Ever wonder what it's like to build businesses across continents and cultures? This episode takes us on a captivating journey with our guest, Joe Matz. Life in foreign lands may seem intimidating, but Joe's experiences are a testament to the potential richness it can add to your life. From learning Italian to maintaining work-life balance, his unique experiences of transitioning between languages and cultures, make for some interesting listening.
Ever wonder what it's like to build businesses across continents and cultures? This episode takes us on a captivating journey with our guest, Joe Matz. Life in foreign lands may seem intimidating, but Joe's experiences are a testament to the potential richness it can add to your life. From learning Italian to maintaining work-life balance, his unique experiences of transitioning between languages and cultures, make for some interesting listening.
There from the lovely city of Atlanta, georgia, and today I have a special guest with me here today, and it's Joe. Now, joe, you guys. Is it Joe Mott or Joe Matt? I didn't, i didn't ask in the beginning here, let's just do this live on the show.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all right. The second one is right, matt's.
Speaker 1:Matt's Joe, matt's All right, joe. Now, joe, you have a unique, unique background here and we talked prior about your business building on several different continents and that sounds like a challenge. It's hard to build one on this in this state. Let's just tonight, i'm gonna say this continent, on this, in this state of Atlanta, georgia, is difficult to build one business that you built several over the over the years. So I'm just going to have you introduce yourself to the audience here and then we're going to kind of go into some of the things, like the podcast, a guessing that you've been working on here, and we'll talk a little bit more about the business later on. But let's give a brief introduction of yourself here to the audience.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, i am Joe Matt's. I'm the chief gap biologist at a pexiblecom and you know I started my career after college and I was working where I wanted to be working, doing what I wanted to do, and I got an offer to go to Italy. So that was a two year project Apparently that's what they told me to look after a business there. Felt lost his eyes on the ground and asked me to go to be the eyes on the ground, look after his interest. That ended up being an 18 year joint journey overseas 18 years, joe, 18 years.
Speaker 1:Two from two years to 18 years.
Speaker 2:Took me a little while to figure out what I was doing in Italy. Eventually I became the sales lead in Italy and when they wanted to expand to South America they asked me to go to Brazil, and that was after five years in Italy. So then I spent nine years in Brazil and that was just an amazing, amazing time in Brazil. Beautiful country, beautiful people, just just fantastic. And then I went back to Italy, changed what I was doing in Brazil. I got involved with public speaking. I got involved with sales conferences and speaking at sales conferences in Portuguese.
Speaker 2:And then I went back to Italy and started a language school, also started a mountain bike tourism business and with a buddy of mine we had some contacts in the local government. So we worked to get products into Austria from the area of a Brutso Wow. So that was, that was just a lot of fun. I mean, we lived near the beach, we lived near the mountain, so we're at the beach in the morning, we were mountain biking in the afternoon. It was just a wonderful, wonderful experience. And then I was done with that. It was time to come back to the US. You know, it kind of felt like it. After 18 years I came back and ran a restaurant, got involved with mortgages, got involved with selling and buying businesses, and then I decided to be a coach because somebody said what are you going to do now? And I said I don't know.
Speaker 2:I said Joe with all that experience, you should be a business coach, and my response was what's that? I didn't know what that was, so I looked into. It seemed like something interesting. I get my hands in lots of businesses and and help people and and used all that experience that I have accumulated to help people grow businesses, and so I jumped in full force.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. That's amazing. Let's let's talk about one of the things that you're doing here as of late, and that's with the podcast Guesting. Now basically here, joe, and let's put this on screen for people who want to know what subject we're on there at the moment. We this is something that I have looked at online because I looked at a few things when I was first going down my journey of becoming a guest myself. You know kind of best practices sort of thing.
Speaker 1:What even got you into teaching people how to grow their business or podcast guesting success and how did you learn? like what did you learn through Python? How long did it take? Like, how many shows were you doing yourself before you learned what may or may not work or what may or may not be the best in practice for going on other people's shows? And while a lot of times show, what I feel like is I want to go on shows and give the host and their audience what they need, but you're also trying to put yourself out there. You don't want to take over the show. What would it would have? some of the things that you, that you've learned on this journey.
Speaker 2:So I started a podcast two and a half years ago, okay, and about eight months ago I became involved with a networking group and I formed a subgroup. I'm now a co what do you call them? Co-leader, co-author, co-organizer of this podcasting group, and every few months we have a mixer with podcast host. Now, the objective of the podcast group is so that we can get better at our craft of podcasting.
Speaker 1:I know what you mean there.
Speaker 2:Every few months. We have a mixer. We brought in people wanted to be guests on podcast, to mix and get to know people who had podcast so they could. The host could find guests, the guests could find podcast to be on And we asked them what they want from us. How can we be a better service, how can we be of more service? Provide you what you want, what you need at this time, and the overwhelming response, reggie, was we want to be on more podcast, we want to get some ROI from podcasts, we want to grow our business And I had done 50 episodes at this time. I bet I can't. I don't even remember how many times I've been a guest, but along the way.
Speaker 2:I've seen good guests, i've seen better guests, i've seen guests that were I'd rather not have on the show again, and I boiled it down to seven steps for seven steps Okay. Seven steps for being a good guest on a podcast. And it's more than being a good guest, it's being good for yourself, good for the host, good for the audience.
Speaker 1:So it's a win, win, win situation.
Speaker 2:And I put together a program for the podcast guesting success based on the second Tuesday of November 2002, when we had this meeting and people said this is what they need. So I put it together and a month and a half, 2002, 2002. Yeah, Wow.
Speaker 1:No, no, I'm sorry, No.
Speaker 2:I'm wrong, 2022.
Speaker 1:I was going to say Joe, you're a pioneer, pioneer man, you're, you're, wow 20 years in a podcasting game. You know 2022.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, without giving away to program here, though, because I want people to uh, we will let people know at the end, kind of where they can find this program on and how that can be beneficial to them. Is there a summary of the steps? Can we give them like a tidbit, a cliff notes, so to speak, of what the steps would be?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know. The first thing, reggie, is your why. Why do you want to be a guest on podcast? What's your objective? And there could be numerous objectives, not not exclusively these few. There could be more, but could be. You launched a book and you want to do a virtual book tour, could be? you want to reach out to more audiences. You've, you've, you've pitched to your product or your service, to your LinkedIn friends, to your Facebook friends, to your family, to your neighborhood, and now you need more audiences.
Speaker 2:Podcast guesting is a great way to get in front of new audiences. Yeah, some people use the podcast guesting as a way to increase their back links to their website. So they're they're working on building their SEO. Oh, wow, yeah, so that's that's when you don't hear about very often. Podcast Guesting also allows you to position yourself as an expert, as, as we talk here on this podcast and your interview, i'm exposing my expertise. So also, you're introducing me to new audience. So that's all working to increase my business and increase my exposure, which then increases my business. And that's that's just one reason to do the podcast guesting. Yeah, some people do it to build their list, their email list, so they have a free giveaway. They have a call to action Oh, get my free giveaway, and you go to get their free giveaway. You give them your first name and your email address. Now you're on their list. Some people do it for that, so that. So you've got to have a strategy, you've got to know why you're doing it and then build your strategy around that.
Speaker 1:Okay, so then what is step? So step one is the why for the audience listening here. What's step two? Step?
Speaker 2:two is what your message is going to be. Work on your message, work on your message. Get a good message out there And, at the same time, know who that message is for, cause you want to talk with people who are in your niche market, who are your potential clients, right? So if I were talking to to people in the corporate world who wanted to reach the corporate, you know, apex of the corporate ladder, that would be the wrong audience for me. Great audience, great people, but not my niche market. I talked to small business owners. That's my niche market, right. So you want to talk with your niche market. Find out where they're listening to podcasts. What podcast are they listening to? You can find that out there Joe.
Speaker 1:Like what would be some of the steps, like two, two, because that can be such a daunting task for some people, especially if they're just trying to get on the show and just record and just press, press record and sit down. What are they? what has been some of the things that have worked for you in that regard?
Speaker 2:So there's a little bit of research involved here. Now what you can do. You're the key words for your business where you might have Keywords on a social media profile. You might use keywords in your website If you do Google those keywords. But here's the trick Google the keyword and after you put the keyword in there, put podcast, hmm, interesting. So if I were talking to someone who is involved with lawn care Very simple example I would say Google lawn care podcast. Okay, if I was talking to a tart, a two artist, i Would say tattoo artist Podcast or whatever might be a keyword for the tattoo artist, but always put podcast afterwards. So here's another secret sauce if you have colleagues, folks that you listen to on podcast, people who are doing something similar to what you're doing, put their name in Google and then after their name, put podcast. You'll come up with a list of podcasts that they're on and Those might be podcast where you could be on also very interesting, very interesting.
Speaker 1:So what would you say? your third step is here.
Speaker 2:So Just one more thing on the second step there. Reggie, i don't want to to miss this. If you're on, if you use Google, if you use Google podcast or you use Apple Podcast to listen to podcasts, they have search engines also where you can use these tactics.
Speaker 1:Interesting within within those search engines, so within Google podcast, within Apple podcast, searching within their versus just doing a general Google search.
Speaker 2:Right, right, got it and I would do them. I would do them all Right. Third step you want to listen to those podcasts. You want to build relationship with the Podcast host. So how do you do that? Very simple, listen to their podcast, comment on their podcast. Get on their social media. Say hey, if they're posting Promotions for their podcast on social media. Comment, hey, i liked it. I especially liked in minute 10 where you talked about The ink that you use for tattoos. I'm on, i'm on the tattoo theme today, right. So When they see you and you pitch yourself, this is the next stage right, to say hey, i'd like to be on your podcast. Now It's a professional letter, it's done right.
Speaker 2:You mentioned an episode. You comment on their podcast. You, you tell them how much you you know What you like about their podcast, why you think you'd be a good guest. But make it personal. I Listened to episode 76. I loved when, when Reggie talked about, you know, the nightlife in Atlanta and that one bar. I think I'm gonna have to go to that bar and then say I, you know. Then you transition to I'd be a good guest on your podcast because you know That very nice, very nice.
Speaker 1:So what is? it is the next step.
Speaker 2:We're at step four I might be. I might be confusing the steps here a little bit.
Speaker 1:As long as we have seven of them, I think we'll be good.
Speaker 2:We're getting there, Okay. So then you want to be. So step three is Oh gosh, okay. Anyway. The next step Is you're on the podcast, right? Okay, Be a good podcast guest. How do you be a good podcast guest? edify your host. Don't get into long answers. I've had guests that got into seven minute answers and by the time they're done.
Speaker 1:I.
Speaker 2:Forget the points I wanted to touch on, which were points that my audience is interested in, but, oh my gosh, they've thrown on and on. No, don't do that. It's more of a back-and-forth, more of a conversation, right, keep that in mind for sure. So, yeah, so the letter we went through, the letter we went through being on the podcast. You want to have a call to action. Call to action All right, call to actions are important because otherwise It's just a nice conversation. Yes, yes, call to action should be easy for the listener to activate, and One of the easiest things to to activate is a download of a PDF or a flip book or something. I've a video that delves deeper into the Topic, right, something that is easy to accept. Some people have a lot of of good success with a 30 minute conversation, free three minute consult. For others, that doesn't work very well. So you have to experiment. What works for you, what call to action is going to get the most response for you and for your audience? Very interesting very interesting.
Speaker 1:So we're on the last couple of steps here to where we're. Where we are here with these last couple of steps.
Speaker 2:So when someone Activate your call to action, gather their email address And now they're on your list, you can email them. You can promote your product, promote your events, promote what you have going on. Build a relationship with that person. Right, they've separated themselves from the crowd because they've said hey, i'm interested in what you're talking about, i want more. Don't leave them out in the cold And don't leave your host out in the cold either. Build a relationship with your host, because podcasters know podcasters. Yeah, so it's a great way to get on more podcasts, and I was. I was just featured in a book that's coming out next week From a podcaster and I was on her show and I comment on her episodes. I like her post on social media. When she promotes an episode, i like it, i comment on it And I was one of the few people out of like 500 guests that she's had. She asked me to be a part of this book Interesting because we built that relationship and we met through podcasting. That's amazing. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:How do you is there? are there any more steps before I go on? I don't want to. I don't want to run over any more steps. You have another step in here. Yeah, that's about it. I mean building relationship, building relationship and the follow-up process is that's after the show and that's that's what you need to do.
Speaker 2:A lot of people Do a podcast recording and then it's done. They might never talk to a host again.
Speaker 1:I've seen it happen quite a bit and you know one of the things that's that's I've discovered that you that resonates with me is Talking before about how you, when you're going on you to in my opinion, you got a podcast to get good at podcasting. You got a, you're gonna have to do it, and it's something that you you should if you've taken lessons from your previous podcast Get better with as time goes on. How long did it take for you to kind of get these things down for yourself? Was it an epiphany after a certain amount of appearances? or how how long did it take you to kind of get these steps down? You know, i come from an experience of speaking on stage.
Speaker 2:And I spoke in front of small audiences and large audiences on stage in three different languages. So I've got some speaking experience, but I'm still learning. I'm learning a lot of things Experience, but I'm still learning. I'm learning about speaking on stage and I'm still learning about being a good podcast guest And how to do that. I mean, you know, i my microphone is relatively new. I got a new camera a few weeks ago. You know, i'm still upping my technology there, yeah, so I'm not sure how long it took me when we she got it down. I never feel like I've arrived. I always feel like I'm learning something new me to me too.
Speaker 1:I could have that. That kind of resonates as well. We're gonna transition here a little bit into the, into the, the business subjects, because you have a fascinating business history And what kind of talk about here, the different challenges that you had with building businesses abroad. Now Let's walk me through a little bit, because you started in. So was Italy, then Brazil, right, man? I'm gonna Brazil.
Speaker 2:So bad, joe, my good, Oh yeah, I'm trying to get out there.
Speaker 1:So so bad, i've not been able to, but I've definitely been trying to. Is on my bucket list, gonna make it out there at some point, but we'll start here in Italy, because that's you. You were Italy, then Brazil, right, what are the different challenges? you'd say that that that you went through being in Italy in general.
Speaker 2:So it was kind of unique because I didn't go to Italy with with a very long job description. My job description was keep an eye on my business.
Speaker 1:That was my job description very, very to the point, right, very succinct, that's right.
Speaker 2:Keep an eye on my business, keep me up on what's really going on there. That's why he felt he needed someone on the ground in Italy, and that's what I went over there with. Took me a little while fumbling around to try and figure out What was going on and What I how I could be of service there. What happened was that company then brought in vitamins to Italy and at that point And at that point I had been taking vitamins for ten years- Are these like multi vitamins?
Speaker 2:like like multi vitamins, i'm gonna see yeah, yeah, I got you a whole range. I knew vitamins, so I became the self-appointed vitamin expert and I traveled around the country Teaching the salespeople about vitamins and how to sell vitamins. Okay, and that that propelled me to be the sales lead And it was like Joe, this, this is what you're doing. You should have the title, you know so. So I did that and that was five years, right, some of the challenges. I mean, i didn't speak the language when I went.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's. I was gonna ask you about the major. What would be the major challenge for me is getting over that language barrier. How, what helped you with that?
Speaker 2:Oh, nothing really helped me. I put up challenges and barriers myself imposed. I was in a course, reggie, and it was a two twice a week course. I didn't have time to study and I graduated with honors from from college. I'm a good student. That's my, my self image. I look in the mirror. I see a good student. I didn't have time to study and one of the students called me out, said you're holding us back. And I basically said I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:I won't come back cuz I don't have time to study. I won't come back cuz I don't have time to keep up. And I never went back. So here's the trick. Now I'm a married man I'm very happily married at this point But when I was in Italy I was single Now this is a good thing And I was 23 years old when I went over. So I put up a sign and I would recommend any young men or women going to Italy or any other foreign country If you want to meet people of your age, you know and you want to learn the language there. So this is what I did. I went to the American bookstore and I put up a sign that said American male wants to learn Italian. I will teach you English if you will teach me Italian. Oh, very nice. I got so many dates from that. I was not really. My objective was to learn Italian.
Speaker 1:You came with a bonus there, Jim.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a good way of putting it, yes, so I learned Italian. I mean, i had a girlfriend and our activity was to communicate It's like let's get the dictionaries out and communicate. But I found out so I had an interest in bicycles. I still have an interest in bikes. I got a bicycling magazine and I got the Disney magazine. So there was all the Disney characters and the pictures, the cartoons They don't call them cartoons the comics. And I started reading because that was simple Italian and it had the pictures. So that helped. I still needed a dictionary.
Speaker 1:So you can get like context from the pictures and stuff like that in other areas Exactly.
Speaker 2:So I learned Italian with Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, and those guys Had to give that up when I started sounding like Mickey Mouse in Italian.
Speaker 1:You're speaking Disney Italian, basically, which is what you were speaking. That's right.
Speaker 2:That's right, and that's how it started And then you know a little bit probably took me two years before I was feeling comfortable in a conversation.
Speaker 1:Okay, but when you, when you're going down that road because it seems just so daunting, like an incredibly challenging, to just get your footing abroad, in just living, forget running a business just existing abroad and kind of getting your footing there, how long did outside of the business, how long did that take to materialize for you before you really start to feel like, hey, i kind of have the hang of things here.
Speaker 2:About a year, and it wasn't easy, you know. It was a very lonely time because I couldn't even go to the bar and cry to the bartender of my sorrows and woes because I didn't speak Italian, and so it was a lonely year. But it took about a year before I started feeling comfortable.
Speaker 1:Did you have? and what about your social life? Because I know that was a lonely year, as you've just described. When did that start to pick up? Because I believe I'm a big believer in work-life balance. I believe one kind of feeds into the other. When did your social life kind of start to pick up there? Because a lot of people want to go and they want to meet friends, And I think your suggestion of learning the language is one that is very actionable for many people that can just go anywhere. There's always people that are abroad looking to learn English and you being able to have that kind of trade-off is, I think, attractive for a lot of people. When did your social life kind of start to pick up? Was it also within that same year?
Speaker 2:It was within the year Now, i avoided Americans. There was an American church, there was an American bar near the church And the folks who were there, the expats who were there a lot of them that I met they had been there for four or five years could not speak Italian.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:How are they existing? Well, they worked in a US firm.
Speaker 1:Oh, in a bubble, so to speak.
Speaker 2:That's right. They went to the restaurant that had the English menus. They went to the English bar, the American bar, where the folks who speak English hang out. I met one couple The wife had been there also four years. She could barely order, she could barely go to the market and get what she needed. And at that point I decided to avoid Americans because it would be so easy to fall into that comfort zone. And one thing I did, reg I went to the campus, the university campus, and I just asked people, do you speak English? Do you speak English? I met some great friends, you know, because they wanted to learn, They love my accent, because I had the real accent, not the accent of their teacher, who was full blood Italian. And we went out, you know, started just going for tea or beer and talking, and that's how I met some friends.
Speaker 1:Okay. So then you start to develop. You get there within the year, you start to develop friendships and you're starting to kind of get your legs kind of under you here. How did that affect the business at all? Because 18 years, that's quite a bit of time here. You know, like you, that's a lifetime for some people here. So how did all of that start to kind of gel for you with the business and everything like that, where you kind of start really get things rolling on both sides?
Speaker 2:Yeah, i mean, it just kind of came naturally after that first year, after that struggle, and by the second year I was speaking Italian. by the third year I was speaking in public, on stage, in Italian.
Speaker 1:Very, nice And.
Speaker 2:I also got involved with skiing because we're near the Alps and I would go up with a group to go skiing. I got involved with mountain biking and I would go mountain biking with people, i mean that's so. that was my social life there, sports basically.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then what were you reporting back to the States at this time with the company that you were working with, and did you stay with the same company that entire time you were there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that entire five years I stayed with the same company. Yes, yep, and then, when they wanted to expand in South America, they asked me to head up the operations in Brazil.
Speaker 1:So then you're chatting off to Brazil now, yes.
Speaker 2:Also with a very, very short job description.
Speaker 1:Which you should be used to now at this point right, You're kind of used to have a longer job description. You might not have been as successful for you there. So when I'm trying to get a feel here for the timeline, if you were there for 18 years, were you there going between Italy and Brazil in this time period?
Speaker 2:No, it was five years in Brazil and then nine years in Italy, and then four years. no, i'm sorry, five years in Italy, nine years in Brazil and then back to Italy for four years.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, so I'll see that's in totality then, all right.
Speaker 2:Right In total Right. And you know, in Brazil I got involved with public speaking. After a while, they let me speak in public in Portuguese.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was going to say Portuguese. I think is the language there, That's interesting Very different from Italian.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah, it's still a Latin language, so there's that. I could understand probably 30 to 40% the first day I arrived, and then it was just keeping it straight What's Italian and what's Portuguese.
Speaker 1:So you know a lot of people ask this question, because I have some people I've dated, have been from other countries, whether it's Japan, romania or like Korea, and a lot of questions they ask them is what language do they think in? Like, do you think in English, or do you think in Italian? Or, in your case, do you think in Portuguese? How is it all coming together up there? Like, what are you actually? what language are you thinking in when you're speaking so many different ones?
Speaker 2:After a certain amount of time speaking a foreign language, a second language. If you live in the country and you're speaking that a lot, you begin thinking in that language. I'll give you an example. My sister doesn't speak Italian, but when I was in Italy I realized one time I was thinking about a conversation I want to have with my sister and I was thinking of it in Italian. So my talking to her and her talk responding to me in Italian, and then I was like shake my head. It's like wait a minute, she doesn't speak. I should be thinking about this in English. It just comes naturally after a while And it happens, and then you realize that it happened Really.
Speaker 1:So you're realizing it kind of like afterwards, that that was even occurring. basically, right.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly, and that's normal, because you become so comfortable in that language And there are things I can express, even today I can express in Italian that I can't express in English.
Speaker 1:Really. And so which one are you more fluent in, Would you say? would you say more Italian Because you spent more time there than Brazil with the Portuguese?
Speaker 2:I think more Italian because I was. my last overseas adventure was in Italy for four years, as Portuguese is further. but I keep friends in both countries and I'm talking with them and in their language, sometimes English, sometimes their language, but I would say more Italian than Portuguese.
Speaker 1:Okay, so when you went back to Italy, was it with a different company or was it still the same company? that was kind of like sending you back and forth to these places.
Speaker 2:I left the company when I went back to Italy, okay, and I went to work for another company with a boss right there, and that was not a good experience for me.
Speaker 1:Oh no, why is that?
Speaker 2:There was a miscommunication in what I thought he hired me for and what he wanted. This was a guy who created car parts and he sold to BMW and Mercedes car parts and he had started the company. He was a salesman but he was also the CEO and president and running the company, which was the wrong place for him. He should have been the salesman and he realized that. So he hired me to be the operations manager to take over that stuff internal to the factory. That was my thinking on it. Then we had a financial agreement which he reneged on after two months. Oh man, i left. I said what about that agreement? He said no, joe, no, no. I said okay And I went back to my desk. I wrote my resignation letter, i gave it to him and I left. And at this time you're in.
Speaker 2:Italy, yes.
Speaker 1:So did you hit the help water ads in Italy Like are you looking to come back to the state? What then?
Speaker 2:So at this point I said you know what, i don't need that aggravation. So I decided to teach English And I made I took a regular sheet of paper about 10 of them and I wrote if you want to learn English, call Joe And I hung it up at local businesses And that started my language school.
Speaker 1:That's very interesting. That's very interesting because when building a business like that, you know, i always tell people when they're starting a business at the beginning you own a job, you don't own a business, you own a gig. for the most part, you know and you're central to that. Is that something that you were able to scale when you were over there?
Speaker 2:Yes, so in my mind I was not an English teacher. Even when I was, when I had no students, when I had no piece of paper on somebody's wall, i never thought of myself as an English teacher. I thought of myself as a language school owner, and that was my mindset.
Speaker 1:I learned from the very beginning.
Speaker 2:From the very beginning, because I never intended to continue teaching. I said if this goes, it's gonna go, and I will be the owner of a language school, so I might as well start out that way today. And I got students. I ran out of time. I raised my prices, i differentiated prices from daytime to nighttime. I got into some schools where I was teaching and then I started hiring people because I couldn't keep up with it. I got into businesses. I made a flyer, i went to businesses and I said, hey, i'll teach your people English, you know. And that was basically my pitch. And I had to hire people. I had seven language teachers working for me within about two years.
Speaker 1:Wow. Did you have to a brick and mortar type situation a classroom, or would you just kind of go to their business? save on that overhead? go to their business, teach them like on site. What was that strategy?
Speaker 2:It was all on site. Nice, all on site. yep. That way I was able to charge less money and pay my teachers more money, because my overhead was so low.
Speaker 1:It's very interesting. So how long did you do that and what made you transition out of that business? if you don't still have that?
Speaker 2:Well, i did that for about three years. while I was there, first year I was fumbling around, but then I started the language school. I did that for three years. The only reason I stopped doing that is because I moved back to the US.
Speaker 1:Okay, and what made you move back? Was that always a plan?
Speaker 2:No, it was a divorce.
Speaker 1:In Italy, in Italy, yeah, you got married in.
Speaker 2:Italy. I met well, i met my wife in Italy. We got married and moved to Brazil. Our children were born in Brazil and then we moved back to Italy and it just didn't work out. We grew it in different directions For sure, and with that divorce, kind of my reasons for being in Italy were done. I'm like you know what It's time to go back to the States.
Speaker 1:What was it like coming back after all those years? It was weird.
Speaker 2:I still spoke in a different language. Sometimes I still thought in Italian and I had to translate from Italian to English. I also Reggie the interesting thing at all my clothes I had bought for business in Brazil and then in Italy. In Italy was a fashion capital of the world. Yes, my casual clothes were more formal than formal clothes here.
Speaker 1:For sure, i can see that.
Speaker 2:And so that was. You know, it took me a while to get out of that. I had to. It's just different. It's different, yeah So you know, fancy clothes. it just clothes were fancier, They were colorful, They were, the style was just great, you know.
Speaker 1:Are they like stooping or coats? Is everybody wearing sport coats out there to just casual events? Cause you know we're in the T-shirt and jean culture here, man.
Speaker 2:Right, no, it was sports coats, it was more classy, It was button downs, it was pressed, it was I mean, it just had style, more style. And when I came back I moved to the beach. Very different, Very different. Like shorts I got to buy shorts Like what I can't wear. Nobody wears Speedos at the beach here. What I have to buy a long bathing suit Comes down to my knees What?
Speaker 1:Is that a Speedo culture there? Is that what they're doing there in Italy? They rocking those Speedos out there on the beach Brazil and Italy. Yeah, Really Yeah. I haven't even seen a Speedo Like I more or less, wear a long one.
Speaker 2:You're a lucky man. You're a lucky man.
Speaker 1:Ha, ha, ha ha ha. So you come back to the States. What made you then? transition kind of into where you are now and the things that you're doing as of late.
Speaker 2:I got into managing the day to day operations of a few businesses And eventually what happened was the restaurant business took over most of my time.
Speaker 1:For sure, as restaurant businesses tend to do.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I was working late nights and then I was drinking. I was going to bed at three o'clock, i was waking up at nine, going to work till one, coming back and napping, going back at 4.30, working till midnight. My body couldn't take it anymore And I had to get out of that. It was a time about 2007 or so and I went into the mortgage business And then 2008, 2009 hit And a lot of people in the mortgage business left, including me For sure. You know that was a rough time And I was kind of looking at what to do And somebody said, joe, you should be a business coach. I said what's that? And then I looked into that, i investigated and I said, wow, yeah, i probably could be a business coach. I've had a lot of businesses, i've learned a lot along the way, i've had a language school, so I'm a teacher. Maybe I could be a business coach. I looked into it, got into a course a 13 month course, wow To become certified as a business coach, And that's how that started.
Speaker 1:So what does that entail? as far as if somebody who's listening and they're thinking of they want to go down that same line of work, what would you say? that would be a good entry point for them And you kind of explain the steps that you went through. But everybody's experience is going to be different, Joe. So what would you say? the prerequisite, experiences and how somebody could get into something like that?
Speaker 2:I would say have some experience in business That would be important And then get into a good school. Get into a school that is certified with the International Coaching Federation International Coaching Federation okay, right now they will certify schools and you can get certified as a member of the International Coaching Federation If you go to a school that is accredited with them. It just talks about the quality of the school. That's what it references. So you want a quality school, one that is longer than two weekends.
Speaker 1:I think, yeah, about 12 hours. We've got a 12 hour course, now you're Have you seen those courses?
Speaker 2:Yes, i have 120 bucks. Become a business coach in two weekends, yeah, okay, do something a little more serious than that. 13 months is good. There are some that are a bit shorter, some that are a bit longer, wow, but it does take some time. Along with those 13 months, i had 120 hours of actual coaching with a coach looking over my shoulder, with an experienced coach looking over my shoulder.
Speaker 1:We all going out to like businesses. Like what did that entail? Cause you know, when a lot of businesses, when there's a training, there's some just sort of shadow, you see, to have some person that's kind of standing behind the person and they're just kind of doing their thing. Was that the same type of experience?
Speaker 2:for you. It was very similar to that, yes, and then we would talk about how it went, where things could have gone better. You know that was part of the course. The other course was was all kinds of lessons, about 160 hours of coursework, wow.
Speaker 1:And that's you're doing on your own at that point, yeah Goodness. So when you're, what is a metric for success for a business coach? I'd imagine, if I bring in a business coach and I'm a business, i'm looking for some type of ROI there, and what do you hear from businesses that you've gone to that?
Speaker 2:that ROI expectation is 10 times their investment Interesting. That's kind of what they want.
Speaker 1:And they want that in revenues and productivity. Is that kind of how they lay that out, for?
Speaker 2:you. It's usually laid out in revenue. Sometimes it's laid out in business growth And they're not as interested in their revenue as they are in capturing market share. That depends on the business, and I've worked with business owners who just want more time, who have been threatened by their wife, that they need to spend more time with the family.
Speaker 2:Joe, I'm going to be honest with you. I'm hiring you because my wife says I need to get away from the business, I need to spend the weekends at home. We'll figure that out, my friend. We'll figure that out.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, time is a commodity. It's a precious one for me personally. I'm a very big work-life balance guy, so I could see how people might want to come in and kind of help them out with something like that. And when they're asking you for these things, are they giving you, like a certain time? Like, let's say, let's go with the market share one. Let's say they own 1% of the market, they want a 10X. That They say I want 10% of the market now, and do they say I want 10% of the market within the next 12 months, within the next two years? What are things like that they ask of you in the beginning?
Speaker 2:If they don't have a time constraint goal. it's the first thing we work on, because you've got to have a time constraint, Otherwise you can just put it off. So, we want to have that 12 months or 24 month time frame And then we want to break it down into milestones. What are we doing? What are we doing this quarter? What are we doing this month? What are we doing this week, so that we can reach our goals in the future?
Speaker 1:Now that's interesting. So when you're keeping up with that because I would imagine you don't really have like a customer complaint line, so to speak Or if they're calling you back three or four months on the line, they're like oh, this isn't what I expected. How are you dealing with situations like that? Because I know, as business owners, one of the things you're doing a lot of it is psychology, because you're dealing with human beings. How does that something like that, look for you when you're kind of trying to give feedback or have somebody maybe unhappy with something and you're trying to rectify that?
Speaker 2:So with my private clients. I'm talking with them every week, Every week. So if it goes three months, then there's a problem right there. If there's something that's not working and they wait three months to let me know, there's a problem. Sometimes results come very quickly. Sometimes results don't come so quickly. You know, the tallest building in New York was first the deepest hole in New York.
Speaker 1:Interesting. It's very interesting.
Speaker 2:So sometimes you've got to water the plant. You've heard the story of the bamboo plant, where you water it, you water it, you see nothing, you see nothing. you keep watering it, you see nothing, and then all of a sudden, 10 days or two weeks, it just grows up 30 feet. So that's important to realize. You want to see results right away. So one thing that I look for are the low hanging fruit, the quick kills. What can we do right away that's going to provide massive results? Some of the other things that we get involved with take a little bit longer. But if right away, within a few weeks, they see those results, they're more likely to accept the fact that these other projects to increase their market share, in our example, are going to take a little longer.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you can give them kind of like the immediate and the looming issue and try to tackle something that's going to make them happier and immediate, and I would imagine it's different for different businesses. This is not a one size fits all situation by any stretch of the imagination. Here, when you are, do you do your consultations ahead of time when you're dealing with this, because I would imagine you're not going to just take every person that would give you a dollar because some of these expectations might not be realistic.
Speaker 2:That's right, very true. Yeah, i've not allowed people to pay me because their expectations were unrealistic. Yeah.
Speaker 1:How do you go back explaining that to them? Because nobody wants to hear that. I'll tell you that.
Speaker 2:They don't. One guy said hey, for what I pay you to meet once or twice a week, i could hire a full-time employee. I said, yes, you could. You've been doing that for 15 years. How's that working for you? He's like that's why I'm talking to you.
Speaker 1:So, Adam, let's say that you do. Let's just pick a nice round, number 10 of these. Let's say 10, are all 10 success For somebody looking to get into this business? what conversion rate to success would be considered successful, A successful business coach? because nobody bats a thousand. What rate of success If I have 10, is it realistically to say that I'm a decent business coach if six of these turn out great and I'm a great business coach if eight, nine of these turn out great? What is there? a metric like that where you can kind of keep an inner scorecard on how good you're doing relative to other people in the business?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've never thought of it that way, But it's the most important thing, or one of the most important things in being a business coach is choosing the right clients. If you get the wrong client, someone who is not dedicated, someone who's going to second guess you, someone who is so set in their ways, they're going to do things their way anyway, the way they've always done it, and they're always going to get those results, and it's almost like you're fighting with them. That's going to be a difficult client to work with and you're not going to get the results. In the coaching world we talk about hiring clients who are coachable. It's a joint thing. Someone has to want to be coached by me and I have to want to coach them Interesting. So it's not everyone that I talk to that, I think, is a good client for me. Sometimes I've recommended other coaches because of their particular issue, their situation. I may not be the best person for them.
Speaker 1:Is that done through like a general consultation, like somebody they call you up to say, joe, i really need some help here. Do you set up like a 30-minute hour consultation first to see if this is a good fit? Yes, absolutely, okay, okay, so then it's not, let's just go in blind. I'm just not to show it up at your business the next day randomly.
Speaker 2:I don't think that's doing me a favor or the potential client a favor doing it that way I want to do. I want clients. Yeah, sure, i want clients. Am I going to take every client that shows up and knocks on my door? No, Right.
Speaker 2:Right, so we do have to talk. I want to know what their expectations are. I want to know how open they are to doing things differently. That's kind of important. I want to know that they're going to show up for the meetings when we have meetings scheduled Very important Even in podcasting business.
Speaker 1:I mean, you are the exact same way there in a sense of who shows up on time, right Punctuality. We can schedule a show out three months from now And some of the people that I've done shows with that have been greatness business. They don't need reminders, So they're going to be there. At the time they said, whether it's six months from now, six days from now, they're going to be there on time and it shows a level of dedication, right. Yeah, Is that the same kind of thing that you're looking for when you're doing these consultations?
Speaker 2:I am, i am. I'm looking for someone who's going to to respect my time. I'm looking for someone who's going to do the work, because they're not hiring me to get into the trenches and do the work. They're hiring me so that they're digging the right trenches in the right area. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1:It does, Absolutely, Absolutely. And you know, initially I said we go for about 45 minutes or so. We've gone for our little. It past that here. I don't want to keep you on here all day. So let's tell people here where they can find you at and then where they can find your courses, because you're only getting a snippet of of of what you can provide here for people. So tell them where they can get more.
Speaker 2:So they can get more at GapBologistcom. It's a mini website. It has links to my courses, to my giveaways, to my podcasts, to my website, to my social media. Everything is at GapBologistcom, okay.
Speaker 1:And what is your final, your final thoughts? If there's somebody's listening to this, joe, and they this is the only time they're going to ever hear you for hopefully this not, but if it is, what would your final takeaway? I know you don't need to give, like your, your key to life or anything like that, but what would your, your, your final thoughts be on somebody who's looking to maybe do the podcast guesting situation, or who's starting abroad, trying to grow a business, or growing a business here, or getting into business coaching. What is there any kind of like wrap up there that you would have for a? a final statement?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's kind of tough, but what I would say, reggie, is get started, do something that. Do something that moves you in the direction of your goal Right Now. If you want to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger you're not going to do that tomorrow, no, but you know what You can start eating, right? You can start lifting weights, and if you don't have weights, lift rocks. And if you don't have rocks, lift a milk jug. But get started, do something that moves you in that direction. If you want to start a business, look online, research that business, find people who are doing that. Listen to podcasts. Get on YouTube. There's so much information out there.
Speaker 1:But, joe, you've been very gracious with your time here And you know what That was amazing Cause, as I'm teaming you up for that question, joe, in my head I'm thinking I don't know how he's going to answer this question like that. I've given him like three different areas and would, would, would one statement, and basically that one statement encompasses just getting started, and I definitely think that that's a it's excellent advice. When people ask me about anything, i told them the first thing you got to do is do like that. That's the first thing that you're going to have to do.
Speaker 1:You're going to have to actually do it And then hopefully things will go your way as you kind of continue down your journey. I definitely appreciate you taking some time out here with me and my audience here, Joe.
Speaker 2:That's been my pleasure, Reggie.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me on your show Absolutely. This is Reggie HL. Check us out. Stay dry heart radio. Google podcast, apple podcast, spotify, wherever you find your podcast. See you next time, guys.