Leonard Heflich's Secret Sauce: A Blend of Innovation and Determination

Get ready to unearth the power of innovation with Leonard Heflich, the founder of Innovation for Success LLC, and the man behind the lives-changing C60 product. Leonard, with his rich and diverse background in chemistry, writing, and entrepreneurship, offers unique insights on how creating unique and hard-to-replicate products through continuous innovation can lead to surprising results. We also get a peek into his newest literary work, "Live as Long as you Dare," where he discusses the profound impact of vision on health and longevity.

Stepping into the second part of our conversation, we turn the spotlight on Leonard’s reverence for questions and the potential they hold in opening up new avenues. We delve into his mantra of breaking down your aspirations into manageable microsteps, something he beautifully encapsulates through James Dean's quote, "Live like you're going to die tomorrow, dream like you're going to live forever." We also invite you to join us as we explore Leonard's world of literature, his fondness for timeless classics, and his eclectic taste in music.

This episode is also a testament to Leonard's resilience and determination. Hear firsthand about the personal hurdles he faced and how he transformed them into opportunities. We wrap up the episode discussing his C60 product and its potential healing capabilities, and Leonard's future plans, which include wanting to ensure the success of his projects and leaving a lasting legacy. So, if you're curious about innovation, personal growth, overcoming adversity, or the healing potential of unique products, this episode is just for you.

About Leonard W. Heflich:
Leonard W. Heflich is an Innovator, writer, inventor, Baker and business founder.

Connect with Leonard:
Website antioxskincream.com
biomebaking.com
Book on Amazon a.co/d/7wkjfdW
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/leonard-heflich-38a629b
Instagram instagram.com/lenheflich 

This episode is brought to you by the book, “Live as Long as You Dare! A Journey to Gain Healthy, Vibrant Years” by Leonard W. Heflich.  Available on Amazon, makes a great gift!

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Transcript

Announcer: 0:00

860 AM, philadelphia NWPEN, hd2, burlington, philadelphia, entrepreneur, author and financial consultant, Marc Bernstein helps high-performing entrepreneurial business owners create a vision for the future and follow through on their goals and intentions. Ang Onorato is a business growth strategist who blend psychology and business together to create conscious leaders and business owners who impact the world. Founders Forum is a radio show podcast sharing the real stories behind entrepreneurship as founders discover more about themselves, while providing valuable lessons and some fun and entertainment for you. Now here's Marc and Ang.

Marc Bernstein: 0:43

Good morning America. This is Marc. Ang is not here today. Ang got stranded on a plane and one of our bylines on the show is Roll With the Punches. So here we are this morning, and I'm thinking about several things this morning to start out our show and, by the way, I love the station ID. There's like a 1950s WWDB AM ID that comes on, followed by a modern one, and I thought, wow, that's kind of the history of radio all there in like 10 seconds, kind of cool.

Marc Bernstein: 1:18

You won't all hear this on the podcast, but we are live on the radio in Philadelphia and I'm going to introduce our guest in a minute. I'll tell you his name now it's Leonard Heflich and I'll give you a formal introduction in a minute. But I'm going to bring him right into our conversation because what he is about, as you'll see in a minute, and what I like to be about as well, in many ways and many things that I'm doing in my life, is the word innovation. So I've been thinking about innovation a lot and, just to start off the conversation, I've got a couple of quotes around innovation that I'd like to mention and, leonard, I'd like to get your input on those quotes, which maybe I'll read you a few of them, telling me which one you like best, and then I know you have some thoughts of your own and we'll get into it. Then we'll back up, I'll introduce you and we'll have a robust conversation. I know so innovation is taking two things that exist and putting them together in a new way. That was Tom Freston, who is, of all things, co-founder of MTV, and I know a lot about that story so I know exactly what he's talking about there.

Marc Bernstein: 2:29

Another one the value of an idea lies in the using of it. Pretty common one. That's from Thomas Edison, who's one of the great innovators of the last you know, 100 years or more. Innovation is the unrelenting drive to break the status quo and develop a new where few have dared to go. That's from Steve Jeff's, marketing expert. And the last one is creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things. So I like all those. Leonard. What do you think?

Leonard Heflich: 3:03

Well, I think that innovation often is incremental and every innovation builds on the prior innovation and, after a sequence of multiple innovations that you may discover in your work, you get to the end of that line after you know five or six innovations and you'll find yourself in a place that you could not have ever predicted you would get to. The other thing is what I like to coach people on is when you do innovate or create a new product that worked in product development for a long time. You want to create a product that someone else is going to have a really hard time copying, and one way to do that is a multiple set of innovations. I like to tell people that anyone can figure out and reverse engineer one innovation, two, a smart person, three, an expert, four or five. Almost no one can do it easily.

Marc Bernstein: 4:02

I love that. That's great, by the way, in terms of your things innovate, innovate, innovate and then next thing you know you'll be somewhere you didn't know you would be. I can use a quick example I think I mentioned to you earlier. If you had told me a year ago I would be doing a radio show podcast on interviewing founders of businesses, I would have said you're crazy. But you know, because of, in this case, the pandemic and a lot of things, ways I had to create, recreate myself. Some of them worked. Some of them didn't work so well, but it brought me here something I totally didn't expect. So I completely understand that and I could point to others, and I'm sure, as we get into your story, you have examples of that as well.

Marc Bernstein: 4:46

So let me introduce Leonard for real. So he is the founder of innovation for success LLC, and that is what he does he innovates. He's a chemist by background. He worked for many years for Beambo USA, the international bakery company. He has four patents on products regarding products soluble antioxidants. They're soluble in food and one of those led to, I believe, one of his, one of his current businesses, which is the biome bakery, and I had the pleasure of tasting his bagels the other day, delicious, by the way, and very delicious and very nutritious, packed with nutrients, packed with fiber, all kinds of good stuff. And if you, if you looked at. So, to sum it up, he's a writer, coach, teacher, with more than 40 years of experience in the food industry. He's a visionary with a passion for developing future leaders.

Marc Bernstein: 5:45

So, and the things he's interested in, the first one that I'm going to mention is leadership. So his new book is called Live as Long as you Dare, a journey to gain healthy, vibrant years which will help you achieve and enjoy a longer life. I've got that one on my reading list, I just got it the other day and I'll be reading that one first. Obviously, nutrition is a second area, innovation, which we've already mentioned, and prayer is the fourth one. So, regarding those other areas, he has another book called Balance Leadership, another book called United in Prayer, and that's a lot. I want to take a breath. So, leonard, tell us about your journey, your own journey, so your journey to you know, your book quotes the word journey, and we all know and I know, you saw it and I say this all the time too success is not a destination, it's a journey. So tell us about your journey, how you got to where you are today, from your humble beginnings or whatever they are, and then we'll talk about the present, and then we'll talk about the future.

Leonard Heflich: 6:49

Well, it would be inaccurate for me to say I had a vision and knew where I was going to go, because I didn't. What I did do is start out with a good, solid education. I wanted to become a chemist, so I got a degree in chemistry and then went on to get a degree in operations, research, statistics, which was tremendous, and then I basically took opportunities as they came along. I wasn't terribly picky. I like to tell people you know, don't look for a job that you love. Love the job you have. And the other thing I tell people is always do more than you're expected to do. You'll create opportunities for yourself, for the rest of your career. And I emphasize the word career, because the journey is a career which I differentiate from a job I have lots of.

Leonard Heflich: 7:40

I have had lots of jobs, but in every job I ever had, I always made a point of learning as much as I could and asking questions, even if I had the stupid idea that I'm never going to need to know this in the future. Well, that's a very wrong thought, because what I have learned is that everything you learn sometimes will be useful. You can't predict when, but it will happen. So therefore, don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to learn anything. Learn everything you can. If there's an expert in the area, go seek that person out and spend some time. If you ask an expert for help, they'll almost always say yes, and if they say no, they're the wrong person. Go find somebody else.

Marc Bernstein: 8:27

By the way, I don't want to interrupt, but you're retired from your careers. Officially, your jobs were careers, but having said that and you're always learning it's clear to me you're a life long learner, a lifetime learner, which I am as well, and that's one of the things that really encouraged me to want to have you on the show. We're all about looking to the future, looking to innovation, looking to. I've shared some of my experiences with that and you've shared some of yours, and we'll talk more about yours. So you completed your career at Beambo and what happened from there?

Leonard Heflich: 9:04

Well, I retired, and I've been retired now for about seven years. I'm not ready to retire by any means. So people tell me I'm not retired, I'm rewired.

Marc Bernstein: 9:14

I like that. I say you're also refired. I can see you're fired up. I like that.

Leonard Heflich: 9:19

Absolutely, so I work as hard now Retire aspire.

Marc Bernstein: 9:22

I know you still aspire too.

Leonard Heflich: 9:23

Absolutely Always aspire, always have a vision, always have something to do. I tell people that the worst day ever is going to be a day I wake up and say there's nothing to do.

Announcer: 9:35

Well, I don't have that problem.

Leonard Heflich: 9:36

I have lots to do every day and kind of build on what you were just talking about. I've made kind of a career out of asking questions, okay, and I always tell people there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers. So don't be afraid to ask questions. You know, we used to say that the most important question was why. I think today, the most important question is why not? And be open to possibilities. So one of my favorite questions that I ask in innovation is what is there that you cannot do? But if you could, it would change everything. Basically, kick the doors out, think bigger and in my book, live as Long as you Dare.

Leonard Heflich: 10:20

I talk about. You know, how do we live longer and healthier? I asked the question would you live differently today If you knew you were going to live another 50 years? Now I'm 70 years old. So my daughter looks at me, you know, rather escance when I suggest I might live another 50 years, and then she looks at what I'm doing and then she gets scared because she thinks I might actually do it. I love it, that's great.

Marc Bernstein: 10:48

Well, I think it's a tremendous thing to be able to scare your adult children. That's a good value to bring with you. For the rest, of your life. So there's a lot you have going on. I just mentioned four areas that you're involved in and three books. Which would you like to if we were to expand on what you're doing right now? Which one would you like to use as an illustration that best describes where you are today? Well, I guess, live as Long as you Dare.

Leonard Heflich: 11:17

I mean, I love all my books. They're all. I think they're all pretty good, in fact, better than pretty good. I think they're outstanding. Live as Long as you Dare is different from any book you will read Before we're done. We'll tell people where they can get those books as well.

Marc Bernstein: 11:28

Sure, they're on Amazon, all of them, all of them good, so it's easy to find Just you just look up my book.

Leonard Heflich: 11:33

So it's easy to find. Just you, just look up my name and you'll get those books.

Marc Bernstein: 11:39

Let me repeat it real quick Balance leadership, united in prayer, and live as long as you dare a journey to gain healthy, vibrant years all on Amazon.

Leonard Heflich: 11:48

They're all on Amazon, and that's a talk about innovation. I had published the books myself over the years and had a very difficult time promoting them Amazon. You can, you know, publish your book on Amazon for nothing. It's free. It literally took me an hour.

Marc Bernstein: 12:10

OK, now I have to tell them about my book, the physical therapy solution 1.0. Also on Amazon, I did the same thing. Go ahead.

Leonard Heflich: 12:19

So, anyway, the world today is so open and you can do almost anything Now, that in itself creates a problem because it's paralyzing. We have so many options, so many avenues we can take. It can be paralyzing, so you have to focus. And that's where I come down to vision, and Marc and you and I have talked about the need for vision. Well, vision is important not only in leaders two leaders and leadership. It's also important in your health and your longevity. You have to have a vision for where you want to be in one year, two years, five years, maybe even 20 or more, and the reason is because it will change the way you live today. One of my favorite quotes is James Dean. He's kind of a chilling quote. Considering his fate, he said live like you're going to die tomorrow. Dream like you're going to live forever.

Marc Bernstein: 13:18

That's amazing, it's great and, by the way, I think it's a difference of you know, creating the life you want, you happening to life or life happening to you. And I think too many people that are sleep if you will or not awake anyway, are just sort of living their life. And I talk to people about this every day say, whatever happens happens. I don't know what my health will be like and you totally can't control everything necessarily about your health, there's genetics and other things but you certainly, as you say, can create a vision, create a plan and dream around.

Marc Bernstein: 13:53

And I mean, one of the things I talked about in my book is when I was a kid, my father used to tell me you're a dreamer, and it was like and I don't think he meant it as a compliment you know your head's out in the clouds, and but I realized later maybe that's not what he meant. What I realized about it is it's great to have dreams. That's where vision begins, but then you have to have substance behind it, you have to have steps, you have to have an action plan, you have to have deadlines to give yourself and so, but it starts with a vision. To emphasize your point.

Leonard Heflich: 14:25

And you got to break it down into little pieces that are manageable, so it's not daunting overwhelming.

Marc Bernstein: 14:31

Microsteps. They're calling them now.

Leonard Heflich: 14:33

Neil Armstrong said there are three kinds of people in the world those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who ask what happened? Right, that's a great quote.

Marc Bernstein: 14:45

We could just do quotes all day, we could have a lot of fun with this.

Leonard Heflich: 14:48

Well, I've been collecting them for years.

Marc Bernstein: 14:51

So actually this is a very good time to take a quick break so you can hear a little bit more about Leonard's activity in our commercial, and we'll be back on Founders Forum in a minute.

Leonard Heflich: 15:03

My name is Leonard W Heflich . I'm a writer, innovator, coach, teacher with more than 40 years of experience in the food industry. I consider myself to be a visionary with a passion for developing future leaders. My new book, live as Long as you Dare A Journey To Gain Healthy, vibrant Years, will help you to achieve and enjoy a longer life. Learn to make small changes in your lifestyle and keep them for the rest of your life. Every journey begins with the first step. It's never too early to start or too late. In order for it to happen, you must dare. This book makes it easy and fun to start the journey to better health. Live as Long as you Dare a journey to gain healthy, vibrant years. Available on Amazon, and it makes a great gift.

Marc Bernstein: 15:51

Leonard, you got a great radio voice. Now that I heard your commercial, want to come in and do some more ads for us. It was great, hey. So let's talk about. Any success comes with challenges and obstacles, so talk about some that you've had along the way. I'm sure there's obstacles you've run into in terms of getting through your career and through some of the innovations the last few years. You talked a little bit about book promotion. That was a challenge and I can relate to that one. What kind of things have you faced and how did you deal with them?

Leonard Heflich: 16:24

Well, challenges come in at least two different flavors, you know, positive and negative. And I've had a lot of negative ones, like losing a job a year after my wife and I got married and bought a house. That was pretty rough. Yep, I happened to 1982. You may remember that was a very bad time economically Very high inflation, very high interest rates. We bought our house at 13 percent interest, so you know seven. Today looks kind of kind of good as a financial guy.

Marc Bernstein: 16:57

I'm glad you bring that up, because people think, oh, we're in such a terrible interest rate environment Right now. We're really at around average interest rates over history. Exactly. People lose perspective.

Leonard Heflich: 17:07

I like that. Keep it in perspective. How did the fed raise the prime rate in 1981? The answer is 24 percent. Wow, we're at five. Yeah, it's a whole different world. But anyway that was a big challenge. That was a negative one. Okay, I overcame that. I found another job and actually that's how I got into the baking industry. I had no goal, ever, no preconception that I was ever going to be a baker. I'm a chemist, okay Analytical chemist, product development chemist.

Marc Bernstein: 17:40

And okay. So from challenge one challenge comes an opportunity.

Leonard Heflich: 17:45

Yeah, that's the first, the headhunter who got me my previous job and that's the company I folded during the recession. He kept calling me just to keep me in good spirits and he called the one day and said hey, lenny, I have a job in the bakery, in product development. He says I know you don't know anything about either of those. Do you know anybody who does? Well, after I finished a long list of invectives, I said please, al, get me that job interview.

Leonard Heflich: 18:13

That's great he did, and I convinced him that I could learn how to bake and kind of like they say, the rest is history. So that was turning a negative into a positive. And you have to do that always Persistence, patience, you know. Basically I don't give up. People know me. I never, ever give up. Another favorite quote from Will Rogers. He says try, try, try again and then give up. Don't make a damn fool yourself. People don't know that.

Marc Bernstein: 18:44

Second part Right, there is a good time sometimes to give up. By the way, I need to attest again to your bakery skills because your bagels are delicious and nutritious and the biome bakery. Look them up, get them while you can. I know you're not plugging them, but I need to say that because I've been looking for the perfect bagel and this one's very close, so anyway, so that challenge. Anything else that comes to mind about challenges.

Leonard Heflich: 19:16

Oh, retiring and realizing I'm not going to sit home and do nothing. I can't, I would kill me. I don't watch TV, I don't play golf. I love to read. So I've done quite a bit of reading. I've gone back and read a lot of the classics and the one. Some way you want to talk about favorite books, and one of my favorite books of all time, believe it or not, is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley the original.

Marc Bernstein: 19:43

Frankenstein.

Leonard Heflich: 19:44

The cartoon character that we know is nothing at all like the book that she wrote.

Marc Bernstein: 19:50

Spectacular I understand. I've never read that, so I'm going to take that. In fact, I'm going to try to put that on my list. Now I'm looking for more like anti-C reading and in a couple of weeks I'm seeing a version in Swarthmore at a local theater of young Frankenstein, the Mel Brooks production Featuring Glenn Mac. Now A lot of people know him as a local sportscaster. He's got playing Gene Hackman's part in young Frankenstein, so he's a friend of ours through a common investment, so we're going out to see it.

Leonard Heflich: 20:21

Well, if you want to get scared, read Dracula, the original by Bram I'm going to forget his name now.

Announcer: 20:30

Anyway, the original.

Leonard Heflich: 20:31

Again, it's a book written like in 1830, 1840, so there's no cars in it.

Marc Bernstein: 20:36

It's all horses and buggies. None in Frankenstein either.

Leonard Heflich: 20:41

No, not in Frankenstein either. He doesn't say anything. That's really scary, but the way he builds the concepts is incredible and it will scare you.

Marc Bernstein: 20:55

Believe it or not, time flies on this show. We only have about 7.5 minutes left. I want to ask you, leonard, about your vision for the future. I like to ask it this way If this were December of 2026 and we're looking back on the last three years, what would have to happen in your life and your life vision? What would you have accomplished for you to look back on that period and say that was a successful three year period in my life?

Leonard Heflich: 21:24

Well, my goal for the next three years is to help get my projects to be a success. I have a lot of projects, so certainly my books and my Carbon 60 innovation. That has a lot of opportunity to improve and develop it has the capability.

Leonard Heflich: 21:46

That's the most important thing in the future. I have a partner and we've been working on that for the past four years and we're making progress lately finally. So that's all good. If I can look back over my life and say, hey, I contributed, I helped people, I helped develop people, I'll be satisfied.

Marc Bernstein: 22:20

Nice, very good. So that also covers two questions your future vision and also your legacy. We have some fun questions we like to ask, and you've talked a little bit about books. I might ask you more about that if we have time. But we've talked a little bit about music and, like me, you have eclectic tastes. What is your if you had to name your favorite pieces of music or songs? Let me know some that come to mind.

Leonard Heflich: 22:46

Well, the way I've heard the question asked is if you were going to be stranded on a desert island, what records or albums would you want to have with you? My number one would be Mozart Requiem that gives me the chills every time I listen to it. Miles Davis almost any of his records, but Kind of Blue is just a masterpiece. And Rolling Stones you know Sticky Fingers and your favorite song on that album?

Marc Bernstein: 23:19

same as mine.

Leonard Heflich: 23:20

My favorite song on that album is Can't you Hear Me Knocking. I love that song. I love the saxophone solo and it. Just. That gives me chills. And you know Pink Floyd Comfortably Numb. When I get in the down mood I'll turn that up really high and that's it. I'm back.

Marc Bernstein: 23:40

I am mine for many, many years and I've never rethought. The answer was the Temptation's Greatest Hits I grew up with. I love soul, motel music, that's, etc. But the double album version. I figured if I they didn't specify single or double album, so I figured I could get more songs that way and songs that always make me happy to listen to.

Leonard Heflich: 24:01

Well, I have grandkids and I'm a little concerned that they are not exposed to the music that we know or were, so I started making a list of songs that I consider to be perfect, literally you cannot change a note.

Marc Bernstein: 24:18

I'm going to ask you to share that. So, Janice.

Leonard Heflich: 24:19

Joplin To Love Somebody. Bobby McGee, mamas and the Pappas. California Dreaming Dream, a Little Dream, rolling Stones, sympathy for the Devil. Can't you Hear Me Knocking? Give Me Shelter, angie, I love Angie. The Animals House of the Rising Sun. I got a little news.

Marc Bernstein: 24:36

By the way, my favorite Stones record, I just have to tell you Tumlin' Dice. I don't just not because of the words, not just because of the music, and it just moves me of all their songs, but that's probably my favorite of all time, so that's great. So you're leaving a legacy of music to your grandchildren as well. I'm sure it's really wonderful. Favorite book I'll put you on the spot on that one.

Leonard Heflich: 25:00

A Course in Miracles by Helen Shuckman. Yes, it'll change your life.

Marc Bernstein: 25:06

Very familiar with it. There's someone on social media who I'm drawing a blank, who I follow, who actually teaches the Course in Miracles. Yeah, okay, and I'll tell you when we get off the air but I've been exposed to it and there's a lot of great, great things in that as well. Did you know that?

Leonard Heflich: 25:21

Helen was a. She called herself a militant atheist.

Marc Bernstein: 25:29

I did hear that, actually, and she's Jewish and a professor, right, right, right. Very interesting, right. That whole thing is a miracle. You know, for lack of a better way to put it, we actually we almost never have left over time. But last thing about your legacy is there anything you'd like to add? To that I know that you had said you'd like to make an impact and keep teaching and coaching.

Leonard Heflich: 25:57

that, I think. Course in Miracles says there are two jobs, basically two things we can do in our life. One is to teach and the other is to heal. I haven't learned how to become a healer yet, but my C60 product has the capability of becoming a healing product, a physical healer, yeah.

Marc Bernstein: 26:18

And spiritual and the mental and emotional healing as well. That's United in Prayer. Sure you're working with. That's right. There you go With that. I think we're just about out of time and we thank you all for coming today and listening to Founders Forum with Leonard. Leonard may be appearing again with me because we have a lot more to talk about. So we wish you all a wonderful week and we'll see you again next week on Founders Forum.

Announcer: 27:00

We hope you enjoyed your time with Founders Forum today and you found value to take with you throughout your day. Join us again next week for another episode of Founders Forum on WWDB Talk Radio and always at the Founders Forum Show page at wwwdamcom.