#84: Richard Hardy - Finding Faith, Exploring Fitness, and Seeking Feedback for Success

Richard Hardy Returns: 75 Hard Discipline, Door-to-Door Sales Psychology, and Renewed Faith

Richard Hardy returns in-studio to share updates on 75 Hard, including a daily Bible-reading habit, plus his fitness and nutrition approach. He revisits his path from Pennsylvania to door-to-door solar in California and breaks down sales psychology—personality types, mirroring, body language, and the importance of getting the utility bill. The conversation closes with his goals to build a team, a long-term marketing-company vision, and reflections on re-engaging with church and faith.

00:00 Welcome Back Part Two

00:59 Studio Banter And Traffic

02:37 Life Updates And 75 Hard

06:41 Workout Split And Tracking

11:31 Nutrition And Fitness Goals

16:52 Backstory To California

20:53 Why Sales Fits Him

24:21 CEO Of Your Own Life

26:57 Sales as Entrepreneur Training

29:50 Sales Feedback Loop

32:11 Money Myths and Scaling

34:05 Personality Types in Sales, Mirroring & Energy Matching

42:20 Body Language Door Tactics

49:21 Career Path and Marketing Vision

53:25 Faith Journey and Church Return

57:15 Advice for Seeking Faith

59:54 Gratitude and Wrap Up

Guest bio:
Works in door-to-door sales for solar.

• Instagram: @rhardy202 / https://www.instagram.com/rhardy202/
• X: @bosshardy202 / https://x.com/bosshardy202

Links/resources:

• #41: Eric Y. Chen - Learning Sales & Marketing, Launching Sabobatage, and Growing Businesses from A to Z
• Hevy (workout app)

Transcript

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 [00:00:00] Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of One Thousand Gurus, where we share the stories and lessons from people of all walks of life. I'm your host, J.R. Yonocruz. 

J.R.: Today's guest is Richard Hardy, back for a part two. So Richard works in door-to-door sales for Solar. This was probably the fastest turnaround we've had for someone to come back onto the show, but it was definitely worth it and well deserved to have Richard in studio for this part two.

The vibes were on point, and I found myself reliving all the fun of this recording while editing it. Needless to say, I think Richard and I have a lot of good on-camera chemistry, and hopefully you guys can tell.

In this episode, we go back to his backstory, which we didn't catch the first time around, as well as his approach to fitness and nutrition. We deep dive into sales and the psychology of influence, body mirroring and personality quadrants, and end with some insights on our faith.

I absolutely love this episode, and hopefully you guys do too. So without further ado, please enjoy this episode with Richard Hardy

 Hello everyone, and [00:01:00] welcome back to One Thousand Gurus. Richard, welcome back to the show. Hey. Thank you for having me back. Nice. See, you get claps 'cause you're in studio . Yeah. Get a real studio, studio audience. Hallelujah. Yeah. I feel important now . You know, I can hear it. Usually I tell my guests, "Just imagine an applause," and then I do post-production.

But here in the studio we get a real added during production audience . I feel so rewarded now . Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so Richard was on recently. He, yeah, he got the fast upgrade from the virtual to in studio because we had some technical difficulties, so I'm like, "Let's just do in studio. It'll be easy." Plus, I think Richard's personality is very in-person anyway- Mm-hmm

so I feel like it translates a little bit better. So yeah, thank you for coming back, and also for, I know you've had a busy work week and work month- Mm ... but glad you were able to make it through and all that traffic today, right? Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. You're coming from, you said was it like 

Richard: I was working over in Northridge today.

Northridge. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Dang. So LA County. Yeah. It was a heck of a ride back. I actually rode out with a coworker- Yeah ... so I ended up falling asleep for a couple of minutes- Oh ... on the [00:02:00] ride back. And- Okay. You were driving? The... I wasn't ... I wasn't driving. You had to take a nap sometime . Yeah. No, hey, sometimes you gotta catch a little bit of sleep.

But then I went to a quick work event, like we're having a barbecue right now. Mm. And so I popped by there for a couple of minutes and then came over here. Yeah. The traffic from Santa Ana over to here- Mm ... it's, oh my God- Oh, yeah ... bad right now. Sure. Yeah. 

J.R.: That's crazy. So you said there's a lot of traffic, probably 'cause of Mother's Day weekend?

Mother's Day. Has to be. Man, so everyone and their moms are out, right? Ha-ha. Ba-dum-tish. Saving that. Anyways okay, cool. So we... we're gonna pick up from the last conversation, which is I know the beginning got cut off, and we kind of jumped straight into sales. And so before we... well, actually, before we get b- into your backstory, which we didn't get to in the first recording- just life updates, thoughts on the first podcast episode in general. I think that was, what a month and a half ago, something like that? 

Richard: Yeah. It dropped [00:03:00] on the 20th of- 

J.R.: Dropped on the 20th ... April. Yeah. But we- But we recorded a month prior ... 

Richard: recorded it, like, end of March. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or so.

Yeah. That's right. Yeah. 

J.R.: So what's life been since end of March? It's, 

Richard: like, beginning right now. I mean, life has been a lot of you know, working. Yeah. I'm always outside. What can I say? Yeah. That's why the tan line is getting a little bit crazy. Yeah . But just a lot of work. I'm starting to get a little bit more involved in the church, and past that, I mean, it's kind of business as usual.

Still grinding through 75 Hard- Yeah ... and just- Doing my day-to-day 

J.R.: Yeah. So then you restarted when we recorded, right? Yeah. So then what are you on right now? I guess that's a timeline. Yeah. 

Richard: Yeah, yeah. No, that is a good timeline. So today is day 53. 

J.R.: Okay. So then we were... It was about two, almost two months ago then.

Richard: Yeah. Oh, okay. I guess so. Wow, yeah, because I had just barely restarted at that point. Yeah. But- It's been two months ... now I'm just 22 days away. Yeah, 

J.R.: yeah. And so if you guys don't remember from last episode, you can listen to it, but you added on stipulations for this second go-around, right? What were those again?

Richard: It's just reading the [00:04:00] Bible 15 minutes a day. Okay. Just because basically the way that I looked at it was 75 Hard is personal discipline- Mm-hmm ... routine, I guess. Yeah. And so I figured the best way for me to get integrated in stuff that I'm actually trying to do on a daily basis- Mm-hmm

but maybe haven't had the, for lack of a better way of putting it, willpower to this point of doing it- Mm-hmm ... I figured it would just be sensical to add it as a stipulation because I don't like the sense of failing. Yeah. And if I'm already gonna do the rest of the tasks, then I know that I'll do that task, too.

J.R.: Mm. Okay. So what... H- how has it been like reading the Bible 15 minutes per day? Mm-hmm. What was... Has- How has that experience been like? 

Richard: It's been very good because I recognize the fact that there were a lot of times in the past I would tell myself "Oh, I wanna read the Bible more. I wanna be more involved in it," and I just, I never really took the initiative to do it.

But at this point I'm reading it every single day. I initially started with Psalms. I worked my way through that, and then I've just [00:05:00] kinda bounced around a little bit instead of just- I was gonna ask, like- ... straight lining it. 

J.R.: Yeah, I was gonna ask, like, what's your approach been? So you started with Psalms.

What is the... Like, how is the 15 minutes set up? Like, you just kind of re- oh, let's see where God takes me, or is it like, okay, let's check out this book today? 

Richard: So basically I'll read through a book. Yeah. And then whenever I'm done with that one, I'll just basically flip open to something, and whatever book I'm landing in is where I start- Okay

the next round. So you finish, 

J.R.: you try to finish that book, and then you- Yeah ... kinda jump around. And then I jump to a new book- Gotcha ... each time. Yeah. How do you keep track of, like, what... Well, I mean, I'm sure you know what you've read, but, like, 

Richard: so- I don't have any sort of a tracker ... it's been, like, very It's just, you know, memory, which I'm- Yeah

not gonna lie, my memory is- True, true ... not the best in the world. Yeah. But at the same time, I'm at least able to somewhat remember what I've already read. And if I end up overlapping at all, I realize it pretty quick. I'm like, "Oh, no, wait, you know what? Mm. I read this recently." 

J.R.: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Do you have any good takeaways or things that stand out as you've read through the Bible?

And I'm sure [00:06:00] some books are a little bit more make more of an impression than others. Were there, are there any things that stand out to you that you're like, "Okay, I really like this that I read recently-" Mm ... that come to mind? 

Richard: Nothing that comes to mind offhand. Whenever I read through, I underline the stuff that is a little bit more poignant for me.

Mm-hmm. And that way whenever I refer back through, it's a little bit easier for me to, like, see the highlights- Mm ... of what I want to read- Mm-hmm ... again. But to be entirely honest, I don't have anything that comes to mind, which- Yeah ... I know it makes me seem like a bad reader. No, 

J.R.: you're, you're doing it.

You're doing... You're like, "Look, I'm trying my best. I don't know if everything's gonna stick- Yeah ... and it's gonna be top of mind all the time," but you're still doing it, so- Yeah ... it's cool. I like that. So now on the workout side of things- Mm-hmm ... I'm curious, 75 Hard, you work out. It's, It's supposed to be, and correct me if I'm wrong so, like, one indoor, one outdoor.

And your outdoor you kind of use with your walking for your- Mm-hmm ... your, For my job ... door-to-door, yeah- Yep ... for your job. But for the in-gym or the indoor one, how do you do seven days a week? What is your [00:07:00] regimen? 

Richard: Yeah, so that's a great question. For me, I typically have at least two days in a week where it's arm-focused, like bicep and tricep.

Mm-hmm. I do a leg day. I typically work in at least one cardio day, but I try to do two in a week. Which anytime I do a cardio day, I do it at the end of my day- Mm-hmm ... just because I'm not trying to run on the treadmill- Yeah ... and then go and walk all day. Yeah. Just gassing you. Like, "I can't even make it up this hill."

Exactly. And for me, I have a personal mantra that I tell myself throughout the workday, which is, "The faster I walk, the more that I make." And so I try my hardest to not necessarily do anything that's going to impact my efficiency. Mm. But whenever I'm done for the day, that's whenever I could just, you know, burn out whatever is left in the tank.

Mm. 

So two arms days, a day that's focused on shoulder and back- ... cardio, legs, and then typically I'll sprinkle in either another cardio or just something else that I feel like doing that day. Like, I've had some weeks where I do [00:08:00] three arms days. You know what I mean? Mm. Okay. But- 

J.R.: So you kind of just you don't hit- subsequent or the same muscle groups?

You kind of rotate through all those. I try to rotate it, yeah. What about legs, leg day, though? I do have a leg day. Oh, okay ... meaning you do cardio at the end of your day so that- Mm-hmm ... you don't get gassed out, but then do you do legs before your work day?

Richard: That's also a great question. But the thing is if you really think about it you're feeling the impact of the workout- Right ... for the following two days. Okay. I- if you're really, like- Mm ... putting a lot of effort into it. And so I try to save my legs day until Friday or Saturday so that I have Sunday as a way of resting up, and then Monday is the last day of the buffer.

J.R.: Okay, okay. So you kind of strategically put your leg day at the right time during the week. 

Richard: Yeah. Okay. I put it towards the tail end of my week just because I don't feel it as strongly the next day. It's mainly two days later that- Interesting ... I feel it a lot. Yeah. And so I'll either do it on Friday or on Saturday.

If I do it on Saturday, then I'm feeling it a little bit on Monday, but Monday's kind of like a [00:09:00] slow day, 'cause it's the start of the week. Mm-hmm. But... 

J.R.: Okay. I get you. All right. So now I know we're getting deep into the gym rat nerd sort of thing, but how do you structure your workouts? Meaning do you use an app or do you like, you kind of know what machines to use when you do like, oh, the today's arm day, today's leg day.

How do you structure that? The volume, the types of workouts the number of workouts. How do you do that? Mm-hmm.

Richard: So I use an app. It's called Hevy, H-E-V-Y. Mm. It's really good for tracking workouts. It shows you, You're able to track the exercise, the weight, the reps, and then at the end you're able to see a breakdown of, like, how much weight you moved throughout the course of that workout, what you targeted specifically.

And for me, it makes it a lot easier to scroll back through it and see- To start ... what I did the prior days- Mm-hmm ... if I can't remember. But typically speaking I know what I've knocked out by a certain point in the week- Right ... to know what's up next.

J.R.: Right. How long you been using Hevy?

Richard: Ooh. Probably about a [00:10:00] year now. Actually, no, since January of last year. I started using it shortly after I came down to California- Yeah, yeah ... because one of my coworkers uses it all the time. Mm-hmm. And so he put me on, and I've been using it ever since.

J.R.: Yeah. But you've worked out before then. You've been in the gym before, or was this you kinda just started your gym routine?

Richard: So I, I used to work out pretty heavily a couple of years back. But I shouldn't even say pretty heavily, but- Yeah ... Consistently. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And then I fell off from it for a couple of years, and then whenever I came down here, I started getting back into the gym. But it's funny, I found a note to myself that I wrote in one of my notebooks, and it was me listing off different things I was trying to accomplish for that month.

And I feel like it was, like, last May or so. Yeah. But one of them was no more skipping the gym. Okay. And it's because I had wanted to try to be in the gym four to five times a week, and I was finding myself skipping from time to time. And it's funny to me, because now, I mean, I'm [00:11:00] in the gym every single day.

Yeah. I don't have to tell myself not to skip it. Mm. But it's really just because 75 Hard kind of pushed me into being more consistent about it. But now I know for a fact, even past that, I'm going to be doing it at least six days a week, if not the full seven. 

J.R.: Yeah. I like that. Um, I had a question.

Okay. Well, I mean, that makes sense to me. I think it... it's kinda like what we talked about last time, where 100% is easier than 99%. Yeah. So I totally get that. Two things, since we're on fitness, what are your fitness goals? 'Cause then we can't make the assumption, oh, you want to get jacked or you wanna be a powerlifter, right?

Like, there's, there's a million different goals when it comes to fitness. Mm-hmm. What are yours? And then second half of that is what is your, what does your nutrition look like? 

Richard: Okay. So my goals, to be entirely truthful, I don't have a set-in-stone target. I want to, I wanna get a little bit bigger, but at the same time, I'm just trying [00:12:00] to put myself in a condition where anything physical that comes my way task-wise, I'm able to knock out without difficulty.

I just wanna be, like, operationally fit- Mm ... I guess- Okay ... for lack of a better way of putting it. 

Yeah. 

And then nutrition-wise, I try to eat pretty clean. I focus on, I cook 90% of the meals I eat- Okay ... at this point. I don't really eat out often. I make myself at least one steak a week. It's either on Saturday or Sunday- Mm

if I don't make another one throughout the week, and it's kinda like my reward for making it through another work week. Mm-hmm. But I eat quite a bit of chicken, ground beef- Stuff like that. My breakfast is my most dialed-in meal- Yeah ... just because for me, it front loads my day since I do a lot of walking and everything.

Right. I try to pack up early in the day, and so I do six eggs, about a quarter pound of either ground beef or ground pork, [00:13:00] and then a full avocado. Mm-hmm. And then I make myself a protein coffee. Have you seen the Premier Plus proteins, the little cardboard box? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I have.

Yeah? Okay. So I get one of those, 30 grams of protein. Mm-hmm. I mix it with an iced coffee, because you can get, like- Mm ... a decent sized thing of iced coffee for two, three bucks depending on where you go. 

Mm-hmm. 

And I make myself a couple of protein coffees. Each morning I have one of those with the breakfast.

I hit myself with 70 grams of protein to start out my day, and then just go throughout my day. If I get a chance for a lunch break, I normally pack chicken burritos or something so that it's filling but also clean.

And then at the end of the day, I either have a meal prep ready, which my go-to often is I make myself spaghetti, and I make enough that I have a couple of days worth for it so that I don't have to really do a lot once I get home.

But if not, then I'll just make something like chicken, [00:14:00] steak, something along those lines. 

J.R.: Okay. So if I'm getting this correct- ... your focus is mostly just getting in high volumes of protein- Mm-hmm ... clean, fairly simple, fairly prepped or regimented. And so my tac- my tactic sort of brain is thinking you're not really...

or correct me if I'm wrong, you're not really measuring or trying to hit certain macro numbers, and you're not tracking those things. You're more just like, okay, general principles is simple, high protein, clean, prepped, et cetera. Yeah. Okay.

Richard: No, I'm not as dialed in with the nutritional- No, yeah, I'm just trying to get, like-

aspect as I should be ...

J.R.: no, it's not, like... Yeah. I mean, that's totally fine. I'm not trying to push you. I was like, "Hey, Richard, you're- No. ... slacking." I'm just like, so what is your, what really is your approach? 'Cause I'm just curious, 'cause some people are dialing, 'cause they're, let's say they're, they have a competition and they're trying to- Mm-hmm cut for that, or some people they're trying to gain size, they're trying to get performance. Mm-hmm. And so I'm just curious, like, how you approach it given that you work out every day. Mm-hmm. Right? So I get that. That's cool. 

Richard: Yeah, and that is one thing that I want to improve upon- Okay ... is I want to become more dialed in on it- Yeah

just because I know that it makes a significant [00:15:00] difference. Difference in what? In terms of the quality of, I guess, my gains. Like- Okay ... because- So 

muscle growth, size? Yeah. Okay. Oh, so you wanna... So, so if you had a goal, it would be, like muscle growth or something like that, muscle gain. Yes.

J.R.: Okay. Gotcha. That makes sense. Then it would just be getting more protein then, right?

Richard: I would think. I- Yeah ... I do my best to get- Right around I shoot for a gram per pound Okay And so, it's been a little bit since I weighed myself, but- ... last time around I was, like, 163. That was probably a month, month and a half ago, give or take.

Mm-hmm. So if I had to ballpark it, I'm probably right around 168- okay ... somewhere along those lines.

J.R.: So then it, theoretically if you wanted to gain more muscle, you would need to just up that protein, like whatever else? Yeah. Gotcha. Cool. All right, well, that's... That kind of a scratch the itch for me of how you're approaching it.

Let's go back to now... Okay, well I guess the...

oh, last one. Thoughts on the last, our last recording. [00:16:00] I thought it was fascinating. I don't know if you had any thoughts before we kind of move on to your backstory.

Richard: I enjoyed it. How did you think it go? Yeah. Yeah, I really enjoyed it, and all of the clips that you posted were spot on.

J.R.: Nice. Yeah. They were awesome. Was expectations a reality? What were you expecting going in, and then, like, how did the output vary from that? 

Richard: I went into it not having expectations- Yeah ... just because I didn't know exactly what to expect out of it. Mm-hmm. And so I was, like, highly pleased whenever I saw the end result-

because, I mean, shoot, I had the technical difficulties and everything, but for the most part everything came through crisp, and I think that we covered a nice range of topics.

J.R.: Yeah. Right, right. I was about to ask content-wise. I guess this is more just feedback from you, like, ah, how was your experience?

What did you like about it, et cetera. But cool. Yeah, I mean, obviously you're back, so it seems you had- ... a good experience. Let's check that box. All right. So where did we leave off? I kind of want to TLDR this, 'cause I have, we have a lot of good stuff that I want to get to, but we didn't [00:17:00] really cover your backstory in the published recording.

But could you give us a little background of where you came from and influences, and how did you end up in California today, May 2026? 

Richard: Yeah, absolutely. So I'm from Pennsylvania originally like 40 minutes outside of Pittsburgh in a place called Uniontown. Mm-hmm. It's a small rural area. I grew up there.

I moved to New Jersey at 19, if I'm not mistaken, because my mom had gotten a job over in New Jersey as an insurance agent. She was doing that in Pennsylvania, but they set her up with her own agency over in New Jersey, so she moved over there. I moved over there a couple of months after. I stayed there for four years, somewhere along those lines.

Mm-hmm. I had started working construction, ended up breaking my wrist. Had to have it surgically repaired, so I have a scar and everything for that. It took eight months to heal because I broke apparently the toughest bone in the body to heal, which is the scaphoid [00:18:00] bone. Oh, okay. It's shaped like a kidney.

Yeah. It's right here underneath your thumb. 

Ugh. 

And it's only got one vein of blood supply. Oh. And so it's extremely difficult to heal. And the way that I broke it, it had- chopped off the circulation. Oof. So initially the bone was dying. They went in, they put a screw in to try to bring it back together.

Wasn't healing, and they got to a point where they were like, "Okay, we're gonna have to do another surgery and put in a cadaver bone if it doesn't start healing." They gave me a a steroid for bone growth, and then miraculously it got better. Mm. So, but it was an eight-month recovery, and at that point I had decided, you know what?

I probably don't wanna get back into physical labor only type of career. Mm. And so I pursued sales. It came down to either a car dealership or starting in door-to-door. I did the interview for both of them. Door-to-door, I didn't even realize that that's what I was interviewing for at [00:19:00] first. The Indeed ad was a little bit vague.

Okay. So I went, I had a conversation about it, and I felt like it was something that I wasn't really going to be open to doing. But I told myself, "You know what? I'll give it two days. If the car dealership doesn't get back to me, I'll give it a shot." Just because the first job that I had gotten in door-to-door was over in New Jersey, and it was for a company, Anderson Windows, but they have a start-to-finish branch, like a custom-built window and door- section. They call it Renewal by Anderson. And so the cool thing was they offered $15 an hour plus commissions. And so I was like, "Okay I'll get paid 15 bucks an hour just to walk around a neighborhood, and hopefully I make more than that." So I was willing to take the chance on that. I ended up wanting to leave it multiple times.

Didn't. Powered through, was doing well, and then I moved down to Texas. I got involved in [00:20:00] solar over there. Did that for a couple of years over there, and then I had moved back up to PA Pennsylvania, and then I got a call January 9th of last year from somebody who I worked with in solar over in Texas, who was telling me "Hey, this, the situation in California, this is what the utility rates are, and this is the program that's around now.

Do you wanna come over here and give it a shot?" And so I came out here on a one-month trial basis, and I'm still here. One month plus- ... 

several months. Nice. Yeah. That's cool, man. I'm curious, so it started off with okay, these two sort of jobs. Then it, you kinda went to door-to-door, and then from there it's been, you've been in sales ever since.

Mm-hmm. What, And, and it seems like you like sales, and that's great. I love it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And so I'm curious, well, one, alternate universe- Did I ask this question? What do you think you would do in... just based on your personality and [00:21:00] skill set, another sort of function or industry do you think you would like doing?

And second what particularly do you like about sales? 

Yeah. Okay. So in terms of other industry, that is a tough one to answer, because it's funny, for me, whenever I was growing up, I wanted to be an archeologist. Okay. Oh, that's right. Yeah, yeah. that was something that I was really passionate about, and I still metal detect in my free time- Mm and stuff like that. I, I'm a little bit of a nerd. What can I say? What? But it's okay. No, right? Weird, nerd. Who coulda thought? 

J.R.: What? We're all nerds in something. Hey. 

Richard: There you go. That's true. But I feel like if I wasn't involved in sales and I hypothetically couldn't do it as a job- ... I would need to be doing something that's social based, because I feel like I'm...

I've always been a bit of a people person. I just like to talk to people. I focus on communication in various ways, but I just, I like to engage [00:22:00] with people. I can't imagine being behind a desk for all day, every day. It would drive me crazy. Mm-hmm. And so I would have to be in something a little bit more socially based.

Mm-hmm. And then regarding sales, I'm extremely passionate about it just because there's so many different reasons to love sales. One is the level of independence a- ... in terms of if you don't wanna do something, you technically don't have to do something, but you recognize the fact that the only way that you'll find success in whatever path you're doing in sales is by putting in the effort.

Mm-hmm. If I'm working another job, I could just show up and just get a check, which, yeah, cool, you're getting paid, but at the same time, there's no meaning behind it, and it just, you're capped at what you can earn. You just show up. You're going to get paid 20 bucks an hour no matter how hard you [00:23:00] work.

Doesn't matter how well you do at it. It's just what it is. Versus in sales, it's if I don't show up to work that day, I'm not gonna get anything because, I mean, I gotta go out and earn my check. But at the same time, the harder I work, the more money I'm able to make, and there's a layer of independence because a lot of people can't self-manage.

And that's the entire basis of what sales is, is self-management. Sure, you can have a manager above you. You can have teammates pushing you and everything, but at the same time nobody can do it for you aside from you doing it for yourself. Mm. And I like that sensation. Plus, I feel like sales brings value to people, even if they initially don't feel like it does.

Everybody in the world loves to buy things. They just don't like to be sold. And so the entire point of sales is to try to find a way to display what you have in a way that people want to buy it, rather than feeling like [00:24:00] you're selling it to them.

J.R.: I like that. So if it seems like it's... You like that it's a field or a job or a function that is proportion- that rewards you proportional to your effort- Mm-hmm

as opposed to, let's say, a typical standard job where it's you get paid by the hour, and the effort, it's like more like a checkbox rather than proportional to what you're doing. Mm-hmm. That's great. And the second thing is like this idea of self-employment s- right, kind of loosely, right?

Meaning, how do I put this? You know how there's this job employee mindset versus a owner, CEO, entrepreneur, or self-employed where it's you have more ownership of what you're doing as opposed to okay, you're working for someone, you kind of follow instructions. 

Mm-hmm. 

And I think it's interesting because I do realize that some people are more self-starters and they're more like entrepreneurial or they're more self-employed and sort of go-getters and they can self-manage, and some people are like, "I actually do prefer a job because I do need that structure, regimen. I do need someone kinda giving me [00:25:00] direction." Yeah. And that's totally fine.

But the other caveat I would say is like we are technically the CEOs and self-employed of our own lives. Mm-hmm. And so no one's motivating you to go to the gym or brush your teeth or something like that, right? But you recognize that there's some level of ownership in your life that you have to have because no one is gonna care more about your life than you.

Richard: Yeah. 

J.R.: And so it's kind of like we are already self-employed in our own life. We are the CEO of our own life. But it- it's some people who enjoy wanting to translate that into a career. I think it can work really well if you understand how you're wired, and I think that's for people like yourself who really enjoy that sort of function and the- how it's structured.

I think it works really well, right? 

Richard: Yeah, definitely. And I like the way that you put that. Like ultimately we are all the CEO of our own life, and people don't necessarily realize it sometimes, but there's a phrase that we use a lot in our company, which is nobody is coming to save you. Mm, mm.

And it's just point blank. You're the only person who can really take care of yourself, whether it's in your day-to-day, if it's in your [00:26:00] career, whatever it is. You're the one who's entirely responsible for where you become like where you get to. Your actions, your decisions, and the result of them is entirely dependent on yourself.

And I feel like a career path where it's the exact same way is kind of beneficial. I mean, you're right. There's a lot of people that they need some sort of a structure. They aren't necessarily a self-starter or able to function independently of themselves essentially. But- I feel like the people who are able to manage themselves in their day-to-day life well excel in sales.

Just because it's the exact same concept, it's just a different format. 

J.R.: Right. I like that. This reminds me, so I did have one person on my show before who used to be in sales. Mm-hmm. Eric Chen. I'll link in the description. But he became an entrepreneur afterwards. So he used to work for ADP, and he did sales for most of [00:27:00] his early adult career, and then he transitioned to owning his own business, and then he created a board game that did really well, now he's consulting.

So he does all this cool stuff. But we did touch upon sales that I remember and I think the takeaway that I got was that sales is a really good job or job function to get into, especially if you are interested in entrepreneurship- Mm-hmm ... starting your own business or something like that, because it has the same elements, but it's more of a structured focus developing this skill set, this craft, this artistry that translates well into running your business.

Because a business is essentially creating a product and fulfilling it and the other side of that is selling it to someone, right? Mm-hmm. 'Cause you can have a product and then the sell. And so if you get really good at sales, that can translate really well into running your own business. Obviously, it depends on the business. But I thought that was interesting of that point that he gave.

And so, and now another story. My little brother, who lives in the Philippines right now, and he's like 14, 15. Mm-hmm. And he really wants to own his own business, and which is cool. I'm like, "Wow, he's so entrepreneurial and he [00:28:00] knows," and I'm, like, picking his brain.

I'm like, "Okay, why and what do you think makes you good for entrepreneurship?" Mm-hmm. And he, before he left for the Philippines when he was before he went to his first year in high school, he and his friends had a little business where they would do detail car cleaning for people in the neighborhood.

And so they would have, they would buy these really... They would buy these pow- not power tools, but cleaning tools from the store, and then him and his three or four friends would go around and go door to door and try to sell these people with expensive houses. Yeah. I'm like, "Hey, we can detail clean your car."

And they respected the hustle, so they paid them whatever it was. Yeah. And so they were making money, and then he's like, "Yeah, we can scale it and do social media m- advertising and marketing, and then we can scale this up." And I was like, "That's cool, right?" And then he moved- Yeah ... to the Philippines, it all went away.

And so now he's like, he's asking me, he's like, "Kuya," "so I wanna get to business, and I don't know if I can do that here, but maybe when I move back to the States I can. But you know, what do you suggest I do?" And I'm like, "Okay, well, here's my advice. Yeah, you can build a business, and that's great, and I think you have the chops for it.

But I think at your age, you have s-" Like, he's 15. I was like, "You have so much time, that my recommendation is honestly for you to [00:29:00] develop a skill set or a focused, narrow skill set that you can compound over the next 10 years so that when you are 25, you are so good at that skill set that people will throw money at you.

And you can start as many businesses as you want. So if you're an entrepreneur, if you wanna be an entrepreneur, my rec- recommendation is start with sales because it's easy to just get it... Not easy, but you know what I mean. It's easy to focus in on, let's say just focus on the selling of something.

You can flip something and be a salesperson there. You can go buy some stuff, or you can- Have some sort of product that you can source easily, and then you just go door to door, whatever, sell that- Mm-hmm ... and you get good at sales. And then no matter what the product is, you're good at sales. Mm-hmm. And then that can obviously translate as you scale up a business or get partners or whatever.

But I'm like, "You're 14, dude. Just focus on one skill set." You compound that even for five years, you're in a good spot. Yeah, exactly. And so start early. And so that's kind of like my advice to him. I would love your thoughts on any of those things about sales and sort of like that skill set. 

Richard: Yeah, so here's the biggest thing in my opinion about sales is it's an immediate feedback loop.

Mm, mm-hmm. 

And it's because whether... no matter what the [00:30:00] result of the attempted sale is, let's say for example in my profession, I'm knocking on doors, I'm trying to set up appointments for solar. If I have a conversation and I just have them shut down in the middle of the conversation, I have almost an immediate like notification of, hey- Mm

don't do th- whatever you just did that shut down that conversation. If I have a door that goes extremely well and I end up setting the appointment, then I have something to reflect on immediately as to, okay, these were my strong points during that conversation. This is something that I should fine-tune.

And in life, you don't get a lot of feedback loops that are immediate. If you think about it, actions and decisions that you take today, typically you don't see any feedback on- ... for month, couple of months, a year, multiple years down the road. So that learning cycle is way longer. Exactly. And so it makes it tougher for you to actually adjust and improve your trajectory, versus if you're doing a [00:31:00] sales job, you're getting an immediate feedback loop multiple times a day various times in a week, and it compounds very quickly.

And so for example, for me, if I knock 100 doors in a day and I only get 30 doors open or somewhere along those lines, that's still 30 times that I'm going to get feedback on what I'm doing. Over the course of a week, that's going to be, I knock six days a week, so that's 180 times I get feedback on what I'm doing.

And then you just ke- keep on compounding it, and that's where you get extremely good at what you do. And in other career paths, it... Anybody could be an entrepreneur, but it takes a lot of personal development and just skill sets that you have to unlock throughout the course of your life to be able to accomplish it.

I feel like sales is the easiest format in order to start hitting those markers for entrepreneurship. And mainly it's just because [00:32:00] the feedback loop is crazy. There... It's so instantaneous that there's no way for you to not improve unless you're just completely ignorant to the lessons that you're being taught.

J.R.: Yeah, definitely. Another thing, too, to throw onto that is- Mm-hmm ... when I threw out the idea of sales, and, a- and, you know, my brother only knows what he knows. Mm-hmm. But he's like, I'm..." I'm like, "Why business owner," right? "Why do you wanna..." Because, you know, it has the ability to scale, basically is what he was saying, and, you know, you can take time off if you need to, and you have a business that ru- basically it's like the idea of the machine that runs without you, and that's like great.

That's fantastic. That's the, you know, that's the aspiration we all have. Yeah. Obviously, the real world is not at- that simple. But it's great. I'm like, I'm trying to not sh- I'm trying to not shut down his party- Yeah ... but also be encouraging, but also tell him what reality is like. Yeah. So I'm like, "That's fine," but also it's you do realize that there's a lot of skillsets that you need to do all that stuff, and then the self-starting thing in sales translating over to business.

Mm-hmm. You do need to be that, and also it's not just one skill set. You have to manage the thing. You have to have the vision. You have to have the structure or partnering with the right people. But the other thing that he brought [00:33:00] up was like, "Oh, well, the reason why I wanna scale a business is because I don't think if sales, you don't really make a lot of money, whereas if you have- are a business owner, you can make a lot of money, right?"

And I'm like, "Okay, I understand why you think that, but it's a fact that there are sales people who make a lot more money than executives and owners of businesses, right?" Obviously we're not saying, not generalization, but we're saying it's possible.

There are people in certain industries that do sales really well at a high level- Mm-hmm ... make a lot more money than, let's say, an executive or a C-suite in some sort of company. And that's just, that's just how it works because of the pay structure. Yeah. Because you could be in a company pay structure that pays you astronomically because that conversion makes sense, whereas if your business never gets off the ground and 99% of businesses fail or something like that, then it's like you can't say that building a business is easier than sales, and with the whole fact of you can actually scale sales to really high.

Mm-hmm. So with all that being in mind, I'm like, "Okay, look, I'm, sh- just, just try something," right? I'm like, "I'm not trying to shut down your party, but just try something." But yeah, I'm sure you have you agree or something like that, but another thing I wanted to ask you is as you're going door to door and you have all [00:34:00] these things I used to go to on- some entrepreneurial seminars and sort of how to engage with people, people skills.

Mm-hmm. But one thing that always stood out to me is the personality types. I'm sure you use it a lot in sales, where it's like- One of the, one of the paradigms is let's say quadrants. There's four types of people. Mm-hmm. And it's how I learned of it, and there's different ways people do it, which is like the colors, which is like red, green, yellow, and blue.

And some people it's like the dolphin and the whale and the whatever- Yeah ... and like, you know. Shark, urchin. Shark and stuff like that, right? Yep. And so my conception is the four personality types, however you wanna label it, the reds in how I've learned it was like the very aggressive, hard-charging sort of people.

The greens are the more analytical, kind of calm. The blues are more of like the extroverted, expressive, party, life of the party, whatever, short attention span. And the yellows are like the sort of salt of the earth, really cl- kind, very what's it called? I guess, What is that Harry Potter house?

The Hufflepuffs. Right? And so however you wanna label those four, it could be different. Yeah. But then I'm curious if you are familiar with this, and if you do use it in your day-to-day, what are you, and then how do you [00:35:00] approach it when you're kind of, vetting people, if at all? 

Richard: Yeah. So, the way that I know the quadrant- Yeah, yeah

is the sea life. Mm-hmm. The shark, urchin, dolphin, whale. And it's one of those things where I, I don't know exactly where I would fall- Yeah ... technically, because I'm very extroverted. Mm-hmm. And I- I could tell you what I think you are, but Am I a dolphin or a whale? Yeah. What is the whale again? Whale is...

I feel like that's mainly what you were describing as yellow. 

J.R.: Oh, like the s- like the softer, kinder- Yeah ... sort of person? Okay, okay. Yeah. And the dolphin is the party person. Yeah. Okay, gotcha. 

Richard: The dolphin is the more extroverted- Gotcha, right ... and then the whale is more just kind. Okay, okay. As- So you think you might be one of those two?

I feel like I fall within one of those two. Okay. Just because- Yeah ... here's the thing. As much as I wanna be like, "Oh, yeah, I'm a shark," like, I came wearing it- Sure, sure, sure ... and everything. No, but in all seriousness- Yeah ... I know I'm not that person. I can portray that person whenever I need to. Mm-hmm.

And that's kind of how I [00:36:00] go about it whenever I'm door knocking is I try to meet them at their energy. I try to mirror it back to them just because people buy from people that they like or that they wanna be like. And so you have two pathways that you can really go whenever you're getting inter- interaction with somebody, which first you gotta identify what type of person they are, like what personality type they are, and then you either, A, mirror it directly and try to match them at their energy, or B, you try to embody what you feel like they would want to be like.

And so for example, somebody who is extremely passive is going to respond differently to somebody who is a little bit more hands-on. Like- Mm ... a, a little bit more firm- ... and just- Hey, this is what we gotta do. I'll give you an example. Whenever I'm doing my job, I'm supposed to get people's electric bill to make the job a little bit easier [00:37:00] on the next person who comes in- for the appointment. And if you just ask somebody to grab something for you, they typically will not do it. They just, "Oh, no, I'm busy right now. Oh, no, I gotta get back into whatever." But if you say it in a way where it's just implied that they need to go and do it, like a little bit more authority to it, then it gets done.

And so instead of being like, "Oh yeah could you go and grab your bill real quick?" "Yeah, go ahead and grab your bill. I'm just gonna finish typing this in the calendar." And essentially what I'm getting at is the people who you can match their energy, a shark answers the door, they're going to be a little bit like, "What do you need, bro?

What are you stopping by about?" I'm not gonna be like, "Oh, hey, good afternoon, sir." I'm gonna be like, "Hey, man, my name's Richard. This is why I'm coming by." And then get straight into it. If you're kind of like the opposite of some personality traits, then they're going to shut you down, but there are some [00:38:00] personality types that you communicate better by being the opposite of.

Mm-hmm. If they're super passive, like I mentioned, if they're more of a whale or a dolphin, sometimes being a little bit more towards that, but then shifting towards being a little bit more firm is better for that conversation. 

J.R.: Okay. But- do you find it's easy to adapt, or is it very conscious effort for you?

Richard: Mm. 

J.R.: Just curious. 

Richard: It de- it depends on the personality type, honestly, because the stuff that I align in a little bit easier- Yeah ... it, it... Again, that's why I feel like I'm a dolphin or a whale. I- I'm extroverted, I'm a light personality, I- I'm joyful, I'm happy, I'm not really... I'm not abrasive- ... for the most part, you know?

And so whenever I get people like that, it's a lot easier for me to match that energy versus me trying to portray shark energy. Somebody who is a little bit abrasive and firm and doesn't wanna have the conversation and kind of just wants to bully me off their door. [00:39:00] I have to bully them back almost in a way.

As crazy as that sounds. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, you know, you thought that bullying ended in school, but- Yes ... no, it doesn't. True. At least whenever you're in door-to-door. But- Yeah ... but the point is, it's easier for me to match somebody in the realm of just happy-go-lucky extroverted, rather than, "What do you want?"

Like- Mm ... "What are you stopping by about?" 

J.R.: Yeah, okay. I get you. So some personality types are a little bit easier for you, whereas some is like you gotta put a little more effort. 

Richard: Yeah. And that's- some I consciously have to think, "Okay, no, I need to act this way." Other ones, I just get to be myself.

Right, right, right. Interesting. 

J.R.: Yeah, I love talking about this. There's another framework that I learned before, which is same quadrants. One is high energy, low energy, and then the X axis is formal, informal. Mm-hmm. So you can have the high energy formal or low energy formal, high energy, Informal

informal, and then low ener- You know what I mean? Like- Mm-hmm ... so that's another similar, right? Very similar, but it's okay, it's the fast... If you need to sort them, you can be like, "Okay [00:40:00] yeah, he's giving off formal vibes," or, "Oh, she's giving off low energy," or something like that- Yeah

right? It's easier to place them, and then you kind of, what you said, match based on what they are. 

Richard: Yeah. And I do that, too. For example, I'm not gonna swear at a door, but if a homeowner is swearing, I'm going to swear with them. Just because matching their energy, they like you more.

Yeah. 

They just... it's a likability contest at the end of the day. People don't wanna deal with you if they don't have any respect or care for you. And so if you're able to kind of, match within the frame of where they're at, then you get a lot further. If they're low energy, I'm not necessarily going to bring myself all the way down- Mm-hmm

but I'm not gonna be over- Yeah ... the-moon energy- All those, yeah, yeah ... because I scare them away then. Mm-hmm. You know? Like- You're like, "Mm." Yeah, no, legitimately. Close the door. You're like, "This is too much for me. I'm in my-" The amount of times I've had a door close- Yeah ... and I'm like, "Damn, I was too happy at that door."

Yeah, yeah. Like, it happens. It happens, right? Yeah. Yeah, I like that. But then there's 10,000 more to my right and 10,000 more to my left, so it [00:41:00] doesn't matter. Mm, 

J.R.: yeah, yeah. YeahI wanna say that you are that dolphin-whale. You know, sometimes people have a hybrid or one as a primary- Mm

or a secondary, 'cause I think it makes sense for your personality type. Pop quiz for you: What do you think I am? Hmm. Testing your people reading. 

Richard: You're, you're a bit of an urchin in my opinion. You're very analytical and reserved. Yeah. 

J.R.: Yes. Yes, and I am on the outside urchin or green, but on the inside I am shark, red.

Hmm. So, if you dig deeper on the main themes and how I interact with people my mindset, motivation, and long-term thinking is very shark, but my... I'm, like, very exterior is all very analytical. Yeah. Which kind of makes fun because it's like then my opposites are, like, the dolphins- Yeah

and then the more soft-spoken people, which a lot of people in my life that I- vibe with are the opposite. Mm-hmm. Like, my mom is very much whale. Mm-hmm. And my sister is very much dolphin. And a lot of my friends that I get along with are... So it's kind of like a complementary sort of thing. Yeah.

[00:42:00] Which I thought is very interesting. Yeah. Also body mirroring and mirror neurons, right? Mm-hmm. Is that something that you guys kind of talk about or train on? Which is for mirror neurons where it's like you're mimicking the body posture of the other person. Mm-hmm. And then subconsciously they like you more when you have similar body posture, as opposed to dominant body posture and they're kind of, more soft or like- Yeah you try to match that. Do you ever think about that? 

Richard: Yeah. So, from the jump actually, body language is a huge factor whenever it comes to the job. And so whenever I had first started door-to-door over in New Jersey, I really wasn't situationally aware of it too much. Mm-hmm. But whenever I came down to Texas, I learned a little bit more, and then here in California I've learned a lot more about it.

And so for example, I knock on a door, I step back about three to five feet. Mm. I'm not going to be standing head-on to the door. Because if you think about it, every altercation that you've ever had that was negative in your life was a face-to-face, head-on interaction. 

J.R.: Unless they backstab you, but you're right.

Richard: Yeah. Unless- Whoa ... unless you feel the [00:43:00] knife go into 

J.R.: your back, and then that's the other exception. 

Richard: No, that's valid. That is valid. But- More of an emotional thing ... basically whenever I step away from a door, I try to find somewhere to lean. Mm-hmm. I'll stand sideways to the door. So let's say water bottle is the front door.

Yeah. I'm going to step back a couple of steps and then turn sideways to it. Mm-hmm. That way I'm kind of almost like a smaller target. It puts them at rest a little bit. Yeah. And then on top of that, I try to lean in a way, just because it seems more relaxed. If you're tense on the door as the door knocker- Yeah

the energy- Of course ... that the homeowner is gonna have is- They're like- ... wild ... "Should I be tense?" Like, yes. "Should I put my guard up?" Yes. Like, and- Should I square up? And the thing is people don't realize it whenever they're doing the job sometimes, but during the interaction, if they, for example, have the homeowner say something that's kind of like an objection and they aren't prepared to handle it, they'll tense up a little bit.

Oh. And that kills the interaction. Yeah, yeah. And they don't even realize it right away. Yeah. But it's super body language based. And so [00:44:00] the other aspect of it is tonality and just overall pace. If somebody comes out and they seem super fast-paced, you kind of have to speed yourself up a little bit.

You still wanna control the conversation and control the frame, but people really... think of somebody who's moving 100 miles an hour. They're not going to listen to the guy speaking two miles an hour. Right. Okay? You have to match them a little bit further. Or somebody who comes out and they're clearly a little bit slower paced, they're more relaxed, laid back, you need to tone it back and go towards their pace.

Mm-hmm. The body language is probably the biggest aspect of it, and trying to mirror that is key. If they lean up against the doorframe, for example- Mm-hmm ... or I see the shoulders release the tension- Mm-hmm ... at that point I know that they're engaged in the conversation. Right. And I'll try to match exactly where they're at.

Yeah. If they're, like... If they're still [00:45:00] guarded, like arms crossed or anything like that, then I have to try to whittle away at that and break down whatever wall they have in their mind at that point. Mm-hmm. And so I normally do it with a joke or two. Yeah. Just try to crack a smile, loosen them up a little bit- Yeah and get back into it. 

J.R.: Definitely. You know, it's funny sometimes in a conversation or in a group setting I'll purposefully try to give off closed-off body posture language, but not because I actually am, but just to see how- ... people react. Cross my arms, cross my legs, and kind of look down and look away.

But I'm totally engaged- Yeah ... but I'm just seeing how they... And if they kind of turn- It makes people uncomfortable ... right. And then they kind of s- calm their energy, and then I open back up just to see- ... if it works. 

Richard: And it does. It does. There's a lot of psychological stuff- Yeah ... that we don't really- Yeah pay attention to, but the people who are aware of it use it all the time. 

J.R.: Yeah, yeah. In one of my, one of, one of my old office jobs I would have a coworker that we, I'd talk to, and I would see if she was paying attention 'cause I would change my body posture and to see if she matches it. And she would, I'm like, "Oh, she's paying attention."

And then I'd [00:46:00] change it back, and then sit down. Like, we had standing desks- Mm-hmm ... so I would lower it, and then she would lower it as well. I'm like, "Okay, clearly she's listening to what I'm saying." 'Cause I'm just weird like that, just for fun. Just heat checking your coworkers- Exactly

friends ... just my coworkers and friends. Oh my gosh. Exactly. It's I mean... Okay.

Anyways going back to last, last things I wanted to ask so we are outside. I love that a lot. And is there a reason or meaning behind that? Or is it just a hype up sort of thing?

Richard: No, it's just- Yeah, yeah ... a little bit of hype. A little bit. I started doing it at one point- Yeah ... and then I had a couple of friends start picking up on the fact that I was doing it and make jokes about it, either at church or, like- Mm-hmm ... colleagues and stuff. Yeah. And so it just became the catchphrase. Yeah, yeah. We're outside.

You know? It, just because I'm either outside or not working. Yeah. 

J.R.: I like it 'cause it's one of those comfort things where, you know, you see every day and you're like- Yeah ... "Oh it, the thing that happened," and you're like, "Okay, great. My brain has comfort now because I, that thing happened." So whenever I see, "We are outside," I'm like, "Yeah."

"We, I got the thing today." You know? So that's cool. But oh yeah, so what does it mean to get a bill? 'Cause [00:47:00] I know you post in your stories like, "Oh, we got a bill today." Mm-hmm. And I think you just alluded to it, which is like- Yes ... you ask for the bill and then if they give it to you, it preps for the person doing the indoor sale the sale or the- Yeah whatever, the second appointment, right? 

Richard: Yeah, exactly. So basically, we try to get the utility bill, and some teams, for example- Yeah ... they only set the appointment if they get the bill. Mm. If they don't get the bill, then they f- they take it as a sign of not interested enough- Gotcha ... in the appointment. 

Yeah.

I'm thankful that my leadership has some leeway with that, because there are just situations where the person is interested, and they just don't have access- Right ... to the bill in that moment.

Okay. Or you're catching them right as they're, like, leaving their house or something along those lines, and you can't necessarily get it.

But the whole point behind it, it's twofold. So the first part of it is it's an extra layer of commitment.

Because if somebody is willing to go out of their way to either pull up their online account to grab you the billing information or walk inside, find a paper copy, bring it out [00:48:00] so that you can take a photo of it, it's just an extra layer of, okay, they're serious about actually sitting down for an appointment.

J.R.: It's like that Ben Franklin thing where you ask for a favor, and if they do it, they like you more because they did you a favor, right? 

Richard: Yes. The, that's actually a good way to put it. Yeah, exactly. And then the other aspect of it is it's just so that we can make sure that we get the information accurate because in order to design a solar panel system, you need to know what the usage is for the homeowner.

Mm-hmm. And so we go based off of the last 12 months of usage so that you understand where they're at in the summer versus in the winter, how much power they need over the course of a year. And then obviously if they have some changes coming up in the future like, "Oh, we're about to get an EV. We're adding a pool.

We have kids moving out," whatever it is- Yeah ... then you just kind of adapt around that. But for the most part, we try to make sure that we get the bill whenever we're setting up the appointment so that the person who comes in to present the [00:49:00] information has everything ready- ... rather than- I see ... "Oh, I couldn't get the bill."

Yeah. "Okay, the first visit is just gonna be, like, exploratory. Have a simple conversation, get the utility bill, and then, okay, I'll be back in a couple of days with all of the information- Yeah ... prepared at that point." So it's a better setup for that appointment. Yes. 

J.R.: Cool. Yeah, that answers my question. It makes a lot of sense for what you're saying. 

Richard: Mm-hmm. 

J.R.: okay, well maybe we can get into this last question on this topic, but it's what is your career trajectory, progression, vision? I know you enjoy what you do now, but what do you imagine is the next step, and how would you get there?

Richard: Okay. So there's two layers to that question. The first one would be what my next step is within the company that I'm in right now. Which right now I'm just an appointment setter. The next step up would be building a team and eventually becoming a closer. Okay. The person who does the in-home appointment.

Yeah. In order to get to that level, A, I need to be recruiting, and B, I [00:50:00] definitely need to be working more diligently in terms of learning more about the back end process for my career path- ... so that I can do the sales aspect. Because whenever I was in Texas, I had a period of time where I was a sales rep, like rather than just an appointment setter.

I would go into the home, I would present the information, I would set them up, sign docs, make sure everything got to installation and such, and I just, I haven't gotten to that point here in California. And part of it is just a matter of, I guess, honestly, transparently, just not pushing myself enough. I can work up to that point. I haven't had the motivation to just because I'm content with appointment setting, but at the same time comfort is a killer. Of course. You know? And so I do want to kinda tweak that mindset and push myself into the next layer of the job in the near future. Mm-hmm. And the first way of doing that would be getting a few recruits under me- so that I can train them directly, start crafting a [00:51:00] team, and then from there is whenever I start putting together th- the sales process, learning that, getting my license, so on and so forth, and then I'm able to start running my team's appointments. So that would be the next layer within this job.

And on the long-term scale my long-term goal is I wanna make my own marketing company that specializes in door-to-door operations, but is a marketing company across the board. But the reason being is because I feel like marketing is the number one thing, the number one driving force in just day-to-day life, and we see it all the time.

If you think about it, like you're scrolling your phone, you get hit with a lot of ads and such. People don't necessarily like to admit it, but marketing kinda directs our life a lot, and I feel like I could be a positive influence on people's lives if I put together my own company [00:52:00] and displayed things in a positive light for people.

You know? And so one of the things I wanna do- Since I mentioned I want this to be like a door-to-door specialized marketing firm- Mm-hmm ... is I almost want to put together partnerships and make a catalog essentially to bring to people door to door. Because no, nobody wants to necessarily be sold something.

Like I mentioned earlier, nobody wants to be sold, everybody loves to buy things. Mm-hmm. And I feel like it would be a really novel concept if there was a company out there that had a catalog of options in terms of "Hey, this is what we could do for your home. This is what we can do for your business.

This is what we could do for this, this, this," and just presented it to people casually. "Hey, look, I know that you don't want somebody stopping by and knocking your door, but I'm sure that there's a variety of things that you're trying to tackle in your life that you haven't gotten around to. These are all of our [00:53:00] partnerships that are A+ rated on the BBB.

Is there anywhere that we're able to help you improve your life currently?" And then just call it a wrap. I don't know if it's necessarily going to be a business model that works, but it's something that I've thought about for the last several years, and I want to be the person that takes a chance on it.

J.R.: Yeah. Interesting. And plus you have, obviously, a wealth of experience in door to door, so combining that, taking this to the next level makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Cool. So the last few minutes I want to ask back to faith. I mean, if you guys didn't watch the first episode we're both in the same Bible study, so I feel like it's kind of appropriate.

do you have any TLDR ideas of, like, how your personal faith has evolved over time? And then the follow-up to that would be, like, hardest parts and/or best parts. 

Richard: Okay. So in terms of the developing, before I came down to California, I had gone 13 years without going to church. Whenever- But you were 

J.R.: still a Christian, 

Richard: but you just 

J.R.: didn't 

Richard: go to church.

Yes. Gotcha. Correct, correct. I've always been a firm believer in God, but it's just a matter [00:54:00] of how much I was actually, like- Yeah ... engaging with God in- Practice ... my life. Right. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. And so whenever I was growing up, my parents aren't necessarily, They aren't very church-going people, but they are religious in the sense of believers in God- Mm-hmm

Jesus Christ. They stand on a very upright moral frame in terms of how they conduct themselves. Mm-hmm. It's just we never really went to church. Mm-hmm. And then I would go occasionally with my neighbor, because I was best friends with my neighbor, and his parents would take me when they would go here and there.

And so I was involved in church a little bit whenever I was younger, but not very much. And then I went a long stretch without really going. Whenever I lived over in Texas, I would go to some services over in Mexico because of, like- family of my ex at that point, they're involved in church, and so I would go then.

But since I'm not fluent in Spanish, I wasn't getting the- ... the same result in terms of... [00:55:00] I just, I didn't feel like it was necessarily having as much of an impact as what it could. And whenever I moved down to California, I ended up having a coworker at the time say "Hey," "Let's go to church on Sunday."

And I went to Saddleback, and then I started going every Sunday after that, just because initially whenever I went, it just felt, as weird as it sounds, it just felt familiar in a way of I belonged- ... there. I should be going there. And then every week that I would go, the message would just hit a point in me that it was like, wow I really needed that.

And so I just continued going until now. I'm there every single weekend. And now I'm getting to volunteer. Tomorrow I start in the student ministry. I've done welcome team a number of times. Any time that they have an event going on for a holiday or anything, I volunteer to help out with running games or just getting people engaged with it.[00:56:00] 

And so it's been very fulfilling for me, like the development overall, just because now I feel part of a community that at one point I was on the outside looking in. Not even looking in, quite frankly, just on the outside, not even paying attention to. And now I get to be deeply engaged in it, and I get to help other people in their journey of faith.

And the two takeaways that I've gotten the negative takeaway, I would say, is just the fact that I've come to the conclusion that the more that I don't put God at the center of what I'm doing, the less fulfilled I feel internally. And then the positive takeaway is I've gotten to a point where every single day I wake up, I have a conversation with God on my balcony while I peel an orange.

Shout out to the Peel in Prayer. That's my go-to. But basically, I'm so much more at peace with my [00:57:00] life now, just because I realize it's already written, and I just need to lean on the big man upstairs to help guide me on my path, rather than feeling like I need to do everything myself.

J.R.: I like that.

Okay. As we wrap up, I wanna ask for your final takeaway for anyone who maybe is curious about Christianity, faith, or maybe is struggling. Do you have any sort of words of wisdom or any sort of advice you wanna give to them? 

Richard: I think that the one thing that I would recommend is just- trying to find a spot where you feel comfortable going and trying out getting more involved.

People have an adverse reaction to trying things that feel out of the norm. And I feel like everybody inherently just has some sort of a calling towards God- ... i- in my opinion. There's at least something nagging inside of you that's "Hey, maybe I should look into this more. Hey, maybe I should get more connected."

But a lot of people [00:58:00] will feel that or hear that internally, and then just shove it aside because it feels uncomfortable to approach something that they don't necessarily know if they're really fully into or not. And so I think the biggest thing that people could do is just go to church one day.

If you have a friend especially who is already religious, just tell them. Be like, "Hey, listen I've been thinking lately, maybe I wanna look into this a little bit more. Would it be cool if I come to church with you?" And that way it's with a familiar face, and you don't necessarily feel as, I guess, alone, for lack of a better way of putting it.

Yeah. Because that, in my opinion, is the main thing that stops people from really pursuing it at all, is they feel like they're going to be out of their element. And if they don't have anybody around that they recognize or feel comfortable around- Mm-hmm ... it's easy to just get there, stay in your car, and then be like, "You know what? No, I'm not gonna go in."

But if you have somebody that you can lean on [00:59:00] that you're already feeling it internally "Hey, maybe I wanna pursue God a little bit more. Maybe I wanna look into Christianity," or whatever religious belief you wanna look into, go for it. But just, I think the biggest step is finding somebody that you already know, who you're comfortable with, who has that same belief system, and then saying, "Hey can you introduce me a little bit?"

J.R.: I like it. And if that doesn't sell you, what got me into church is, hey, they have free coffee and pastries. So just come for the free coffee and pastries. It's totally worth it. I came one day for coffee and pastries, and I- it's been 12 years now. So I, they, they got a good ROI on that one for me.

With all the tithe money that I've given, and they just had to give me free coffee. Y- you guys won.

Richard: 50 cent cup of coffee- Yeah ... kept you for 12 years.

J.R.: Jesus won. Oh my God. Jesus won on that one. He's like, "I got you. Free stuff."

All right. Let's, let's wrap this up. Thanks, Richard. I appreciate it. Last question for you gratitude.

We always end with gratitude. Shout out to my mom for Mother's Day. What are you grateful for, Richard? [01:00:00] 

Richard: I'm grateful for the parents that I have, because I wouldn't be the man today that I am without them. I'm grateful for the opportunity that I have with my job, because I get to put people in a better position on a daily basis without- anything other than my own effort.

And I'm grateful for the life that I'm living because there is a version of me in the past that dreamed to be at the point that I'm at now. And even though I have those days where I'm feeling behind or I'm feeling like I'm not where I wanna be at this point, I also have to recognize the fact that I'm at a spot where I used to dream of being, and I just get to live in that daily now.

It's not something that I'm reaching for, it's something that I'm already at. And I'm grateful for that. 

J.R.: I love it. Thanks, man. Yep. All right, let's wrap this up. It was such a fantastic conversation. I loved it. We could obviously go for a long time. I'm energized. We're [01:01:00] not technically outside, but we are outside emotionally.

So let's wrap it up. So thank you, Richard, for being here.

Richard: We are inside.

J.R.: We are inside. We are in a door. We're getting bills. Solomon, I would like you to grab your bill. All right. We get... So- Go ahead and grab your bill while I put this in the calendar ... grab your bill on. Yeah, definitely.

So, well, yeah we'll link Richard's social in the description, et cetera, so you can find him if you wanna check him out, so you can get that daily dose of outside. So- The Instagram stories go crazy ... yeah, they do go hard. I recommend it, 10 out of 10. Thank you guys for being here. I really appreciate it.

Be sure to like, follow, subscribe. Leave Richard love in the comments below, et cetera. Five stars on any platform, all that good jazz. Reminder to always be kind to other people, especially yourself, and remember that you can always learn something from someone if you take the time to listen. So thank you guys for being here.