Don't Fear Grit

Running with Life's Curveballs: How Noah Lam's Cancer Diagnosis Impacts His Business Approach

March 19, 2024 Rob Taormina Season 5 Episode 4
Running with Life's Curveballs: How Noah Lam's Cancer Diagnosis Impacts His Business Approach
Don't Fear Grit
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Don't Fear Grit
Running with Life's Curveballs: How Noah Lam's Cancer Diagnosis Impacts His Business Approach
Mar 19, 2024 Season 5 Episode 4
Rob Taormina

When life threw Noah a curveball, he didn't just catch it—he ran with it, all the way from his family's restaurant to the forefront of the medical supply industry. Join us as Noah, the entrepreneur behind ConnectQuot West and the youtube culinary critic of NOAH Eats, recounts his inspiring journey. You'll find both wisdom and wit as he shares how he's not only shaping his business ventures but how his brush with serious health concerns has reshaped his perspective on life. With authenticity and a touch of humor, Noah's story is a compelling tale of resilience that will captivate anyone navigating their own life's unexpected twists.

Have you ever considered what legacy you're creating, or how your work today will impact the world when you're not around? This episode goes beyond the surface, exploring the depth of Noah's vision as he's paved the way for the next generation through his non-profit Lightning Warriors and crafted a succession plan for his enterprises. Reflect on the delicate balance of life's priorities as Noah illuminates the importance of integrating personal values, health, and relationships into the entrepreneurial equation, guiding us to reassess and realign with what truly matters.

And for a slice of levity in our robust discussion, Noah takes on the heated debate over Long Island's potential statehood. As the self-proclaimed Sultan of Pizza, he doesn't shy away from dishing out his all-time favorite spot for a pizza slice that captures the essence of his childhood memories. Tune in for an episode that's as rich and layered as a New York pizza, filled with passion, purpose, and a generous topping of life lessons that will leave you both thoughtful and hungry for more.

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Download our free Podcast Gear Guide: http://www.LaunchMyPodcastShow.com

Follow us: https://www.facebook.com/dontfeargrit
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Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

When life threw Noah a curveball, he didn't just catch it—he ran with it, all the way from his family's restaurant to the forefront of the medical supply industry. Join us as Noah, the entrepreneur behind ConnectQuot West and the youtube culinary critic of NOAH Eats, recounts his inspiring journey. You'll find both wisdom and wit as he shares how he's not only shaping his business ventures but how his brush with serious health concerns has reshaped his perspective on life. With authenticity and a touch of humor, Noah's story is a compelling tale of resilience that will captivate anyone navigating their own life's unexpected twists.

Have you ever considered what legacy you're creating, or how your work today will impact the world when you're not around? This episode goes beyond the surface, exploring the depth of Noah's vision as he's paved the way for the next generation through his non-profit Lightning Warriors and crafted a succession plan for his enterprises. Reflect on the delicate balance of life's priorities as Noah illuminates the importance of integrating personal values, health, and relationships into the entrepreneurial equation, guiding us to reassess and realign with what truly matters.

And for a slice of levity in our robust discussion, Noah takes on the heated debate over Long Island's potential statehood. As the self-proclaimed Sultan of Pizza, he doesn't shy away from dishing out his all-time favorite spot for a pizza slice that captures the essence of his childhood memories. Tune in for an episode that's as rich and layered as a New York pizza, filled with passion, purpose, and a generous topping of life lessons that will leave you both thoughtful and hungry for more.

Support the Show.

Network with other entrepreneurs and get access to monthly free live trainings: https://bit.ly/38w3VNi

Download our free Podcast Gear Guide: http://www.LaunchMyPodcastShow.com

Follow us: https://www.facebook.com/dontfeargrit
https://www.instagram.com/dontfeargrit/

Speaker 1:

The show is about to start in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. This is Don't Fear Grit, with Wabtau-Ramina marketing strategies and advertising technologies to help you build a better business. Welcome back to the only show that matters on all of the interweb. That's right. We're talking about Don't Fear Grit and in studio I've got an amazing guest. We're staying consistent with our theme this year it's all about interviews interviews with leaders in the entrepreneurial space and just general leadership space, and we've got a very special person, noah. Welcome to the show, my friend.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, Rob, for inviting me.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I was very flattered that you did yeah.

Speaker 1:

So just a little bit of background. So, noah, you're someone that I've known. You're like internet friends by the way right.

Speaker 2:

Yes, they're the best friends, so we're internet best friends.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, facebook besties. For the last several years we haven't met and this was a great opportunity for us to finally meet, and I'm so glad that it's in this space and we get to sort of talk about all the things that you're involved with, which you're involved with quite a few things and you're doing some great work, and then some personal things as well, because this guy's story, I think, is going to really inspire a lot of people and I think he's got something to say that everyone needs to hear. This is a very, very important episode and, again, everyone is going to learn something from his personal experiences. Oh, there's a lot. There's a lot.

Speaker 1:

By the way, I'm setting big expectation here, right, big expectation here, but it's true and I don't want to reveal everything. But, yeah, you've got great businesses that you've done some amazing things very successful at, but you've also got some personal things that recently surfaced and that just changed that perspective a little bit and I think your experience, if you're willing to share, I think it's going to be a healthy reminder to a lot of people of what they need to be doing next. So, definitely stay tuned and let's listen in, but tell everyone first what are the names of some of these businesses and projects that you have.

Speaker 2:

So my main nine to five would be ConnectQuit West, which is a medical supply and equipment distributor. We service a lot of different agencies and healthcare agencies and the state with products that people need, you know, everyday products, and it's usually around the development of disabled or different kinds of making sure people stay healthy, which is going to be a theme of a few minutes Exactly exactly.

Speaker 2:

We also have a not-for-profit youth triathlon team where we help kids get into the sport triathlon in Excel. It's called Lightning Warriors and as a side project I like to do food reviews under NOAA.

Speaker 1:

Eats, love it.

Speaker 2:

And I get to hit that channel. When you get a chance, don't forget to watch and subscribe, and subscribe.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. So you got three really great things going on for you, and let's start with, I guess, that primary pipeline. Right, you labeled it as your traditional nine to five. How did you get started as a business owner? Let's go back to the Adam and Eve of your business here. When did it start? How did you choose this? How did?

Speaker 2:

this happen? Yeah, that's an interesting story. So I would say my mom actually started the business 31 years ago right Actually, 32 years ago and she did her due diligence. She took care of me and my brother and my sister until we were teenagers, and then she decided to branch out and start a business, but we've always been an entrepreneurial family, so my dad's always been in the restaurant business.

Speaker 1:

Oh, is that right? Yeah, he owned restaurants he owned restaurants.

Speaker 2:

He built restaurants, sold restaurants. And the main restaurant happened to be in Oakdale, which was called the Gold Mountain. So I still have people come up to me and say they miss his food.

Speaker 1:

That actually kind of is cool right.

Speaker 2:

I just recently had someone reach out to me because I was commenting about certain restaurants and they were like we know that you like food and I used to go to your dad's restaurant.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh. And.

Speaker 2:

I'm like holy cow OK.

Speaker 1:

That's a lot of history, a lot of history. It brings back memories, I'm sure.

Speaker 2:

He's still doing well. Is that right? Did you work at the restaurants? Yeah, I worked at the restaurants. Did you really?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, oh wow. What did you do in the restaurants? I did the serving.

Speaker 2:

Of course I didn't really cook. Ok, I would prep maybe and do the takeout side and make sure to order the package. I was more on the operational side of things.

Speaker 1:

So now, by the way, with your Noah eats, now it makes more sense of why you're into the food, because you actually do have a food background.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I do, I do. I do have a good food background. Actually, my daughter went to school to be a baker from Culinary South America which is my next video that is out right now.

Speaker 1:

Oh, is that right.

Speaker 2:

OK, I did a video on that and so I always try in different types of things and going here and there and seeing if it's really worth going. Yeah, sometimes it's usually not.

Speaker 1:

Right, right, right. Ok, sometimes it is and you're happy. Yeah, OK, I like to share that. So you got these three projects slash businesses and some of them are they hobbies? Are they also sort of revenue, sort of generated income producers for you?

Speaker 2:

So, in terms of the connect, what West is, which is the main source of income, lightning Warriors is an offer profit. I don't charge for my time. It's not about that. It's about giving back. A lot of it's got giving back because I got a lot from doing triathlons myself and seeing how my son excelled at it.

Speaker 2:

And I wanted to share that with the rest of the community, and that's where Lightning Warriors came about, and Noeach is something that is a more of a side project. I like to see it grow a little bit and be self-sustaining. I like to build all my businesses, all the things I do sustainable so something happens to me which can happen to all of us. That it still continues on. So there's a lot of legacy things that I like to see happen, as I'm still around kicking and grieving.

Speaker 1:

Thank God On that subject. Let's just talk a little bit about. I know over the past year you got some news, and what was that news and how has it impacted your now approach to these projects? Did it change it? Are you still aligned with it?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so somewhat, especially during the last half of last year when they learned about my diagnosis with thyroid cancer. A lot of it came with a lot of uncertainty because they still had to do a lot of testing, biopsies, figure out what exactly I had. And it was thyroid cancer that began with. They knew it right away, but they didn't really know the extent of it. So we go to the first doctor and they explained that what I had was it's a simple thing, and they would just remove half of it, like okay, cool.

Speaker 2:

Not cool, but yeah. I understood that, so I understood. Okay, that's what you gotta do. So when the doctor says this, and you laugh and you smile and you say well, I think the doctors think I'm a little bit disturbed because they're very serious and I always try to crack a smile or a joke in the situation because I didn't have the capacity of understanding what's going on. I've always very lighthearted about doing stuff because I learned a lot that you can't take life so seriously because you never know what's going on.

Speaker 1:

No well put.

Speaker 2:

I definitely didn't know this was going to happen. I went to the doctor and I'm like okay actually it was a colonoscopy. So, anybody I would suggest if you don't normally get regular checkups always do you never know. So in this situation it happened to be a colonoscopy which is the wrong doctor but, he happened to do his exam.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And he goes like this hey, feel that I'm like I don't know, I don't feel anything yeah. So we get that checked out, go back to the doctor and he goes, go back to my primary and he goes all right, I've got to do an MRI. All right, do an MRI. It's bigger than what it should be. Like okay, now you got to get a biopsy. Yeah, all right, go get the biopsy.

Speaker 1:

All right, now he's like oh yeah, sorry. Like sorry, my goodness, like what are you talking about?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it didn't really fathom to me that it that it's serious, but the way he said, you know, he said it like oh, this is serious.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, serious, and what I normally would think. Yeah, I mean, how did your family respond?

Speaker 2:

My wife was. Well, my wife's thyroid doesn't work to begin with, so she's like you don't need a big deal. That's how we we brought up.

Speaker 1:

Okay, Nothing's big deal.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, unless you know I'm missing an arm or a limb.

Speaker 1:

Gotcha, don't worry about it, just brush it off.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah so it was no big deal, right, so that that in the beginning was no big deal.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

And then so the doctor's like okay, this is what we're gonna do and take a half your thyroid out and some lymph nodes. All right, cool, for that to happen you have to do another CT and another biopsy. Okay, do that. So he did the whole thing, like okay, we're gonna take out to remove the whole thing. There's some side of you know some of the things that we might come up to. You know.

Speaker 1:

You know we'll protect, try to protect your throat as much as yeah, yeah, I mean they know that you have a YouTube show, that you you need right. Could you imagine they're like listen, I have a date with a pizza. After this, I have a show that I got a well.

Speaker 2:

that well that actually went for me thing is, when they actually said that to me like they were gonna Effect my throat, I'm like I can't do my reviews.

Speaker 1:

I'm right not.

Speaker 2:

Not that I want to talk to my dot, my, my customers. No, it had to do with I Can't do my videos anymore. That was the first thing that fell on my head.

Speaker 1:

You're kidding. Yeah, I was like oh my god, it wasn't about like making sure I could communicate sure anyone yeah.

Speaker 2:

I'm gonna have a problem swallowing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah so.

Speaker 2:

So he went through that process and the final process was not the problem process, I would say. My brother kept on asking me to go get checked by Memorial Sloan Kettering and so it was like a funny, was able to get a Exam or a doctor's exam and went to Memorial Sloan Kettering and they kind of said that's no normal thing, they would remove the thyroid and whatever the line nearby lymph nodes, like okay, but he goes.

Speaker 2:

One thing he did that was if, since it's so low when down here he goes, I would normally check, do a chest CT, hmm. And so we did that. I said I go, went back to my part of the first doctor and I said you know the? I went to Memorial Sloan Kettering and he's he was like okay, and he goes. I left it off, like he suggested, I guess, chest CT. I'm like okay, yeah, go ahead, go, swanger Does not pay by swanger, by the way, so goes the way and he Gets the my to my mice, my. My surgery was on Tuesday. Okay, we did it. I think the the chest CT on Thursday, I'm sorry, tuesday. The surgery Thursday was the chest CT.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

Weekend goes over. I didn't think anything of it. I'm getting ready for the surgery and, you know, making sure you know the. They gave me a heavy cleanse to take care of everything sure, and he calls me not Monday night.

Speaker 1:

She's like I cancel Really unlike hearing up right mentally, you're getting in that space because I I I Knew what's gonna happen.

Speaker 2:

Yeah you know I'm like I'm, I like to plan ahead. Sure, get it done with right Cut. Go yeah, recover, yep done, yep, right Co. He calls me Monday night, which is which is, he's a great doctor. Yeah and I'm like oh, thank you for calling me so late.

Speaker 1:

Sure.

Speaker 2:

He goes. Uh, I'm sorry.

Speaker 1:

I got canceled.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, I'm like seriously, wow, he goes. What I see in you, in your chest now. Yeah it's something that I would have to get a thoracic surgeon involved with it.

Speaker 1:

Yep.

Speaker 2:

And you know there's a couple spots in there. Okay and that's when my mom, my wife, kind of got nervous.

Speaker 1:

Oh really.

Speaker 2:

Okay and I was like, oh, that's worse because, you end up. You end up googling it now.

Speaker 1:

Oh, of course. So you go from the rabbit hole.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you go from a hundred percent Like recovery. Mm-hmm, I could fire where it seems to be normal. I'm like, okay, yeah, no big deal yeah and when some move starts in that man that metastasize, yeah, and the numbers don't look, farewell. So when and then when it gets down here, you're like oh, you're not gonna walk out yeah.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, I started thinking worst-case scenario, worst case scenario. So you go down the rabbit hole and I'm like, oh god, you know. So I went back to the morsel and can they start redoing all the tests I did?

Speaker 2:

Yeah you know they, they have a closed system where they have to do everything themselves and monitor themselves and check everything. So that took a little, a little bit longer. They have a little bit more thorough I don't want to say more thorough process, but they were doing a lot more than our local community Sure Physicians do.

Speaker 2:

I think that you know they probably see 10 times in my main cases right I went through that process where they, they did all that, they did a lung biopsy because they you know, yeah, what's in their lungs and with the process and they didn't really give me an answer of a Plan until end of January. Oh, wow, yeah, so that from from basically almost like October to End of January. I really didn't. I really didn't know what they were gonna do other than. If they had to cut me open, they would. They would cut me open.

Speaker 2:

Sure sure but that came with a lot of side, a lot of effects. Mainly, yeah, it's possible that they would remove my left vocal cord. Oh my gosh three parts of my trachea, lower my voice box. Oh, my gosh all this time like thinking okay one. Well then I started thinking about how am I gonna talk to customers? But I also love like okay, I really I can't this is serious now.

Speaker 1:

I guess it's gonna affect my life. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I won't be able to speak as loud as I normally would or even have control over how I swallow. Oh my gosh, I'm like okay, because I some of the things that we sell is is dysphagia products, mm-hmm, and I know that you know that can be an issue and aspirating all the side effects that come along with it. So it would definitely affect my, my, some. I don't know about my livelihood, but it would affect how I would manage that, sure manage things. Sure, because I'm so used to talking.

Speaker 1:

I like all of us.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, there's certain things that we're used to we rely on our voice, yeah you know, we rely on a lot of different things.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I don't.

Speaker 2:

I want to say I guess we could take for granted, you know yeah, we're like okay, it's a good point. It's a good point, you know, figure out things that you can make sure you keep the quality of life that almost the same right. So that's kind of how we left it. So right now I'm in the middle of fifth week of Treatment.

Speaker 2:

The good the interesting thing about cancer is that I think everybody, every cancer, has something different. Yeah, they treat it differently I am. When I went in, I'm thinking, just scrape it out and like You'd be done with it. Yeah, yeah Like yeah, what do I know? I didn't go to school for that, so yeah, it's it's, it's a, it's been a process.

Speaker 2:

Okay, it's a journey that I look at it as like I could Think back and and I one thing once biggest takeaway I would say is that you know, you see you, I normally don't rely on people hmm, as as much as I can, and Maybe a little bit Control issues or like that in terms of like yeah, especially you know you're a small business, that's most entrepreneurs, by the way.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and you like to have your hand everything, because you're not sure if that, if something's gonna happen, you want to make sure you can fix it right away. Yep, right, and you and you don't? Maybe they'll have the skill set, or?

Speaker 1:

yeah you.

Speaker 2:

You just uncomfortable with doing it sure so I've learned this process where, you know, I kind of like I don't want to say let go, but let things fall into place and Not the worst thing can happen so far.

Speaker 1:

Is that like a new mindset as a result of what you've been going through?

Speaker 2:

Um more so than before. Yeah you know, I've always had made sure that there's plenty of room to have my employees do their own thing or have my friends do help me out. Yeah and I think a lot of it has to come with that. They want to help out too. Hmm you know, not that you're you're, you're unable to do it, but they want to be part of, I want to say they want to be part of the process.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes and they want to feel like they're Doing something to help you, and I've learned one thing I've definitely learned is like you just let that, let that happen, because it's not the worst thing, it's good for them, it's good for you, it relieves a lot of pressure on yourself and and they you know people just like to help. I think well, in my world, I think people like to help you know I've heard crazy stories or People. Don't help you well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, no, and listen. You're fortunate to have a network of people around you that I, you know, I yeah, I'm really lucky that yeah.

Speaker 2:

I would say I'm lucky than most yeah yeah, and being able to Reach out yeah, reliant on yeah to. Do things that maybe I want to do, and one thing I've learned is that I know, I definitely know, over the past few years I, I don't know a lot of things. Hmm, I'm not good at a lot of things.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, listen a lot of things listen, listen, we are, all I think, not able to do as much as we think right, and we, and the thing is like earlier you were saying that you know, you know earlier on, I guess, in your entrepreneurial career or before this, this, this thing you're dealing with, is a that you try to do a lot and I, and I can, and I, I can relate to that myself because I try to learn everything, like everything in my life.

Speaker 1:

I try to learn how to do everything because and and I'm not saying this is the best approach and it's, and it's definitely not the best approach, it's but because I want to be able to just problem-solve and just get it done quickly. I don't want to have to waste time to explain it to someone else and have someone else do it or call someone else in. So I'm like you know what, I'm gonna learn how to do it all so that in that moment I'm just gonna do it. You know, and it's not actually the long-term, it's not the healthy approach, it's not the right approach to do that. But I'm stubborn and I'm this, I guess, a typical entrepreneur in that sense where we try to wear all the hats I mean for me.

Speaker 2:

When I started with, when my mom asked me to join her, you know she was really small and trying to figure things out. She just started. She asked me to ask me to join her and I'm like no, you resisted no the first time she had. I mean the second, the second, third. I also said no because I Was giving my head around engineering and maybe doing management at UPS and I was. I was into that. I was like really love, I really loved UPS.

Speaker 1:

Oh, wow, yeah, I love.

Speaker 2:

I was working my and my body off and UPS.

Speaker 1:

So you're a fan of the show. King of Queen, queens.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, of course.

Speaker 1:

Okay, have you met Kevin James? No, you know he lives in the area. Yes, he does.

Speaker 2:

Well, yeah, I just actually. I watched his Special on prime.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, he's great, he's a lawyer. I'm like, okay, he's amazing yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so it was like so I was in UPS and they were doing something that I was like not happy with. Eventually, and there was a I went to school for engineering and so they had this industrial engineering position being open and I'm like okay, I've been working here for a while.

Speaker 1:

It's a perfect match.

Speaker 2:

And I have a degree in it. Yeah, Does not make sense to move me to this position. Oh right, it's a no brainer, right, yeah, no brainer, I'm thinking there's no brainer, but whether I know I don't know anything about politics, about UPS. So or was it politics, I don't know, or they wanted to keep me where I was doing a good job.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't think it was, but anyway.

Speaker 2:

I had a good time there and they just I got fed up one day. I think it was actually long storage. The story part of the story was I was checking the belts for packages. One package had me on the side, like, okay, I gotta go be a monkey and go climb up and get it.

Speaker 1:

Cause I was we.

Speaker 2:

You know, management does the sweep, so we go find, make sure there's no packages hanging out and whatever reason, they had this air conditioning screw hanging out from the ceiling from like 50 feet above and the belts were high up. Okay, and I went to go grab the package. I stood up banged it.

Speaker 1:

No, I started bleeding. Are you serious? Yeah?

Speaker 2:

I started like pouring blood out. I'm like oh my God, and so I get down.

Speaker 1:

I'm still scoring. I'm still scoring it Blood out. Are you like on a ladder or something?

Speaker 2:

No, it was like well, if you work at UPS, there's a bunch of conveyor belts all over the place. So when you move a pack, when you pick up package and put it somewhere, it's going to go to a truck, or another truck or another place, and I just happened to find a small one of a cylindrical.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh, you know like a cylindrical one and hanging on the side. I'm like, okay, I'll get that and sure enough.

Speaker 2:

I busted my head, got some staples. They put some staples on me and I'm like, and the way they, I guess the way they reacted, and at that time it was like really rough, they were really rough and I was fine with it. But where they were reactive was like yeah, it was an engineer that told me what I was doing, so I wore a hat just to cover it up. Oh okay, right.

Speaker 1:

So you didn't tell anyone. I don't know.

Speaker 2:

I knew Some people, most people knew, but this engineer didn't happen. Okay, I think that's what triggered everything.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay, and he was telling me what to do.

Speaker 2:

Okay, and you know, this guy doesn't know what he's doing. I mean, he doesn't have experience of what I was actually doing.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

And he goes.

Speaker 1:

You know why you wearing a hat Blah, blah, blah, blah and some derogatory statements and I'm like really and that was it. You knew in that moment you're like I'm done, I'm done Okay.

Speaker 2:

I'm done so, and then my mom asked me again oh, so the timing was better.

Speaker 1:

That was yeah, but that was better. Okay, it was a good timing, okay, and this was for the medical. Yeah, gotcha.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, my dad still had the restaurant. Okay, he sold it after my dad. My mom was doing well, we were doing well.

Speaker 1:

Okay, okay, I got you, you know what.

Speaker 2:

I don't need to do this anymore. Right, everybody went to college.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

I'm good.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay.

Speaker 2:

So he's he. You know he stopped, he sold his, he sold the restaurant.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay, gotcha.

Speaker 2:

My mom asked me to start up and you know it was a simple. We were billing Medicaid and stuff like that and simple transactions. You know a lot of B to C customers, simple things like that. It was small and I went in there looking at like how to make it as easy as possible for me to oh, is that right? I went in there trying to understand how can I streamline as much as possible.

Speaker 2:

And I think that's a little Okay, because I think that's a little of my personality, where I'm like, trying to like, can I push one button to make everything run? Yeah, right, so I started making, started programming different things in the system, making processes that were manually done, try to do as automatic as possible, and that time there was no, the computers weren't that powerful as they are now yeah. But they still continue to do that process where? I'm trying to figure out. Can we make it as easy as possible with less touches?

Speaker 1:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

And I still do that to the, to the.

Speaker 1:

Oh, is that right.

Speaker 2:

I, I, because it's something I liked it down Like trying to figure out like where the pain points. Yeah, Can we resolve it without manually doing it?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, if possible.

Speaker 2:

Right, right. And you know, hopefully AA doesn't catch up to us, it's right.

Speaker 1:

It's knocking on our door.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's not gonna do it Like, like I was talking to someone who was. I was like you know.

Speaker 1:

I was watching videos, yeah.

Speaker 2:

It was like people still buy from people. I'm like I don't know how long that's gonna take.

Speaker 1:

I know, I know, I know.

Speaker 2:

I think it's still true that people want to have that interaction. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

You know, and.

Speaker 2:

But once you start taking out the interaction with it becomes a commodity. Yeah, that you don't need that anymore. And some people still need that. That touch.

Speaker 1:

That's totally true. But we don't have to go very far back to have an example of what you're saying is happening. Just look at Amazon, right. So if we go back just 25 years, no one 25 years ago would have been like you know, something would be a disruptor to the traditional mall. Right, that there would be. There's no way the traditional mall is here to stay.

Speaker 1:

But we fast forward to today and a lot of malls are ghost towns. They are empty lots and there's no longer the traditional retail, because businesses like Amazon came in, and even back then they would argue well, people want to be able to physically touch the article of clothing or whatever the case may be, and Amazon has proven them wrong. And now you click. People want convenience. Right, that's how you want to streamline your business. People want to streamline their life, and so click of a button and 24 hours we get whatever we want to our doorstep. Little creepy, but the fact is you're right. And now AI is going to make it even easier. You know it is. So it is a little scary, you know we got some time left, though.

Speaker 1:

We do it's not tomorrow. It's not happening tomorrow, but yes, it's definitely knocking on our door and listen. I'm using AI for a lot of elements of my businesses. I'm sure you're using some of it somewhere right, and so it's not all bad, not all scary.

Speaker 2:

Some of it's going to help us. It's a good tool to use.

Speaker 1:

It is. If you use it as a tool, it's good.

Speaker 2:

Yes, If you use it for something else and you want to be really lazy about it, then it's not so good.

Speaker 1:

Right. I mean listen, you never know. Maybe it's going to be like Terminator and they're going to Sky Net's going to come over.

Speaker 2:

I always say there's doomsday coming along all the time, so it can happen, you never know, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it is true, it is true, you know. So, getting back to your story, though, I guess I have a doomsday for your situation. So you've got right now. I know you're going through it, yeah, right, and first today. Are you feeling okay today? I'm feeling okay today.

Speaker 2:

Okay, yeah, sometimes I'm like, okay, you know a lot of the things that side effects. I haven't experienced the side effects that they said that I guess I'm a freaking name.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you're a machine. Yeah, the thing is with my diagnosis. They were surprised how long it progressed to even not having the symptoms that normal would have Surface symptoms.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean technically, I shouldn't be talking, right now, oh my gosh, and I would have problem breathing Really.

Speaker 2:

I was like I don't understand.

Speaker 1:

It's all the pizza. Yeah, I hope so.

Speaker 2:

So I'm like, and I guess I'm used to whatever is here so long that I'm adjusted to it.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay, okay.

Speaker 2:

But they were really surprised that I was able to not have it found earlier.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And so we'll see, but side effects haven't been too crazy so far. So far.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know it can propagate as the medicine starts to get into the system. Okay, you know, just recently they, more than the blood work data that they presented to me. I was like I read it, like you know and. I'm looking at them like they always have that exclamation point. Yeah. I'm like no good. Oh hi, it was high.

Speaker 1:

Oh gosh. So of course I'm like okay, I'll look at that. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Google Google yeah. And it's like, oh, this is what happens if it's too high. I'm like okay, go back to the portal.

Speaker 1:

Which is good. Technology is great. Oh, it's great.

Speaker 2:

Back to the portal. Yeah All right. I gotta give you this particular medicine now.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, really I don't want to take another one, right, I don't want another one, yeah.

Speaker 2:

But I already took. You know I'm taking three for blood pressure right now.

Speaker 1:

Wow.

Speaker 2:

And we took like a small dosage, sure, sure, you know.

Speaker 1:

Um, well, the hard question yes, you know. Um, so you got you know these great businesses and projects going on. Um, you've got an amazing family. It seems like you really are close with your kids, right? Um?

Speaker 2:

some of them, some of them right, listen, I like you, you, I'm, I'm very happy that you have great relationship with the small ones. Uh, listen we do our best right. There's no manual that could possibly right.

Speaker 1:

I did think about that Uh you know, I remember, so I've got the triplets right. So, and I remember when we were just about to have the kids and everyone was trying to give us advice, right, and all the advice that people gave didn't work. And what I've realized now now you know, my kids are 13 is ultimately, you have to, you have to be present and you have to adapt and you just, you know there's no manual for it, it's just got to do. Life, you know, and it's hard. I'll be honest. I've done parenting. I've done a lot in life. Parenting is the hardest one.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think you know I. One thing I learned about parenting is well, try and learn at least. Is you got to let them do? You got to let them do a little bit of their own?

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's so hard.

Speaker 2:

Have them have their own experiences, because it's you could teach them as much as possible. But they're like they. You and I probably grew up the same way. You know we're not listening to anybody, and so, yeah, what do we expect our kids to do? The same thing.

Speaker 1:

It's so true, it's so true. And so you know, I'm building a, I'm building a, I'm building a court. Is it's hard, especially like for my wife and whatnot, but it is hard. But so the hard question is you got these great businesses and this is a generation one of them is a generational business and you're really building your legacy in other areas too and helping other families. Like the triathlon is a triathlon.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, triathlon, that's right.

Speaker 1:

And you've got this incredible YouTube channel right, so you're building this amazing legacy. You get hit with these hard news. You know now, sort of, I guess, the reality of it is sinking in. What does that? Did it change how you were thinking now, longterm Cause, as an entrepreneur, we're always thinking about scaler, scalability or all this stuff, right, but did this change it all for you? And then you know what. What like if you don't mind, like, open up as much as you can, because here's, here's the thing I think a lot of people have to realize is is that I don't think that we set up our businesses to be successful without us, as much as we should.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I believe that too. We don't want to be significant in, in what we create, and some of them don't realize how significant it is to not to be there. Right, it's, it's important, because if you're the one who's going to be the bottleneck or some kind of bottleneck, um, and your business can function without you, then you really didn't do I would say you didn't really do a good job, you know, because you kind of like it's I don't want to say sell it's selfish, almost Right, you're managing, you're helping out a bunch of families in your business and you're not thinking about like, okay, if I don't show up that day or a year, right, right, right, where something happens, because I think a lot of people think we live forever and I still do. Right, we all do.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, we think we're invincible.

Speaker 2:

Yeah Right, so but we, you know, we have to take a moment. I don't want to say we take a catastrophic moment like a diagnosis or anything like that, but in some ways you need to take that time out to recharge, understand what needs to be done, what really needs to be done, not just pick up the phone and call another customer or prospect or whatever the situation may be, yeah, um, but what really takes to make it so that it is sustainable and for someone else to maybe buy it or someone take it?

Speaker 2:

oh, it make it easier for someone to take it over, because people are looking for that. People don't want to have too much headache when they take over a business, and it's something that most people don't think. Most people don't think about.

Speaker 1:

No, no, they don't. And I think you know, for people that are watching this or listening to this and they're like you know, maybe they're like you know, I haven't been diagnosed with cancer. I don't have to do this yet. I don't think that being responsible like you're suggesting that we should, we need to be more responsible about our responsibilities and our work and in our businesses. It's not just because it's the safeguard against um. You know health, necessarily. You know things that come our way, but there's other things that could impact a situation and we need to be ready for that stuff. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And you never know what's going to happen. We don't, you know. No, you know you might need to take care of a parent or a child, exactly, and it takes away from your focus of working in your business versus working on your business Right.

Speaker 2:

So those things are a paramount that for any business owner that's getting into it. Think about it that way. I mean, it's, it's and it's not easy. Right, it's not easy because it's obviously takes brain power to do that and it's easier to do certain things or fall into the place where you know I'd rather do this instead. Right, and you know, and nobody wants to face the fact that they're mortal, right, and so you have to really be conscious of where you're at in your life and make a concerted effort to include that on the checklist. You know it's something. Nobody it's. It's important.

Speaker 1:

It is.

Speaker 2:

Especially if you, if you have a family.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

It's probably more so if you have a family. If you're a single guy, you could do whatever you want, that's true, that's true.

Speaker 1:

But you know, down the road, I mean that that could also change, right, and so you know, if you've got our family, responsibilities could be to, like, you know, our wife, our kids. If it's a business that has employees, you have a responsibility to employees, right. And then if you didn't set up the business properly, where it now can't function without you and that business now folds, now not only are all those families that you're, you employ, are out of a job and they're confused. Now if you didn't set it up, where your family knows your wife knows your husband knows, your kids know something and and they're part of that plan, how does it continue? Right, and, and we were talking off camera and I think you attended like an event and and you shared something. I don't know if you mind talking about it here, but you shared a surprise that you were surprised at that. Some of the businesses didn't have that like succession plan or something like that.

Speaker 2:

right, I think a majority of business don't have a succession plan. It just, it just might be culture. I don't. I don't. I'd never understood that maybe and and there were not young people that you know in the process of building a business. They were established business people who work on other businesses, who see what can happen and they haven't taken the time to see what they could do with with their own businesses and that was a really that's. I was just astonished with that. I was just surprised how many people are in that situation where they yeah, yeah, I mean that's right there.

Speaker 1:

It's kind of it's.

Speaker 2:

I don't know if it's an opportunity for somebody to really cut it.

Speaker 1:

You know, go into that Probably you know, right, yeah.

Speaker 2:

It's people don't realize how important you are.

Speaker 1:

I guess, yeah, you know, I think we probably downplay ourselves a lot.

Speaker 2:

You know, maybe it's just a personality thing and we have to realize that we are important to others. You know, and it's not to to boast or anything like that, but it's people we are important to others. It's just it just is. You don't realize it, I don't realize it, I still don't right. I just kind of play it cool.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, no.

Speaker 2:

People reach out to you, like you know, they'll say something that I said probably you know years before and that impacted what they do now Right. And when I started doing training for, let's say, the New York State Marathon, right. And so today is people like it's because of you I started running. Like, really, who knows?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean, you're making a really really good point and you're actually sending me like to a bunch of different places right now.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's not good. That's not good, no it is good because you know. Stay focused, Stay focused right.

Speaker 1:

I know 80D, 80d, whatever it is.

Speaker 2:

I know I probably took tangents already. I know I know.

Speaker 1:

But it gets to the point. It's true, in life we never really know the extent of the impact around us, right? Whether it be just a simple conversation at a restaurant to our waitress and we just say something that's kind we don't know that impact because we leave that moment right. And even with employees like I've got employees, you got employees right and sometimes we get into our routines and we forget the impact we're actually making on that employee's family by providing them a job and creating in a good culture and a good working environment. But you're right, people rely on us and I have not really thought about that until right now, the way you're articulating it, and it's so true that's terrible.

Speaker 2:

I don't articulate that much.

Speaker 1:

Did you know that you were that wise?

Speaker 2:

No, you wanna talk about someone wise. It's my dad. Oh, is that right, my dad. He has the best I need to record him.

Speaker 1:

Is that?

Speaker 2:

right, I need to record him Because I would say this maybe I didn't realize it when I was young, but as I get older, just sitting down with him and having dinner with him or anything like that and thank God he's still around, my mom's still around, my wife's parents are still around and we get to hang out with them. So this weekend was Chinese New Year, right, so we got to hang out with them a little bit and just having him say some of the things that he says normal people wouldn't say, but he just says it from the heart and it's funny.

Speaker 1:

It's hilarious.

Speaker 2:

I always laugh because I figure like who the heck would say something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, but he, you know, he he he, he says whatever he wants, Is that right?

Speaker 1:

Not not? Not mean, so do you get your humor from him. Yeah, I think so, yeah, okay.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because I, you know, I have to find something funny.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean it could be the worst thing in the world. Like I said before, you know, talking to the doctors is so serious about it, and it's a serious thing, because you have to respond with the way they have to respond.

Speaker 2:

And I try and think of like things to say that would just have them like pause.

Speaker 1:

And like.

Speaker 2:

I try to make them smile, of course.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 2:

And my, my wife's on the corner. You know making notes, I'm like what? The hell are you doing? She doesn't share your humor. No, no. So whenever, when she's taking the notes and I asked those questions and the doctors like trying to be a straight face and trying to answer, and my wife's like after we leave, she's like what kind of crazy questions are you asking? I'm like I really want to know. I just yeah, cause it's out of left field. Yeah, and something that's always in my head, like I'm trying to figure out.

Speaker 2:

like different things, Like okay, what about this?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I play it. You. You approach it like you're playing a game of chess. You got to figure out. Yeah, right. So if I'm playing chess right, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Try to figure out like 10 moves ahead.

Speaker 1:

Right.

Speaker 2:

So I'm asking questions that part in no way else has asked them.

Speaker 1:

Right because you're already yeah, yeah, I got it. That's a good thing and a bad thing, cause you're, because I'm going down that rabbit hole sometimes you know, you don't know when to stop and at some point you just don't.

Speaker 2:

you got no one to pull back and say okay, this is what I got.

Speaker 1:

Right. Now I got taken in Right, right, right right, 100% Taking in. All right, I'll close this out. Two more questions. We can spend a lot of time here, by the way, you've got amazing stories. But two more questions. One I'm going to pull a random question that someone gave, so I had recently posted. I'm like, hey, I'm going to be interviewing some people. What are some questions you want to ask? So you're going to be in the hot seat. It's going to be a random question that I'm going to pick.

Speaker 2:

I know, I saw that post. Oh, you did All right.

Speaker 1:

So you're going to get a random question that someone has all right, sure, you want to hear the answer. Oh, everyone, are you kidding me? Oh boy, it's not going to be no eats, it's going to be no talks, that's going to be your next show?

Speaker 2:

Oh boy, you want me to. Yeah, that's not going to be. We'll see in six months from now.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Before we get that, we'll close with that one, though, is I would like, if you don't mind, just again some vulnerable sort of moment here.

Speaker 2:

It's a polite.

Speaker 1:

What's that? It's a polite. Oh listen, I'm trying to be sensitive here and whatever you're comfortable with is fine.

Speaker 2:

I'm on open books, I know.

Speaker 1:

But for someone either that may have recently received similar news about their health, like you did, or they're not, and they should be planning for something. One of the most dangerous things in life is not knowing what we don't know and not planning for that. So, if you don't want to talk to them right now, if they're an entrepreneur, what should entrepreneurs be doing for their business and for the future of their business that maybe they're not doing right now, like based at listen? You've got a lot of things you've done and I think people are gonna respect because you've got a successful primary business. You got a not-for-profit. You've got your YouTube channel. You're doing a lot of things that I think people are interested in and what should else? What's the one thing that people are not doing that they should be doing right now?

Speaker 2:

That's a long question. That's a very deep one, right Deep one yeah, but I think I'll take a few hours to explain.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think it's so important though.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it is important. I think it's taking time. I would try to consolidate all that. I would take a moment to know where you're at, be very clear in what you want to put out in the world. Try to experience as much as possible. But more importantly, I would say, like know your priorities. Be very clear on your priorities in terms of what you want to do, and that's important.

Speaker 2:

Building a business is good I don't know if it's that important right? Obviously you want to have the first health. You can't do anything without that. You want people to support you, right? Believe that you could do it. Right? There's so many different things where we get distracted on the day to day, and day to day could mean a lot for different people, whether it's doing an Excel spreadsheet, which I tend to do sometimes, trying to understand the data. I mean, data is great and it kind of gives you direction to where to go, but it doesn't give you the right, the exact answer to do. But there's a lot of things that you want to consolidate, like, basically, what's important at the end of the day what is really important to you and then work backwards Like if it's important that you.

Speaker 2:

Unfortunately there's a lot of people get divorced, right, and they don't realize how important that might be. Maybe it's good to get divorced. But I would say, if you're going to go into that arrangement getting married and doing all that stuff you want to make sure that's. If that's important to you, just make sure that you take time to realize that you have to do certain things and it's not. You can't have to integrate life.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Right, it's integration right. What's important should be integrated not just it's a business, not just it's family life or my kids or something. It's kind of like everything's. It's one question. Sure, it's one. It's one. It's a universal answer to the question right Right right 42. Right. So you have to figure out like, what's what you want in that equation?

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes.

Speaker 2:

And it's not an easy thing to, it's not an easy thing to articulate, or it's not an easy thing to understand or realize. I think it might have to take some time out of your day. Just a few moments maybe Sure. And it doesn't have to be every day. But once in a while. You should probably take time out of the day and say, okay, just reset and see what's really important at what you really need in the big picture. That is great advice.

Speaker 2:

So I think a lot of people don't look at the 42,000 foot view of what needs to be done and everybody gets caught up in the controlling the levers 100%, because we have a little bit control over that.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

So you could say, oh, let's change the camera view.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, it's true. Which one's better? Yeah, that one, yes.

Speaker 2:

All right, there we go, hot ones, and so it's something that I don't know if I'd articulate as best I can. It always comes down to what's important, I think, and realizing that, taking the time to realize that it is important. I think people think, a lot of people put a lot of things that are important, that they think it was important but it truly is not.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, right.

Speaker 2:

How many gas cards do you need? Right, it's so true you know we need that.

Speaker 1:

You know what we need, that reminder of truly what is important, because we distract ourselves with things and ultimately, at the end of the day, it's easy to get distracted.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I mean, there's a lot of stuff that nowadays is you get very distracted. Oh gosh, yeah, so it's crazy.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I don't know how we did it. I mean, we did it. It was easier for us, I think because we didn't have so many distractions as much Right? Well, that's true A lot of things. And I mean, all we had was two channels, three channels.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I know, I know, I know. Now the options are endless. Yeah, All right, so final question, hot seed question polling the audience here.

Speaker 2:

Who won? Who won? Who won the question? Yeah?

Speaker 1:

So the question that I am going to ask you here there's a couple actually really good ones that I think you'd be perfect for.

Speaker 2:

I'll make it easy Do my softball.

Speaker 1:

You know we've got some political ones.

Speaker 2:

Let's stay away from political ones. I'm not so with the political ones, right yeah, I really don't get involved with that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Because for me, it's a time crunch. Yeah, I don't want to go down that rabbit hole where I'm like. I have no control over that Right. I have total no control over that.

Speaker 1:

That's a great point, actually, it's true.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's just simple as that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the question that I'm going to pick actually for you to answer. This is submitted by Kevin Kevin M. I'll say I'm not going to say his last name. I didn't necessarily get his permission to say his last name, so I'll say Kevin.

Speaker 2:

M let's guess. Yeah, I'll look it up later.

Speaker 1:

Rawl, there you go so.

Speaker 2:

Kevin, thanks, kevin.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Kevin M asked should Long Island become a state?

Speaker 2:

Oh boy, I saw that question.

Speaker 1:

Did you really?

Speaker 2:

Yes, I did, I saw that question and do I think it's kind of political, it's semi-political.

Speaker 1:

So should it? It's a safe political question. Though you think it's safe, I think it's safe, I don't know about that I don't know about that. You got to branch off from New York. Let me think about that.

Speaker 2:

Should it branch, let's say become the 51st state?

Speaker 1:

OK, yeah, I mean upstate is different than Long Island.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so I look at Long Island as a great place to live.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I look at Long Island as a great has a strong tourism. It has some industry that is applicable across the nation.

Speaker 2:

It's very smart. We have very good school districts, smart people. At the same time, it comes at a cost. It's very expensive to live here, very expensive, it's very expensive to live here. There are a lot of people leaving. So I look at it as like how do we make sure we stay relevant and important to people to stay? If we become our own state, we'll probably have a lot more people leave. Oh, interesting, that's an interesting perspective.

Speaker 2:

I think a lot of people leave because it's just going to be way too expensive. I think there's a lot of people.

Speaker 1:

OK.

Speaker 2:

And I'm going to help flounder and get hate mail, but I think a lot of people in Long Island are very let's put it politely. How about this Stubborn? I've grown up with Long Island being NIMBY.

Speaker 1:

Not in my backyard, ok.

Speaker 2:

Like if you put something that's good for the community, somebody's going to say, no, ok, right, yeah. So I think we're kind of a little bit it's a great place, but at the same time we're a little bit closed to the rest of the country. Yeah, and it's not good. I mean, we're very closely, like look at it this way and a lot of people still work in the city, yeah. So I don't know how you separate that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's true. I mean so geographically. I think if we're getting technical here, I would say NASA and Suffolk.

Speaker 2:

County. Ok, right, yeah. So technically, if I look at Long Island, I mean I look at places that if they have some kind of, they could create jobs. Yeah Right, I don't know if we could create that many jobs here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean, well, you've got some industry parks and this you know, but you're right, because it's so expensive.

Speaker 2:

In a lot of the we don't attract those big corporations. Yeah, a lot of the industry parks are headquarters.

Speaker 1:

That's a great point.

Speaker 2:

That's actually a great point. We're not manufacturers. Yeah, we're not making that much. We're maybe warehousing stuff. Yes, that's a great point.

Speaker 1:

We're not making that much stuff. I think that question comes, though, from the fact that, like, as far as population wise like I don't remember what the stat is, but like, if you compare Long Island population to some of the other states, like we're one of the top, like 12 states, as far as population.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly, and that's where that question comes from yeah, ok, I understand that State population wise. Yeah, I mean, you know we have a lot of people here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean we're larger than.

Speaker 2:

Rhode Island, but like do I want Long Island as managing Long Island Expressway?

Speaker 1:

Ooh, you know right, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know we really have problems with that route.

Speaker 1:

That's true. You know that road, that's true.

Speaker 2:

And we have issues with that.

Speaker 1:

I mean, we have issues with the train station you know everything All right.

Speaker 2:

Infrastructure's not as uh could be better.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So Noah says no. No too, I don't think so he's voting no for Long Island being a state. We get a lot of benefits from the city. Yeah, that's true, you know not, even though there's a lot of issues with the city as well.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, all right.

Speaker 1:

So I'm going to actually I'm going to add one more question here, because you know it's not every day you get to bonus question, Bonus question, yeah, we don't get to necessarily sit down with a real expert in pizza.

Speaker 2:

So since I have since I have you, I'm taking advantage of this.

Speaker 1:

I'm taking advantage of the fact that I have the world's leading expert. I'm going to call you Sultan Pizza Guy.

Speaker 2:

Ok, the Sultan of Pizza. Sultan of Pizza, yeah, sultan of Pizza. My friend up in Connecticut is the Polish Pizza Pope.

Speaker 1:

Is that right? Well, you're the Sultan. You've had a lot of pizza Too much, too much. So I need to know, everyone needs to know, because you're the only one that I know of that has the experience to actually back up this statement Right, because everyone would be like, oh, my pizzeria is the best.

Speaker 2:

You've only had one pizzeria. How do you know? I've had people complain to me that what I say is wrong.

Speaker 1:

Well listen, it's a very subjective thing.

Speaker 2:

How can I say that?

Speaker 1:

But all right. So right now, here and now, this is 2024 people and we've got Noah in studio. He's going to let us know what is the best pizza that you've ever had. Name it and claim it.

Speaker 2:

On Long Island, or ever, ever, ever. Yes, ok, I rated this on one of my videos and I'll tell you why I liked it.

Speaker 1:

OK.

Speaker 2:

Because it reminds me back when my dad had the restaurant. It was a pizzeria next door all the village pizzeria.

Speaker 1:

OK.

Speaker 2:

And it was simple Dough sauce cheese very simple and was thin Crispy when it came out of the oven. It wasn't too charred, and this particular pizza reminds me of that, and it's Joe's pizza in New York City.

Speaker 1:

Oh, all right, I've had that actually. So I that's famous at least it is it is.

Speaker 2:

It's probably more tourist trap.

Speaker 1:

But even though it so.

Speaker 2:

There's nostalgia there as well A little bit, but I would say I've gone to new places, I've gone to you know it doesn't matter. Yeah, If I were to choose one slice, it would be that.

Speaker 1:

It would be that one. Yeah, it would be that one, ok.

Speaker 2:

You know, there's a bunch of places out in here in Long Island, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, joe's pizzeria.

Speaker 1:

Isn't that the pizzeria that they reference in?

Speaker 2:

Elf, they reference that one in Spider-Man.

Speaker 1:

Is it Spider-Man? Spider-man? Ok, all right, so Joe's pizzeria.

Speaker 2:

There you have it.

Speaker 1:

So everyone who's listening in from around the world watching us now. Everyone knows Joe's pizzeria in Manhattan is the best pizza in the world.

Speaker 2:

Give me the royalty checks.

Speaker 1:

Make it payable to him. Yeah, so listen, Noah. Thank you so much for coming out.

Speaker 2:

Oh, thank you for inviting me.

Speaker 1:

Oh, absolutely, this has been a blast. You're hilarious and, honestly, you are a wealth of knowledge you really are and the fact that you're willing to just sort of like freely share it, you know, it's really nice, it's refreshing.

Speaker 2:

I do my best, yeah, so I appreciate it. So thank you. My wife will appreciate it. She'll be like what are you doing?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, giving away all the secrets, oh my goodness. Well, listen, we're definitely going to have to have you back as a follow-up episode. And listen, we wish you nothing but the best. We want you healthy. We want you to get better. We know this treatment is going to work for you and the next time you come on the show, you're going to be like oh, we're good, we're good, everything's gone.

Speaker 2:

Thank, God, treatment works right, so that's what we're hoping for. That's a great thing about newer technology. It would have been like probably not now. That's true, that's it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so tell everyone. Where can they find you, where can they learn more about your businesses, where can they follow you and subscribe? Give all those channels. You don't want that.

Speaker 2:

Endorse away my friend, go for it, oh boy. So you can enjoy seeing my videos on NoEats. Just YouTube it, just Google it. You can also visit cwqualitycom that's my medical supply company, if you needed some products for your business. And then lightningwarsorg. So we have our youth triathlon on September 15th this year and AIM Bay from no adults you can't race. From 7 to 17 can come down and race, and before that we have our practices that you come down and enjoy Learning a sport. It's a lifetime thing you can do for the rest of your lives and I'm really excited to see more kids do it, yeah. So Awesome.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for sharing, my friend. Thank you. Everyone needs to go check out his stuff 100%. I want everyone to subscribe to his YouTube channel. It is great because not only is he doing all the work and eating all the pizza for you guys. Thank you too much too much.

Speaker 2:

I would love to share it with everybody. Having this diagnosis, I have been working on as much.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

So I have to curve back a little bit OK, but getting back into the routine.

Speaker 1:

So the pizza is staying in a little bit longer, it's a little bit longer than normally would, but I want to.

Speaker 2:

just I got to burn it off a little bit more there you go. I mean, I had to cancel some races too, and I won't go do some races this year, yeah. But we'll see next year.

Speaker 1:

We'll see how it happens after the summer. Right, there you go. All right, well, go subscribe to his channel. Everyone, let's support him and his journey and let's definitely wish him the best as he heals up because you're going to heal up, my friends, All right. Thanks again for joining us. Guys, as always, don't fear the process and don't fear grit. We'll see you next time.

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Career Transition and Technology's Impact
Creating a Legacy and Succession Plan
Prioritizing What Truly Matters in Life
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