In this episode of #TBNE Rob chats with one of the most relevant OGs of the #entrepreneurship game Ronnell Richards, CEO and Founder of Business & Bourbon. He is a multi-time founder who creates experiences and opportunities through his businesses and content. This pod has been over a year in the making as we kept trying to get together in person but unfortunately, life has other plans. So we finally decided to get online and chop it up. Check out the full episode now! Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.
In this episode of #TBNE Rob chats with one of the most relevant OGs of the #entrepreneurship game Ronnell Richards, CEO and Founder of Business & Bourbon. He is a multi-time founder who creates experiences and opportunities through his businesses and content.
This pod has been over a year in the making as we kept trying to get together in person but unfortunately, life has other plans. So we finally decided to get online and chop it up.
Check out the full episode now!
Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.
Connect with Ronnell Richards:
Connect with Rob:
Show Produced by: Niranjan Deshpande (Nick), Broken Frames Studio, www.brokenframesstudio.com
Creative Director: Maxim Sokolov, www.maximsokolov.com
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Special offer for #BearNation listeners interested in trying Brilliantly Warm (https://www.brilliantly.co/), use this 10% off discount code WELCOME10.
The 8 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Choosing a Coach (and how to avoid them!) use this link to get your FREE download: https://www.thaxa.com/p/the-bear-necessities-of-entrepreneurship
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EPISODE 93 and 94_Ronnell Richard_Part 1
00:00:07:17 - 00:00:35:10
Rob Napoli
Hey, we're back again for another episode of The Bare Necessities podcast, and I couldn't be more excited about today. In fact, I should have hit record about 10 minutes ago because right now I've been chopping it up and hitting some high notes. But my guest today is not only a badass founder, business owner, entrepreneur, podcast host sales enthusiast and now published fucking author, speak it
00:00:35:10 - 00:01:00:24
Rob Napoli
But but he is somebody that I call a really good friend. We met online during 2020 when we were in our half day group boot camps. We connected and we had him on a panel that connected again and we just kept staying in touch. And then I came to a a suburban event in D.C. and it was like minute I met Ronnell out in person and was like, I met somebody that I've known for 20 years.
00:01:01:21 - 00:01:22:11
Rob Napoli
And I think that's the kind of relationship we've had since we've known each other for the last three years. And so I'm excited to have you on the pod. He's an award winning entrepreneur. He's a business leader who has dedicated the past two decades to helping people and businesses maximize their growth. And he has some of the dopest, realest content out there he does not afraid to post, and he talks about the real shit that happens.
00:01:22:11 - 00:01:24:21
Rob Napoli
So Ronnell thank you for being on the show, my guy.
00:01:25:11 - 00:01:42:00
Ronnell Richards
Rob It is my pleasure, dude. And yes, to your point man, I wish we were running this shit like 10 minutes early because we're just vibing. But here's the thing. I know that that will continue because, you know, real, recognized, real. So you and I can do this thing for hours if we and we have.
00:01:42:13 - 00:01:43:02
Rob Napoli
That, that.
00:01:43:02 - 00:01:48:00
Ronnell Richards
Is just let's not the audience probably doesn't want us to go for hours this time but we could.
00:01:48:12 - 00:02:01:16
Rob Napoli
Absolutely Well, you know, before we kind of get into it, I want to say I love the new look of your studio. Is that where is the NBA jam still in the corner there. It's just isn't out of the frame.
00:02:02:04 - 00:02:20:16
Ronnell Richards
It is still in the corner. It's it's hidden out of the frame. And it really wasn't supposed to be part of my backdrop. It was supposed to be part of my mental health routine. But, you know, was my my way of stepping away from the work for, like little bite size moments. Right? So I get kind of refreshed.
00:02:20:22 - 00:02:23:24
Ronnell Richards
But shit, it's just become like a cool backdrop piece now.
00:02:24:13 - 00:02:46:06
Rob Napoli
Yeah, I love it. And I love that you have like the vinyl, you've got the shot that shut the hell up inside. You've got the whiskey collection in the corner. And for those that don't know right now, right now has a couple of different businesses, one being business and bourbon, which is not really a business, but more, I would say, have a community, an event organizer, a network extraordinaire.
00:02:46:06 - 00:03:03:17
Rob Napoli
It's a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but it's around this idea that you get great people in a room, good conversation happens and it just so happens over a glass of whiskey. Right? So I would love for you to tell, you know what to me, I've always loved business of bourbon. What was the idea behind that?
00:03:03:17 - 00:03:22:17
Rob Napoli
Like what got you excited about business and whiskey? And how did how did those two fusion happen in your brain to create? And when I when I say about business bourbon, I don't think it's a business. I think it's an excuse. It's an experience. Every damn thing is intentional. Every interaction is an experience with a brand. So let's talk about a little let's start there.
00:03:23:06 - 00:03:44:23
Ronnell Richards
You know, Rob, one of the biggest misconceptions about business and bourbon is that we are about whiskey. We're not. We're about business and we're about creating an experience where leaders can connect, right? Where they can connect. And and we're super intentional about business. There are a few things that that drive us. One, education, inspiration and motivation. Those three things drive us right.
00:03:44:23 - 00:04:03:24
Ronnell Richards
We want to make sure that everything that we're doing is educating, inspiring or motivating people. The second thing is we want to help people to do better business, and we believe that the key to doing that is through building deeper relationships. So, you know, if you come to like a business in bourbon in person experience, it starts with getting the right people in the room.
00:04:04:04 - 00:04:26:09
Ronnell Richards
Our community are people like you, man. It's that's the magic. A lot of entrepreneurs and sales leaders that are that are coming together for the right reasons, which are not to sell people their shit. It's to grow their businesses and to build relationships with other people that are like minded. And that's, you know, putting myself out the way that I have over the last five, six years.
00:04:26:09 - 00:04:49:04
Ronnell Richards
And social media has really helped to create that community of like minded people like you. It attracts people like you, like me that are kind of have some similar ambitions, have similar aspirations, have similar values. So that's what you get when you come to a business and bourbon experience. So, you know, what we do is we just try to create experiences that make impact, that aren't superficial, that aren't bullshit, right?
00:04:50:02 - 00:05:10:01
Ronnell Richards
Here's what it is not. It is not a like, come and get drunk whiskey tasting. No, it's not about we. We invite great entrepreneurs and leaders like you. Thank you for being one of our panelists at business. The bourbon to come again and to educate and inspire. My job at the end of the day is to create an environment that's conducive for connection right?
00:05:10:01 - 00:05:34:14
Ronnell Richards
Conducive. What's a win for me is like that people, when they leave a business and bourbon experience, whether it be online or in person that again we check one of those three boxes. They are educated, they get inspired, they get motivated. That's what it's about. That's our secret sauce. Our secret sauce is an intentional the an intentional, rather intentional focus on the audience.
00:05:35:03 - 00:05:53:15
Ronnell Richards
I care about them. When they win, we win. And just so that I'm clear, Rob, this isn't like some altruistic, you know, heal the world bullshit. This is this is the way to do business, guys. This is the way to be successful in business. The way to be successful in business is you got to take yourself out of it.
00:05:53:15 - 00:06:11:14
Ronnell Richards
You got to you got to separate yourself, separate your product, your service from the outcomes that you're trying to produce, you're trying to create for the people that you serve, right? So when my audience comes and wins, which is they get a connection, they get educated, they get motivated, that's how I win. It builds affinity for my brand.
00:06:11:14 - 00:06:30:01
Ronnell Richards
It builds affinity for the brands of our partners and sponsors and their I. We can now connect with those folks and do more business with them. So we're super intentional about business. And you know, like I tell people, people often times will screw up the name. They'll be like, Oh, bourbon and business. I'm like, Nope, it's always business before bourbon.
00:06:30:01 - 00:06:30:20
Ronnell Richards
That's what we're about.
00:06:31:11 - 00:06:37:24
Rob Napoli
I love that because, you know, the three things, you know, inspired was inspired, motivated.
00:06:38:01 - 00:06:40:01
Ronnell Richards
Educates and motivation, inspiration.
00:06:40:01 - 00:07:01:17
Rob Napoli
Inspiration. Because usually all three are going to get hit with especially and and I know it's different right We're talking preshow about we did a podcast so I watch the DC this is the bourbon was two years ago back in 2021. Yeah which is amazing was to be on the panel and we did a podcast afterwards. We were talking about like, you know, the podcast in person.
00:07:02:15 - 00:07:18:09
Rob Napoli
You're looking eye to eye in your vibing off each other. You know, this format, this virtual format we do podcast is amazing, right? We can do a lot of cool stuff. We can reach such a great audience. We can talk people from all over the world, but there's something about doing things in person, taking that back a step to that event.
00:07:18:09 - 00:07:46:11
Rob Napoli
You know what I love about the idea of business and bourbon the whiskey tasting and the food pairing was it gave everyone a reason to connect in their act. There was built in icebreakers. The hardest part of a networking event is you sit and you sit with your little table, your little group. It's hard to put yourself out there and talk, but if you have food or drinks to do that and then network over and that becomes your icebreaker that turns into conversation, it was so easy to converse with everybody there.
00:07:46:20 - 00:08:04:08
Rob Napoli
Yeah, because we could use like the whiskey and the food as, as a starting point because that is like universal, right? Like we talk about how we break bread with people. It's kind of that art of breaking bread and it opens up the door for so much organic conversation, which I think was a huge part of the experience.
00:08:04:21 - 00:08:27:23
Rob Napoli
And the thing I want to also bring up to everyone out there listening, I have never met, you know, and around talks about, you know, it's not ultra secure. It means something to him. I've never met a host of an event who purposely stays away from the first part of networking as to not attract attention to himself so that everyone in that room has to connect over the event.
00:08:28:10 - 00:08:43:05
Rob Napoli
To me, that that was kind of like a glass breaking, mind shattering moment. Because because we talk about after like you purposely kept yourself away, just so everyone in that crowd, you wouldn't want to talk to you as the host. They would talk to each other. And that was fucking amazing.
00:08:43:22 - 00:09:08:00
Ronnell Richards
You know, Rob, when you really focus on the outcomes of the people that you serve, it changes your mindset on everything in business. This is where, you know, business leaders and sales leaders kind of screw up because we think it's about us. We're the star if we're if. And so we lose focus on the outcomes that we want to create.
00:09:08:07 - 00:09:34:17
Ronnell Richards
Now, Rob, those little actions, you know, the way that we present food, that's which by the way, as a superintendent, the one thing that we don't do business and were like, you're not going to sit down and like, put your on the table and have your knife and fork and cut through. No, everything is built to be collaborative and connection and help people to connect right to your to your point and how you mention the food and the whiskey and how we intertwined that with the education and the speakers and all that.
00:09:34:17 - 00:09:54:01
Ronnell Richards
So that's collaborative. So we give people a reason to converse, we give them a reason to connect and talk. So yeah, again, when you're focused on the people that you serve and getting them the outcomes that they need, you do things like that. That's the reason why I don't come down, right? Because I want them to connect. I want them to win.
00:09:54:10 - 00:10:16:17
Ronnell Richards
And when they win, I win. And part of what we've been able to create because of this intention to serving the audience is a legion of advocates for our brand. And that's my goal. That's my focus that in the day I don't want customers. And this is a lesson to all the entrepreneurs out there. You don't want customers, you don't customers, you want advocates.
00:10:17:05 - 00:10:34:17
Ronnell Richards
Advocates are way more powerful than customers. And that market is going to sell for you and advocate. That's someone that you don't have to ask for a referral. They're sending people over to you. You know, I, I get emails and direct messages all the time from people that are like, Hey, listen, I'm such and such. Who's a partner?
00:10:34:17 - 00:10:58:22
Ronnell Richards
And business and bourbon said that I got to meet you, I got to work with you. And that happens very frequently. And that happens because we built advocates out of those people. You build advocates by not just by, you know, providing your product or service you provide. You create advocates by by creating outcomes and emotional outcomes, impactful outcomes that make a difference.
00:10:59:15 - 00:11:24:15
Rob Napoli
I absolutely fucking love that. And I mean, that's a great plexiglass and right. And I think we are so taught. It's so kind of bonded to us that we're always selling right like and you are, you're kind of always selling yourself every, every, you know, for the even if you don't work in sales every day, you walk outside, interact with society, You're kind of selling yourself by the way you dress, the way you move, the way you talk, the way you interact, the way you don't attract.
00:11:25:03 - 00:11:25:12
Ronnell Richards
Yeah.
00:11:26:09 - 00:11:45:17
Rob Napoli
Only turn that into a business and we start thinking about our business in terms of we're not selling ourselves, we're delighting our customers. We're trying to serve our ecosystems. And when we talk about service, that service based model creates advocates, and advocates create opportunity and opportunity for you to sell in a way that you're not pushing and being forceful.
00:11:45:17 - 00:12:18:24
Rob Napoli
But it's it's more natural and it's amazing. So, you know, that's something that I think takes a lot to learn. So let's kind of go back a step, because I know that you've had some other businesses, some that have done well and some that haven't. So let's talk about some of the challenges. What was your early business venture like and how did you come to this ideation or what was this some the lessons learned that you had to kind of flip that on your head to be like, Oh, it's not about me and kind of walk us through that.
00:12:19:04 - 00:12:32:15
Rob Napoli
I feel like business and bourbon, you don't create something like business and bourbon and that methodology without having learned some real hard lessons. So let's talk about that, if you don't mind sharing maybe a few challenges in your early days.
00:12:33:19 - 00:12:54:24
Ronnell Richards
Oh, man. So, you know, one of the things before we talk about I'd love to dispel this, I don't want to say myth, but just this is some bullshit that's out there. Rob, Here is the bullshit. It is like everyone talks about service like. So you guys are listening to me right now, and you're like, Oh, you've heard this shit before.
00:12:55:09 - 00:13:10:19
Ronnell Richards
But because of course, because everyone talks about solutions and service everybody I'm in the technology sells were 11 companies in that space. I do a lot of work with technology companies and SaaS companies. You can ask companies, everyone talks about that shit, but very few
00:13:11:10 - 00:13:34:11
Ronnell Richards
Really understand what that means. And part of the reason for that is everything in business and sales is usually about us, right? Like, you know, there's whether you're prospecting or you're building your business or whatever, it's really it's, it's, it's understanding yourself, it's motivating yourself, It's all of these things. So it's me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me.
00:13:35:08 - 00:14:05:01
Ronnell Richards
But the minute the second someone grants you an audience with them, the minute that someone honors you with their time, their most prized asset and now has to be about them, you got to flip the switch. And so, like, that's what that's what I'm teaching in the book. So in the book, again, we talk about things like solution selling and and service, but people don't really know how to do it.
00:14:05:11 - 00:14:23:13
Ronnell Richards
How do you flip that switch? How do you turn sales? So I wanted to educate people on how to do that, right? So that's I didn't want us to just gloss over that because I know you guys hear it so often. Everyone's talking about solution selling and service and and, you know, and doing things with the heart and all this.
00:14:23:20 - 00:14:42:03
Ronnell Richards
And, you know, it's all it's all this altruistic stuff. But like, we don't really everything's like sold theoretical. We really don't know what it means or how to actually, you know, put action to make that happen. And it's hard because we're fighting against a natural intention, a natural inclination to be me, me, me, me. You feel me?
00:14:42:17 - 00:15:07:18
Rob Napoli
Absolutely. And one of the things that I see all the time, right, at working not only in the sales training world, but especially with entrepreneurs, and that, you know, I get to work with so many businesses that are coming from outside into the US and these different cultures and things. And it's so funny to me how many people talk about service, the how few walk the talk about service.
00:15:07:18 - 00:15:08:02
Ronnell Richards
Yes.
00:15:08:11 - 00:15:28:07
Rob Napoli
And that's why I think it's such a buzzy, catchy thing. Absolutely. But you don't fucking see it enough, Right. And and tell me if you you know, this resonates with you. How many times that when you finally grant an audience with somebody, it's 30 minutes to them talking at you and not talking with you, right? It's like, why the fact that I just sit in that 30 minute call.
00:15:28:21 - 00:15:44:06
Ronnell Richards
So so, Rob, part of the reason is because they don't know how they don't know how to do you think about if you go to a corporate sales environment or you get hired in corporate or you go to a sales training or whatever you're taught how to do discovery and you're say, Hey, look, okay, got to ask these questions right?
00:15:44:06 - 00:16:06:19
Ronnell Richards
When I sit down with when Rob grants me an audience, I got to have my questions prepared. I'm going to ask Rob my questions. So here's what I turn this shit on. It's on its head. Your questions are all wrong. They're wrong because your questions are all centered on you. Like when I sit down with you, Rob, and I'm selling you laptops, I'm going to ask you questions about, you know, hey, well, Rob, how do you use laptops?
00:16:06:24 - 00:16:23:07
Ronnell Richards
Well, you know what? And you know, and do you like keyboards that do this? Let's think about this. The questions that I I'm asking you are all from from the standpoint of my product and service and what I do. Listen, you wouldn't be sitting and I wouldn't be sitting in front of you, Rob, if I didn't already have alignment.
00:16:23:07 - 00:16:40:21
Ronnell Richards
I know you could potentially need a laptop, right? That's why you granted me an audience. So the minute I get in front of you, I got to start asking you questions about what's going on in your world. I got to find out what matters the most to you. Because then once I understand what matters the most to you, when I turn around and I present my laptop to you is Rob.
00:16:41:00 - 00:16:58:03
Ronnell Richards
So here's the thing. I'm going to propose this whatever laptop to you because this is going to impact this that you care about now. Now you'll be able to do this that allows you to, you know, to manage your QuickBooks better or whatever. I don't know. Some some I'm not the computer guy, but you know, you guys get the point.
00:16:58:14 - 00:17:14:01
Ronnell Richards
So we have to it starts with changing the way that we do discovery and that we ask questions. We have to ask questions to really uncover what's going on in that person's world, what matters most to them, what are their ambitions? What are their aspirations? What are they? What's going to get them hired? What's going to get them fired?
00:17:14:04 - 00:17:27:18
Ronnell Richards
And that's it's not that hard to do. I this is stuff that I teach you. It's not that hard to do because people love to talk about themselves. If you are, you know, you're hitting on those right triggers and you're genuinely curious or aggressively curious.
00:17:28:04 - 00:17:51:21
Rob Napoli
And this is something that I love, you know, and we talk about this and so awesome link. And here I was on your podcast for the book Shut the Hell Up and Sale, and we're talking about retail days and retail experience. Yeah, yeah. How we both and I started retail and one of the things that I know made me successful in selling shoes when my first job was selling shoes, I worked my first job as a customer service working at Pizza Restaurant, and then I got to design shoes, do this to come in all the time.
00:17:51:21 - 00:18:04:06
Rob Napoli
And it was easy to like, Oh, this shoes is great because of this. And so all of that. But my first question was, So why are you looking for a new pair of shoes? Is this is this to go with a fit as this are you look at as I sell a lot of running shoes. Like what kind of running do you do?
00:18:04:18 - 00:18:20:18
Rob Napoli
You know, are you more of a sprinter? Are you doing long distance? Are you just hitting the treadmill using pavement like. Oh, that's an interesting question. Well, the reason I ask is some shoes are better for hitting pavement and some are better with treadmill. And then I would talk about their gait and they're like, Wait, how do you know about this?
00:18:20:19 - 00:18:37:18
Rob Napoli
It's like, Well, I'm actually going to school for exercise science. So but also just like the natural, you know, when you start talk about that, it made it so easy. And I became a top seller because I never try to sell the shoe, ask them what they were using it for and what their goals were. And I would start talking about it was like, Well, hey, I know that.
00:18:37:19 - 00:18:52:14
Rob Napoli
There you go. You may be a Nike fan and I can show you what Nike shoes are best. But based on what you're telling me, my recommendation is actually the new balance. It's not as cool looking. It's not Nike, but you'll get more trash out of them and your feet will. Thank you. Would you be interested in trying them on?
00:18:53:21 - 00:18:55:05
Rob Napoli
And that was that was it. You know.
00:18:55:17 - 00:19:14:04
Ronnell Richards
Now, Rob, what happens when you when you deliver, when you what ultimately happens when you go through the process that you went through as you're going to deliver better outcomes for them? Right. So they're going to be when they go home, they start running through like, oh shit, hold on. God damn. Yeah, this, this feels good. And they're going to come back and buy more shoes from you.
00:19:15:01 - 00:19:18:22
Ronnell Richards
That was beautiful. People know this is simple stuff. People don't get.
00:19:18:22 - 00:19:42:02
Rob Napoli
And that's and that's why I say, you know, it's a lesson learned. I was sitting in you know, there's a book called Gap selling by Keenan and I saw that flipped this scripture with that collar and Larry Long Junior at GMA and Backa. And he was talking about how he has all the best sellers when they do that kind of thing.
00:19:42:06 - 00:20:04:08
Rob Napoli
They never say that, which is my recommendation. My recommendation is this right? You're giving them a recommendation that a product that I was thinking back, I was like, should I could do that? My whole life I've always talked about my recommendation to be best is because I got that lesson in retail. And so now what started to kick started this whole conversation was like, so is those hard lessons learned?
00:20:04:08 - 00:20:17:09
Rob Napoli
You know, there's a great story about the gold watch in your book. I'm not going to have you tell it cause I want people to go get your book. But it's all my favorite stories. And it taught you a lot of tough lessons. And that's that's why I kind of asked that question is like.
00:20:18:01 - 00:20:36:24
Rob Napoli
Getting here is all about these lessons learned. And I've had a chance to read the book and we'll talk about it a little bit. But tell me about someone's lessons. What was that like? When do you remember when? And it maybe not pinpoint, but you kind of remember when your mindset set your mindset started shifting as you were growing up in your sales world?
00:20:36:24 - 00:20:52:11
Rob Napoli
We've been doing this a long time. Absolutely. And and I know that it was different early days to later day. So when when did your mindset shift start happening? I know that you're you know, you come from a very entrepreneurial family. So you've been doing this since the day you could walk. But talk about that mindset and when you started figuring this shit out.
00:20:52:24 - 00:21:24:21
Ronnell Richards
I absolutely totally remember when, when it started to happen. And, you know, nothing is like, you know, an immediate, like light switch, right? It's something that happens over time. And this is why I always tell people like and consider the source. When you're looking for advice, you look for direction. You're following people on social media like check them out, make sure that they've they've lived the lives they're that they're you know, that that lived lives and have experience that lends to credibility to be able to tell you what to do.
00:21:25:07 - 00:21:50:22
Ronnell Richards
Okay. So for me and I think this is actually something I share in the book, it's all good. Some of share in the book, it started a term for me when I was before I was in full on entrepreneurship and I was working in corporate sales. And I had I come from a sales background. I'm super proud to be to be a seller.
00:21:50:23 - 00:22:10:02
Ronnell Richards
Always have been like I was fortunate to start my sales career in an environment that wasn't like, you know, oh gosh, I just kind of fell into this or, you know, I want to get into marketing, but I got to do sales and know like we were proud to be sales resellers and like that's we were what everybody else wanted to be.
00:22:10:02 - 00:22:28:22
Ronnell Richards
And this is this is a bad like it's a bad example. But think about the movie like Goodfellas, right? Think about Goodfellas. And the young guys are watching the gangsters and they're like, Yeah, we want to be like those guys. That's what it was like for us. Like for real. Like we were the guys that people wanted to be and they learned.
00:22:28:22 - 00:22:53:14
Ronnell Richards
So I took a lot of pride in that. Anyway, that part of the flip side of that is a really developed this warrior mentality over over the early years where it was like I took pride in like just dominating and kicking ass, going out there and killing the numbers and, and, you know, selling and moving on to the next one and conquer quest and killing.
00:22:53:14 - 00:23:18:09
Ronnell Richards
And we use all those sorts of analogies or words back then. And and so I was working at one company in the technology world. You know, you start at that certain levels and then you move up, you moving to the bigger company and the bigger environment, the bigger book of business, the, the, the, you know, the larger segment, you know, you went from SMB to Enterprise and so on and so on to global.
00:23:18:18 - 00:23:36:07
Ronnell Richards
And so as I was making those moves up, I had gone from I jumped from a couple of companies get moving up and I got to the top company. At least with that, they were at the top. I learned that at the end of the day, like they were the shittiest salespeople because they were the laziest salespeople because they were at the top story for another day.
00:23:36:15 - 00:23:56:00
Ronnell Richards
So I got to the top list, who I thought was the top at the time, and I'm like, Okay, cool. I'm in the house. Like, I'm taking all these clients I was working with that these other companies that don't come right along with me. And so I started reaching out to these customers that I had been that I had sold, you know, my other companies.
00:23:56:00 - 00:24:19:07
Ronnell Richards
And, you know, they'd grant me a meeting or, you know, we'd hop on the phone, we shoot the shit for a minute. But I they weren't leaving. I couldn't get these people to come and I didn't get it. I'm like, Yo, I'm your dude. Like, I'm the guy. Like, why? Why aren't you coming with me? And what I learned through that was they weren't coming with me because of that mentality that I had.
00:24:19:07 - 00:24:41:05
Ronnell Richards
I wasn't really I wasn't the one really providing them value. They weren't coming to me because they weren't my customer. They were the customer of the company that I was that I was at. And I was just the dude that sold them something, right? And so I learned through that that I really needed to create advocates for me and, and to do that, you got to earn them.
00:24:41:10 - 00:25:07:01
Ronnell Richards
Like you can't get it just by selling somebody and you sell somebody and someone else is delivering on it. Like you don't even have the opportunity to be an advocate to create a an advocate out of them. So, you know, I had already started my company on the side at that point and that just kind of like helped to build a strong philosophy in me that, hey, I got to make sure that I'm building strong customer loyalty.
00:25:07:01 - 00:25:30:08
Ronnell Richards
I'm getting I'm building customer advocate. So through that experience and the little bit of pain that that came with that, that kind of again helped me to form that philosophy so that when I started my companies like, okay, we're going to do more, we're going to build high affinity. And that's what you see like to this day, like with business and bourbon has extremely high affinity.
00:25:30:14 - 00:25:50:06
Ronnell Richards
People love the brand, they love the brand because of how we make them feel, how we make them feel is very intentional because of everything that I've done and that built to get to this point. So I understand what successful outcomes are. I understand how to truly serve the audience and owning your own while serving the audience. You're serving yourself too.
00:25:50:12 - 00:26:05:19
Ronnell Richards
Right? But that's how you that's how we win is by making sure that they win. So that was not necessarily a story of failure, but it was, as it would tells you, you know, how I learned to or rather develop this philosophy.
00:26:06:06 - 00:26:32:04
Rob Napoli
And I love that because I think through that different that journey. Right. And it's important for those out there listening or watching this, that that wasn't a linear journey. That was over time. Right? That was a chunk of time that it took an outlet to grow. And, you know, I think about it's funny because I going back to my first kind of real sales world role as a recruiter, I still go back to Des Moines.
00:26:32:04 - 00:26:47:07
Rob Napoli
There's still people that remember me fondly. It's like, you know, people use my name and I have a buddy who used to who came to work for the company that I left when I moved to Italy then and closing down. And he went to another firm, but he would call and he'd be like, Oh yeah, I used to work with Rob.
00:26:47:07 - 00:27:15:23
Rob Napoli
Like, Rob, I was at my wedding, blah blah. They always grab a meeting and I and I remember thinking like, Oh, that's really awesome. But was actually surprised at some of that loyalty that people had towards me because that was a time in my life that I know that I was a taker more than a giver. And I sometimes look back at my career and I don't regret anything, but I cringe at like how immature I was, how selfish I was at different points in my career.
00:27:16:06 - 00:27:37:15
Rob Napoli
And it kind of makes me like I've changed so much and I've seen that growth and I think it's really important for us out there, you know, as we're growing and kind of you, what you did is to look in the mirror and understand that growth happens. And I think it's funny because we look at today's kids today, the younger generation, because they're in such a digital age, they grow up faster and it's like shit when I was that age.
00:27:37:21 - 00:27:55:16
Rob Napoli
So when I was thinking about that wasn't the challenges I was solving. And you just have to understand, and this is where that philosophy is like if you're always doing things for other and not doing things for others. What I mean by this is that you have to be I didn't have to be selfish to be selfless. Right.
00:27:56:01 - 00:28:19:08
Rob Napoli
How can you help other cups? if you're a cup isn't runneth over, right? Like your cup needs to runneth over to fill others. And if you're filling up others to make you feel full, then there's something missing. Right? And so when I think about and this is why I love getting this this this conversation with you is when we think about what you just shared in that story is when you start making about them and you really think about this.
00:28:19:24 - 00:28:46:11
Rob Napoli
You're fulfilling your own cup by being a human, by providing value by it, coming back around in the form of sales. And this takes time. And it's so we and this is why you brought up a point and I didn't want to interject into it, but you talk about the people we follow online and the biggest fucking myth out there, that and this is why I started this podcast.
00:28:47:10 - 00:29:05:20
Rob Napoli
I talk about all the time. Is that so much? It's so much of a microwave economy like we want it, so many overnight successes. And it's like what you don't see is that that mentality switch of like I used to do this, I went to the top and I try to bring people over and I learned that I couldn't because it wasn't about me.
00:29:06:00 - 00:29:35:19
Rob Napoli
I was just the guy that provided the service. It wasn't the guy who I provided. I was just the guy that sold the service. When you make that switch to being you as the person, the one providing the value versus you're just the person that sold the service, everything changes and that fucking takes time. And so I wanted to bring this back because that, that to me is one of the biggest issues I have with and that's why I talk about the time we need more engagers and less creators.
00:29:36:00 - 00:29:55:22
Rob Napoli
Everyone wants to be a content creator right now. We don't need you to fucking create more content, engage with content first, show that you're valuable, show that you're part of the journey, show that you care, and then create content and find your voice. Like it just befuddles me so much how people want to run before they can walk.
00:29:55:23 - 00:30:17:01
Rob Napoli
And you sharing a story is what I wanted to happen. I was like, I want to make that point. Like it took time to do that. And that's why I think your career has expanded so long as so much has changed in happen and in your book about because all these lessons learned, it's because sometimes you had to learn the hard way, too, to understand what that means.
00:30:17:04 - 00:30:18:08
Rob Napoli
Sorry, I got my So.
00:30:18:11 - 00:30:41:21
Ronnell Richards
You got to commit and you got to commit and you got to have discipline and consistency. By the time this is released, probably this will probably be public knowledge. I'm not supposed to say anything for like until the end of for another like four weeks or so. But I am being honored as one of the top influencers in the technology indirect channel world.
00:30:42:03 - 00:31:04:14
Ronnell Richards
Here's why this is a big deal. So business and Bourbon, we're entering, you know, like five years, right? And this and it's a long story about how it began, but it actually began like six years ago. But bottom line is, it's been five years. And so I am I am on a list with titans of that industry, Right.
00:31:04:20 - 00:31:44:09
Ronnell Richards
People that are executives in billion dollar companies. And here I am running this little ass company in Atlanta, Georgia, that for all intents and purposes, started out my basement. Right. And the way that I got there was through these lessons learned over, you know, the 15 years prior to that. And this intentional focus on what we've been talking about, the whole theme of this, of impacting building advocates and really being intentional with how we serve our audience, how I serve my my audience and my customers, my my prospects, my clients, everybody, right?
00:31:44:09 - 00:32:06:24
Ronnell Richards
Like whether it's through the content that is created. Like, I guess I'm not just talking about when you come to an event, I'm talking about everything. Rob just has made mention of my content. I'm super intentional about content. I don't like superficial bullshit. I don't like it if you guys are out there doing it and getting all your likes and everything, attaboys, pound away, more power to you.
00:32:06:24 - 00:32:26:16
Ronnell Richards
I'm not hating on you. It's not for me. Everything that I do, I try to do it with an eye on impact and it makes impact. So how do you do that or what? I I'll just say what I do. So, like, every time I'm posting something, I don't care if it's a picture or it's a video. There's always lessons.
00:32:26:16 - 00:32:51:09
Ronnell Richards
I'm checking one of those three boxes education, inspiration, motivation. I'm intentional about that. And here's what happens with that. Sometimes you're not going to get the attention that you think that you deserve or you should just not going to it. This doesn't happen, but you'll get the attention that you need. Here's what I mean by that. I posted something like, I don't know, this is this is one example that's happened a bunch of times, but this is a really recent example.
00:32:51:15 - 00:33:27:01
Ronnell Richards
I posted something a couple of weeks ago, and it was one of my honest, authentic in the moment entrepreneur shares. And it did okay. You know, a few people, people looked at it, you know, like, you know, comment it from from a analytics perspective, it did all right. It's not my best, not my worse, but I got a direct message from a leader in a very big company in the space, a very big company, one of the biggest who I'd never spoken to, never spoken to, to listen.
00:33:27:12 - 00:33:58:19
Ronnell Richards
Hey, I check for you. I see you, I identify, I relate. Here's my number, here's my personal number and my email. We need to we need to chop it up. Right. So again, being intentional about these sorts of things, like whether it's the event, whether it's the content, like you build this, these relationships in these communities, these networks that you can really have tremendous success for because you've got great alignment, you got great alignment, you produce terrific outcomes.
00:33:58:19 - 00:34:11:04
Ronnell Richards
That's how you make a list like I'm what will be announced with, you know, people that have multi-million dollar marketing budgets. I don't have a multimillion marketing dollars marketing, but.
00:34:11:19 - 00:34:12:04
Rob Napoli
Oh
00:34:12:23 - 00:34:20:01
Ronnell Richards
Know how much is in my pocket right now. Rob What's the I got? I got $36 and 20 cents
00:34:20:01 - 00:34:22:02
Rob Napoli
I thought you at say you had a billion there. Come on.
00:34:22:15 - 00:34:32:03
Ronnell Richards
You know, so the reality is I got no cash in my pocket, like who carries cash outside of my dad. My dad carries cash. I don't carry cash
00:34:32:07 - 00:34:49:05
Rob Napoli
I like to carry a little bit of cash, to be honest. Yeah, kind of. That was cool. And also, I it because, like, when I go out in New York City, like bars and stuff, I always pay with a card. But what I'll do is I always kind of give like that first tip like $5 and then I'll get great service the rest the night.
00:34:49:05 - 00:35:04:11
Rob Napoli
Like just give me like $5 that first drink in cash and they kind of know you're serious and like, they treat you well versus everyone else. And there's so many people, you know, that come to a bar in New York. It's like if you just do that, like little mental thing, like I get the best service and like, people never forget me after that.
00:35:04:11 - 00:35:14:08
Rob Napoli
So I always like to carry a little bit of cash for that reason. And I just like bodegas and stuff. Sometimes I want to charge $2 to cards. I need a little bit of spending cash, but I think that's.
00:35:14:08 - 00:35:38:07
Ronnell Richards
The New York thing. I get it, man. Like before. And I honestly, I should probably carry cash because, like, I feel like in this digital digital currency world or digital transactions or I just I probably tip way too much like I'm just oh, I feel like if I had cash, I'd be actually tipping less. I'd do better because it just there's nothing in your hand.
00:35:38:07 - 00:35:44:19
Ronnell Richards
It's just like, okay, where's your Venmo code? Okay, I've got your Venmo to catch up anyway, so if I don't know.