Going Viral with Foot Doctor Zach: Building Brands, Diversifying Income, and Using YouTube

Host Pat Rodgers welcomes Dr. Zach Thomas, known as ‘Foot Doctor Zach’ on YouTube, a board-certified podiatrist who has become a viral online sensation. In this episode, Zach details his journey from working in a traditional podiatry role to embracing entrepreneurship by starting his own practice and creating a popular YouTube channel focused on sports medicine.

Zach shares his path into product development and consulting, and how he has built a robust network of trusted partners, all while continuing his practice. If you are looking to build a personal brand, diversify income streams, or expand professionally, this episode is packed with invaluable insights.

For more on Zach’s work, visit his YouTube channel or follow him on Instagram.

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Build Boldly is produced by Palm Tree Pod Co.

Transcript

Zach Thomas: 0:00

Everything's a learning curve, and it gets really intimidating for a lot of people, and that's why a lot of people quit. There's no difference between me and anybody else. I just didn't quit. I just kept going. I developed the skills I you know, it's from point A to point B. It's just, how much time does it take to get good and to develop a voice? And I just, I don't quit things to a fault, which I should sometimes, and this was one of them where I just was like, Okay, I'm just, I'm not quitting until I have some level of success. And to me, I'm not even anywhere near where I want to be, but I think that's how you keep going.

Pat Rodgers: 0:39

Welcome to build boldly. I'm your host. Pat Rogers, from tech to real estate, I've built businesses across various industries and learn from the best. I'm here to share stories of success from top entrepreneurs and operators. You'll learn actionable strategies and what not to do that you can apply to your business today if you're going to build, build boldly. Now let's get to work. Welcome to Bill boldy podcast. I'm your host. Pat Rogers, and today we're talking with Zach Thomas, better known as the foot doctor. Zach on YouTube. Zach, welcome to show. Thank you. Thanks for having me absolutely well, I'm really excited. This is a fun one for us. You know, I think there's so many people wanting to learn about creating a brand online, and building that brand and expanding upon it, and all the different paths that kind of led you to this moment. So I'm excited to dive into that, and maybe that's a good place to start. What was your career path and how did you get into this, this lane you're in today?

Zach Thomas: 1:39

Yeah, so I mean, I'm originally, I'm a physician. So, I mean, I'm a podiatrist. I still practice with my wife. We own a practice down the road from here, and we used to work in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and we were in we were employees, and I started thinking about doing this right around pandemic time. I think, like a lot of other people did, and except for me, it was I was trying to get more patients that I was more interested in seeing, like more tennis and basketball and runners. And so I thought the way to do that was to create a website with all this information on it. And it took about six months, and created this website and realized I didn't really, I don't know, I just wasn't really doing it for me, and so I was trying to figure out how to get drive more people to the website, and that's where YouTube came in. And it was interesting, because I had always, because my whole thing is, like, I cut, you know, performance shoes open, and I had always done that in the office. I had, you know, just to show people, just for education. And someone said, oh, you should put that online. So I put it up just to drive people to the site. And then that's when, you know, YouTube kind of, you know, that's kind of how I became, like, quote, unquote, foot doctor Zach on YouTube. One video just kind of took off, and then the next and the next, and all of a sudden, you know, fast forward to now, my wife and I own our own practice. We're, you know, entrepreneurs two times over. Now I have this and I have a consulting business, and it's, yeah, it's crazy. That's

Pat Rodgers: 3:09

amazing, yeah. And so, you know, thinking about that moment, you know, was it purely that transition from employee to your own shop? Was that on the heels of this, or had you made that decision to become an entrepreneur before diving into the YouTube scene? No,

Zach Thomas: 3:25

I mean, YouTube really wasn't, I would say a job while I had another while I had my other job. You know, I was doing that full time, and this was just kind of so when I was doing for fun, yep, and when, when we decided that we were going to, you know, start our own practice. I had so much confidence from doing this because I knew kind of how to start a brand, I guess you should say. And so when we moved out here to Columbus, that's when I started going full time on this to bridge the gap between when our office, our our our practice doors open. My wife was working for another it was, it was a larger group. It's like a system. And I was doing this full time. And in that amount of time it took basically, for our office to get built out and to get on all the insurance panels out here, the YouTube side of things just absolutely exploded as soon as I kind of started putting all of my time because, you know, before it was just, whenever I'd have a few minutes extra, I would do it, and then on, you know, to actually putting my full time effort into it. It just really became, became a thing.

Pat Rodgers: 4:32

Yeah, that's awesome. And, you know, I think it's always interesting to hear you put your first video out. How many videos before? Yeah, you started to see that real, like, oh, wow, this is starting to be something,

Zach Thomas: 4:45

yeah. I mean, it was two years, you know, it was probably 100 some videos, at least. I because, I mean, the first, you know, the first, I don't know, I'd say 5060, videos. It they're terrible, you know, it doesn't matter. Or how good you are, they're going to be bad. You know, it's hard to talk to a camera, and it's hard to talk to a camera and make it seem like you're talking to somebody else, right? And I remember watching YouTube and thinking, like, what are they how are they speaking into the camera, and it sounds like they're having a conversation with me. I didn't know how to do that. And, I mean, I was, I really didn't have any problem with public speaking. I was did a lot of public speaking in my life. I lectured at a bunch of, you know, surgical conferences. I have no problems, you know, I talk to people all day in the office. I'm always talking to people. I'm constantly talking and so I thought like, it shouldn't be this hard. And I kept like, trying to figure out how to do that. And in reality, there's no secret. Use it to talk to a camera a bunch, and eventually it starts to feel like there's other people there. And so you start to talk to it like you would talk to somebody else. And so I'm very proud of that, that whereas I would go to record a video now, and when I talk into the camera, that's how that's how I appear in real life, and so that's what I like that I'm able to do now, I think that's why my videos do better. Now, it's because before, everyone's always saying, like, oh, he sounds like a used car salesman, or he's talking too fast, and it goes so nervous trying to get the words out and trying to remember you're memorizing words, and you're trying to get it out like you're, you know, and so now, you know, I'm actually it's a lot more conversational, it's a lot more free flowing, and so I sound better. And so I think more people want to listen

Pat Rodgers: 6:29

to me. That's awesome. That's awesome. I love that. It sounds like consistency was kind of the first piece. And, you know that side hustle, and now you kind of have multiple gigs, but, you know, starting out as a side hustle and then kind of building towards it really was just consistency and effort, it sounds like. And I think that's, you know, something that's lost. Nobody's going to just pop onto YouTube and be a star. It's, how do you actually kind of build that into it and learn from it? Was there anything else, you know, editing wise, or anything of that nature, that kind of you needed to learn, and the tools that kind of helped you to launch further and further faster. Well,

Zach Thomas: 7:03

I mean, it was ever, I mean, you have to learn everything. I mean, I was a communication major in college, so I had some, like, I had some knowledge of how to do, you know, how to edit videos and make thumbnails, but, you know, I was in college and, like, what the 2010s so it's been a little bit and so now you just learn as you go along. I started editing my videos on my iPhone. I always shoot the videos on my iPhone and edit them. Then I got an iPad, I started editing on an iPad, and then not until maybe, like, a year and a half, two years ago, did I actually start editing on a laptop with professional editing software. And you don't need it, like you don't need a camera, like I have. You don't need, really anything to start if you have a phone, you have all you need. There's plenty of videos that I've shot just on this that have gotten I mean, one video I think has 24 million views on it. I shot it on this phone. It took me 10 minutes, right? So it's making content your audience wants to watch. But I mean, everything's alert, you know, that's the thing. Everything's a learning curve, and it gets really intimidating for a lot of people, and that's why a lot of people quit. There's no difference between me and anybody else. I just didn't quit. I just kept going. I developed the skills I it's from point A to point B. It's just, how much time does it take to get good and to develop a voice. And I just, you know, I've really, I mean, I don't quit things to a fault, which I should sometimes, and this was one of them where I just was like, Okay, I'm just, I'm not quitting until I have some level of success. And to me, I'm not even anywhere near where I want to be. But I think that's how you keep going, absolutely,

Pat Rodgers: 8:41

absolutely well. And when you moved to Columbus, was that kind of also the, all right, we're going all in on this until we're able to open the new, you know, location and, and what was that, you know, I'm sure that's a scary moment, but what was it for you that was like, All right, we're ready to do this. The brand's there or, or I'm ready to just say, let's go. What was it for you?

Zach Thomas: 9:02

Well, it was kind of so we knew we were moving to Columbus, and we did not want to work for somebody. So we did not want to have any knowing competes. We did not want to have anything that was going to like kind of hold us back, because having two people working in the same field. It sounds good, because, like, oh, like, you're two doctors, you must be doing great well. That means you have double the student loans. And we went to podiatry school during the height of the financial crisis, where our percent, our loan percentage, like 15 to 17% so, I mean, you know, so there's that, plus your job security. You know, downturn in the like, you know, if an insurance company or here or there starts to audit, but there's, there's so many different things, you know. So we knew we wanted to control as much as we could. So that's where that was. I had been up there without a net before. When I went to podiatry school, I left college a year early. I did. Have a degree. It was really my only, like, I was doing that or and that was it. And so if I failed at that, I was really hosed. You know, taking out 202 I think I ended up with like, $180,000 worth of student loans. Guys. I gotten scholarships still along the way, you know, little things like that. But you come out with that much debt. So, like, I had no college degree, and this was my only plan, and this was it. And so, you know, I had to pass, you know, I had to get through it. And then during my time, there was a residency shortage. There weren't enough residency spots for graduates per graduate, wow. And so there was that four years later, I had to deal with it again. It's like, okay, well, I might not get a residency. I ended up getting a residency. But, you know, so I was used to being up there without a net, and at some point you just got to take a chance on something, right? I knew, I mean, I knew I had something here, and I knew I could monetize it. I just knew I needed the time to do it. And so my wife and I, I mean, we were, we save like we were very, you know, we have, we've had the same financial advisor for a while, who you should have on your podcast, Doug bone Park. He started his own business, and he's, like, the best financial advisor I could ever recommend anybody. But he kind of said, like, you know, you guys are pretty high performers. Like, there's no reason why you can't do this. And so, yeah, it was just, you know, it was sink or swim, you know. And so I just made sure I didn't sink.

Pat Rodgers: 11:38

That's awesome, well. And to have somebody, you know, there's a lot of personas of financial advisors, but somebody that's like, yeah, don't worry about that salary, and you got, you got the means to do it, is, I think, a coach that everybody should have in their corner, right? Because so many are like, let's, let's be cautious. When

Zach Thomas: 11:55

we also didn't just jump. I mean, we had been saving first. We paid our student loans off as quick as we could. We did not wait for any pandemic assistance, like a lot of people have, and then all of a sudden, they've learned that now they gotta pay the interest on that. I mean, there's, there's no free lunch on anything. Yeah, yeah. And so we paid those off as soon as we could. Just we wanted off our backs, and then we started saving as early as we could, because, number one, we didn't know. If you know, what if I break my arm? What if Kristen has some issue? I mean, who know? You just don't know. And so we had our savings built up already, and that gave us a lot of confidence, not that we were saving for like some sort of doomsday scenario, but we just wanted to be comfortable and be able to take risks. Or because originally we thought we were going to buy a separate business, like we were going to buy an event space, or do something, you know, just diversify. And then I said, Well, you know, this is what we know how to do. And so, so it's not like we just jumped without thinking. We're, you know, we saw we had, we saw that we could do it and so and so we did so and like I said, I mean, there's not like, it's not like, there's easy days. This is not an easy job. I mean, I work hard. I work way more now than I did before when I was employed. I enjoy this work a lot. I mean, I get to shoot hoops and play against my tennis wall all day, which is, but, you know, I'm still running this channel a podiatry practice in a consulting business, so, I mean, it's a lot of work. And I don't think people think people see the videos and they look easy for a lot of people, but they're not. It does take a lot of effort. Yeah, I think

Pat Rodgers: 13:38

it's a really good point. You know, it's, it's both the consistency to get there, but the consistency to stay there is still time management, full time job, but also it sounds like it's giving you opportunities to expand into different lanes and keep yourself kind of moving, which is phenomenal, and gives you a lot of a lot of room to play and have new ideas and new new areas to explore as well. Yeah. I mean, I

Zach Thomas: 13:59

would have, I would have never gotten any opportunities that I have now, if I wouldn't have been so tunnel vision, laser focused over the last year doing this. Well,

Pat Rodgers: 14:09

I know you looking back, you started in the basement and had to eventually garage and eventually make the make the change, as so many businesses do. What was it for you that said, Okay, now is the time to make that shift. Because that's also, you know, a big investment outside of just the time you're investing in this. It was a big investment financially to make that change. What was the the big moment for you to make that decision?

Zach Thomas: 14:33

It was so many different factors. I just, you know, I was not 20 anymore, and I just said, you know, I had a family member once told me when I was in college, and he was asking me, like, what I wanted to do with my life, and he was kind of, like, having, like, one of those talks. And he just said, he's like, you know, if there's anything, any advice, I would say, it doesn't matter what you do. Just try to minimize regret. Just try to minimize. Regret. And I started thinking, like, how regretful I was with so much that I had done, and I saw him like, this is not something I want to have hanging over me, that, like I never tried, and that feeling just like that kind of idea, like, that was that, like, Inception, right? Like, where it just kind of grows in you, that, like, I don't want to have regrets anymore. And, you know, I'm still young, you know, I still have all this, you know, you know, I'm, you know, I'm coming into the prime of my life, like I wanted, actually to be the prime of my life. And so, yeah,

Pat Rodgers: 15:32

that's awesome. Well, I know it's, you've kind of shared that it's, hasn't been an easy road. What are some of the big, you know, kind of challenges that you've faced and that you've overcome, you know, on this journey?

Zach Thomas: 15:46

Well, having another job, that's one sure, having a kid, you know, having a young child, my kids, six, so and then having a wife who also has a career, and, you know, she's, she runs 90% of our practice, which, frankly, is a lot harder to run than a YouTube channel. You're dealing with insurances, you're dealing with, I mean, you're dealing with major things, right? You know, when someone calls you from our practice, Someone's probably bleeding, yeah, that's like something's happening, versus this, you know, which, which is a lot less stress. And so it's just, you know, fine, as I remember when I was starting to go really hard at it, and I just was not around, and I was just all my thought was going into this. And, you know, I'm an only child, and I can get tunnel vision really quick. And so, you know, it was, it was getting, you know, when this was just a hobby, and my wife's like, this is, like, this is like, a hobby. You're supposed to be doing this for fun, and you're just miserable all the time and you're not around. She's like, like, something has to change. And so that's like, that was one of the biggest things, was trying to get my time management down, even when it was just a hobby. And I think learning how to get learning how to compartmentalize time, really helped. And every iteration of my channel, and every iteration of this has just been more like, making me more efficient. Like, you know, from the garage, it was getting too cold in there in the winter, so it was, like, really hard to record, so I had to go into the basement. Okay, so then the basement was too small, so I got a bigger basement, and then from the basement to the like the community center courts and the outdoor courts, well, they have camps and clinics and things like that going on, so I couldn't get there when I had times. That's why I got this place, so that I could have my own court, so I could come here and play whenever I wanted, right, and record whenever I wanted. So it's just every iteration of it was just me finding the friction in my workflow and making it more efficient. Like now, I have more time now than I ever have, because I'm able to do things so so much quicker. It's much more efficient. If anybody watches any my videos, they'll see they're the exact same. It's just a different shoe. So I do the same thing in every video, so it makes it quicker for me to do it. And just learning how to do that has just, that's what's that's what's kind of reduced all the friction. But it's just been time management that's been the hardest part of the whole

Pat Rodgers: 18:06

thing. Yeah, I can only imagine what it sounds like as you were finding that time management in the side hustle. It probably made it also easier to make it the full transition to this space. I think that's a great lesson for people like, if you can't manage it as a side hustle. There's some things you got to fix before you can make it your real your real job or your real career.

Zach Thomas: 18:26

Yeah, you better have some way to know that it can be a full time career. The thing with a real job is, is it's consistent, like they're here, here, here's the consistent money every two weeks, every month, whatever, every week, whatever you're getting a paycheck. You know what that paycheck you know what that paycheck is going to be, and you can plan for it. Like at our other job, like, I mean, our pay varied a little bit, but you kind of knew what you were. I mean, it was pretty easy to tell with YouTube some months, like, we're popping champagne. I don't really drink that much, but popping champagne other months, I'm like, you know, I'm like, shaking my you know, thing, because I feel like I'm at the poor house. And so it's, it's so weird, you'll have these peaks and valleys. And I was never used to that. And that's what I hate about it. I hate the peaks and valleys because, like, I'll be up on this peak, right, of making a lot of income for a month, and it almost makes me more fearful, because I'm like, okay, like, what wins the Val like, when is the drop coming? And at least, but the good part is, is that when you control everything, if something's not going your way, you can just work your way out of it, like a couple, maybe, like last year or some, you know, the ad rates on YouTube went down a lot, and I don't rely on YouTube ad revenue for my income as much as other things, but it's part of it. And so I thought, okay, how am I going to work my way out of this? And so I just figured out, you start writing ideas down, and I mean, that's the thing, you can control it, right? So that's the best. That's the other thing. Whereas, you know, when, if the economy goes kaput it, I have, at least I have control over this, right? Like I have my audience people know me. It's not like I'm reliant on anybody else. I'm not. I'm relying on nobody, which is nice, so that there is a double edged sword there, for

Pat Rodgers: 20:19

sure. Well, it's a good, good segue, because I know you've you've got consulting, you've got the podiatry office, you've got the YouTube channel, and now you're starting to find other channels and ways to promote products and create products. Yeah, how? What's that journey been like to continue to diversify and find new lanes of opportunity?

Zach Thomas: 20:39

Well, I started consulting with companies, and a lot of the companies that I would consult with would say, like, you have any ideas for your own product. And I just say, I always think to myself, I don't have the money to do that. I don't have the capital, I don't have the time, so no. And then one day, I just thought to myself, like, why couldn't I, like, I have a good idea for like, it was, it was a, it was a recovery sandal. And so I just started shopping it around. And the first person that I shopped it to was like, Oh, my god, yeah, here's the contract. Sign it. And I thought I was like, I just, I had no clue, like somebody would want to do that with me. And, you know, basically, I was able to leverage my my basically, the letters behind my name, to get more favorable terms, and so that I didn't have to put up as much capital. I put up the work, like I'm doing more work, but I'm not putting up capital. And so I was able to leverage everything here and what's behind me now to in my, you know, just kind of like, what's in my brain to be able to start that. And as soon as I started one project, it's like, okay, well, now I know how to, you know, like, I got myself a mentor, and now I know how to do this, so now I know how to do this. So now it's like, okay, now I'm on step two. How do I get to the next one? And so it's just been kind of a gradual step up to where, like, now I'm pretty confident, like, not that I'm going to right now, but if I wanted to make my own shoe right now, I'm pretty confident I could. That's awesome. It's just, I mean, do I want to put the time investment marketing? Not really right now going on, but it is pretty interesting now that I have this whole other skill set that I just never knew that I was going to have or that I could achieve, but I'm pretty happy with what I'm you know what I'm doing right now, so I don't really, but if the opportunity comes, sure, but I'm happy with what's going on now,

Pat Rodgers: 22:44

that's awesome. And finding you, if you don't ask, you don't know, right? And say, right, you're asking, like, hey, oh, wow. I do have this skill set. I do have this understanding and and bang, here you go. You got an opportunity. You know, the thing you mentioned, there were mentors, and I'm sure you know, being in business with your spouse is a whole piece of it. But you know, what other what community have you built around yourself that's kind of been with you through this journey to keep helping you level up and take those next risks and those next next steps? To

Zach Thomas: 23:13

be honest, YouTube is pretty isolating. Yeah, it's a lonely thing because you're always just recording yourself and so, I mean, like, my wife has been more supportive than I think anybody should ever be to their spouse doing weird stuff. I mean, you know, because at the beginning, you know, it's, you know, I tell her, like, what my what I'm gonna do. And I think most people might think most spouses would have been like, All right, get back to work, you know, yeah, that's what, yeah. And she wasn't, you know, she said, Okay. And so without that, there's, I mean, there's no way there. There would not be foot doctor Zach unless there was a foot doctor Kristen first, and then my father was the one who would always go out and record with me, like, when this was my channel started as just tennis shoes, like the sport tennis, and he's like, the only person I'll go record with, because I know he's just patient enough to do it with me. So if not for him, I would have never had any way to actually make videos. Aside from that, it is kind of isolating. I just started having a team, and the one team has been like my best friend since I was in middle school. And he's a Podcast Producer, so we started basically a podcast off of my channel, and so, like, he's the only person that I've really brought into my orbit. Because I, you know, I would trust him, you know, with, you know, my kids life and my life. So, I mean, obviously, I would trust him with this. Obviously, you know, now I work with, you know, some really great brand partners, which is great, like Noah seinberg from Xenon paddle. He's the one I'm doing the paddle shoe with that just ended up being lucky that he ended up not being, you know, a predatory business. Oh, you know. He's a super nice guy and is genuinely interested in performance shoes. You know, I work with some people on my own brand now, so you know, they're, they're really, they've been really supportive. And then, you know, now, in the future, I have another partner that I actually is under NDA still, so in a different space. So, yeah, that'll be down the road, sure, but it's all people that are as passionate as me about shoes, about biomechanics, anatomy. I mean, I know it's hard and it's funny, because when I started the channel, I was taught, I was with my dad, we were playing tennis, and I told him my idea, and I said, you know, it's gonna be weird, because it's people that are really into shoes, really, like, only tennis and court shoes, and so it's like a really, like, I was like, I don't know how I'm gonna thread this needle, but I'm gonna try until I do. And he just was like, Well, okay, yeah. And, you know, it's funny how you find people that are kind of interested in the same things as you

Pat Rodgers: 26:05

along the way, for sure, well, in the confidence. So, yeah, let's, let's do it. You know, between your your your wife and your father just having your back and saying, Yeah, let's go for it. And you stuck to it and got to where you are. And so I love that now, as you've expanded, you're finding those next level partners to just continue to build. And I think that's something that everybody should always find, if you don't know the answer, there's somebody that has it. But I also love these said, you know, you got to be cognizant of who those business partners are, and are they the good people? Are there people that are going to have your back? And I'm sure, you know, there's probably hesitation before you decided to go into business with others.

Zach Thomas: 26:39

And yeah, most, most of the time, I'm always like, if I take any meetings on anything, immediately, like, while everything's still fresh in my head, I'll usually call my mother, and then if she's like, You know what? What? Like, no, like, what? That doesn't make any sense, okay, immediately, like, doesn't pass the sniff test. And then, like, she's like, Oh, it sounds interesting. And I'll talk to Kristen, and I'll talk, you know, so, I mean, it's like, you know, I do have like, this brain. I mean, it's a small brain trust. And it's, you know, it's basically like, I gotta go home and ask my mom if I can play with you type thing, sure. But, you know, she has my best interest at heart. So, I mean, so that's kind of where, yeah, for sure. That's

Pat Rodgers: 27:14

awesome. That's awesome. Well, this has been phenomenal. And, you know, we kind of always end with, you know, some advice for folks and would love to hear kind of, maybe somebody that's turning a side hustle into a full career, or even somebody that wants to get into the lane that you're in and building your own brand. What are some pieces of advice or words of wisdom that you'd share for them on their journey?

Zach Thomas: 27:37

I would say, just get excited about the boring stuff, because it looks fun. Buying gear seems fun, right? Listening to all these people, like these gurus and everything that tell you how your life is going to change and how it's great, and that's fun, and that's nice to daydream, and it's fun to get gear and plan, but unless you actually execute on that. And, like I said, do the boring stuff, like, like, record one take 1000 times, because you can't get the words out of your mouth. Like, to me, it's sometimes saying foot doctors act calm, because that's like, like, my landing page. I can't get it out of my mouth. Yeah. And I still take, sometimes, like, 20 takes on, like, a girl photographer, I still in my head, I still can't say it, and so it's getting the boring stuff, making that fun, and kind of embracing that, and not just the date. Because you people get sucked into daydreaming about things and getting more information and learning about things and reading or watching videos about it, and it's better to just start and look like an idiot now, and instead of, you know, there was one guy who really said the best thing, he's, like, the time is gonna pass anyway. So you might, you might as well do something in that time. Don't just wait, do something. Take action. At least, if you fail, at least you tried, right? You know? Like, that was me. I said, like, if I fail at this, like, at least I tried. Least I can say I tried. I can look my kid in the eye and say, like, Yes, I did try something, you know. And so I think that's, that's it. It's just, you know, get ready for it to be boring, and it's not gonna be as glamorous as you think it is. Being a business owner, trust me, I know owning three, yeah, yeah, it's not as glamorous as it looks on the outside, and it can look really cool, especially for me, when I keep getting boxes of shoes sent to me and all these brand new products that no one has seen yet, and I'm the only one that's got them, right? It looks really glamorous. And to a certain extent, yeah, it is pretty cool, right? Don't get me wrong, it is pretty cool, but there's a lot that goes up to that point to where I am the person that has that and that opportunity. There was a lot of boring and a lot of sacrifice that goes into it. And just get ready to embrace that and make that like part of your identity, the fact that. You can control yourself and you can control your impulses. And no, I just want to watch, you know, three hours of YouTube or Netflix. Well, no, while someone else was doing that and complaining that they're that they didn't make it, I was here at midnight to 1am putting up fake greenery back there. I mean, just like these little things. So, I mean, just embrace the boring stuff. Yeah,

Pat Rodgers: 30:22

the other thing you said, I think that's so true about somebody getting started, is the analysis paralysis of, like, I'm gonna learn everything. It's like, yeah, do you? Do you really haven't learned and so you gotta team my daily and get ready for the boring and, yeah, that's where businesses are built. If you're really good at the fundamentals, the rest is gonna come. But you gotta, you gotta, you gotta hunker down and do the fundamentals first, right? Yeah, for sure, awesome. Well, Zach, this has been great. We really appreciate your time learning about your journey and your story, and we can't wait to see where this takes you. And really appreciate the time joining the build boldy podcast. Yeah,

Zach Thomas: 30:55

thanks for having me. There

Pat Rodgers: 30:59

were so many incredible insights from my conversation with you. Dr Zach, my key takeaways for today's show were, first, consistency and more importantly, don't quit. Too many people quit before they find success. Be consistent and hone your skills. Success will follow second. Don't get trapped in analysis paralysis. You learn by doing nothing beats learning from your own mistakes. Don't wait, just start. Start today. Third, and this is true about any business, get excited for the boring things. The fundamentals are critical to your business success, accounting, finance, operations, you name it. It's the boring things that make or break your business. Want to give a special thank you to shoe Dr Zach for joining us. If you're enjoying this podcast, we'd love a rating or review. Don't miss an episode. Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts, and most importantly, don't forget if you're going to build, build boldly. See you next time. Thank you for tuning in. If you know someone who could benefit from this conversation, send them this episode. You can learn more about rise at Rise commercial district.com or find me on LinkedIn. Bill boldy is produced and edited by the team at Palmer tree pod Co. Anthony Palmer is the executive producer Special thanks to Emily miles and Caitlin Krings for copy and digital support and our entire team behind the scenes making this podcast possible. You