The Value of Connecting with Entrepreneurs Through Networking with Mike Calhoun

Intro (00:09):
Welcome to innovations and breakthroughs with your host Rich Goldstein, talking about the evolutionary, the revolutionary, the inspiration and the perspiration and those aha moments that change everything. And now here’s your host, Rich Goldstein

Rich (00:32):
Rich Goldstein here, host of the innovations, that breakthroughs podcast, where I feature top leaders and the path they took to great change past guests include Joe Polish, Ryan Deiss and Roland Frasier. This episode is brought to you by my company, Goldstein patent law. Will we help you to protect your ideas and products we’ve advised and obtained patents for thousands of companies over the past 27. So if you’re a company that has software product or a design, you want protected go to Goldstein patent law.com, where there are amazing free resources for learning about the patent process. And you can email my team@welcomeatgoldsteinpc.com. Explore if it’s a match to work together, you can also check out the book I wrote for the American bar association that explains in plain English, how patents work it’s called the ABA consumer guide to obtaining a pat I have with me here today. Mike Calhoun, Mike is the founder and CEO of board of advisors where he’s established a global community of founders, entrepreneurs, CEOs, investors, marketers, and e-commerce moguls. Mike is an advisor and owner and investor in multiple companies. He’s worked with numerous products, platforms and services from the us to Australia. Mike truly has a gift for seeing opportunities to connect people and cultivate synergistic relationships. I’m very pleased to welcome here today. My friend, Mike, Calvin welcome Mike.

Mike (01:39):
Oh my gosh. Rich, good little session. We’re going to have fun. You and I always have fun.

Rich (01:47):
Absolutely. We always do. And uh, and you have a gift, you know, you have a gift or connection and conversations and conversations are always easy. And as much as sometimes I interview people on it’s like pulling teeth. I can’t imagine that I have to do much work so

Mike (02:03):
Well. I mean, it’s, um, one thing I think I do very well to see the gold. In other words, what are the things that rich Goldstein does so Know rich ever since I was a little kid, there’s one thing I wanted to be what’s that now I grew up humbling, like very humble move. I moved out of my house in 11th grade into a barn, just so I could finish high school with a little peace and quiet because family was, it was a little crazy. It was a little crazy at home, but there’s one thing I wanted to be ever since I was just getting started. You know what? That was an entrepreneur I’ve always wanted to be.

Rich (02:46):
Wow. That is an honor.

Mike (02:48):
Okay. Look, these are dad jokes. They’re dad jokes, and I’ve got a lot of them and all, and most of them aren’t good, but some of them are great.

Rich (02:56):
That’s the thing about that joke is that, um, they’re generally not very funny. They’ll make you roll your eyes, but there’s always a kernel of something really clever and funny in there.

Mike (03:07):
What’s funny is that they’re not so funny, but that the dad telling them things that they’re funny. So then we end up laughing right along with them. So I guess laughter is a little,

Rich (03:17):
Exactly. So, I mean probably with a typical dad joke, the response should not be laughter. It should be more like I saw what you did there.

Mike (03:24):
Exactly. Let’s get down into the nitty gritty. You’re you said you were going to ask me all the hard questions that you’ve never asked anyone else, but now you’re going to, you’re going to put me through

Rich (03:37):
You can’t handle the truth. Um, yeah. So, um, very simple question. Let’s start with a really simple one. How’d you get started, uh, down the road of being an entrepreneur,

Mike (03:47):
My left foot, and I put it in front of my right foot. And then I just kept one step at a time, maybe one step at a time. No, I have a pretty interesting little story. So you want to know my first entrepreneurial endeavor? Those are saying, all right, man, let’s do it. I used to, uh, so I was always knew of the new kid at school all the time when the 13 different schools growing up new school for every grade, just about right. So it was always the new kid and I was always broke. Right. Um, my parents were broke and I was broken. I was kinda tired by sixth grade. I’m like, dude, I want to have some money in my book bag. At least like, I want to be able to buy that extra milk at lunch. You know, I just, it was, uh, just, there was a burning desire there.

Mike (04:31):
And so check this out. Um, um, riding my bicycle and skateboard back and forth to school every day, completely independent as a sixth grader, going from a deer, a beach over to Madeira beach, middle, there was a big bridge right before the bridge, there was a candy, it was a candy kitchen. And the owner of the old dude that worked behind the counter, he was famous for making foot and he had all kinds of just weird quirky candies on the shelf. And I found these, they were gum with a candy shell on it and it was, it was available. Nowhere else you couldn’t go to the normal gas station. You had to get it at the candy kitchen. Right. So I used to buy the or core for nickel and sell them for a quarter. I buy them for nickel load up my book bag, take him to school. And it was like crack dude. Everybody would buy, they buy, uh, for a quarter. And my book bag was probably the heaviest bookbag you’d ever felt because it was full literally full of court. Right. Uh, so it might be my best business even to this day, you buy for a quarter, you sell it for 25 cents. That’s a pretty high margin. I don’t know if I’ve even done anything that like compares.

Rich (05:37):
Right, right. Yeah. Um, that’s, that’s really funny. Cause uh, I had a similar story too. I was selling gum. Um, my, uh, my father worked downtown Manhattan and there was a place they called the job lot where they had all kinds of closeout merchandise and they had pub Bubba chewing gum for 10 cents

Mike (05:57):
In the Ziploc, the little metal, it was like a metal, uh, pulled over pack. Right. Like I had a foil.

Rich (06:03):
I think this was even earlier than that. Mike, I think I’m just a little bit older than you, but uh, just a standard, you know, standard, like, um, little square piece of gum in a pack. Um, but I was able to buy them for about 10 cents each and then sell them for 25 cents. So I didn’t have quite the margins that you did, you were making, uh, twice

Mike (06:26):
Started in the exact same place.

Rich (06:27):
Yeah. Interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. And I, um, business, it is, and I’ll tell you how it got real sticky is I, um, um, I was bringing in about, uh, each I think each box had had like 20 packs and then I brought in like three boxes. So about 60 packs of gum a day. And um, I was bringing it in and like at the lunch table, like all the other kids were coming and spending their lunch money, buying gum from me and the school didn’t like it. Um, and, and uh, they brought me up to the Dean’s office, had me empty my pockets. I remember the Dean, um, Dean Christiansen in behind his sunglasses. Like you’re a very enterprising young man, Mr. Goldstein. Uh, basically they had me agree to not sell, um, gum in school anymore. And they gave me back my money and the gum that was left.

Mike (07:21):
Well, the same thing happened to me. I got in trouble for selling gum. Um, I think they saw thought that I was selling weed and I’m like, no, it’s dumb. And they’re like, I mean, there were so much money and cause I didn’t want to put my money anywhere in the house because I was afraid my brothers or my parents would find the money. Right. So I would let it, I would turn it into cash instead of quarters. And I was carrying, I just didn’t know where else to put it. So then when these two guys figured out like that, I was carrying all this cash. They, they tried to take my bag from me and dude, that just wasn’t happening, which ended up getting us into the principal’s office. And then they bring this police officer, I guess like works the campus into the room, scares the, you know what at all, you know, all the kids. And um, they’re like, you’re just selling gum. I didn’t even know what else I would be selling. I’m like, what else would I be?

Rich (08:13):
Right, right. Well, in my case, they knew exactly what I was selling. And the problem was is that kids were spending the lunch money on it. And um, in New York city lunches, I heavily subsidized. And so if you are spending a dollar on your lunch, they’re getting whatever, like $3. And so they will losing out significantly when kids didn’t buy things from the lunch counter. They weren’t happy about that. But yeah. So it is funny. We started out with very similar beginnings, although, like I said, you had twice the gross profit as

Mike (08:44):
I did. Hey, it’s all, it’s all about where you get your supply. Right.

Rich (08:47):
All right, cool. Yes, that’s true. Um, let’s leave that there. Um, now, so that was your

Mike (08:54):
Pull, that supply chain optimization. Now that we’ve, we’ve grown older and

Rich (08:58):
Wiser. Now we have better labels for it. Right. But here’s the thing. And this is just what it shows the value of an entrepreneurial network. If we were connected back then you could have connected me with that better deal. Um, 5 cents, turn it into a quarter rather than my wife thought it was a good deal. 10 cents turned into a quarter. So this is where networking with other entrepreneurs can indeed benefit.

Mike (09:22):
Well, and I would have done that for you rich. I might have done it for everybody, but for you, I definitely would’ve seen the value in making sure you had the hookup,

Rich (09:29):
Right. Especially since I was in New York and you were in Florida, we could, it’s like we could divide geographic territories because we were an indirect.

Mike (09:36):
Now, now we’ve gone national starting to take over the Eastern, uh, national region.

Rich (09:41):
Exactly, exactly. And so, um, you know, again, the benefits of, of networking with other entrepreneurs, which we’ll circle back to in a minute. Um, but then from there, so from those humble beginnings, um, selling handy in school. Oh, tell me about some of the, kind of the bigger ventures that you did when you

Mike (10:00):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean really, uh, rolled over into, you know, I, I opened up a lawn service and then I got a job with a lawn service. I got a job at McDonald’s, um, which was interesting because they put me as the guy taking the order on the drive-through and the person would come through and I would take the order. And it was like, literally I’m 14. And cause that was as early as you could get a job there, you could work certain amount of hours between 14 and 15. Then at 16 you could work more hours. But, uh, that was on treasure island in Florida here. And they would come through and I had this voice at 14, like it was wild and they would come through and then I would be like, Hey, let me take your order. I take their order. They’d come around and was like, Hey, where’s the guy that took my order.

Mike (10:45):
And then I’d be like on the guy. And then they’d be like, holy cow, are you serious? You know, there’s this little 14 year old stick figure. Right. And then this massive, like you’d think there’s a 300 pound dude behind the, you know, which was cool. But so, you know, it got a little taste of what it was like to have a real job versus just kind of pioneering. And then, um, you know, went through kind of doing the whole bag boy thing. And then, you know, you get out of school and all my buddies went off to college and I went off to work, got a job at home Depot. One of the first couple of stores that had opened up in the Atlanta based company, you know, we, we started in Atlanta and then obviously spread all over the place now. But I was instrumental in opening up those stores.

Mike (11:25):
I was just to go get her a hustler. I got work. I did a few things that worked, that worked out and uh, you know, tried to find some good dates if I could. But, uh, so went from really doing like just Herculean effort work at home Depot, uh, setting up stores started my own tile business. I thought I hit the jackpot. I was doing like pile for seven bucks a square foot. And uh, that’s pretty heavy in the Atlanta market. And you know, so I’ve started kind of making real, tangible money, but it was just a lot of work rich. And I knew that I needed to use my brain at a certain point. You know, you gotta go, you gotta get a little education. You gotta make sure that you’re equipped. And one thing that stuck out in my mind rich is somebody pulled me.

Mike (12:10):
One of my, uh, I’ve always kind of hung out with people who were older, especially when I was young. One of the guys said, look, specialized education. Actually. They said, for guys like you specialize the education. I think what he meant was you don’t necessarily have the support to go through a traditional route. So I did, I chose, um, a, a, a school where I could go through about 36 months of specialized education in the software programming, networking, Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe, Hewlett-Packard like that entire rich. This is right here. The keyboard I registered for this program, it had never even like, I didn’t even have a computer never messed around with a computer, nothing. So I went in about as green as you could possibly get. And then I came out on the other side, it was right there. Y2K came out on the other side where even my, uh, instructors are having to get recertified because we’re going across that Y2K threshold and everything is being reinvented.

Mike (13:10):
So I came out the other side of Y2K with the latest, greatest certifications, 14 different certifications in the industry that almost nobody had, it was wild. Just timing thing. Timing is a big deal in life, right? So, because I was on that forefront, I ended up landing a job, uh, at a training center that was working for, uh, the air force, chase bank, big, big corporate companies. And we would train their leads, their department heads, their managers, recertify them and send them back out into their tech department at these, uh, at these companies. So, you know, I got, I got a feeling of what it was like to be a professional, you know, going from basically nothing to getting a little education, figuring out what it’s like to do your own thing. And then getting a job where you dress nice. You show up, you do something professional in air conditioning.

Mike (14:03):
You know, it was like, is this what it’s all about? I’m like, man, it’s gotta be better than that. Right. So you’re getting paid like $75,000 a year. Uh, they take child support out, which I ended up having a, a child at like 19, 20 years old. And you know, it was just, it was a little underwhelming, you know, I felt like a professional, but I didn’t feel like I was really doing anything substantial other than supporting somebody else’s company. Right. So here’s what happened, right? A real estate investor. That was part of my kind of personal community. This is Mike. Have you ever thought about buying your own house? You’ve got a great job. You’ve got a great credit. You’ve ever thought about buying your own house. I’ve always, I mean, of course I thought about it. We never owned one growing up, but I’d like to own one someday.

Mike (14:47):
He goes, well, you can do it pretty easy end. He took me out, showed me three houses. I thought, okay, I’ll take that one. So I bought this house for $62,000, but he didn’t realize it growing up. I was the most valuable source of child labor that my dad had. I could do anything with my hands. He didn’t know it. He thought I was some dude wearing a suit, teaching people how to, you know, uh, configure their networks or their programs on their computer. But what I ended up really turning into, I had worked at home Depot, um, and put, you know, the tool corral is and home Depot. It’s where they have all the tools. Right. I had one of the best of everything. People had come, they had bought it, they had returned it and then I bought it for half price. Right.

Mike (15:26):
So I stored that inventory away just as kind of a security blanket in case I ever had to do manual labor. Well, I get this house brother and I got it for 62. I sold it for one 50 to 1 54. And literally like, I just ripped it apart, put it back together and made a bunch of money, turned around and said, Hey, why am I working this job? Why don’t I do more of these houses? Like as many as I can, as fast as I can. And we ended up doing, I built a system around it. I meshed my technical background and my organizational skills and my process skills into a process that at the beginning was it was a manual process. Then it turned into a little automation, you know, a little access database. Then it turned into a website and a platform. And before I knew it, we had done a couple hundred properties and I had landed myself out in Silicon valley, San Jose to be specific. And I’m sitting there across the table from SAP and Oracle, and they’re looking at my platform trying to figure out how do we get involved? That was kind of my first big, like sit down at the table. That was my first big boy conversation where really I was kind of out of my league.

Rich (16:32):
And so you brought it all together. You brought the software training together with the house flipping that you would do when you’ve created a process, uh, that other, that, that got the attention of, of people kind of, I guess, in the, in the next, next level, people, people who use

Mike (16:47):
Well, it was, was, there was this gentleman, this older gentleman, his name was John and John actually put me in touch with two leads at SAP and Oracle. And they, he said, look, you need to go demonstrate your platform to them. We were the first web-based version of his short-sale processing engine that was integrated with net and director that would literally shove a file from the end-user to the decision-maker at the servicer or foreclosure attorney. It was, it was powerful stuff. And then we would throw a valuation at an REO market analysis through LPs ants and quality, which would say, basically, if you don’t take the short sale, you’re going to end up with this Oreo that’s worth less. So we’re actually offering you a better deal. Right. And it was, I mean, it was amazing. Um, but at the end of the day, you know, sitting across the table and getting a deal structured, like that was really something that was out of my league and the guy that got me there, it was just a relationship that I think was a fan of mine and wanted to help me move down the line.

Mike (17:48):
Right? So it comes back to relationships is who, you know, it really now we took that business rich and we took it from zero to the moon. And then we learned a very valuable business lesson. It’s called, there is competition out there. People will knock you off and they will give it away for free. And as fast as you got into business, you can go out of business. Pretty interesting people think ag got something that’s going to last. No, nothing lasts forever, nothing lasts forever. And that’s why I think the relationship side of things is so important because when you look around at say board of advisors, you see all these companies, you see all these owners, these founders and investors, and see the CEOs, the creators, the decision makers, and what people think is rich with his company or Jimmy with his company or Arie with her company. No, it’s about the person, you know why, because we’re creators, we’re founders. And w if, if that doesn’t work, we’re going to figure out the next thing that will, you know, as well as anybody you’re in the patent visit, right. You’re right there on the front. End of all the innovation.

Rich (18:49):
Yeah. And so bringing together creative people, and I guess the synergy that gets created by bringing together a bunch of people that are used to creating solutions and can help each other, not just from their unique skill sets. Cause a lot of times it’s like, what I have is what you need or what you’ve been looking for. But it’s also just out of the very nature of being creative people is that we tend to create solutions. And,

Mike (19:13):
And then that actually ended up expiring. The first thing I did is went to somebody that I really respected. I said, Hey, you know, we had a great run. We, you know, blew up a bunch of merchant accounts by selling too much, too fast. But at the end of the day, um, you know, the competition, the Walmart in the industry figured out a way to produce something similar and give it away for free. And Hey, there, there goes our entire, you know, profits that value proposition, right? So I went to another relationship and I said, look, we we’ve learned how to really build something from a business standpoint, online, who should I be talking to in the industry? They put me with Adobe, Adobe had a, had a platform called business panelist. And they put me with the founder and we actually, um, did a premium partner arrangement with them.

Mike (20:00):
And then we took that Adobe relationship and we went nationwide and then expanded into Australia with a partnership out of Australia. We did thousands of instances of online business, um, creation, implementation, uh, I mean it was, it was everything from shopping cart to, uh, customer journeys, the members through the front end, the back end. And that’s where I met all these, these entrepreneurs, CEOs and founders, the owners, you know, and over a period of time, think about this, you’re building their business. And that was at a point where people were going into business online, or they were taking their brick and mortar business and getting it online for more exposure, you know, getting them to rank on Google and Google maps and, you know, the whole thing. So it was, uh, it was interesting. Like every time you kind of really need something, there’s a relationship there that you should be able to turn to. Right. And I think that’s kind the, the essence or fabric of what you and I are doing with VA.

Rich (21:00):
Absolutely. And, uh, uh, so then let’s talk a bit about that, about like, so you went from kind of just having this big Rolodex of entrepreneurs and people that you connected with to create solutions to each other or each other. And how did you kind of formerly bring it into, um, into a group and was BA the first group like this? Did you create it or was there a predecessor?

Mike (21:23):
That’s a great question. Yeah. That’s a great question. Because a lot of these, uh, organizations or groups are really kicked off poorly run poorly, and they’re treated as quarterly events only. And, um, I actually joined one back in, I think it was 2008, 2009. It’s the only one I’ve ever joined. And I was enthusiastic about it because I, in my mind, I thought it was going to be a certain way. And it didn’t really turn out in my mind in reality, like I had assumed it was going to be in my mind. So I kind of became, um, disinterested in a mastermind style conversation because I didn’t have a great experience. Right. So I, as I was developing these relationships and over a period of time, rich, you know, when you do a build out for somebody online, there’s, they’re on your platform, there’s only so much you can do.

Mike (22:13):
You’re not going to go sell them another platform and let’s maybe they start another business, but you have a valuable relationship there that you could do more with, you just have to figure out how to do more with it. And what I was not wanting to do, I didn’t want to sell them another like tech solution or another, uh, product in that I wanted to have a higher level conversation. You know, you take a big guy in the auto industry. How did you get there? What are you looking to do? You know, there was a, there was a desire to bring something more meaningful than just the transaction to the table, but a real conversation, a real relationship. And I always had this fascination about going through my phone and my database and pulling like a net through it and kind of cultivating who are the best relationship that I’ve had over the years.

Mike (23:03):
Like that was just a kind of a back of the mind, thought that simmered in the back of my head, what would that look like? And, you know, I never really put any formal thought into, you know, what I would do with all of them, but what transpired is we did a, a build-out for a client, Jason, and he ran them and he still to this day runs a mastermind or real estate invest. And when I saw, cause we went, I mean, I was onsite working with them. Um, you know, we did all their, um, their rebrand, their physical, uh, posturing, their online presence, everything. So I got to learn the model, the mechanics of the model that he runs. And I think he runs one of the best ones even still to this day in the nation. But I, to see what that would look like if it was really well organized and he was also extremely encouraging on Mike, you should take all your best relationships and customers and clients and put them into an organization like he had built for real estate investors, but I should do it for entrepreneur.

Mike (24:02):
Right. And, you know, there was a big hesitation rich just because my previous experience was not a good one, but I saw what it could look like if operated, you know, with integrity and process and systems and, you know, designed to kind of win from the beginning, not just gonna lock together, you know, kind of by default, it was more of a, um, it was really run well. So Jason is the one that encouraged me for about a year to even take action on it. And I wasn’t even sure exactly what to do. I had that in my brain when I create, you know, I’ve got to see it, I’ve got to be clear about it. I’ve got to, you know, there’s a, there’s a formulation in the, in the mind that takes place. And then you put the action behind it. And, uh, it took me a minute to get that really solid vision of what, what are we even going to call it? What is it going to look like? How’s it going to behave? And then, um, I ended up negotiating board of advisors.com. Um, the URL, I ended up acquiring that I told Jason and he started laughing. He he’s like, I know how you operate now. He goes, it’s game on now. And, um, and it kind of was, that was like seven years ago.

Rich (25:09):
Yeah. And it’s fascinating. And like, so in essence though, too, he was asking you to go all in it’s like he was saying that like, you put all of your best stuff in this, not like, kind of try it out and hedge and maybe make like a, create an email and send it to some list and like, see what your response is. He’s like take all of your best people, the, you know, the, your best contacts and like, those are the people that you’re going to invite to it. And so that’s freaking scary to say like all in, I’m basically putting all of my eggs in this basket and if it flops, then everything flops. Right. And so, but I think that requirement is part of what made it great is that you had to put it all. You had to be all in one.

Mike (25:52):
No funny part is not only was I all in mentally, like, I, it took me a minute. I like had to figure out what is the brand. And I wanted the brand to be so relevant, but not, I didn’t want it to scream mastermind. I wanted it to scream like legitimate business advisers, lead thought leaders. Decision-makers people competent, right? Not a goofy mastermind where you show up and you slap each other on the back. But something of real value, what we ended up doing rich is from a tech side, we built out our entire platform before we even hosted the first VA meeting. They didn’t even know it was the first meeting. So we sliced down to about 60 names that we thought, quite frankly, some of them even intimidated me to pick up the phone and say, I’ve got something special for you. I want you to be there.

Mike (26:45):
I mean, it was, there was a, you know, you had to put your big boy pants on some days for some of these conversations, but I had earned their trust and I had earned their relationship. And I think they said, you know what, Mike, this sounds like it’s really important to you. I’m going to support you on this. I’m going to come out, let’s see what you got. Right. So it was, it was one of those things where yes, we were, it wasn’t, I mean, I still had other businesses investments, but this was something that I thought would make really well with what we had previously established. Right. And then it would open up new doors, not only for members, but for us as an organization. I mean, we’ve made a lot of investment into the member base with their companies and their products. And, you know, it’s just been, it’s been a really, really rewarding venture and ride. And, um, I think we’re probably doing one of the most valuable things you could ever do and that investing in people in that

Rich (27:39):
It’s amazing. And, uh, you know, I, you know, I personally love it. I mean, I’ve been in the group now for a bit less than a year. Um, been to several of the quarterly meetings that we have. And, uh, and it really shines above other groups that I’ve been in by far. And, um, you know, and one of the great things, um, beyond the quarterly meetings is the platform and the systems that you’ve created, where you actively enact people. Like it’s not okay. So if the meetings happen every few months, what happens in between there’s, you know, there’s a business that your business happening that whole time, we sole purpose is to create value for the members. So like you’re constantly connecting people together, making introductions and, um, kind of, and just serving your membership. So I just, I really applaud what you’ve done. I think it’s, it’s awesome. And, uh, I’m glad you got to talk about here today.

Mike (28:32):
Well, rich, uh, we love you, and I think you bring something extremely special to what we’re doing as well. You’re sitting in a room of innovators and owners that are always looking for, what is that next thing, and how do I protect and create my spot in those categories, right? Uh, you know, the, the relationship with you and you being able to work from patenting and trademarking standpoint, being able to protect these owners and founders and creators, even the investors that are also working with the CEOs, you know, you’re doing something really special that allows them to put the pedal down really, right? Cause sometimes like even this, this product here, you know, starting out, they had a little bit of a challenge with a competitor and they figured out how to get their trademarks and patents and everything to give them that opportunity to really go out and dominate the market without wondering, is somebody gonna just knock me off and dilute my opportunity.

Mike (29:28):
So we love what you bring to the table because you, you make these companies, but you truly do. You make them better and you protect them. And there’s a lot that it takes to be that founder have that leadership on the front end and have that innovation. But no matter how good you are at that, if you aren’t covering your CYA, cover your butt, right. Um, you know, all of that can be eroded with, uh, legal issues and competition. I mean, it just, it takes, what do they say? It takes a village, it takes a village, it takes a village. Right. And I see that, you know, we’re kind of a pretty special,

Rich (30:07):
I agree. I agree. And, uh, um, you know, I encourage people to look into board of advisors as part of their journey of growing as an entrepreneur, beyond just yourself, siloed in working out your own problems to connecting with other entrepreneurs that could help you grow something bigger and better. So, um, uh, yeah, I highly encourage people to check out the board of advisors, but in particular, Mike, if people want to learn more about, you learn more about board of advisors, how they go about doing so,

Mike (30:38):
Um, I think the best way to do that is please go to board of advisors.com poke around. Uh, the site is always being updated with new information with guys like rich here. Uh, and if you want to jump on a call with me, just go to call with mike.com. You know, we take a big stance and a lot of pride into the members that we enroll into the organization. And, you know, I actually have a personal conversation with every single one of them as they come on board just to make sure it’s the right fit with the right synergies, the right mindset. Um, the spirit of contribution to each other is really important. And, you know, I, I mean, I, I speak with some of the wildest craziest opportunities and companies, you know, just, it’s not, I think even if it’s not a membership call, it can be a voluble poll. You know, I mean, I make a lot of connections just on some of those ones that aren’t the best fit for BA, but it turns out to be a really valuable conversation for the person that we’re on the phone with. So rich, I appreciate all your time, buddy. I think we had a lot of fun. I mean, I had a lot of fun.

Rich (31:42):
Absolutely. It was a lot of fun. It’s always great talking with you mind. And, uh, and I, I appreciate you taking the time to be on this podcast today. Absolutely.

Outro (31:56):
Thanks for listening to innovations and breakthroughs with your host, rich Goldstein. Be sure to click, subscribe, check us out on the web@innovationsandbreakthroughs.com and we’ll see you next time.