Business Legends Share Their Most Powerful Success Secrets

I'm nervous but also excited. Really? You nervous right now? You know what's amazing, by the way? Nerves. People always talk about it like, "Oh, I'm nervous. I'm nervous." It's one of the healthiest things in the world. I want your job. You're having so much fun. You have to have a personality. B, you have to always be on your game. You need to know your business. People respect your intellectual property. If you have information to give them, they'll listen. That's what we talk about here is we want to grow personally and we want to grow professionally. And the most important recipe, the number one ingredient is [Music] none of your business, Oshi. None of your business, Michael. It's the None of Your Business podcast hosted by Michael and Oshi from Label Schwarz. Welcome to the None of Your Business Podcast. It's an honor to have you here. This is such a treat. It's very strange to be on the other side. I'm nervous, but also excited. Really? You nervous right now? Yeah. No, I mean, I make the joke all the time. no matter what I do. But in all truth, yeah, because generally I'm the one playing in I say we win because we play we make the game. I make the game according to our skill sets. Now I'm playing in your game. Like I said, it's like uh it's like a new thing. Okay. You know what's amazing by the way? Nerves. People always talk about it like, "Oh, I'm nervous. I'm nervous." It's one of the healthiest things in the world. It means you're alive. No, no, not only that. I was once giving a class at Adorama and it was my first class. I used to teach at B&H and then transition to Adorama and I was my first class and I I I like I don't know half hour beforehand to get in my own worlds. I kind of get myself nervous because that's how you perform. And I the guy asked me, "What do you need?" I said, "You need a room. I need to sit down and get nervous." He was like, "No, no, you'll be fine." I said, "I know I'll be fine." I said, "But I got to get nervous." He's like, "No, don't be don't be nervous. You'll be fine." I said, "No, no, you get it. I know I'll be fine. I need to get nervous because now the edge you're that's when you're playing your best." Yes. And he didn't get it until much later. He says, "Oh, I get it." Right. You need to go and get nervous. Yeah. You know, it gets me nervous to get nervous sometimes. I'm not going to lie to you because I'm thinking that I might be a little bit too much. Like I might be too emotional or too overwhelming for others, you know? You ever get that sometimes? Like all the time. And it's a funny thing because I always say, and again, we I guess we'll just dive right into it. People when they see you online, they only see a little part of who you are and what you're doing. So I always say that, you know, when someone sees anyone online, you don't see the genuine person. You see who they are when they what they're showing you. Exactly. But the crazy part is this thing when you really meet someone, they're not jumping in. I'm not going ah all the time. That's just what I have to do at work. But you're a thousand. How are people going to receive who you are? Is a very interesting concept. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I want to tell you, I'm so pumped for you guys because we had this original conversation and everyone says, "I'm going to start a podcast. I get calls all the time. How do I start it? What do I do?" And when you called me, I said, "Okay, to see it active, rocking full speed every conference, it's like it's inspiring. We're having fun." Thank you. Right. That's the key. We're doing this because we're passionate about it. It's much easier to follow through on things that you also look at it as like a sport. Like, you know, you're you're having fun while you do it. The key to life is just find things that make you happy. And right now, this is making us happy. Yeah, it hurts sometimes. I'm smiling like I'm just watching and I'm What are we going to get out of this? People ask us all the time like where are we going with I don't know like why do I have to know where it's going to go? All I know is right now in the moment I'm enjoying it. Meeting people like you, getting to hear your story. Yeah, we love we love interviewing thought leaders, industry leaders, just unique people, people who with different experiences. And what we're finding more and more is everyone has a story to tell. Everybody and when you you when you create a comfortable environment that can be vulnerable, that could be like let's get into it. Let's get it just the good the goodness comes out of it and we're growing. So it's really really amazing. Thank God. So what people don't know is that Ushi before we started our podcast, I did like I do everything else. I've mentioned this a few times. I always seek advice from three people. I always go to three people that are experts in whatever challenge I'm going through. You call it Bezen is what you call? Yes, I call it bezden. Exactly. So, uh I made a bezdon for podcasting because I said I want to go into podcasting. I think it's the number one way to be top of mind in marketing and anything you do. What exactly we're going to do, how it's going to do it, we're still learning and we're as long as we're enjoying it. And I went to my friend label here and he said, "Come to my house." And you don't know this. I went to his backyard, met his family, had some yogurt. Yogurt? We literally had some yogurt because he was promoting a yogurt company. He's got a lot of free stuff just sitting everywhere, you know, like it's a fascinating world. So, uh, and he lives in an amazing amazing little town in Hilurn, New York. Committed his whole life to it. And I I want to talk about that in a minute. And I asked him his advice and his thought. And we went on for an hour and we're smooing and and and I'm forever grateful for your time that you gave me. I was talking about this uh earlier. You know, leadership is about building people up and uh you are a true leader, a true friend, and um I appreciate it. I really really do. So, I I just want to learn more about you also because I saw your house. I know you lived in Hillburn. You live in Hillburn. Where did you come from? How did you get to this? I know you had a brief thing with LinkedIn. I mean, you were learning with my son a few years ago, right? And suddenly like you're all over. So tell me about your journey and thank you for your compliment on ours. No, it's a this was a real investment. An hour to turn into this again. We had just you know the hour you do a lot of hours that don't turn into anything. To put an hour in turn into this, it's like uh Thank you. It's a real investment. So right so you knew us. We were in K for when we first got married. So my wife's a was an interior designer from Parson's school of design like the best design school ex never existed and I was learning. So I started doing photography and as a way I would do gigs at night and be able to learn all day and when we got married so I said she's wanted to do interior design naturally. I said it's kind of it's not going to make sense. You guys you're going to go out and buy people $40,000 couches and come back to our $40 Craigslist couch. Like it's not going to feel right. What? I don't That's not the right move. It's a valid concern. A thousand%. What are you going to do? How your whole life you're busy making other people have nice things and look good and like then you come home. You're going to get resentment at one point. Even if it's not intentional, there's a there's a there's a there's a schism that's You're a human being. I love that you're admitting it like you know. Yeah. 100. I'm loving it. So I said, so she said, "What are we going to do?" I said, "I don't know. Let's start a business." So she said, "What do you want to do?" I said, "I don't know. I know photography." Where'd you know photography from? So I went in university I was doing archaeology in Eritra and that means you have to dig from like 5:00 in the morning to like 5:00 p.m. in this like raging heat. So as opposed to getting credits for digging, I told the photography professor, let me just do classes by you get the same amount of credits. You work for like an hour taking pictures of the artifacts at the end of the day after everyone's right and same amount of credits. So we rocked all day got to learn and then at the end of the day after this podcast be thousands of photographers instead of instead of RP Yeah. We're missing archaeologist if anybody needs to be an nice. So this is what happened and so I learned it and it was a brilliant move because at that time you know education is very hard in photography because it's naturally not a very heish environment. So she would do all the learning during the day and I would come home and she would teach it to me and we built a beautiful wedding company a a really boutique wedding kind of experience and that's what we did for many years. I was learning kit for eight and a half years. So you're straight up a photographer for weddings, bar mitzvah, many events. Yeah. Like like Envogue Photography. That's like a pretty famous one. And and space for solo. No. Okay. But I'm saying it's a regular photography company. But we were again the idea was we were really involved couple boutique. It was a really beautiful experience. I actually asked one of your credit interesting thing. I asked Rob Luck. I said, "We have the opportunity to be, I believe, the best in the space and bring something new, you know, like bring something really wild to the to the to the to the industry. Can I justify charging the things that I'm going to charge or should I just stay low low-key? I'm not physically a very like, you know, that type of place. I don't know connect to it, but should I go there or since, you know, maybe I shouldn't?" He said, I don't understand the question. The question is like this. We had the I could either do a bunch of smaller events or we could become the best in the world of what we're doing. But that costs a lot of money. You're asking business advice. No, I'm asking a hushka question. Why is both? It's both. Because because the question was if I maybe don't if maybe this is not my lifestyle to be in a lavish unbelievable environment. Is that something I should provide if it's not something that maybe I would want for myself? Interesting. Okay. So he said something fascinating. He said, "Does it exist in the world already?" So I said, "Yes." He says, "If it exists in the world, if you were bringing something new to the market, there was a new luxury that no one ever knew about." You're starting that, then maybe you'll have a question, but if it already exists, then there's no reason you shouldn't do it, especially if you could do it better than anyone. And that's what we did. So, you became a boutique, a boutique wedding photography where you did it. So, what was your niche? What what would you couple focused, very couplecentent, just the same as we do now? And I found that our whole everything that we've done has really just been about finding who it is and telling their story. So now we're doing in companies, but then we were doing it with couples and kind of connecting with them and doing images that were, you know, wild the world never seen before. And we did that for about eight and a half years. What does that mean, by the way? Like when you see what was going on everything, you know, when you look at wedding images, right? So it's kind of like a, you know, we're going through about to make our first bitzvah. Yeah. It's like a it's a system. You go through the bar mitzvah, you go check off the box photographer. Yeah. No. This was you have to remember we were connecting with couples and beforehand we would be doing engagement sessions. We'd get to know who they are, what they're interested in, right? Then we would at the wedding we'd had, you know, my wife would bake scones and give it to them the morning of because no one ever has food the next day, right? So she'd bake scones and give it to the kala as we started the day. So they'd have food the next day. When they came in, we would we'd have showed them images with champagne and fresh baked goods. It was a whole different It was the thing that allowed you created a story. Yeah. You didn't just take pictures of the moment. You really set it up. Hit the nail on the head. No, but also you have to remember these couples never knew each other much, right? So what did they have to relate to? They didn't That's so true. By the way, very shy still. You forget about that. You're right. That's hardly know each other. Well, one thing we were giving them to relate to was these images of an experience of themselves which made them feel good and that was the beginning of their relationship and that was the whole idea. You helped them fall in love. Okay. Right. And um and then one day she said, "I want to be with the kids. It's um you know we've done this for eight and a half years. I said that's cool. Were you making a h a comfortable living doing this? You have to remember I was incredible meaning we were making for the first five years I was making like 38 42 57 and we were happy you know what I mean and we built the business until it was a real business until we were making at that I don't know at the time maybe at the height at in the wedding space probably 350 4. Wow. Very respectable. No, no, for for that space. But that's, you know, like that's gross when what? But it was a really it was for us. It was a fun situation. Yeah. And then she said she didn't want she wanted to be with the kids. I said that's cool. And it wasn't fun doing weddings with her. So I went into the headshot space and then that's kind of how we got to corporate kind of played until we're until we are where we are today. It's amazing that you took that energy though and that storytelling ability and and and just you blew it up. Yeah. Instead of getting that lame standard head shot that people get for work like you did in a very creative way to make it, you know, much more color and put a lot more flavor to it, you really elevated that game. But what exactly is it that you do right now? Just walk me through that. So really, it's interesting. So we went to the headshot space and it's the exact same thing. What is it that the couple did? They saw themselves in the most true way and that was what gave them energy to rent the same thing in what we went to headsh shot, right? Why is the headshots headshots the same thing? It's a lighting and it's a it's a recipe. Yeah. But a person sees naturally who they are in the most beautiful way. It gives them the ability to see on a professional level to connect on a human level so they can make connections. But even personally, they see an image they've never seen anything like that of themselves before. Gives them confidence. Same thing in the companies. We're now rocking with the best companies in the world. We're solving problems through video every day, all day, every industry. But even though everything we're doing is wild and has an objective, the coolest thing is when you show it to the owner, let's show it to your CEO, it will happen. It will help sales. It'll help recruitment. Whatever it is, the object objective is when they stop and they see the video for the first time. They see what they've built. They're used to hearing the problems. They're the putting out the fires. Finally, they get to see for 90 seconds, two minutes, everything they've built in the most powerful and true way. And it's it's it's that part to me is it's a movie of their of their career. They're proud of it. It's like this is their legacy like they know already. Yeah. And again it will they'll use it for sales whatever they're doing or for culture by the way for culture. Recruitment is such a powerful the income stuff is huge. So give me the list of services that you're doing now like what is your things that you're doing your dayto-day. So you're making video productions for facilities for nursing homes. So that just started. Yes. So you just started doing that. Just started that. Basically, we're hanging out with every industry, the multif family space, we're dealing with the startup space. We've been dealing with all of the vendors to nursing homes, right? So, therefore, we haven't dealt with healthcare itself, but all the vendors that need to connect. Remember, if we do a piece, even though it's a it's a real investment, I mean, our products start at $25,000. I won't let a client come on unless they prove to me they can make 250 over the next two years. you prove to me you can make 250 over two years with this product itself, we'll start conversation and that's how the whole thing plays. You have a guy here who's going to a nurs vendor that is going to create a piece to show exactly who what they do if they get one family of companies whole thing's you know I mean and that's where we like to play solving serious problems through video in a with a real investment with an ROI in mind. Okay. So the videos that's one of the things that you're doing. Yeah. Uh you mentioned recruitment. Uh so recruitment on the video side meaning say you have one side thing you need to do is you need to generate sales to connect to that person who you are going to service perfectly your target audience. But this the same exact power comes on the other side where you need to recruit those people that really are the right people. You know exactly what this is like. You could tell when you meet with someone in an instant. Are they yeah or not? Right. Get that feeling. Yep. So I just as much as I want the right person to say yeah, I want the wrong person to say not. And that's where that's why these things are so powerful because they're so humanly them that you can immediately feel this is the right person or even more importantly this is not the right person. Yeah. And it saves a lot of time. How many people are on your team? How many people work together with you on the We have seven people on the team on the label team. So the label team it's myself and then we have our chief editor init from con and then we have our internal team. you stepped it up a lot. I have to just interject here a second because it used to be just hire me to do a video and he he said it really fast. $25,000 is a package that it starts with to tell a story with a video. That's a top level production system that you're doing for and that's very high-end. It's very expensive. Very very high-end. Yeah. What's the secret to getting to that point? Right. Like you know people like to scale their company and like what is that secret that you do that you say, you know what, I'm going to do this. I'm going to double down in it. What is that? So, what I found is that for me as a headshot photographer, I'm hanging out with people way past my pay grade, right? I shouldn't be I shouldn't be sitting with you guys. I shouldn't be sitting with any of my clients here. ECAP is a client of ours and we've been with them for the last two or three years. ECAP base, you know, Ecor, ECAP West, everything. No, no, I shouldn't be able I'm a vendor like anyone else. I Right. Why am I being the one ability we can do so we have the ability to pull out who someone is and be able to show it in a digestible way and that thing you could be the most successful person if you were in the room of course I would fall in love with you but you're not there all the time right so how could I replicate you in a way that's actionable and is true bring out the emotion and it's just a real thing you're perfectly you you are perfect we want to show your appealing side we want to show the side that people could resonate with and almost humanize you. This big successful person that we want you he's just like us. He's, you know, she's just like us. Like that's what you want people to see. I mean, you're a staple, by the way, at trade shows and going to do head shots. That's something that looks like you'll never ever finish doing why we do it. Please, there's no reason we should still do head shots. Yeah. One reason is because it's necessary and no one has really It's a We've done it for so long. It's just it's a fundamental. Yeah. But the other reason is it's our way to connect with our guys and girls and then start dreaming. Meaning why would I ever have the opportunity to see sit with ex CEO or exowner, right? There's no reason. But they need a headsh shot. Right? All of a sudden we connect. They say, "Hey, what do you do?" I'm like, "What do you mean what I do? I just did it." He said, "No, no, no. What do you really do?" I said, "Okay, let's talk." And that's where the conversation. It's a gateway. It literally is my gateway drug. Yeah. Yeah. And every business needs that. You need to have that one thing that lures somebody in. Yeah. Well, that's to start the larger convers. That's the trade secret. But the funny thing is that nobody can replicate it because it's your emotion and it's your value that you bring to everybody has that. Yeah. In their way. You know, I'm talking about someone else doing the photograph. No, I know. But I'm saying but the I've said this often that the only reason why what we do works is because I built the game around our skill sets. Yeah. Right. So this whole thing of going and connecting with a hundred people in a flash giving something that blows their mind and then resonates forever. Right. Because that Right. Sure. That's what I do well and that's why we had to double down on that thing. Yeah. But what I've realized by watching everyone else's companies is that they've got that thing and the more they connect to that thing that they no one in the world can do other than them, the more successful they become. Even though it could be like you know. Yeah. What are some of the larger projects you've recently done that you're very proud of? So we just rocked with the Krishna group on a um you know saw that whole you know city by the sea um pure village. Yeah. Right. So we just nice but I don't think you know where that is. No I don't. So it's a I was nodding my head like to pretend like I do. It's just a beautiful Yeah. Where is it? It's in Deal. You know it's um it's not well known by the way. It's not uh right. So this is one of the things we were dealing with. Okay. So it's in deal and they have basically the Christian group has 500 homes in the deal area which is traditionally known as a summer place right who is this what's the name of this group Kushner Kushner and there 500 homes they're 500 meaning 500 units there 500 apartments like apartments okay when you say homes in this people live there we think you're talking about I'm like wait a second who is this person how do we get them on the podcast yeah yeah okay 500 apartments okay here in the middle But the challenge is they have to create it to be not only a summer environment but really be an all year environment. So therefore we need to create pieces to to attract retail tenants to be able to base there so that everyone will feel comfortable to be able to fill up those 500 units. So all the things that are there the hotel and the restaurants and everything is there to service those 500 homes. Now how do you get to those people? So therefore we created pieces one to correct with connect with the retail spaces, one to connect to new people to live in the homes, one to advertise all the stores that are there and one just to create hype around everything that's going on to bring people in to bring awareness. So that is something what I mean by solving a problem through video. Yeah. Yeah. And that's a great way to connect to people if you can show them in just a few minutes getting a glimpse into what life could be like. And to be able to capture that in such a short period of time demands a lot of creativity. And and I'm I'm guessing you guys come up with that. It's not creative. That's the wild part. It's not I say it all the time. I'm not creative. The only reason why it works is because their process is perfect. And I just know how to show it. If you have something perfect, I can show it. If it's Okay, but you're underelling it a little bit. You have to understand what to to film. You know the objective. You need to tell me the objective and you have to have something that really works and we can show it perfectly. He knows how to showcase story better thanity anywhere. I'm not going to complicate people. That's your talent. A storyboard anything. So, how long did you film? How long did it take you? Takes a day. One day. Takes a day. How did you film all that in one day? Takes a day. That's what we do. We do every day we walk into a new company in a different industry. We pull out exactly who they are and put it in a digestible way. Wow, that sounds very quick. I didn't realize that it happened so fast. like you know movies and TV shows the productions to do one episode to take them you know months to do that sometimes and you're doing this in just a day that's that's and you're in a lot of different industries just saying right every industry so we never touch healthcare ever ever you were not in healthcare till now no yet you've been at all the healthcare shows for the last many years the healthcare vendors so you were doing companies like prime source and companies like like that we'll talk about that why not why haven't you been doing nursing homes um I make a joke everyone always asks come on label just do one I say No, no, no. Why not? Why not? I said, "No, no, no. Tell me why not." So, we make a joke always. I say, "We like to work with companies that actually make money." So, we laugh together and I said, "Net 180 doesn't work." Well, if you would do your thing, maybe you can help them market their facilities better. They can throw more more heads in there and they can make more money. No. So, this is what happened. So I said finally HH design is someone who we did a lot of work with their HH side and HH did two buildings and for a certain group in Florida and they loved it in the whole design build. Is it Mosart? Is that the name? You know about this? Uh sure. I've been introduced to their company a couple of months ago. I actually saw some of their videos that they've done recently and I'm very impressed. It's wild what's going on. It's wild. I'm very impressed. So therefore what happened was he said I need you to do a nursing home. I said, "Most, you know, I don't do nursing homes." He said, "One?" I said, "No." He said, "Just do one." I said, "Okay, I'll do one." So, I went down to Florida and the reason, one of the reasons I don't do it is my mother was a nurse. I believe in this industry more than you can imagine. I grew up on the floors of a nursing home. It's not a spreadsheet business to me. It's real. It's human. Yeah. These people are angels. And I went down and did one and we fell in love. And it was a company that I believed in them. They believed in their people. Everything was paid on time and we created something. We We did one. They said, "Let's do a few more." We did four. Then they gave us 10. And then they opened up and said, "We're doing the entire family of facilities." Wow. That's what we've been doing all year. I've spent my life in Florida the last year doing things that the world has never seen before. I I want to just give you a little bit of validation even though you don't need it, but I will tell you that I have seen these videos. And you know, he's saying something the world has never seen before. Like you'd think he's exaggerating a little bit. I saw these videos and I was like, "Wow, wow." It just makes a nursing look like a fun place. It's like, "Oh my god, we we should all be in nursing homes." That's what it makes it seems like. I I just did a wild dentist in the city. It's like very high-end like kind of like celebrity dentist and people said like, you know, I kind of want to go to the dentist after watching that. Yeah. A weird thing. You know, you did a good job. Um, but this thing and each one of them, some of them are fun because those you places are fun. Some of them are beyond like luxury and they have that feeling. We've done facilities 10 minutes away from each other with the same owner. But this one, anyone who would go here would never go here and anyone go here would never go there because it's true. It's not a recipe of like here's the it's whoever they are that's just don't forget what he's saying is and I want to clarify this is that it's not fake. So he's bringing out the reality of what a story is and he's telling it in a great way. And you know, I heard the CEO of AKA say this this morning in his panel when he introduced himself to the world because you know, uh, Mark Parkinson's just retired and, you know, new guys stepping up to the plate. Obviously, he's very well known in the industry. And he said, I'm selfishly caring about this industry. Mhm. And it was such it was so profound. And I'm thinking to myself, wow, I'm selfishly enjoying that nursing homes are fun. And this is great that we're living in an era where, you know, if we get old and need a nursing home that we might actually enjoy the popcorn on the way in and, you know, recreation, you know, while we're there and activities and so on. And I like what you're doing. I I like that it's real. And um I I appreciate you coming on this program. It's amazing. I like learning this part about you also. Fantastic. Um you you have competitors as well in the space similar. You know, not everybody is the same as the other. I get it, you know, at the end of the day. But do you guys work with each other? Do you know of each other? I don't. Or you guys sort of do your own thing. No. So I haven't been in this space ever. This is not like again I've played in my own world and the in what I'm up to, no one's doing working with companies and kind of solving problems. That's my own world. Stepping in this world was weird because it's a world that there's like a reference point. Yeah. Which, you know what I'm saying? Like I've never I've So like I don't know who's playing, where's playing. I don't know the industries. I know the problems we're solving, but I don't know what's going on. But like, you know what's funny in technology, by the way? Usually videos create problems, not solve problems. Really? Just Yeah. You get a video goes viral, someone sees it taking videos of you. It's going to do that. By the way, my if you want to ask me like my real passion is, please. So, this thing is where I'm really going wild. So, I asked the owner of all of these homes. I said, "Let me ask you a silly question. What's your objective? What do you need this for? It's a big investment." I'm guessing marketing. So I asked him but again you need to know from them because it's so nuanced. Think about from he's asking the bigger question. What do you need the question like what's the goal? The goal is to be able to connect to so you have to be in the head of it's video is meant for one person to see right the on that side it's the retail a retail owner that needs to be convinced to come here right here it's what is what's your objective what's the real thing and it'll help me pull in how to create. He said, 'First of all, you have to understand that we're doing great stuff and we're really investing in care. So, we need the world to see that in a true way. So, it's true. We want to fill up beds and there's no better way to do it. If we can create something that really shows truly what we are, show it to the hospital, sell to the hospital, they give you three options when you hospital to which, you know, home to go to. You watch one K, 2K, three. Oh my goodness, what the heck is that? You know what I mean? And then it actually has increased over the last eight months has increased tourists, which is great, which fills beds. Even the beds that are full, the more opportunities you have for for different people, you can find the right clients that better fit your needs. More referrals and better payers. Exactly. Now, he said that's one thing. On the second thing, our industry is such a sad narrative. Yes. If we could pull and continue to show the world what's actually happening, M we could change the narrative which will be great for the narrative and also great obviously for reimbursement as well. Yeah. And that's the two sides we're playing really hard. That's very nice. I I have to say unfortunately the healthcare industry sometimes gets a bad rep and sometimes people question like what these people are in it for the money. They're in it because they truly care about patients. I don't know about it. You know, then you hear a story sometimes of someone who does something this and all of a sudden that becomes like the narrative now and that's very unfortunate and I think that what this guy was saying which I can really respect is I want to show the beauty of this business and what we actually how we change lives and they're actually doing it. That's that's a crazy and they really are doing it in a lot of places. Show that. Why are we always showing the bad things and I'm going wild and this is the idea and we've gotten we've gotten stories that can show the state executive everyone's in tears. They could use this and drip on the government. Now I have to figure out how to create a system that will work. You're already starting to solve the problem of the the people portraying the industry in a in a negative way. Even though it's from a minority, they make a lot of noise like you're saying. So that's amazing. You're already doing it and how it evolves. Just keep doing it and I think that it'll come to you. Right. Just like this came to you. Exactly. Right. So, yeah. But, but we're happy we're part of the journey of you trying to figure it out. Love it. Yeah. Good stuff. Thank you guys so much. This was really a treat. Yeah. No, I really appreciate it. Thanks. Let's go hear some Kevin Olri. Our next guest is none other than Joseph Gastner. Welcome. Yeah, it's great to be here. Why don't you tell everyone about yourself? So I'm a CMO of a company called CBS centralized business services which is a back office sorry boutique premier back office company in the healthcare industry. We do sniffs alfs provide billing purchasing perial finance AP and um I I go to a lot of trade shows see you and a lot which is very nice. We're both trade show junkies apparently. Yes. Yeah. People think like I want your job. You're having so much fun. A, we're already uh jumping the gun, but you have to have a personality, so most guys don't. And B, you have to always be on your game. Yeah. Yeah. So, people think people see like the they see the fun part of it. You're out there going to parties, you're drinking, you're hanging out with people, and they think that's all it is. They think that's all you're doing. They don't realize that there's a big other portion of this where you have to network and you have to mingle. You have to be on your agame, like you said. And uh that's that's that's me it's it's mentally taxing. It's very tolling on someone to do that and it's not easy. It's it's that's it's a job. Yeah. What what do you hope to gain from a show like this? Um a this is another thing I would say is that obviously you want to have business. You want to you want to get clients through uh um have it connected with the operator at his back office. That's for sure. But when there's let's say there's there's you know all the operators or you know most of them get to know the vendors and I say this because every time in my opinion I get half of our business or half my connections through other vendors and through their connections and getting a pulse in industry and honestly people people look at a badge you see your vendor they look away and like they walk away from you not the right move. Yeah. Build a connection with everyone there and you never know. So building that connection with with anyone. It doesn't matter who they are. They're a window into an opportunity, right? Yeah. Yeah. And he puts his money where his mouth is because I see all the time he posts pictures of himself with an array of people. Pretty much anybody. And you're not picking and choosing who you talk to and who you uh you know give your time and attention to. You're pretty much just open season for anyone. And I think that's something people could learn from is you never know where something could lead. You never know where a network will take you. And if you're you're going to have that mentality of I'm going to get in here and I'm going to target certain people and I'm going to ignore everybody else, you're missing an opportunity. You're not giving yourself as much chances as you can because you don't know where it's going to come from. You have no idea where it's going to come sometimes. Some of the most unsuspecting places and you get the most beautiful blossoming relationship that comes with it. And if you would have not done it that way, you could have missed out. So I think that's very powerful what you're saying. You know, speaking of opportunities, this is not the first time he's on a podcast. You should have, right? He's been on podcast. You've been on a podcast before. Yes. How is that experience? How are we doing? So, first of all, I'm I'm very comfortable, which I'm usually not. So, you guys are doing a great job. Thank you. Um, yeah, being podcasts are pressure. It's hard, you know. It's very hard. Yeah. Especially if you want to be vulnerable and really fear yourself. That's always tough to do in a room of people. When you have this amount of people that are going to be listening, it's, you know, it's nerve-wracking. You got a lot of anxiety, but you were on a podcast. You did get quite a lot of views. Yes. Quite a lot of views. And you shared a very personal story. Yeah. About you and your wife. Uh I mean I don't know how much more personal it can possibly get. What made you do that? Why did you go on that podcast? And what did you get out of it? So I'll be honest. Uh uh initially they asked us and I was very I did not want to do it. Then they asked us again and my wife was like thinking about it. So I thought you know it's a good thing because we have a a story to share and my wife has a has a good story as well and um when you two things are you gain from it obviously if you inspire people people really um um you know feel a sense of connection and they see that there's hope that's a it's called stories of hope but um shout out to Par Graco but love what she's doing yeah she really is big fan of her it's amazing yeah and and it almost seems like she was born for that role. She's really doing a great job. Amazing. She's so articulate. And the second thing I would say is that just for ourselves, for her, my wife especially, when you're always hiding something your whole life, whether it's your own insecurities, again, I I didn't say everything, but when you're sharing with the world, it it it's initially it's taboo. All of a sudden, you're sharing with the world, and like you gain a sense of trust with everyone else, and it takes whatever you had, anything you were hiding, and makes it public. It's kind of it's it's freeing. Yeah. So liberating it. It really is because otherwise it's taboo and you're nervous, you get self-conscious. So whatever thing that someone is going through when you share it, that's why people go, you know, what's that famous guy? The big guy who uh Tony Robbins, he's very into opening and freeing, right? I mean, I'm not really I never really watched him, but it's there is a real there's a real um power to to really putting things out there. You know, I have a thing that I like to ask everybody when I see them. She you heard this from me a hundred times. says, "How was your week? How you been?" Right? So, I just recently said to someone, "How was your week?" And he looks at me and he goes, "It was amazing." And I'm like, "Whoa." This guy is like, he's a chiropractor. I'm like, "What could have been amazing about your week? Tell me." And he said, "I went to a Tony Robbins seminar with my wife for 4 days straight." Wow. And it was life-changing. And it's so interesting that you mentioned that because that's something that he teaches you to just be free. And once you share your story, then you realize how it's inspiring for others. Not only is it helping them, it's also helping you as well as a person, right? So it's And to add to that, you look at little babies, kids before anything happens before they meet any other kid. They're happy, they're cute, they they're free, they're like just yeah, they get moody, they cry, but overall they're they're just cute little things. and then all of a sudden they go to class and then they go to high school and then they get and I'm not saying they get bullied but like they're going through different experiences or someone scares them like they get they about to get in a car accident. Things in life scare you. So in life it's good and it's it's a good thing to like just free yourselves because we're so everyone's so busy about thinking about other people and people lose that genuine the genuine self. So when you when you really free yourself, you become genuine and everyone loves people who are genuine. Joseph, I love you. And by the way, I listened to your podcast. Oh, I didn't listen to the entire thing, but I listened for at least a half an hour. It's long, right? It's a long podcast, but and I skipped two different parts, but I'm saying I listened to a lot of it that I got the real sense of what you were doing there. And you're very brave. You're very brave. And if all of us did a lot more of what you did is you built up courage to share your story because what you're doing is going to inspire someone else, give someone else hope, help another person. I'm pretty sure that's the only thing God ever wants from us as his children. All of us are his children. What does a parent want for their children? The number one thing get along amongst each other. That's the biggest pride that they can have is when they see their children, how they're interacting and they're growing life together. That's what God wants from us. And if you have uh the ability to go out there and to help someone at the cost of your own humility, it's sometimes very difficult to do. But you seem like you're in a place right now in life less caring about what others are thinking, more about being the best version of myself and living my own life. And we preach that on this podcast all freaking day. That's all we talk about here is we want to grow personally and we want to grow professionally. And the most important recipe, the number one ingredient is to be feeling better about yourself and less stuck in what other people are going to think about you. And I think you're epitomizing that. I think by you going on that podcast and God willing, people who are going to be coming on to this podcast willing to do the same and to share and open up. And that's what it's all about. I'm proud of you. I'm really proud of you and I'm loving it. And I'm also very happy to be your friend. You know, we know each other for a little bit. And Michael, you may not know this, but Joseph is a man of many talents. He doesn't just go on podcasts. And uh be vulnerable. He's someone who sings. And I discovered this not that long ago. I didn't know about it from the first time I met you. And once I discovered it, I said, "Wow, why am I not seeing more of this? Why are you not sharing this with the world?" And you're also a very big athlete. You play a lot of sports. Uh you're very competitive. What's your favorite sport? Hockey. Really? Yeah. For Toronto, you know, I wish it was a different answer. I wish. Baseball. Yeah, which sound I love baseball, too. Definitely up there. Yeah, I know. I know. Let's face it. Mainstream America, we don't really care about hockey. We can barely spell hockey. We don't recognize it as a legitimate sport. And uh Unfortunate. Yeah. I mean, it's like figure skating, you know? It should be in the Olympics. I don't know if it should be a national. Hockeyy's a man. Are you kidding me? People are beating the crap out of each other for a puck. It's the most entertaining game. I'm going to get a lot of people that disagree with me. A lot of people, but there's going to be a lot of people who know exactly what I'm talking about. And are like, right on. But tell us a little bit about you personally. Not to do with the business side. We know a little bit about CBS. Yourself personally. Yeah. Just like your hobbies, fun things. What do you do? What do you do for fun? What do you do for fun? Yeah. So, I definitely sing album actually a CD. Tell us about it. Uh, first album. First album. First ever album. Yeah, I put out a few singles and now I'm investing a lot into album. You had a single that our family enjoyed at 12:01 right after midnight when it came out. Yes. How does that high part go again? Yeah. 50. Oh, I heard this shifty song all over the place. Good. You did a great job. You did a great job branding it. You marketed that song very, very well. Thank you. It made its way around. So, what's the album called? I don't know yet. Oo, let's help him pick a name. Oh, surprise. Yeah, we'll give it a surprise. Are you looking for a name? Yeah. Yeah. Do you have any songs? I have I'm eight songs in eight songs. 11 songs. How many do you need for an album in general? About 10. It could be eight to 12. Eight to 12. I'm doing 11 because I'm putting Shifty on it and putting uh two other singles in it as well. So, are you collaborating with anybody? Um I might I'm working on it. I'm not sure. But right now, these eight songs is just you. Just me? Yeah. When do people normally come up with the name of their album? Before they start or after they finish or is everybody different? Some people with the way they make their albums, they really have a theme. So, so certain songs go into like like uh Rebo had L where it's all L songs, you know. So, I'm not I'm doing all different types of genres you want to call it. And um yeah. What's your style? Are you like more pop? Are you more uh folksy? Like, you know, what's your type? What's So, some of it's like shifty, which is like more modern. Uh I don't know what name it is. It's like, you know, like Tigersburg. I can't really uh Is it upbeat songs? Not really. It's like rocky country vibishish. Then I have like shell style which is a song that I put out. It's similar to shellas. And I also have a song that I'm doing more hish stuff like emotional um inspirational type of stuff. And you're not are you planning on monetizing on this? Like do you want to make this a career potentially one day or this just totally for fun and it's costing you money? It's costing it's definitely I'm not thinking about the the return but I I'm I'm definitely doing it because I I I've always wanted to. I I love music and stuff like that, but I definitely want to sing. Yeah. Are you investing in this yourself or do you have others that are supporting you? No. No. Myself. Yeah. So, you're pumping your own money into this and you're doing everything by yourself. Not only that, you do things to benefit other organizations. I know you're working on something now, right? Yeah. Yeah. Tell us about that. So, the next step uh so we're we're doing a concert, God willing, tomorrow uh in um whenever it is that you're going to do it. You're doing a show. Where's this concert? Where's it taking place? It's in um it's in um Well, that's the thing. He's not sure yet. That's part of the We'll talk about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you're doing you're doing it to benefit the How does that work? You're collabing with an organization. I figured we'll throw that in there. Yeah. For next step, God will only tomorrow in uh the city and it's to help uh raise money for a fundraiser which is called the Next Step. They they give uh prosthetic limbs for um people who lost their limbs in mainly in Israel. And it's an amazing organization. And we're singing with as a group called Collab Music Group. We're amazing. And so it's not me. I'm chatting myself out. It's a group. And uh yeah, we're excited. All right, good stuff. So, you're taking your talents, you're moving it into your passion, and you're helping raise awareness for what's needed in Israel, and it's a beautiful thing. I love it. Final question before you go. What would you tell someone getting into the industry now? So, looking back, something you wish you would have known that you can tell your younger self, hey, by the way, I just met somebody at the show. It's his first day working for that company, first day on the job. Somebody like that. Let's go tell it to him. Yeah. What type of advice do you give for someone who's been around for a while? What do you say to him? Understand the business. Understand and understand healthcare, the industry. Um, and like we said before, be genuine. Be yourself. Obviously, he's in sales, so he's he has to have a personality, I hope. And he should just know the industry and get to know people in genuine way. And and keep at it. Don't don't be discouraged when things aren't going well. um and um you know to to really get to know other vendors and um to know what he's talking about like he has to really know his craft. You always say you got to open and close. Y and um I think he'll be successful. I love that by the way. I love that ending that that letting people know you need to know your business. People respect your intellectual property. If you have information to give them, they'll listen. It's not just about being a nice person. It's also about knowing your business and getting involved and understanding it. Go to panels. This is a secret that I love sharing with the world. Go to panels, listen to them, learn about the industry, and then of course it's an opportunity to speak to the panelists and get their business. It's true. So true. Thank you so much for joining us, Joseph. We appreciate. You've been amazing. Thank you. Thank you.