set up, it started recording, we checked it, it was recording. But Joseph said to me, elizabeth, I have this little recorder here that would get the audio. Do you mind if I use that? I'm like, oh, no, I'm happy with that. He's like, yeah, I find it's always good to have a backup. You know, I'm an engineer, so you know, know what's gonna happen here, don't you all?
[01:35:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:35:40] Speaker E: Yeah. So, of course, Zoom recorded for, like, three and a half minutes and decided it was done for the day. I don't have any idea why, because it's never happened.
[01:35:48] Speaker D: You have a backup recording, but we.
[01:35:50] Speaker E: Have Joseph's recording, so we don't have video, but there are ways to take an audio recording and put images with it. So you can still put it on YouTube and have it be there.
[01:36:00] Speaker A: So, podcaster, there's so much great content on that. My team and I reviewed it today, which is the knowledge you have around SEO. All of that was just extraordinary. So I'm happy to share that.
[01:36:11] Speaker D: Thanks.
[01:36:11] Speaker E: Yeah, thanks. So you had a lot of great input, too. We geared it more towards podcasting, so it was different from what was on the show today. Although we did get to meet Meg last night, which was very cool.
[01:36:21] Speaker D: She's charming.
[01:36:23] Speaker E: So we had to have her back on the show today.
[01:36:25] Speaker D: Well, that's it for us. Passage to Profit is a nationally syndicated radio show appearing in 38 markets across the U.S. thank you to the P2P team, our producer Noah Fleishman and our program coordinator Alicia Morrissey, our studio assistant Risa Kat Bussari and our social media powerhouse Carolina Tabares. Look for our podcast tomorrow anywhere you get your podcasts. Our podcast is ranked in the top 3% globally. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram X and on our YouTube channel. And remember, while the information on this program is believed to be correct, never take a legal step without checking with your legal professional first. Gearhart Law is here for your patent, trademark, and copyright needs. You can find us at gearhartlaw. Com and contact us for a free consultation. We'll see you again next week on Passage to Profit.
