Mindset Connection Episode 45: Ron Marvo

Welcome to the Mindset Connection Podcast! Episode 45 was

definitely a powerful one. We sat down with an amazing guest, and

truly wonderful human-Ron Marvo. In addition to founding a company

that helps businesses-big and small-run efficiently (and who doesn’t

want that?), Ron is also a business development coach, podcast host,

and former Golden Gloves Boxing Champion. Ron told us how getting

into a fight with a childhood friend in high school changed his life,

and how the power of practice and patience has made him the

success he is today. Ron couldn’t have been more humble and

honest-crediting his father for giving him the discipline to deal with

problems head on and never giving up. He also talked about how he

pulls himself back into the “Drive Line,” when thoughts fill his head,

and uses his four foundational pillars to find his center. Throughout

our conversation, Ron kept thanking us for our work, and shared that

doing good in the world and helping others is what he is all about.

Ron told us that he sees failure as an opportunity to self-reflect and

that each time he didn’t win at something, he learned something.

Cindy and I will definitely be thinking about the weekly vision board

that Ron creates each Sunday-red sharpie and all. Talking with Ron

was like sitting down with a close friend that just gave you the

solution for that hard problem you were trying to fix. We hope you can

feel the love and joy he has for life, just like we did.

The Changemaker for Self-Reflection and Resiliency: Ron Marvo

Contact Information for Ron Marvo

Website: sparqperformance.com

Social Media: @ronmarvo

LinkedIn: Ron Marvo

Podcast: Great American Underdog

_____________________________________________

Contact Information for Hosts, Jennifer Clearwaters and Cynthia O’Connell:

Jen:
www.mindsetnj.com
@mindset_connection_
@mindsetjen-Instagram
@mindsetconnectionpod-TikTok
@jenniferclearwaters-YouTube
@mindsetconnectionpod-YouTube

Cindy:
www.mindfulnessconnection.com
@mindfulnessconnection-Instagram
@mindsetconnectionpod-TikTok
@mindsetconnectionpod-YouTube

@theelevationprinciples - YouTube channel for the book, The Elevation Principles

The Elevation Principles Book and Audiobook - Available on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1665307099?ref=myi_title_dp

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW!
Podcast available on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube

This podcast is produced, recorded, and edited at Black Swallowtail Media Agency in Eatontown, NJ.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Mindset Connection podcast. This is episode 45. I think I said that incorrect at the last episodes, but this is actually number 45. So we are your hosts, Jennifer Clearwaters, and Cindy O'Connell. If you are new to us, thank you for joining. In every episode, we are showcasing people doing amazing things in the field of mental health and wellness. And today we are joined in person, which Cindy and I definitely prefer, by our very special guest, entrepreneur, business development coach, and former NJ Golden Gloves champion, Ron Marvo. Thank you for being here. We're definitely going to be talking about that. So Ron is a managing partner of Spark Performance and the COO of Pavora and helps business owners uncover hidden profit and create new revenue streams. His career has taken him from being a top-performing Audi brand specialist to coaching business professionals in areas such as development, leadership, negotiation, branding, emotional intelligence, and personal growth. Ron credits his background in boxing for shaping him into the person he is today. We cannot wait to hear all about it. So again, thank you for being here in person with us.

SPEAKER_03 1:08

Thank you for having me, ladies. I really genuinely appreciate it. And first of all, uh your show. It's just incredible the parallels with my show, Great American Underdog, in terms of what you guys have done in creating the space to really help people, whether it's from their mindset, fitness, spirituality, et cetera, business. I think it's just really incredible. And I always say you never know who you're impacting. So the fact that uh you guys do this, you're having a tremendous impact on people that you may not even realize. So kudos to you. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

And we always say it's never a mistake. We're always meant to meet. And this is another wonderful connection that we got from Dan Tikowski. So thank you. Thank you so much, Dan.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Absolutely great human. Yes. So we were talking a little bit before in the green room. Um, Ron did refuse makeup. Anyway. That's pretty good. Yeah. I mean, I did my eyebrows before. He may have gotten makeup when he was a golden glove champion post. But anyway, so how did that all go down? And what lessons did you learn from boxing since you say that that's what, you know, kind of shaped your life?

SPEAKER_03 2:13

Yeah, well, um, first of all, I have worn makeup before when I've had a black eye or whatever to work. And I've literally had when I was younger, my mom now, my wife be like, Can you just put like a little cover-up on here just so that way nobody sees a black eye? Because uh, if you're gonna do something like boxing, you're gonna get hit. Anybody who says that they do any kind of art, martial arts, et cetera, and they say that they've never gotten their butt kicked for lack of uh better words there, uh, they're lying. Um so like you have to go, you have to go through that. And that's a resilience piece of what I part of what I've learned from boxing. If you had asked anybody in my family if I would have been a boxer, no, nobody would have bet on that. I would have never bet on it. It was just not something that I ever saw for myself. And um, I was always into sports. My dad growing up in Brooklyn, having um just his just my grandmother, no dad. He was a superintendent of his apartment building at 14 years old. Uh, he never got the opportunities to play anything or chase you know his proverbial dreams and in real life because he was just always providing in that sense. And then when I was younger, my mom hit her head putting me in a car seat. Uh, and when she did, she got a clot on the left side of her brain, left hemisphere parietal lobe, that eight neurosurgeons told her was a cancerous tumor, and they gave her six months to live. Um, and why am I telling you this? Because it does tie back into the boxing and and just my mindset um in general in life, which is they gave her a quote unquote death sentence and said, Yeah, there's nothing we can do, you know. And my dad continued to look for answers, and he did and found somebody who performed a seven-hour wide-a-weight brain surgery on my mom and saved her life. They shared her surgery on 2020 um years later, and that was back in 1994, and I was born 91, I was three years old. Um, so growing up in a household of never give up, never surrender, do your best at everything you do, and don't let other people, I guess, put you into a box of what you can't do. So I was trying everything, but I was also doing it in a way to please my parents. And I grew up a little bit of having this, my dad being military, also, I didn't want to be in crosshairs a lot or be the quote unquote problem. So, like, yeah, I'll try it, no problem. I was just very, very agreeable. And uh, so fast forward junior year of high school, I'm in science class first period, and somebody that I was friends with, who I grew up in my neighborhood with, our dads rode motorcycles together. Uh, somebody instigated him. He wasn't the best student in school, and um, they knew that he was getting to fights and things like that, and they pretty much told him that I was talking about his girlfriend when I wasn't. And to paint the picture, I was 103 pounds in 10th grade. I'm not picking a fighting with anybody's girlfriend or anyone in general. This is just again how I describe myself to you of just being more like get along. I'm not picking on anybody's and talking about anybody's girlfriend. So he stops me in the doorway of science class and he's like, you know, I can't believe you do that. All the you know, curse words, whatever. And I was like, I just don't want to fight, man. I'm I I avoided it at all costs. I go back home, I tell my dad, and my dad with his background, growing up in Brooklyn, getting into fights and whatnot, he did.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

He's like, Well, you're signing up.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

Well, no, not yet. I go and he's like, Well, Nate's a lot bigger than you. He's going to try to bully you and push on you. And when he gets this close to you, and he goes to put his hands back to shove you, that's an intent for him to put his hands on you. I want you to hit him under the chin and aim for the ceiling. Do not let somebody put their hands on you, which was always a thing in my house, even from when I was younger, right? Um, you have your boundaries in your space. And I'm like, uh, okay. So then he took out a phone book. I'm dating myself a little bit with that, but it's true. And uh he's not dating yourself on this. Please. Anyway, so he takes out a phone book and puts it like right here, gets real close to me, and had me like practice. No lie, go back to school the next day. He stops me in the doorway before I'm about to leave. He puts his hands up to push me, and I do exactly what my dad said. And I dropped him in front of everyone, including my teacher, and two things happened. Suspended. Well, before even that, one, I was like, holy crap, I can't believe I just did that. And then two, I my heart because my friend, I just still was like the empathy piece of I only did this to defend myself.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Right. I don't want to hurt you.

SPEAKER_03 6:51

Yeah, and meanwhile, he's huge, and I'm not. I go to help him up. And when I go to help him up, he throws a big right hand at me at the time not knowing any better. I turn my head, he hits me in the back of the head. We roll back into the science class, we end up in the classroom, he jumps at me, I drop down to a knee, he ends up with both hands over my shoulders, and he's pulling his arms out, and I'm holding on for dear life. Meanwhile, my little small science teacher, she's over there crying her eyes out. Stop, please, freaking out. I could hear, and um, he stops trying to get his arms out and he says, If I get off you, promise you won't hit me again. I said, Okay, get off me. We go to the principal's office, who was also the wrestling coach for the high school. Knew me because who was it? Who was the prince? Sitari. So um knew me, knew that I wasn't causing problems, knew him, knew how things kind of went down. And mind you, because like dad made me try all the different sports, 103 pounds. I wrestled in 10th grade for a season.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Of course.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

Because he was like, go try to wrestle. So anyway, so he knew both of us. Our dad's come down, and my dad says to him in front of his father and the principal listen, if you feel like you're not done with Ron for any reason, there will be no fighting in school. You're both gonna get suspended anyway. But what I will do is I will rent a boxing gym. The two of you can put on headgear and gloves. Dad and I will have coffee and donuts because they were friends, and you guys could beat the crap out of each other until one of you gets tired. What do you want to do? He said no. I also said no. And um, we get back in the car afterwards, and he's like, I just want you to know you're going to learn how to box. And then I went and I met Sal Lopez. Sal Lopez won Diamond Gloves four times, Golden Gloves five times, and fought for a world title in 1998. A year and a half later, I was a golden glove champion. Wow, that's great. I had to share the story.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Yeah, with little seconds about your dad. And we'll get to your podcast, Great American Underdog, but the episode with your father is amazing, hilarious and spot on. And like, if you haven't seen it, please go back and look at the episode.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

So I I have to think back that um on your dad saying to you, okay, we're like practicing with you. I could I like as you're talking, I'm picturing this in the first of all. I'm trying to picture him at 103 points or at 132 when I won. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Yeah, you know, and knowing that your friend is gonna beat you up. So that's hard, hard to to deal with. Yeah. And knowing you were gonna get suspended.

SPEAKER_03 9:35

Yeah, but I just uh it just was a a refusal of accepting anybody doing that to you. Yes. And my sister, myself, like we just always built with that tenacity in us, even though I was calm, and it's like a light switch kind of flick.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:50

Flick up on off. And I feel like also it helped me in terms of just uh discipline, resilience, emotional control, like understanding where you are in a conversation. Like there's an EQ piece. The best fighters in the world are thinkers. Oh they're not, they're not they're not ego, they're not aggression.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

The best athletes in the world are thinkers.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

I mean, look at LeBron James. How smart is he? Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_03 10:15

Yeah, right. And it's just uh it's just funny to me because so many people think boxing, they think aggression, toughness, easy. And that's actually how people end up losing fights. Um, so it it also definitely humbled me because um, not that I needed it per se, but uh, you never know what somebody else knows. And then to also be willing to learn from them. Yeah. So you know, somebody that's better than you, like learn from them. Don't get your ego in the way of your own development because you're like, that person's better than me, they're gonna outshine me. And so many people let that stop them from doing things or what other people are gonna think if I'm not as good as somebody who's at the top in a certain category. And they stop themselves from even trying before they recognize what they could potentially do.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Love that.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Yeah, me too. I mean, I I think what your father did was incredible. Yeah. Because he gave you confidence. Did you think that you were confident before that all happened?

SPEAKER_03 11:11

I was in ways in terms of my ability to connect with people.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

You see, when you hear his father. Oh, I can see I can see it now. I mean, this just doesn't happen. This is you had a good guy. Yeah, yeah, I definitely did. But being a hundred pounds as a junior in high school, and most kids would have been like, I don't I can't do this.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Yeah, I that's exactly right. But you never said that, did you?

SPEAKER_03 11:37

No, no, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Because you trusted your dad.

SPEAKER_03 11:39

I trusted my dad. I trusted um his his guidance and what he had been through. And again, that's why I shared my mom's story of like he didn't give up. You're you don't give up, and there's gonna be roadblocks that are gonna get put in your way, and sometimes they're purposeful because that that leads you to another thing that you never would have expected for yourself in a million years. And I feel like if people opened their energy up to that in their lives, they'd have a lot more fulfilling lives a lot of times, versus like you called your friend and said to him, Hey, you know what?

SPEAKER_00 12:08

You changed my life.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

Well, yeah, it's funny. Like we uh we we still talk, we still talk at times to this to this day. He knows that happened. Yeah, like that was one moment, it was it really was it. And I talk about that even on the podcast, and it's it's like the hero's journey and what's called canon moments. So, like Spider-Man, for example, in every reality of that universe, his Aunt May or his uncle Ben passes away, and that teaches him the responsibility power thing. And no matter what, that had to happen for him to for him to become who he was meant to be. And I think that we all have those moments. Some of us miss them because we're limiting our energy, our thoughts, and we have these blinders on of what we think reality our life should be, and they miss the opportunity to be like, wow, that was a moment for me to develop rather than this happened to me, this happened for me kind of mindset.

SPEAKER_02 13:00

Where's the gift? Yeah, yeah. Where's the gift? I like that a lot. And that's what you did.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

So, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Well, let's talk about shifting into business. So, so how did you take what you learned from boxing and make that an asset in your company? And and and that, and when you're looking at potential clients and businesses, because I know what you do is you you you help them run more effectively. What do you see are the biggest issues out there?

SPEAKER_03 13:26

A lot of times, um, especially with businesses. Well, let me digress to the boxing piece of it. It's really the um, again, understanding that we're all gonna hit certain roadblocks challenges, etc., and it's what you do to move forward past them, right? Like somebody's being overly aggressive in the ring with you, how to handle that versus if you're being overly aggressive in the ring, you waste all of your energy, etc. And I lost diamond gloves in the semifinals because I did that. I went in used to bull being the bully in fights of even though at 132 pounds, I was really tall and long. So I was a bigger 132 than everybody else. So I was able to pressure people um and and win through just non-stop going forward, but then moved up in weight, tried to use that same tactic against somebody who was more proficient, better thinker. Yeah, and they were able to outlast me. I gassed myself, got dropped with a body shot with 15 seconds left in the fight, got back up, walked towards the ref, stumbled, and he called the fight at the end of the fight. And granted, at that on that day, Garrett was the better fighter 100%, because again, I wasn't thinking.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

It's so good for you to look back and reflect and say, like, okay, like that actually happened, and I didn't deserve to win that time.

SPEAKER_03 14:41

I didn't lose, I learned.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

And and you know, from our conversation earlier, that self-reflection piece, like you said it. You know, we're sitting there and you're talking about self-reflection. I'm like, Yahoo. Yay! This is what you like. That's it.

SPEAKER_03 14:55

There's how you get up and and tying that to businesses, a lot of times we don't reflect on our own business and the systems we might have put in place, the people, the processes, all these different things. And we're so used to it running the way that it runs that as you scale and grow, a lot of times I help businesses with their expenses that way because they're not looking at previous uh vendor partners that they've had that are just in place that they could be overpaying on. They're energy bills. I work primarily in payment processing, energy, logistics, telecom IT, and payroll. And we look for profit leaks in those areas. Yeah. And as a business grows typically, they don't go back and look at that stuff. So then I'm having these conversations where it's like, hey, by the way, I'm not indicting you of being a bad operator or business professional inside of your business. You're great at what you do. Let me help you with the profitability of that. Look at these vendor partners, see if there's an opportunity for you to be more proficient operationally and save money, and then pair you with that. And guess what? If there's not an opportunity and you're doing great in that area, I'll tell you that too. Because we literally do a um just a no risk, no obligation, as cliche as that sounds, analysis of their expenses in a key area. They never pay us a dime. We don't take from their savings when we actually implement something because we get paid on the back end through our division partners. So how we're vendor agnostics.

SPEAKER_02 16:24

So, how many people do you have working for you? Like you're talking in the we term.

SPEAKER_03 16:28

So um, so I have me, my managing partner, my advisory board chairman, my other advisory board partner, and then I have several division partners in those key areas I had just mentioned. Okay, yep. And all senior leadership essentially in those niches. And they're they're connected to like, for example, on the telecom IT side, all the bigs, the ATTs, the Comcast, the Verizons, etc., do cyber security. They have cybersecurity partners, uh, data co-location if you want your data in a data center because it's easier to manage. So I essentially ask great questions, listen to what the problem is for the business owner, and then just say, hey, let's I don't try to put all the verticals on somebody, especially if it's not applicable to their business. You know what I mean? So I look at let's start with one opportunity and see if there's something there. I think this is the most viable, non-disruptive opportunity for you and your business. Let's start with that and see if there's something there.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

So you're basically the person that's, you know, let's say Jen comes to you, you're the one that's gonna figure out what she needs for her company.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

Or how can I run my business more efficiently? And I feel like what what business owner wouldn't want someone to look at that fresh eyes to come in and say, like, you're doing it this way, but I see that you could be even better if you did it this way.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

Well, a lot of times when we when we get in our own way, I've done it in my business, and and even before what I do now with Spark, I was a business development coach. And I would go into a lot of dealerships, a lot of times working with the salespeople there. I taught a sales process curriculum that I co-created and a business development curriculum that I co-created. And a lot of times when you go into a business, let's say with salespeople, number one, you'll go around a room and say, What's your process for selling? And if there's 15 salespeople, you'll get 15 responses. And then leadership has to be bought in. And if they feel like you're coming in and you're going to expose them because they're used to doing something a certain way, that's when they wouldn't want that because they either uh don't want to be exposed or they fear change. Yes. And change is a hard thing. We all know loss aversion, we'll do more to move away from pain or loss than we'll do to move towards an equal or greater gain.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

So I'm gonna tell you something that I that I just learned. Uh it's it's a phrase. So when someone like yourself goes comes into a company and you're dealing with this owner, honor the old guard. So, in other words, that's the first thing you say is look, look how successful you are because you've done X, Y, Z, blah, blah, blah. But now when we go to the next level, how are we gonna d do this? Yeah. I didn't make that up. I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Well, and I think people need to realize when you get to a certain level, actually, Dan was talking about this on an on an episode that you you can't do it yourself. Like I think he was saying we're there was talking about if you were to go back, what would you do differently? And one of the things that he said was, I would have asked for help sooner. Because you feel like you, you know, you get to a point where you're breaking and then you're reaching out for the the lifeboat or the, you know, you need help. You're okay. You could have you could have gotten help sooner and made it such a smooth smoother transition.

SPEAKER_03 19:41

Yeah, and the other thing too is is like you want to be able to help them focus on what they're great at. And what you had mentioned before too is respect the old guard. And one of the things that I feel like a lot of people do in business poorly that are, especially on the sales side, is they just pitch people. Here's what I do, here's how great I am, and they never take the time to genuinely understand the business. And one of the best compliments you can give somebody that you're looking to partner with as a client, because I do believe it's a partnership, genuinely, when you have the mindset of wanting to build lifetime value for someone, which of course for me I always do. Part of the reason I even have a podcast is to do that for people at large, regardless of business. But like you end up looking for what does their business does, what makes them different, and actually learn about that before you go and have a conversation. Show somebody that you care about what they do and the impact that they have. Another cool strategy, too, it's strategic, but it's helpful, is introduce them to somebody that can help them that has nothing to do with your business. Like listen for that. And when you do that, it's just like relationships flourish because you're actually looking to lead with value and it shows you genuinely care. So who taught you to be such a good listener? I did it out of uh as a child, more out of protection for myself in ways because like I needed to know like how to fit into certain environments. And also I just have a level of care to see people win. So I'm a and you guys may know personality types, I'm an ENFJ.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:22

So for me, like everything, and my wife makes fun of me. She goes, Everything with you is full of potential, full of potential, full potential. So, like when I hear of somebody um going through something or whatever the case is in their life and they're talking, the best thing you can do is actively listen. So I think about that. People listen to respond, uh make a point versus listening to listen to what the person's really saying, what's underlying there. So I think that just through practice, a lot of sales, asking a lot of questions, because before I worked for Audi, you know, somebody comes in like, Hey, you want a new car? Like, no. Like, hey, what do you act? Hey, well, first of all, greeting somebody, welcome, you know, to XYZ dealership. I worked for Ray Katina Audi and Freehold for four years. So, you know, pretty big dealership. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And uh what brings you in? Something new or pre-owned? Okay. What do you currently use your car for? And I'm just using automotive as an example because a vehicle is the physical thing, but what's their lifestyle? What do they use it for? What's important to them? The safety stuff. Like, and then painting the picture of a future-paced reality of what that would do for you versus here's how great our product is, here's why you should buy it.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 22:35

And I think people get messed up a lot.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

They do. This is great. So let's jump into the podcast because you just talked about that. So tell us about your podcast, Great American Underdog. Like, how did you start it? How do you choose your guests?

SPEAKER_03 22:47

So I started it actually because you had mentioned dad's episode before and what I told you about mom. My grandfather, my mom's dad, always wanted my dad to write a book. And he wanted to call it Back from the Dark. And it was like the story of getting the diagnosis for my mom and really my dad explaining it from the outside lens with excerpts from my mom whenever she wanted to interject or not into it, of course, because it's really about her. But telling that story. And my dad leaving school in sixth grade, not really good at reading, writing. Nowadays, I know you can transcribe and get a book written for you and get a ghostwriting. But I was like, you know what? That story, in and of itself, that, how he grew up in Brooklyn and did what he did, his military experience. I'm gonna share that with the world. What was his military experience? He was 82nd airborne. Oh. Um, he was an army ranger, he taught the physical fitness obstacle course before Bragg. No wonder.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

He was like, that they're gonna be the box.

SPEAKER_03 23:48

And he used to run security at nightclubs in in Brooklyn as a young man and all these things. So yes.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

But he's not 132 pounds.

SPEAKER_03 23:55

No, no, no, no, no. He was a power lifter. I was in high school, I was bench, I was benching because of him a lot because he was always like, you know, you need to learn bench squat, deadlift, and like anyway. Rode a motorcycle, professionally drag raced bikes.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 24:10

Used to run seven second quarter miles at 170 miles an hour in the quarter mile craziness. But anyway, so I wanted to share that story. Right. So I was like, that's an underdog story. It's also leaving being an underdog because you eventually are no longer the underdog, but the mentality of that of like not necessarily having something to prove, but even if all the odds are against me, I can win and I can do it through all different types of experiences. So that's how I start the podcast is I want to share my mom's story through my dad's lens and have him share that back from the dark and kind of immortalize it, if you will, because it lives forever on the internet. So even when, you know, one day far, far away in a faraway galaxy, he's not around anymore. I can show that to my grandkids. Yeah, like you know, and and have them understand the story of what happened with my mom, etc. It's a crazy story and hear him tell it from his standpoint. So that started the podcast. And then I said, you know what? Like, at first it was stories of strength and success from real life underdogs was like my slogan. And then I turned it into the courage to act, the resilience to keep going, and the discipline when motivation fades. So, like, you know, your courage to act peace, right? Taking it in face of fear, fear is a state of mind, recognizing that state of mind and keep moving forward anyway, resilience, obviously, to keep going, and the discipline when motivation fades, because you're not always going to be motivated, and things are going to be challenging at times. Uh and if you let that just uh crush you, you know, you won't be able to stay disciplined if you motivation leave. So that's how I start the podcast. And in terms of getting guests, it's anyone with a story of that background that I feel could have an impact in people's lives. So a lot of entrepreneurs and athletes, but also like spiritual guides. I have an episode coming up with a guy named James Kawaii Nui, and he's a uh fourth generation spiritual kahuna. A kahuna is a spiritual priest in in Hawaii, and he left like the business world to go back and do that and really get connected to his his background again and help people that way. You don't know what kind of impact that could have on somebody. And they're thinking, like, oh, well, you know, business athletics and this like rigid mindset. Like, no, you can learn from so many different people. So I want to bring all these different stories of overcoming challenges, obstacles in any kind of medium because it can make an impact in one person's life. And if I do that, I don't care if the podcast has a million followers or not, it's making a difference and I'm happy.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

That's right. You did your job. Yes, all you need is one. And you don't like we never know who's gonna watch something or hear something and be like, oh, that was for me today.

SPEAKER_03 26:54

And you guys call it change makers.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:57

So, like being a change maker, uh, and finding other change makers and saying, Oh, you know what? Have you shared that story? You need to share that story, you know?

SPEAKER_02 27:07

So you could have been an actor too.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

Hey, maybe I will want to. Maybe you know, you got plenty of time.

SPEAKER_03 27:16

People plenty of time. And that's another thing is people stop themselves due to the challenges they see in their life. And when I share a story of someone uh overcoming that challenge, now all of a sudden they might click in their brain. They could do it, I can do it too, right? And even with, like I explained to you off camera, the running journey I had of running a thousand miles a year. Yeah, I had people following my story because I posted all my runs on my Instagram story, start running and challenging themselves and then doing it themselves. And I didn't even know it until they told me. And they're like, hey, by the way, I started doing it because I seen you do it. And like, holy crap, I have that level of impact on that person. I changed their life, and they turned a lot of their life around just from watching me run. So you just again, you don't know. You just don't know.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

You just don't know. Yeah, yeah. So, um, how do you handle the stress of daily life? Or I mean, and maybe you don't have any stress. No, everybody has stressed.

SPEAKER_00 28:13

Yeah, but it's like woo-hoo. It's not that you get the corona on.

SPEAKER_03 28:18

Um, sometimes I get off the drive line. So Nicole and I, my wife, have this saying being on the drive line, I like to race, I like to sim race, and the fastest way around the track is what's called the drive line. It's not the fastest top speed way around the track, it's the most efficient, the smoothest. I mentioned off camera, slowest, smooth, smoothest fast. Right. So, what happens in life, the analogy of that is is sometimes we get off the drive line. We may go off the track completely and have to get back on the track. And there are days where I'm off the drive line. I'm in my own head. I'm thinking about like, what if nobody's interested in what I have to offer? All these other things, all these limiting belief things, and then you recognize that's just a state of mind. We go through emotion, trigger, think and decide, act. And most of us skip think and decide. We go emotion, trigger, act.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:07

Or we go emotion, trigger, emotion. True.

SPEAKER_02 29:10

Yeah, and it's don't even don't even emotion act.

unknown 29:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:14

Emotion act.

SPEAKER_03 29:15

So, but typically, um, when that happens to me, I've learned how to answer the question really is how to get back to the drive line. Okay, so how do you get back to the drive line?

SPEAKER_00 29:26

Everyone is going, okay, how do you do it? Yeah, how do you do it? How do you do it?

SPEAKER_03 29:30

I stop and I say, Why am I feeling the way that I'm feeling?

SPEAKER_02 29:34

And I question self-reflection.

SPEAKER_03 29:36

Yeah. Again, the EQ, using emotional intelligence.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

The root of why. Why? Why?

SPEAKER_03 29:41

And that goes to the trigger piece, right?

SPEAKER_02 29:43

So you just mentally say this to yourself.

SPEAKER_03 29:46

Well, I also write okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

We need to add that. Because journalism, we know journalism.

SPEAKER_03 29:51

I write. So I will open a Word document and I will just start to word vomit all over it. And then what I'll do is I'll read the words back out loud to myself. And if it feels funny, like I don't genuinely believe that. It's not aligned to my core, right? And then I'm like, okay, that's a fleeting feeling.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 30:12

I can leave that state of mind behind now. And I've also done something where I've identified my four core pillar words, if you will, in my life. From a really cool book for the audience to also get is How to Manifest by Lacey Phillips. I don't know if either of you have ever read that, but she talks about your core four and identifying that through self-analysis, right? Like what are you looking to really create in your life, manifest? Because people think, oh, well, if I, you know, affirmations and say these things every day, I'll create. But it doesn't work if you don't combine that with aligned action and also getting yourself back to the drive line, which is your um your state of mind, which Napoleon Hill talks about so wonderfully in Think and Grow Rich. Yes. Another self-analysis questionnaire I've done in my life in detail in a Word document. And one of the things I've done there too is create a project on AI, whatever AI tool you use, be brutally honest with yourself, fill out the self-analysis questionnaire in chapter 13, I think it is in Think and Grow Rich, and then plug it into your chat GPT, your Claude, etc., and create a summary, pull insights and create a council of people that you either aspire or inspired by and have them give you feedback virtually that way. So sometimes I'll do that and I'll deep dive those things.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

But my core is a way to ask for help. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:32

And my core four, back to the drive line thing is Yeah, what are they? Freedom. So time freedom, financial freedom, freedom of choice, freedom of expression, freedom of opportunity, contribution, giving back. Uh, how can I give back to other people? Uh, adventure, having an adventurous life, experiencing the planet, doing that with other people, and family. Like really, what are you doing? Why are you doing the things you're doing? So when I'm in that bad state of mind, I go back to what is my why? Is is what I'm doing aligned with what I'm trying to create in my life? And when I have the stress, whether it's stress, imposter syndrome, all these different things that people like to not talk about, I identify it out loud. And then it helps me get back.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

So I'm gonna continue on this because I feel like you're you're definitely highly motivated, and I think you have a lot of good information for people. So give me a typical day for you. Today's not a typical day because you had a drive to get here.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

And you're gonna go see the sister and your nieces and nephews.

SPEAKER_03 32:37

But what's a typical day like for you? So a typical day for me, typical or ideal, or just No, no. I want typical. Typical? Yeah. So ideal. We can all talk about ideal. Right, yeah, yeah. And and that goes back to drive line, going from typical to having more ideal days. But typically speaking, it's uh a lot of a lot of meetings. A lot of what time do you get up?

unknown 33:01

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 33:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:02

Starting from the very beginning. Um typically I'm up by I'm usually try to be in bed by like 10 p.m. I'm up by six or seven. Okay. Yeah. I don't necessarily feel like I have to wake up, you know, super, super early um either. Okay. More importantly, it's following my plan for the day. That's what we want to know. Yeah. So I have a priority board um list that I have created for myself that says, and I fill it out at the end of every Sunday night, and it says, what's my weekly North Star? What are the top three outcomes I want to create? I have an area where I just master brain dump all the things that I want to accomplish inside of that week. And then I prioritize them by uh what I have to do first, what I should do next, and then only if time. So now I know I wake up, let's say, six, seven o'clock, um, I take biofolic minerals every day. So one of my business development, I also coach solo entrepreneurs, and one of them is a holistic health practitioner I told you about in the past. And she actually helped Nicole and I get pregnant on after we were struggling to do that for some time. So that was really a beautiful thing. And anyway, so I take my biofolic minerals, and uh typically I'd now go and I look at my priority board, I look at my CRM, I look at everything that I'm like, okay, here's what we want to do for the day. What's the needle moving activities that I could start with? And then I just go right into it. Of course, there are times where it gets broken up, right? Things you don't expect, etc. Family, whatever the case is. But I tend to be in the office, a lot of virtual calls, editing the podcast, um, going to the gym. Gym is like mental.

SPEAKER_02 34:43

So you go to an outside gym. I do go to an outside gym. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:46

Um, or I go run outside. Right. Because I love to be every day. Outside, yeah, every single day.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

Yeah. Um But you have a priority. So it's Sunday for the week.

SPEAKER_03 34:58

And I map it to the 90-day.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

Oh, now it's Friday. So do you look back and you say, Oh, I did this. I do like cross off the list.

SPEAKER_03 35:07

I literally have a red Sharpie on my desk.

SPEAKER_00 35:09

I do the same thing. There's something good to cross it off.

SPEAKER_03 35:13

The cross off, but also like knowing like it's completed and it's just a big red line through it, it's done, I can move on. Like it just allows me to frame. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

Because we can only keep so many things in our head. You know, there's only so much space.

SPEAKER_03 35:28

And that's the times where I've I've had stressful more stressful days, is when I didn't have that practice. So I implore people listening, like, get a practice that works for you. If you don't, reach out to people that you feel like could be helpful and just ask. Like back to what Jamie said in the past, is like, or Dan said, be willing to ask. Um, so yes, that's one of the things I think that's great. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 35:50

I I I I don't know. For some reason, I was like drawn to ask you that question because I feel like you definitely have a a beautiful ritual.

SPEAKER_00 35:59

If someone out there is listening and they're like, Well, he just sounds like it makes it sound so easy, right? A priority board, it's all done. You just get up and you check the tasks off. What's the takeaway that you would want to let somebody know who who maybe isn't where you are but would like to be?

SPEAKER_03 36:15

Resilience and discipline have maturity levels. So you have to develop that muscle. So, like boxing, again, it's muscle memory. I could hit a speed bag with my eyes closed. Why can I do that? Because I have the muscle memory of where my hand needs to be and listening to the bag. And that didn't just happen. So you have to develop these muscles and a maturity level in these areas, like, oh, you need more resilience, you need more discipline, you need more courage. Okay, well, you need to take action, uh even little micro actions. It doesn't have to be this big, big thing all at once that should proves to yourself that oh, I can be courageous, I can be resilient, I can be disciplined. And you build on that.

SPEAKER_00 37:03

You need time, you need time and patience.

SPEAKER_03 37:05

And I think we definitely live in a world of instant gratification and people just wanting results now, now, now, now, now. That sometimes has created stress for me as an honest human. That it's like I'm 35 years old, I'm building a business after I was in a different business before for five and a half years, that ended. And then you you have to start over. Yeah. And you have to be willing to to continue to move forward. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 37:32

And it's practices too. So it's practice, building resilience, building courage.

SPEAKER_03 37:37

It's a mental practice and a lived practice. Exactly. So just start, even with like the running thing, we talked about that too. Start with going a half mile, start with going to the track and going around it once and walking the turns and jogging the streets.

SPEAKER_00 37:52

This is tiny habits. Tiny habits, too. Yeah, yeah. No doubt. But it makes sense. And we look, we we learned this from our episode that we had with Marcel, who talked about like, you know, because I think people will see you and be like, oh my gosh, he has it all. Like they're not they're not thinking that it probably took you years and years and years and years to get here. And research. Yes, and that's what she's doing. Research.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

Like you how many uh names of books did you just drop while you were sitting here, right?

SPEAKER_00 38:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:18

The time is you have to you have to be willing to find knowledge, absorb it, and then not just absorb it, but actually use it. Like people can pick pick up these books, and there's all the prompts in there, and most people will skip them. Yeah, they won't even do them, they won't even read it. They have to do those things. Yeah. So, and again, like time, you have to allow things to happen, and then the faith element. If you feel connected to a purpose in your life, a definite purpose in your life, you have to have faith to allow the things and the patience to allow the things to materialize into your life. Because if you just expect it and it doesn't happen your way, you'll get crushed. And you have to be able to recognize that and realize all right, this roadblock is just here because it's pointing me in another direction. I'm very tied to my family freedom contribution adventure pillars. And what's next? Let's do it. And let the universe also kind of uh guide and God guide you.

SPEAKER_02 39:21

Yeah. So uh we ask these questions of everybody that's on the podcast. So how do you view failure? I kind of know what you're gonna say, but go ahead. Well, maybe you'll surprise me. So I thought so. I thought about this because I've heard you ask because I've listened to the show. I wondered about that. And I heard people know I'm gonna ask, yes.

SPEAKER_03 39:38

Yeah, well, I know. And um, and I have questions I ask at the end of mine too. But how do I view failure? I view failure again as really a it's a it's a learning experience. It just is. Um, if you allow failure to to beat you up and crush you, again, we're all gonna fail. I use the analogy at times uh the Hall of Famers in baseball, they're in the Hall of Fame for being good three out of ten times. That means you're failing seven times, it's a pretty bad score, and also not comparing um your failures with other people's, where you are in your life at this moment. I think that a lot of times the failures that we experience are going to shape and develop us. Like I said, those canon moments. When you're able to position it that way, I could have let getting dropped with a body shot in boxing in the semifinals of diamond gloves stop me from boxing. I boxed for 17 years.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

But you said you boxed for 17 years.

SPEAKER_03 40:39

I I want to coach and give back.

SPEAKER_00 40:41

And you said you didn't you didn't lose, you learned.

SPEAKER_03 40:43

Bingo. Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. So that's really it.

SPEAKER_02 40:47

Yeah. Okay. Great answer. So, what are your three most important strengths? You probably thought about this, but just go right from your gut. What are they? Well, one is trusting my gut and intuition. We have a book for you.

SPEAKER_03 40:59

Using my emotional intelligence in terms of connecting with people, understanding that we're all at different points in our journey, and I might be farther in certain ways, you might be farther in certain ways, we can learn from each other, um, and having empathy, uh, understanding that at a level where you're not better than anybody. We're all living a certain type of human experience. It's different for all of us, but again, I think that we just can be better together and um learn from each other. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:31

All right. So we uh here's some more questions for you. So is there something in your life that you would like to change? You you earlier today you said uh change is hard. And I quote, yes, okay. All right. So um what's holding you back?

SPEAKER_03 41:47

I guess uh state of mind at times and knowing when when to adjust. That's probably the biggest holdback, in my opinion, for anybody.

SPEAKER_02 41:58

All right. So what's one thing you can do, you, not anybody, to move forward? One step.

SPEAKER_03 42:06

I would say measure. Measure uh things and just pay attention to where you are and understand that it's not the destination per se. You never really arrive, it's just a continuous journey. So I have to make sure that I keep my mindset of if I want change in my life, I have to do it daily in my actions every day. So looking for those opportunities to grow, learn, expand, connect with people.

SPEAKER_00 42:35

Again, the self-reflection is so good. Lovely. So I think you should write a book. Yes, exactly. So we're wrapping up, but if people are listening, I know that they are, and they're thinking, okay, I think I need to call this person and have him come look at my business, where can people find you?

SPEAKER_03 42:51

Uh, whether it's looking at a business, uh, the podcast, etc., you can find me, for example, on Instagram at Ron Marvo, just my name. That's across every social media channel. Uh, our business website is sparkperformance.com. We also offer a five-minute revenue recovery. It's a quick uh questionnaire to see where you might have profit leaks inside of your business. Uh, so that's one way, or connect with us through our calendar for a quick 15-minute call on sparkperformance.com. And for the podcast, it's great American underdog on all platforms Spotify, Apple, YouTube, um, and social media as well. So you can connect with me there. And please, anybody that hears this episode, please make sure you subscribe to Mindset Connection. Uh Jenny said we have such an incredible platform. Super grateful to be here. And hope anybody reaches out if they want to talk more.

SPEAKER_00 43:39

Thank you. Just one thing before we have our final words of wisdom from Cindy. You have talked about big, big companies, you know, big IT, you know, big companies. What if somebody's a small business and you're thinking like, oh, I don't know. I'm not a huge company, but maybe he could help.

SPEAKER_03 43:54

We help them too. Any business, large or small. Uh, if there's any of those expenses that I mentioned, they have a brick and mortar pizza shop, you know, like we could help them with any any of those verticals. That's good to know.

SPEAKER_00 44:05

So there's no if you're listening, you can't don't be thinking this isn't for me.

SPEAKER_03 44:09

Don't need to have multi-locations in a big corporation. It could be for anybody. Okay, wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 44:14

So thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of Mindset Connection Podcast. And as always, Cindy has our final words of wisdom.

SPEAKER_02 44:21

So remember to pause, breathe, and then respond instead of react. And I think Ron is a perfect example of that, although he didn't talk specifically about breathing, but he did talk about self-reflection. And remember to always do hard things. And if this man isn't doing hard things, nobody's doing it. I don't know who else is. So thank you so much for being on our show. Thank you for having me. It was great. Thank you.