Let's be honest, we've all had those moments in life that have shaped our journey, whether it was a challenging experience or a valuable lesson from our parents. This episode turns the spotlight on our dynamic guests, Bob Abbonizio and Tom Desilets. These accomplished individuals who met at Moore Business Forms where Co-Host Stacey also crossed their paths, weave us through their tales of triumph. They treat us to an exploration of their unique success stories born from their upbringing, values, and work ethics. They share stories enriched with valuable insights into leadership and coaching, drawing from personal experiences that influenced their respective approaches.
Bob, a DELCO guy through and through, and the youngest of three siblings, opens up about how his father's steadfast work ethic shaped him into the leader he's become. After years of Printing sales and consulting on leadership, Bob now is integral in the family business, Sproul Lanes - a family entertainment center. Find out more here: https://sproullanes.com/.
Tom, with a diverse career journey, shares how his father's influence was also a major part of his success. Ever thought about starting your own business? Well, Tom's got some insights for you! He recounts the career challenge that ignited his entrepreneurial spirit and led him to establish his own company Phillycom, Inc: https://phillycom.net/.
Prepare to be moved as Bob and Tom share their most vulnerable moments. Bob offers us a glimpse into his journey of love and vulnerability, while Tom shares his experience of dealing with his family's challenges and the responsibilities that came with them.
As we wind down, our guests share their favorite quotes, books, and views on balancing work with hobbies. As we tie up the conversation, we reflect on the mantra of seizing the day, living life to the fullest, and understanding the potential impact of stress on our lives. So, pull up a chair, lend us your ear, and allow us to inspire you with these compelling stories and insightful lessons from Bob and Tom.
About Gurus and Game Changers: The Gurus and Game Changers Podcast focuses on individuals with unique insights and solutions based on their life experiences.
Listen and you will find:
Inspirational journeys abound when you listen to some of our guests as they describe their personal transformation with unconventional wisdom with real-life stories. Their
empowering narratives and life-changing experiences showcase triumph over adversity, resilience and perseverance.
At Gurus and Game Changers we thrive on authentic storytelling and non-traditional paths to success described with empowering voices. These motivational insights
laden with turning points, lessons learned and a testament to inner growth will lead to your own journey to self-discovery.
These inspirational role models or 'Wild Ducks' as they've been described always come with a positive mindset in describing transformative experiences and evolving perspectives.
#InspirationalStories
#PersonalGrowth
#LifeLessons
#SuccessStories
#MotivationalJourney
#OvercomingAdversity
#EmpoweringNarratives
#SelfDiscovery
#TriumphOverChallenges
#Resilience
#TransformationTuesday
#Empowerment
#Authenticity
#PositiveMindset
#InnerStrength
#GrowthMindset
#InspirationalQuotes
#MotivationMonday
#LifeChangingExperiences
#WisdomWednesday
PLEASE NOTE: **The views expressed by participants, including hosts and guests, are their own and not necessarily endorsed by the podcast. Reference
Let's be honest, we've all had those moments in life that have shaped our journey, whether it was a challenging experience or a valuable lesson from our parents. This episode turns the spotlight on our dynamic guests, Bob Abbonizio and Tom Desilets. These accomplished individuals who met at Moore Business Forms where Co-Host Stacey also crossed their paths, weave us through their tales of triumph. They treat us to an exploration of their unique success stories born from their upbringing, values, and work ethics. They share stories enriched with valuable insights into leadership and coaching, drawing from personal experiences that influenced their respective approaches.
Bob, a DELCO guy through and through, and the youngest of three siblings, opens up about how his father's steadfast work ethic shaped him into the leader he's become. After years of Printing sales and consulting on leadership, Bob now is integral in the family business, Sproul Lanes - a family entertainment center. Find out more here: https://sproullanes.com/.
Tom, with a diverse career journey, shares how his father's influence was also a major part of his success. Ever thought about starting your own business? Well, Tom's got some insights for you! He recounts the career challenge that ignited his entrepreneurial spirit and led him to establish his own company Phillycom, Inc: https://phillycom.net/.
Prepare to be moved as Bob and Tom share their most vulnerable moments. Bob offers us a glimpse into his journey of love and vulnerability, while Tom shares his experience of dealing with his family's challenges and the responsibilities that came with them.
As we wind down, our guests share their favorite quotes, books, and views on balancing work with hobbies. As we tie up the conversation, we reflect on the mantra of seizing the day, living life to the fullest, and understanding the potential impact of stress on our lives. So, pull up a chair, lend us your ear, and allow us to inspire you with these compelling stories and insightful lessons from Bob and Tom.
About Gurus and Game Changers: The Gurus and Game Changers Podcast focuses on individuals with unique insights and solutions based on their life experiences.
Listen and you will find:
Inspirational journeys abound when you listen to some of our guests as they describe their personal transformation with unconventional wisdom with real-life stories. Their
empowering narratives and life-changing experiences showcase triumph over adversity, resilience and perseverance.
At Gurus and Game Changers we thrive on authentic storytelling and non-traditional paths to success described with empowering voices. These motivational insights
laden with turning points, lessons learned and a testament to inner growth will lead to your own journey to self-discovery.
These inspirational role models or 'Wild Ducks' as they've been described always come with a positive mindset in describing transformative experiences and evolving perspectives.
#InspirationalStories
#PersonalGrowth
#LifeLessons
#SuccessStories
#MotivationalJourney
#OvercomingAdversity
#EmpoweringNarratives
#SelfDiscovery
#TriumphOverChallenges
#Resilience
#TransformationTuesday
#Empowerment
#Authenticity
#PositiveMindset
#InnerStrength
#GrowthMindset
#InspirationalQuotes
#MotivationMonday
#LifeChangingExperiences
#WisdomWednesday
PLEASE NOTE: **The views expressed by participants, including hosts and guests, are their own and not necessarily endorsed by the podcast. Reference
Speaker 1
Host
00:01
What's up, hello, hello listeners, sorry, I've got a little groggy voice, too much drinking, just kidding.
Speaker 3
Host
00:08
Not enough drinking, not enough drinking.
Speaker 1
Host
00:11
So today's episode is very cool because it was a blast from the past for me. I have two of my own mentors and gurus who came in, who used to train me in my old sales jobs. So Bob Abonizio and Tom Deslitz came in and sat with us on the couches. They told stories of what made them the leaders they are today.
Speaker 2
Guest
00:34
It's cool to listen to. You know what's interesting is there are two very different styles of people.
Speaker 1
Host
00:38
True.
Speaker 2
Guest
00:39
How they approach the world, how they present themselves. But there's a guru in both, there's a game changer in both. It just goes to show for our audience there's something in you that can do the same thing. You can be the same.
Speaker 1
Host
00:51
Absolutely, and what I love, too, is the stories of both of their fathers who are very similar to your father. Very similar. And they have this sort of their success story, like from that young age and how that kind of dribbles down.
Speaker 2
Guest
01:03
It's so important because you don't realize it. Like, as a dad now I'm very in tune with how what I do impacts my son, but I wasn't in tune to what my dad was doing. That absolutely impacts me now and I just didn't see it.
Speaker 1
Host
01:18
No, and neither did they. Totally different work ethic back. Then you look back yeah, but still it sort of it transfers.
Speaker 2
Guest
01:24
Sure.
Speaker 1
Host
01:24
Yeah, so it was cool. So get ready for this cool episode with Bob Abonizio and Tom Deslitz. Hi, I'm Stacy.
Speaker 2
Guest
01:35
And I am Mark, and this is the Guru's a Game Changers podcast. Are you ready?
Speaker 1
Host
01:43
I'm ready.
Speaker 2
Guest
01:43
Are you ready? Are you guys ready? All set, let's do it All right.
Speaker 1
Host
01:48
Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. Welcome, gurus and game changers, today it is my distinct pleasure to bring to you two of my mentors, slash gurus and some people that I've mentored myself. Bob Abonizio one of my favorite bosses ever and a true mentor, who played an instrumental role in shaping my 30 day slash year career in sales and marketing. With an impressive background in sales, sales management and senior leadership roles, I was unwavering dedication to excellence.
02:21
I'm reading this but you still feel it, I know you still feel it, and it's genuine care for the development and well being of his team, which I can attest to, and probably Tom too right, set him apart as an exceptional leader. And also we have Tom Deslitz, who is a seasoned professional with a diverse career journey that spanned various leadership roles, and founded and serve as president of Philly Comm Inc. Which is a consulting firm and reseller specializing in data infrastructure, which I know a lot about. I'm going to start with you, bob. Okay, if you don't mind, please, I want to ask you how you grew up in your family and how you came to be who you are now. Okay.
Speaker 4
Guest
03:05
Youngest of three. So I always try to look at being the youngest is if somebody had a fight for getting everything out there because the oldest to get through the pecking order and by the time I was 10 year difference between the oldest sibling and myself when I got to me was like forget it, you know we've done all that stuff with the family members and we'll just pull you along. So I always felt as the youngest, I had to be the one that was sort of be scrappy, fight for everything. Played a lot of sports growing up and I really look at that as something to help develop me and mold me at a young age. Being very competitive, playing sports through grade school, high school, through college, you know, just really something that helped me focus, helped me try to set myself apart from people and the whole drive and work ethic. Another thing that was really important and I look back and shape me a lot my dad was part owner of a small construction firm in Ardmore PI. You know Italian typical, you know concrete construction.
04:08
The whole deal and Abonizio and sons named after my grandfather and you know, just sitting back at a young age watching my dad work six days a week we never went on vacations. That was a foreign thing in our world growing up. Because he worked, sundays was the only day and that was the day he spent cutting grass and working around the house. So you know, I really looked at the. What he set that example for me from a work ethic standpoint, really molded me. I worked for him and the company all four years of college so I could have gone down the beach and worked at the bars and had great times.
04:44
It was, you know, you need to work here to make some money and at the time it wasn't a fun work environment. You're working out in the field digging ditches and 95 degree temperatures and all your buddies are down the shore party and having great times. But it really. It really set that foundation for me because it gave me that drive and that work ethic to say if my dad can do it, then that's going to. You know, that's why it's important I should be doing this. And when I got out in the business world, that was really something that I really felt like I could hold on to and says you know I did it. Then you know, and that really gave me that foundation to how to take it to the next step.
Speaker 1
Host
05:22
So did you? Did you complain, like when your dad's like okay, it's time you have to work, Like what was would he let you? Or it was just like no, get in the car, let's go. Yeah, no, it just was.
Speaker 4
Guest
05:31
You had to show up. I was an employee and that's the way I was treated. And I wanted to be treated as a employee, not as an owner's son, because I worked with a lot of immigrants and I'd be there and say, okay, I'm going to dig that ditch faster or carry more bags of cement than the next guy or do more brickwork than somebody else to prove my worth, not as though here's the owner's boy taking up a spot on the team, but me trying to say you know, I'll go toe to toe with anybody here, type of thing so that was something to me I wanted to do and you know, probably was.
06:05
I would never forget this who was my last summer working there? And it was a father and son moment. I'm down in a ditch, eight feet down, digging to lay a pipe, and my father was the only one around. He was standing above me on the top of the ditch looking down at me and I am just sweat running all off me as I'm digging this. And again, ungodly heat. And he looks down at me and he just said this is why you're going to college. Wow, because when you graduate, you will never do this again, you will not work here.
06:36
I want you to do something with your life other than you know. Dig ditches for a living, and nothing wrong with that, obviously. But that was the moment it said like, ok, I get it, I need to do something with my life. Not, you know, depend on this as a family business, because I had some cousins that you know continued on there, which was great for them. But he wanted to make it clear that this is not where your career path is going to be. You need to do something else.
07:03
So that was you know so that background whether it be the youngest in the family, the sports or the working with my dad in the construction side to me really helped develop for me a strong foundation when I entered the business world.
Speaker 1
Host
07:18
What was your interaction with your mom at that time? So your dad was like obviously a strong, you know guru in your life and sort of leader. What was your mom? My mom was awesome.
Speaker 4
Guest
07:28
She came and I was in grade school playing CYO sports. My mother, who knew nothing about sports, came to every single game that I ever played in, and my dad going back to the point I made before working every Saturday was never available to come to Saturday football games. My mother came to drove us to the practices, was the mom carpooling for the games, was on the sideline of every baseball, basketball or football game I played fifth through eighth grade and knew nothing about sports, and you were the third child right.
Speaker 1
Host
08:02
So, did she do that for all three of you guys?
Speaker 4
Guest
08:03
I'm sure she did no one her, but to me it made an impact because she was one of the quote team moms. As a result of that, I'm sure she was you know. So she was always there supporting me, even though she didn't know a lot about sports, so she was awesome from that respect. How about your older two?
Speaker 1
Host
08:19
brothers right, I had a brother and a sister. What did they do? Also working the ditches.
Speaker 4
Guest
08:23
My brother did just for a very short period of time. My sister no, she wasn't strong enough to run a jackhammer. Why?
Speaker 1
Host
08:31
Because she was a girl.
Speaker 4
Guest
08:34
She turned out to be the most talented with that stuff. She does carpentry and refinish furniture and all the stuff I can't do, but it's. We were all five years apart.
Speaker 1
Host
08:45
So there was an age gap.
Speaker 4
Guest
08:47
So it was nice because growing up I didn't have a strong bond with my brother being he was 10 years apart, he's in college and I'm seven years old. My sister and I were closer in those years growing up, but then later in life I became extremely close with my brother as I got out of college quickly. That 10 year age gap condensed pretty quickly right there.
Speaker 1
Host
09:09
Yeah, how about you, tom? How were you raised?
Speaker 3
Host
09:14
So I am three or four, so we go boy girl, boy girl. I'm the obviously the second boy there in line, my brother, my oldest brother. It was always interesting in our family because he was the typical first born, best athlete, best student. Oh yeah, and, as a matter of fact, when I eventually got to high school, I can remember and he's six years ahead of me, six years ahead of me I had multiple teachers say so you're a smart, as your brother, like as a freshman, like what.
Speaker 1
Host
09:51
So not a smart thing to say oh my gosh, yeah, no pressure. No pressure here, yeah.
Speaker 3
Host
09:57
Making more competitive. So he was. He is the most competitive person I've ever known in my life.
Speaker 2
Guest
10:02
Still.
Speaker 3
Host
10:03
Still to this day. He wins a lot, but it probably was a good example for me. I think about his, his leadership as a sibling. I think about my father's leadership, my father. He grew up his father. His father died when he was nine years old, so he was the oldest of four. At nine years old he had to become a breadwinner. I mean, he literally had a paper route. They lived in Lynn, Massachusetts, right outside of Boston. He had a paper route that all the money had to go to the family, to pay bills, get food. He, he, his family only spoke French in his household because they were French, Canadian. So when he went to first grade he couldn't speak English because they were in a French neighborhood like literally in Lynn.
11:00
Massachusetts. So he goes to first grade couldn't speak English and ends up flunking first grade, had to redo first grade. Ironically, you know, he was Mr like A plus throughout his once he got English down throughout his entire schooling, graduated, graduated high school, was working for the Boston Globe and then he, his brother, were working there at the same time. His brother and the manager came to him and said hey, look, I have to lay one of you off. So my dad said Well, lay me off.
11:40
So he got laid off and he enlisted in the Marines. He was in his early 20s at the time. Enlisted in the Marines, went into, went into the service, and while he was in the service it was during the Korean War excuse me, yeah, the Korean War. And At the time he was serving in Camp Pendleton out in California and the United States back then was still concerned that Japan was going to attack and the only gun battle he ever got into was one night in California. They thought they came upon like intruding Japanese soldiers and a firefight broke out until one of the Marines said wait a minute, that sounds like one of our rifles.
12:28
And it was yeah, so the only gun play he saw during the Korean War was in Southern.
Speaker 1
Host
12:32
California.
Speaker 3
Host
12:33
He gets out of the service after three years and they give him money to get back to back then. I guess today you get money to get yourself home to whatever your home city is. They give him money. He says you know what? It'd be cheaper to hitchhike.
Speaker 2
Guest
12:50
So he keeps the money in his pocket.
Speaker 3
Host
12:51
I'm seeing where this is going Hitchhikes all the way back to Boston Right and gives the money to his mom.
Speaker 1
Host
12:59
Don't try to home kids. It's not a safe name, I know Right.
Speaker 2
Guest
13:02
Yeah, I know Exactly.
Speaker 3
Host
13:05
Eventually, now he's on the GI Bill, goes to Boston College graduates with a 4-0 in mathematics and then gets a job for a company called Burroughs Corporation, which was eventually merged with Spurry Univac to become Unisys.
Speaker 1
Host
13:23
Oh, wow OK.
Speaker 3
Host
13:24
But when Burroughs hired him they said, hey, we need you to come work in this little place called Paoli Pennsylvania. So he moved down here, start working with them. They got a contract with NASA. He gets put on this contract where he is then programming the navigation system for the pre-apollo space program Gemini Crazy yeah. And his job as part of the programming of navigation for them was if Dorian launched this Gemini rocket, goes off course to detonate so that it doesn't crash and kill civilians, and it's an important job yeah.
14:11
So sure enough, this guy who wouldn't spend the money that the audience gave him for a bus ticket back from California to home. His calculations eventually led to the rocket exploding when it went off course in an early test.
Speaker 1
Host
14:27
Oh, I forgot that and he blew up multi-million dollars of government property and he was proud of that.
Speaker 2
Guest
14:34
His work, worked His work worked, so he was a very resourceful.
Speaker 3
Host
14:41
Both pulled himself up by his bootstraps type a guy and eventually went on to work at Unisys for the next 30 some years. So he had high expectations for all of his kids. And I can remember coming home I was not the world's best student, I was an OK student. But I can remember coming home in middle school or high school with hey look, I got a, let's say a B or a B plus or an A. God forbid I could bring home an A and he'd be like why didn't you get an A plus?
15:12
That was his attitude and I vowed I'd never do that to my kids, by the way, which I never have. But it was why did you not get a hundred? You got a 97. I can remember a science test I took on electricity. In any case, don't get me started.
Speaker 2
Guest
15:26
You're going to make me cry.
Speaker 1
Host
15:28
Told you, I told you.
Speaker 3
Host
15:29
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1
Host
15:30
Talk about that science test. So OK, so he was tough so he was tough.
Speaker 3
Host
15:34
My mother was my older sister again, my older brother most competitive, he's a winner. My older sister, it was really interesting family dynamic because she always had issues, whether it was physical issues, a lot of them physical issues. So she had asthma, she was overweight and she was just not a good athlete. Oh, and she wore glasses. None of us wore glasses Until today. I wear glasses.
Speaker 1
Host
16:01
No, just started.
Speaker 3
Host
16:03
And then she came down with a very rare case of childhood arthritis when she was 12 years old, where she couldn't go to school for two years. Wow and yeah, so my brother, being Mr Competitive, had no sympathy for her.
16:21
Oh no, and so I was always sort of the mediator, especially sibling-wise, between the two of them. So I tried to protect her and I would try to protect my younger sister. I thought my brother was evil or anything, but it was just. He was a tough guy Like. He was like my dad, like excellence or nothing. That's how it was. Wow, yeah, and so that was our family dynamic. My mom was probably, like everybody else, the world's best mom. She was great, she was a stay-at-home mom and she made us our breakfast, our lunch, our dinner, drove us to school when we missed the bus, and she was at every game.
16:56
She was at every game my dad, never my dad. The agreement we had with my father was he would come to one game per season of whatever rush for it was, and so there was such a tension that oh, God, my dad's in the stands. Yeah.
Speaker 4
Guest
17:10
It was always my worst game, right Right.
Speaker 3
Host
17:12
Just coach, keep me on the bench.
Speaker 2
Guest
17:14
My dad's here. I don't want to, oh man, but I would play. Do you see? I'm sitting here listening to what you're saying, reflecting because my dad is your dad as well. Worked his tail off, pulled out of school in ninth grade, used to get on a bus at nine years old, go shine shoes in Philly, come back and make money for the family because his father wasn't working, like that kind of thing. Same story Worked his tail off Many jobs. I'm confident he instilled that in me, my work ethic, the same way you guys were talking about. Do you see that translating to your kids? I know, maybe not in the same manner. Why didn't you get a?
Speaker 3
Host
17:48
hundred.
Speaker 2
Guest
17:49
But are you giving them that same mindset work ethic? Is it coming through you, from your dad?
Speaker 4
Guest
17:57
Personally I think it is for me. I try to lead by example with my kids, never demanding of them going back to Tom's thing I'm not saying that's not good enough to them but always encouraging them as an example. We had a role in our house. They had to play a team sport from the time they were about seven or eight. They picked the sport three seasons of the year summers are off but they had to play in a team sport Because I wanted them to understand the importance of being on a team from the teamwork aspect and the work ethic and the competitive thing, not versus an individual sport, and let them carry that through.
18:38
So that was something that I encouraged. I don't want to use the word push because I didn't tell them what sport they had to play, but that was a family role and then showing up at all their games, similar to the story and I just mentioned about my mom. I wanted to demonstrate that. And then, from a work standpoint, I wanted them to see that I was out working hard in my job and even around the house doing stuff to support my wife and do things they needed to get done.
Speaker 1
Host
19:07
So to me it was always a big don't tell them, but just lead by example, and I can say that's what you did too when I worked for you. You would just show us how to show up, so transferring that whole leadership mentality to working in a company. How did you first know that you were leadership material and what was your leadership style? Or what is your leadership style, because you're still a leader?
Speaker 4
Guest
19:32
I was in sales for five years, direct sales when at first I was right out of college.
Speaker 1
Host
19:38
That was that more?
Speaker 4
Guest
19:39
right Exactly and loved it, loved selling. But I always looked around and said I could probably impact people better by getting involved, because I coached a lot at that time too and I was always captain of a team that I played on. But I was coaching CYO football at a young age. So I sought to see how I could develop people by, from the coaching standpoint, a fifth through eighth graders, and I was pretty good at that and I thought if I can do that here, then I'm getting a lot of knowledge on how to sell and the product knowledge, what we're doing. I would like to be able to give back and start transferring that knowledge to younger people and help them develop it as a role. So we had a supervisor role at that time, which was ideal Because I didn't have to know everything and I could still be underneath somebody to learn. But I can use that, you know, hire four or five kids right out of college and became a team.
Speaker 1
Host
20:37
So what's your philosophy? Your leadership philosophy, Like when you see this young salesperson, like I was at that time and you want to mold them and you want to make them greater and better at what they do. Like. What's your first thing to do?
Speaker 4
Guest
20:50
First thing is lead by example, I mean the old adage, you know, you don't want to do something. You don't want to tell somebody to do something that you wouldn't do on your own so quickly, if you know, get in the car with them, roll up the sleeves and let's show you the way it is, versus tell you what to do. So that was my first thing. You know, let me help teach you by being hands on. You know, being more of a counselor than a dictator type thing. And you know, then celebrate the successes. To me.
21:22
I was always motivated when people would give you the recognition. So I used to feel like, if I can recognize people's efforts where there's little thing over something, a one-off thing they did, or if they had a great experience, a success in a sale, you know, recognize them in front of peers. But that was the big thing I always felt, because motivation, recognition, excuse me drove me. So I always looked at if I can recognize people, not just by contest but stuff. But you know, whether it's a quick handwritten note of Adaboy or something in front of their peer group or publish something about them on a grander scale, yeah, to me that was. I just felt that that would win them over, not only today but in the future.
Speaker 1
Host
22:05
Well, what happened when they failed at something? How would you handle that?
Speaker 4
Guest
22:08
Well, you just again. You use that as a teaching moment. So instead of yelling at them obviously you're not going to do that, but you want to make sure they understand what they did wrong first of all and then put corrective action in place. How can we improve that for the future? Then, when they did the right thing going back to my earlier point then recognize them for their efforts.
Speaker 1
Host
22:28
Right, positive and push them Because everybody's going to fail. I mean, that's just. We all know that. That's how you learn.
Speaker 4
Guest
22:32
Right, so that's, you've got to make that a teaching moment.
Speaker 1
Host
22:34
Do you remember what you said to me when I came to you one time and I was like I've called, I've emailed, I've tried to talk to this person. They're not getting back to me. What should I do? How should I? How can I go sell something to this person? Do you remember what you said? Probably just go show up in person right Just show up, go show up.
Speaker 3
Host
22:52
I'm like go show up.
Speaker 1
Host
22:54
Yeah, just go show up, stand there. Yeah, that's what you said, and it stuck with me through all of my sales career, with everyone that I've worked with from then on. How about you, tom? So how do you lead to this day in the house?
Speaker 3
Host
23:08
Look, I don't want to sound like I'm jumping on Bob's coattails too much, but I mean lean by example, I think is critical, right? I think one of the more difficult things that I have found in a general leadership role is you always feel like you can do things better yourself, so it's really hard to let things go that you know. Okay, I've hired this person, I want it to be their responsibility, but they're not quite doing it right there. But I'll never be successful if I try to hold on to everything. Right, you want to lead a parade. You don't want to be a hero, right, you want to lead a parade. And so I think that's one of the more difficult things as a general business leader whether you're leading a small team or a big team is you got to let your people be responsible for their tasks and coach them through it as much as you can.
Speaker 1
Host
24:02
Everything was working out for you basically. Like was there a time at some point in time during your amazing career where you felt like I can't do this or this? Did you? Were you ever in the fetal position like I was? At one point during COVID thinking how the hell am I gonna move on Like, do you ever do that Like?
Speaker 4
Guest
24:23
I can't. There was one one of the companies when I was in my second career in print. I was working for a company that you guys will both remember the name Stand and Register. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Then probably my most hated competitor throughout my career, and now I find myself working for them.
Speaker 1
Host
24:39
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 4
Guest
24:40
Because they acquired the company I was working for. Get them out of here. And I literally sat there and looked at my business card every day and said I hate having this logo next to my name. So that was if you're going back to a point.
Speaker 2
Guest
24:55
But like did, you feel but I love the team I have.
Speaker 4
Guest
24:57
Yeah, I enjoyed everything else about it.
Speaker 1
Host
25:00
Are you just like an optimist, like what?
Speaker 4
Guest
25:03
Yeah, my opinion is I'm in control of what I wanna do, right, I will be successful in whatever I do, so I will work through barriers and figure it out.
Speaker 1
Host
25:12
That's just always the way I approach this and just I mean, do you know the second thing that you said to me that stands out to me so that I tell people? No, you know, what that was and this could be misconstrued.
25:21
So audience don't misconstrue this I came to you one time and I was like I don't know how I'm gonna do this. I was very dramatic. I was trying to make money, I was trying to get more business and it was business forms. I couldn't sell enough speedy sets. I was trying to sell the checks with a microink and I was like Bob, I can't, like I don't know what I'm doing, like I can't get this done, like I don't know how to move on. And do you know what you said to me then?
Speaker 4
Guest
25:45
I know I didn't say punt the ball, I'm so good. No, you said Fire time, strap it on, strap it up.
Speaker 2
Guest
25:51
Strap it up.
Speaker 1
Host
25:53
Strap it up and strap it on is what he said. I say that in my house a lot.
Speaker 4
Guest
25:56
My wife will let you know that. So that goes back to the early, just like you know. You gotta figure out a way through it, you gotta work through it.
Speaker 1
Host
26:04
I remember like trying to be like okay, well, how, and you're just like just do it.
Speaker 4
Guest
26:08
Figure it out, put your head down and just get it done, yeah, just go get it done. Well, I used to tell a lot of people you know in horse racing, you see the horse is wearing blinders, and that was always I would tell people put the blinders on, focus on your goal in front of you. Don't look to the left or right because you'll be distracted. So look in what's in front of you. That path.
26:27
If you wanna have success, just keep focusing on that. So keep your blinders on so you don't get distracted. So the horse blinders I've probably told you that too, but you forgot that one.
Speaker 1
Host
26:37
Oh, you probably did do the horse blinders you left and went to a bowling alley. Yeah.
Speaker 2
Guest
26:43
I love that story. It's a family owned business. Yeah, yeah, so 60 years.
Speaker 4
Guest
26:47
I put the plug in. That's great. For all the lanes in Springfield.
Speaker 3
Host
26:50
Sproul lanes For family owned business.
Speaker 4
Guest
26:52
Yeah, and one of the things and as my dad passed away, that I would help take over the family, Our it was split. Three families owned it in our family so I represented our portion of our family. My mother was still alive, so my mother, technically was the one third owner. But I would go to all the meetings when we were making decisions on how to spend the money and what we needed to do. So I got to learn not the bowling, business but the business side of it.
27:22
So then, once I knew I wanted to retire, one of the things I wanted to do was to help. I have a cousin who runs it today, does a great job with it. But we were looking to put a bar in there for the first time Because Marple Township went from dry to wet. So I just said to him look, knowing that's, you know you got a lot on your plate from managing the properties that we owned around there running the business of the bowling center. Let me I'm going to retire so I can at least help you, whether it's from the legal side, the banking side, any of the contracts.
27:56
He was great on the construction side so he's working with the GC and the architects to design what it should look like, and then I would just work with him on things like that. So I just felt like there's a good way for me to use my time in looking at what Act 2 looks like in my business career to try something completely different. Now, all of a sudden it's skin in the game for me. Going back to Tom's comment, you really learn a lot now because you're helping running a business from the financial side and everything. I'm not just doing quote, sales and marketing anymore, so that's exactly what I'm doing, still involved today.
Speaker 2
Guest
28:32
Yeah, I love that because it's such a departure, absolutely.
Speaker 1
Host
28:35
For what you did for decades.
Speaker 4
Guest
28:36
Bowling, always. Bowling always called the sprawl lanes and the bar inside it's called Red Pin Pub. So, every Monday I'm in a cooler 10 by 10 walk-in cooler counting cases and kegs.
Speaker 2
Guest
28:47
I drive by it often. Mother lives in Harry's town. Please stop there, oh there you go there, yeah right.
28:53
Tom, real quick question for you. So if you had to give advice, everybody always says go back, give yourself some advice when you were a teenager coming out of college. I don't think that's relevant anymore. The world is so different now and maybe you have older kids my son's only 14. I started very late, so I'm living this every day with him. He's in the heart of give advice. What's the best success advice that you could give to a listener?
Speaker 3
Host
29:17
Because I thought, oh, they don't have to be a kid.
Speaker 2
Guest
29:19
But there are a lot of people out there trying to figure out how the hell am I going to make my way in this world?
Speaker 3
Host
29:24
So, yeah, I had a sort of answer, this question with my own kids. So my son is 21. My daughter is 19. And I'll put it, I'll use this story to tell, to give you an answer which is my son, after his freshman year of college which was, by the way, the first year of COVID college, where they were kind of all in prison he said I'm not going back, I'm just going to keep working. And his sister was not real thrilled about that. She's like he's smart, he should do this, dad. What's he? And I said, like time out. I said I know you look at me as being the successful thing, right, successful dad. Well, I'm a finished product. I mean.
Speaker 4
Guest
30:09
By the way, there's a lot more people that are much more successful than me.
Speaker 3
Host
30:13
But I do OK. But the point is I can sit here with you all today and tell you OK, here's where I am, and I can go backwards in time to where I was an idiot 20-year-old in college struggling to figure out a major. And I can tell you all the inflection points along the way that got me to here. But if you ask me, then why are you going to get here? I have no idea.
Speaker 4
Guest
30:42
And.
Speaker 3
Host
30:42
I told my daughter, with my son it's the same way. I know he gets up every day and he works really hard and he's being very successful in what he's doing, but I don't know where he's going to end up. So that's all I can ask of him as a parent is to do his best, as Bob said, and as long as he's not living in the basement just playing video games and asking us for money. I think that's where it goes off the rails for some parents. But yeah, it's easy to look back and know how each of us got here. But the other way, not so simple and not to sound like Mike Rowe, but this whole idea of going to college anymore just look around, Is it a requirement? Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Right when our governor got elected, his first act was to say, hey, all these jobs no longer require college degrees, You're going to work for the Commonwealth. Well, that should tell us all something. Like the world is changing drastically.
Speaker 1
Host
31:45
Wow, can I ask too, in that trajectory that you were just talking about, from 20 until now, when you're successful, how did my management style help you? No, just kidding. When was the time?
Speaker 2
Guest
31:59
He's going to walk off set we had so much fun together. I can't even tell you, we did, we would drive around and laugh.
Speaker 4
Guest
32:08
It's great. You learned that being an entertainer Did you sell anything? That's all of matters.
Speaker 3
Host
32:12
We were selling. Tom did, tom did. We were selling. I laughed, we were great, we were selling.
Speaker 1
Host
32:16
But I was going to ask you when was the time I asked Bob this question? So I have to ask you when was the time when you were feeling like there is no future for me or this is an awful time in my life and I know we've had parents die and there's been hard things that have happened to us, but yet still, as a dad, as someone who brings money home to the family and supports everybody, there had to be times in your life when you were like can I do this another day, or is this like and running a business? I mean, my god, the ups and downs through COVID. There had to be some time when you were like and I think people really learn from that.
32:50
Like they don't learn from us being successful, they learn from us saying. There was a time when I was in the fetal position and I wanted to like say this is over, but this is how I made it out of there. So what would you say?
Speaker 3
Host
33:03
So I'll give you the worst case scenario that happened to me was I was working at Nortel Networks. I was there for seven years and they let me go with very little notice.
33:18
And that was very painful and it's like, well, where am I going to earn a check? I had my kids at the time where I think there were two and four or three and five, but they were very, very young. My wife didn't work and well, how am I going to get a job? And so, maybe for one night I was in the fetal position. Actually, that night I did make. I made one phone call. I made a phone call to somebody and they said hey, this is what happened. And he's like Tom, you want to start Monday?
Speaker 1
Host
33:49
Oh my god, wait, hold on. Can I hear more about how it suddenly just got really happy? So I guess my question is how did you make that call? So you were driving home and you were like, what am I going to do with my?
Speaker 2
Guest
34:02
life.
Speaker 1
Host
34:02
How am I going to tell my wife Did you had you already?
Speaker 3
Host
34:05
told her Well, I was already at home when the call came from Nortel, and so it was literally like I hung up. I'm like you're not going to believe.
Speaker 1
Host
34:13
I just got let go. And was it just layoffs?
Speaker 3
Host
34:17
No, no, it was a little complicated, but my boss lied about something and pointed a finger at me, blamed you.
Speaker 1
Host
34:31
Oh, that's so hard you had to trade.
Speaker 3
Host
34:34
Yeah. So you pulled your bootstraps up. Yeah, I made a phone call to somebody who I thought might be able to. I didn't think he'd offer me a job. I thought he would help me along and maybe keep an ear out for me. And he's like no, you want to start Monday here? I'll give you this salary. How much do you need to get you through and to get yourself back on your feet, like in terms of, like, selling stuff, like can I pay you a little bit more, higher salary for a bit? So I ended up moving forward Now. The same guy I'm going to try to make this very short but the same guy who rescued me. I helped make his business.
35:10
Take it from a million dollar business to a $10 million business in about four years.
Speaker 1
Host
35:14
Smart hire on his part.
Speaker 3
Host
35:16
And I ended up where I was the only sales guy working for him. I ended up managing a team of about eight or nine. By the time we got to that point, we went from seven employees to 40 employees and it was very successful, except for one problem he didn't pay the IRS everything he owed to them.
Speaker 1
Host
35:34
He wasn't doing that monthly thing. You have to do Equals yeah.
Speaker 3
Host
35:38
Worse payroll taxes. So he was collecting payroll taxes from the employees on paper.
35:43
Not paying it. But he was not paying it. So it got to a point where we got put on credit hold with our vendors and commissions weren't being paid to salespeople. So I went to him I said what's going on and I said he closes the door to his office and he's like Tom, look, I got to be honest. I owe the government, the IRS, $700,000. Yeah Well, if you don't pay the IRS for the public out there, they don't take well to that.
36:14
Suddenly there's things known as interest penalties. You'll never catch up. Just close the door then. But in any case. So I ended up working on an exit strategy after that no-transcript. It compelled me to start my own business because I got tired of as much as I may have felt I had some good success working for other people and I always hit my numbers and I got tired of other people's decisions impacting my personal success and career.
36:46
Amen, because I went back to back where I basically was put in a position of not being employed by for completely different reasons, right?
Speaker 1
Host
36:55
Which was not either. Which was your fault? None of your doing Right.
Speaker 3
Host
36:59
And so, yes, so I would tell everybody out there, you know, I think it's good training to work for other people, because you need to get experience, you need to see how pros really do it, whatever it is you do, but eventually, whatever you do, figure out how to do that yourself. Figure out how to start your own business and do it yourself, because the, the, the, the tax structure in this country is is built to support small business owners as much as I was complaining earlier. But still there's lots of perks built in there that you don't get as an employee and you get to control your future a lot and a lot more.
Speaker 1
Host
37:37
Oh no, okay, lightning round, lightning round, oh man, I could talk to you guys, all day I was flying. Um, okay, this is my favorite question.
Speaker 3
Host
37:45
No, it's not it's the lightning round.
Speaker 2
Guest
37:48
You'll start crying Um my favorite question.
Speaker 1
Host
37:52
So, whoever I ask, who am I going to ask? First, let's go, bob. What is one thing that no one knows about you that you're willing to share on this podcast and break right now?
Speaker 3
Host
38:03
Right, no one, no one. His wife doesn't know.
Speaker 1
Host
38:05
No, does your wife know everything?
Speaker 3
Host
38:08
Yes, that's the answer. The answer is yes to that. You stumped me for sure. Something unusual.
Speaker 1
Host
38:12
Maybe something she wouldn't, you know, really need to know, like it's not even something cool about your purview. Oh, so, for instance. So we had somebody tell us that they um auditioned to be the Philly Fanatic, and they didn't realize that you couldn't wear a costume, so they just had to run around.
Speaker 3
Host
38:28
Run around that stadium this is a very you know um, you know professional human being.
Speaker 1
Host
38:33
There was another person who told us that. I got, I got one they disassociated outside of themselves when they were hanging out with people and pretended like they didn't know them.
Speaker 2
Guest
38:40
They were time travelers. They were like time travelers, yeah.
Speaker 1
Host
38:42
Where I have was another one.
Speaker 2
Guest
38:43
I can't remember that was. That was a good one, though. Yeah, stuff, you know, just doesn't have to be anything.
Speaker 1
Host
38:48
Do you want to?
Speaker 3
Host
38:48
think Go ahead, tom, you can go. Does that have to be lightning, or can I tell a story?
Speaker 1
Host
38:53
You can tell a story, tom. You've got plenty of time, oh good.
Speaker 2
Guest
38:55
So, I know Mark's trying to end this, but I'm good, I'm still listening, I'm going to connect.
Speaker 1
Host
38:58
I rarely look at the time. I'm going to connect to Mark here too, but back when you know not many people know.
Speaker 3
Host
39:04
I mean, I think my like on one hand I can count people know. But when I was in college I was going to Villanova University and you know, I was walking through the communications department and like, so I was back in the day when pinned up on the bulletin board was an internship advertisement for ESPN. So I said, well, that looks interesting. You know, like literally it's like you know, sort of like you take the tag off of it like a piano lesson thing, like there's a little tag where you send your application. So I set an application up and I got the job right. So next thing, you know, I'm on my way, like a month later, to Bristol, connecticut, to the headquarters of ESPN, right to to be an intern there.
Speaker 1
Host
39:46
Sounds so glamorous it does.
Speaker 3
Host
39:48
Right and it was you get to know, like I got Chris Berman, dan Patrick, wow, this is glamorous.
Speaker 1
Host
39:53
Oh yeah, boomer, what you're going to say. You're really cleaning toilets, or something like that no.
Speaker 3
Host
39:58
no, I mean, they didn't know me, but I knew that.
Speaker 1
Host
40:00
Okay, let's be honest, let's be real.
Speaker 3
Host
40:02
Yeah yeah, so it was yeah, but um, while so my so I get there, I pull into the first. The first day I pull into town I had no plan. I was, I was 20 years old, 19, 20 years old. I pull into town and I literally it's a Sunday and I go and I find a newspaper machine, put a quarter in it and I look for ads for, for rentals, for apartments, and I found one. A guy was saying looking for a roommate, so well, if I get a pay phone, he answers come on over. So I go over and sure enough I end up. You know he had a nice place and I took the second bedroom, so that night, so we've known each other but like an hour and a half right and we're
40:44
watching. We're watching TV and he's flicking through channels and QVC comes up, right, he's flicking through and he goes past. I said wait, go back. And he goes back and there's an attractive young model, who's who's doing a fitness machine, like a stepper or something, and I said I, I used to date her. No way, because they were here, right they? Were from Westchester yeah, and I was. I was a fitness instructor, while.
41:09
I was a little over and this is one of my members who I had a couple of days with her and and so he's like really like, literally like really so he goes the rest of the night, like every commercial that there was attractive woman.
Speaker 1
Host
41:28
He's like just kept saying yes matter of fact, it was a good one.
Speaker 3
Host
41:32
It's supposed to be something that exposes your vulnerability, but I'll take that oh, okay, um anyway, it's a good story, mr abin easy.
Speaker 4
Guest
41:42
So mine was. I always wanted to be, at a young age, a sports writer, so I used to love baseball as a kid growing up and I would sit and watch endless Phillies games as a kid all the time on tv and I had a vision that I wanted to. I used to literally write stories, sometimes about the game I just watched.
42:01
Oh my god, so I was writing when I was in eighth grade I was writing for a newspaper. Weekly newspaper called the mainline times for the sports games of the team that I was on no way, let's go see why our team?
Speaker 3
Host
42:15
so it was funny because you put your name in the byline yeah that my name was like six times in the article that I got this hit or I scored this rock, the snore of the night but your name is like in bold is written by you.
Speaker 2
Guest
42:29
I love it, so that was something I had.
Speaker 4
Guest
42:30
This kid is something so I didn't really had visions because I love newspapers and I still love new having print papers as well as I did to a copy, but that was something I was I love that. I'd be the next bill lion or Frank doleson at the time somebody was a fill in. Yeah, as a sports writer and of course that that knows dive quickly when I took my first English class in college and realized that's not for me. I'm going to sales.
Speaker 3
Host
42:58
I think one of the most vulnerable things for any guy I'll say, I'll say definitely for me is when you are about to ask somebody to marry you. I think that that's when you're at your most vulnerable because you know, you know, you think you know what the answer is going to be, but you're offering your life, you're offering yourself you know you're saying, you know we're soulmates, you, you know you complete me all that stuff and I say, that's you no, but he does, he does, he does.
Speaker 1
Host
43:26
But I think that that is yeah, that's a big vulnerable. Yeah, that is very time, for sure. How did you do it?
Speaker 3
Host
43:33
my wife and I. We met when I was in Pittsburgh working for Atlantic Network Integration and then we had moved back here a year later and by the end of that year I knew I wanted to ask her. So I I said, hey, we're gonna have a, we're gonna go back to Pittsburgh for this weekend in December to celebrate her birthday and I said we're gonna hang out with her girlfriend there. She had a girl good friend and so when we got there we got to our I had this like old English cottage room B&B and when we got there I got down on one knee and asked her nice yeah, yeah and she said yes, romantic is that
Speaker 2
Guest
44:11
how you did.
Speaker 3
Host
44:12
So the fun, the funniest thing before he answers the funniest thing, is on the way to the restaurant after after that, right on the way that we were going out the dinner, on the way to the restaurant, she calls her mom. This is mom. Guess, guess who got engaged? And she says who? And she says somebody else. And, like my wife's, like no me like why would you guess somebody else?
Speaker 2
Guest
44:34
I'm calling you guess somebody else, that's great.
Speaker 1
Host
44:37
Margie, would you do?
Speaker 4
Guest
44:40
Bob, were you, did you get married pretty young no, I was actually, I was 30 years old really get married. So my wife and I were dating for way too many years, according to her, until we finally got married but it was you met at Delaware.
Speaker 1
Host
44:53
No, we met after, after college.
Speaker 4
Guest
44:55
I was living in Malvern at the time so it my wife, thought something was strange when I picked my roommates out of my own to a townhouse in the area and had a couple guys living with me. So I chased the guys out of the house. That night. I'm like you guys are gone, you know, just get out of the house. And you know we were heading to a party. I said once, come over earlier and I'll make you dinner. It's just like wait a minute. Most time you make you dinner it's it's a can with a barcode on it. You know, now, now you can literally make. I'm sure that was a trigger point that I'm literally cooking a meal for her as well, yeah, she knew.
Speaker 1
Host
45:25
Did you think she knew?
Speaker 4
Guest
45:26
I think she had a clue what was going on. So good news, fast forwarding. She said yes that's good.
Speaker 1
Host
45:31
That's good because I was nervous. Wait, how long have you been married now? 33 years wow so that's wonderful.
Speaker 4
Guest
45:37
So were you nervous before she said yes, no, I really wasn't you. I know, I figured it was the time is right for both of us and we'd been together for a long time, so that was not a vulnerable time for you either?
Speaker 1
Host
45:48
no, have you ever been in a vulnerable state?
Speaker 4
Guest
45:50
I can't even see that in you yeah, I'm sure I have, maybe like you know it's tough when the parents go.
Speaker 1
Host
45:56
Yeah, wasn't parents?
Speaker 3
Host
45:57
I had a older brother passed away suddenly so that was hard, that was the hardest hardest.
Speaker 4
Guest
46:02
Yeah, that was yeah it was sorry good, because the sudden, obviously the suddenness tragic, yeah, was the biggest thing right there and it just was a the game changer for our lifestyle. And he had a son that was 17 at the time that he was a single parent. So he told me you know we're talking probably a year before that and just in passing he's like you know, anything ever happens to me and you'll step in right and take care of you know his son right and like, yeah, no problem, let's get another beer.
Speaker 1
Host
46:28
You know it's one of these things. Yeah, passing conversation, you don't want to talk about that, but yeah, it's amazing that he did yeah.
Speaker 4
Guest
46:34
But then fast forwarding, obviously, when everything happens like, ok, I remember what I committed to.
Speaker 1
Host
46:38
Yeah, of course, so yeah. So I would say that would definitely be the most vulnerable time. That's fantastic. Yeah, you did that. All good Makes sense. Do either of you guys have a favorite quote like somebody who inspired you? I definitely have one. You have one. I live by it all the time.
Speaker 4
Guest
46:52
Go Bob, it's the infamous Einstein quote of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. You can't do things over and over again expecting different results. So that's one literally I've had framed in my offices over the probably the past 15 years. It always made me think, ok, things aren't working. Trying to get a sale or deal or handling people.
47:15
Keep trying that same method. It's useless. You have to stop and then start up, come up with a different strategy, a different plan, Because the way you're doing things, clearly you're not working. So that's one I really have lived personally through as well, to make sure I'm always thinking about a different path forward, not just going down that same path. That makes sense. Love that.
Speaker 1
Host
47:36
Do you?
Speaker 3
Host
47:37
have one, tom, I do. Robin Williams ruined it, but the car payday on the seize. The day was big for me then and now I mean I think it doesn't mean. I think people misinterpret it. It doesn't mean like trash everything in your life for whatever you want in that immediate moment. It means to fulfill your life and do what you need to be successful and happy, and that's to me, and every day you have to build upon that. But it sees the day Factor fiction what do you prefer to read?
Speaker 1
Host
48:10
Oh, that's good Fact.
Speaker 2
Guest
48:11
Fact. So what's the last book you read? What are you reading right now?
Speaker 4
Guest
48:15
I just finished the book the Rising on Kobe Bryant, so it's a great motivation. Yeah, I just I like anything that's biography in nature, focused on the individual.
Speaker 2
Guest
48:27
Yeah, just get inside their head and make some tech.
Speaker 3
Host
48:30
Yes, that's what we're trying to do here. You know, I tend to be just much more current, current news as opposed to a book reader. But the most recent book I read was Springsteen's autobiography which was pretty awesome. Yeah, I do, I do, If you went to see his New York City show.
Speaker 4
Guest
48:49
OK, that's the Broadway one. The Broadway one.
Speaker 3
Host
48:52
Yeah, that's sort of his book performed, got it. But you know the fact that he has dealt with depression for so many years, the fact that he you know when he's not touring he is talking about like being in the fetal position in the corner, like that's, that's him.
Speaker 4
Guest
49:08
Like he he got like. This is his autobiography. He's talking about himself.
Speaker 3
Host
49:12
He's like he knows that he has this, this bipolar issue. His father had it and that was that was I felt. You know, out of that book was was really interesting to hear about this superstar who is so vulnerable.
Speaker 4
Guest
49:25
I'll put a plug in for one other, though I read right before it Shoe dog.
Speaker 2
Guest
49:30
I love that book. It's unbelievable. It's the Nike story, it's the night story.
Speaker 4
Guest
49:34
Yes, and just incredible story on how he built the company, literally from living on the edge, from from you know himself, out of working out the garage to build. So that's one.
Speaker 1
Host
49:45
He's very inspirational. I loved it. I loved that book. I recommend that.
Speaker 3
Host
49:48
Both my sons have read the book as a result, and they loved it too, so yeah, I struggle with the whole read book thing because you know my wife is a big, big reader. She like, consumes, like.
Speaker 1
Host
50:01
She'll read six books in a month. Fiction yeah, me too.
Speaker 3
Host
50:04
And so you should read more. I'm like I you know, and I don't know how to deal with this, but I read every day, I read tons and, yes, it's all email and I write every day. It's all email, Plus I do research and things like that. But I think it's really taxing from from me personally that at the end of the day OK, now I'm going to- read more read more like I'm tired of reading.
Speaker 1
Host
50:26
So how do you chill Watch TV? Like you know, walk the dogs.
Speaker 3
Host
50:30
Fitness is so important. I think you got to work out as often as you can. I try to work out most, most every day, that's. That's a biggie, you know. And I've been trying to get more into other other hobbies because as I feel like I'm getting closer to retirement, like the one thing you need, like if you ever want to retire, you better have hobbies, because that's true.
Speaker 1
Host
50:54
That's so true. Yeah, that's true. But do you think you'll ever fully retire?
Speaker 3
Host
50:58
I will, yeah, because so life expectancy for somebody my, my age, my, you know, my background is 76, right, so I've got roughly 21 years on average and I have a friend of mine said I have, I have less than 10,000 days.
51:13
I have about 9,500 days right now he's not about this, yeah, and I had a friend of mine say, oh, no, no, that you know you're going to live beyond 76. I said, well, you know? Ok, what am I going to live to 79, 80? All right, now I'm up to 12,000 days, like it ain't a lot. So I don't want to spend the last certainly 10 years of my projected life and this isn't being negative, this is positive and like I don't want to spend the last 10 years of my life looking at whatever this smartphone of the day is checking my emails, I think that's a that's a terrible way to go out, so I want to go.
51:51
I want to go out doing things that are good for my community. Right, I'm a member of the Rotary Club. I want to go out doing things more with my family, as much as possible. You know, I want to travel more and I want to be less stressed. I mean, stress is the number one. Do you golf? I do. That makes me more stressed.
Speaker 1
Host
52:10
Yeah, I golf. I golf some that may or may not be in your hobby list.
Speaker 3
Host
52:14
Yeah, I think music comedy, things like that.
Speaker 1
Host
52:17
Yeah, how much you got.
Speaker 4
Guest
52:18
Yeah, I want to piggyback on that. When I retired and again, that was January of 2020. So pre covid, still one of my first goals I wanted to reconnect with people I hadn't seen forever.
Speaker 1
Host
52:29
I love that.
Speaker 4
Guest
52:30
Because I had spent the last, especially last 15 years of my life running nonstop and really hadn't had a chance to reconnect with friends. I mean, I have a core group of friends that I'm very tight with. That. I still see a lot, but there were people that I had worked with in the past. My very first manager ever hired me in business. I didn't talk to the guy in probably five years. So I made it a point that January writing a list down of about 20 people and started, one by one, calling them or emailing people I haven't talked to many years and said I'm coming down to meet with like, this guy I lived in Delaware. I said I email him and said I'm coming down taking you out for lunch. Let's pick a day and do it. So I would literally at least twice a week have quote appointment set up where I was meeting somebody for either coffee, breakfast or lunch as a way to connect with people I hadn't seen because I was.
53:22
I really wanted to focus on that because the friends aspect was probably the one thing. Again, not the core friends, but the next level or two was something I had lost track of just because I was so consumed with the job Number one family of one right behind it and doing everything with them, that there was nothing outside of those first two elements for me. So that was the one thing I loved about retirement and still to this day, I still have a couple of breakfast club groups that I meet up with once a month and, just you know, just a chance to just for a couple hours catch up with people that I don't normally say it's important.
Speaker 1
Host
53:56
So any beach house now, right, yes, we do. So that's been great yeah.
Speaker 4
Guest
54:00
Wonderful. What's up? I'm in Seattle.
Speaker 1
Host
54:02
Oh cool, so you have one too, right.
Speaker 4
Guest
54:04
Stone Harbor. Stone Harbor. Yeah, that's awesome Russ it's been great because now I see my kids. I have two sons, 30 and 25.
Speaker 2
Guest
54:12
And now, since we've had the beach house all summer, I see them all the time, every weekend to there, which is awesome, which is what we'd hoped for.
Speaker 4
Guest
54:19
Yeah, but they're like, this is great. One lives in Brooklyn.
Speaker 3
Host
54:21
I sit there with a big grin on my face.
Speaker 1
Host
54:23
My kids are around, they're like mom just chill.
Speaker 4
Guest
54:24
I'm like, put you both here. It sounds like my wife does that too. I get so excited when I have my kids around me. It's OK.
Speaker 1
Host
54:32
So how can people get in touch with you? What's your next steps with your careers? Like, how can we help you get something out into the world that you want to get out in the world, Tom I'll let you, since you're still managing a fairly large company. I mean, who do you want to talk to? Tom?
Speaker 3
Host
54:47
Right. So I was coming here. I don't know, I'm really bad at this type of advertising, but in any case. So if you are an IT professional, especially in management, and you're looking for a cybersecurity expert, so we're going to help you to secure your environment and do so, hopefully, in a manner which you haven't been presented previously. So Phillycom Inc, where you can be found at phillycomnet, I'm Tom at phillycomnet, phillycom, tom. Sorry, he's known.
Speaker 2
Guest
55:19
Phillycom Tom yeah.
Speaker 3
Host
55:22
And yeah, look me up on LinkedIn. Easy place to find us is Phillycom Inc. Or Tom Desolets.
Speaker 1
Host
55:27
Yeah, and you're looking. So you said you're looking for people who are trying to like Right, who are responsible for large enterprise data environments.
Speaker 3
Host
55:36
So what does that mean Probably 300 to 3,000 employees. It doesn't all have to be regionally based. You can. In today's world of cloud services, it really doesn't matter where your employees are. We can help to secure that environment, whether it's a public cloud, private cloud, whatever.
Speaker 1
Host
55:57
Yeah, you still doing the webinars.
Speaker 3
Host
55:59
Yeah, we do. That's usually the alcohols involved with the webinars, so we'll ship. We just did one with Citi Winery two weeks ago.
Speaker 1
Host
56:08
That's awesome.
Speaker 3
Host
56:08
Three bottles of wine. And what's great is it's a tasting, and even though it's virtual, you learn a lot.
Speaker 1
Host
56:16
And you can drink a lot if you want. How about you, Bob? What do you try to get out in the world?
Speaker 4
Guest
56:21
So, unlike 38 years ago, I would have been hawking product or services. I'm not longer doing that, so I'll put the shameless plug in. If anybody's looking for a nice night out of entertainment, they can come bowling in sprawl lanes, or I then have a nice beverage of their choice inside the red pen pub afterwards.
Speaker 1
Host
56:37
Let's go, but don't you also consult in terms of business development? Yes, because I would definitely call you for that. Thank, you.
Speaker 4
Guest
56:44
I do have a consulting practice focused in sales, focused in sales leadership, mainly that I've been working with some companies on. So I've done some engagements longer scale and I've done some short couple of day types of engagement. So that's something I definitely, if people are out there looking for, and even some sales training as well. Those are three elements. So sales number one, sales leadership mainly, and then sales training.
Speaker 1
Host
57:10
And they can just look you up on LinkedIn. Yes, that'd be the best place to go.
Speaker 3
Host
57:13
So, thank you and sprawl, I just want to real quick, I just want to help drive traffic.
Speaker 1
Host
57:18
OK.
Speaker 3
Host
57:19
Because I think the word. It looks like sprawl, but you say sprawl, Sprawl.
Speaker 1
Host
57:23
Wait, how do you spell it?
Speaker 4
Guest
57:24
Right, s-p-r-o-u-l Right. It's sprawl, sprowl, sprowl. I would say sprawl, yeah, right.
Speaker 1
Host
57:29
You're not from Delco. Is that a Delco?
Speaker 3
Host
57:32
accent. It's a Delco thing, so I want to get traffic down Right. It's going to look like sprawl.
Speaker 2
Guest
57:36
It is sprawl. Thanks for the second plug, I forgot about that.
Speaker 3
Host
57:39
Sprowl. Just keep talking over and over again oh my god, I love it.
Speaker 1
Host
57:44
This has been so much fun, you guys, thank you. Thank you for coming in.
Speaker 4
Guest
57:47
Absolutely pleasure, driving an hour and a half from Delstown we appreciate being part of this.
Speaker 2
Guest
57:50
It's great.
Speaker 1
Host
57:51
Yeah, this has been awesome.
Speaker 2
Guest
57:53
Thank you so much. Yeah, welcome. Thanks for sharing.
Speaker 1
Host
57:54
No, this has been awesome.
Speaker 2
Guest
57:55
Thank you so much. Continue success.
Speaker 3
Host
57:57
And we'll look for our checks or be at the desk.
Speaker 1
Host
57:59
Yes, that's not Cut, that Cut.
Speaker 2
Guest
58:01
Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut.
Speaker 1
Host
58:03
Cut, cut, cut, cut