David:

[0:00] Well, welcome, my friends, to the Redeeming Business Today podcast. I'm glad you are here because today I have a special guest with me to talk about something all of us will face at some time in our life, getting back up and keeping going after we have been knocked down. So please welcome, Richard Kaufman, to our show. Richard is known both as the comeback coach and the host of one of the top podcasts today, Vertical Momentum Resiliency. Richard is all about helping people get back up and keep going when they don't feel like it. Welcome, Richard.

Richard:

[0:29] Thank you. Thank you for having me on your amazing show. I'm so excited. I'm very humbled and grateful just to be able to be here. So, thank you.

David:

[0:37] Yep. Well, glad to have you. Glad to have you. So, to just get started, it's always nice to see the history of people. So, could you give us a brief history of your life? Not all your life, but basically, how did you become known as the comeback coach? And why is being resilient and coming back such a strong theme in your life?

Richard:

[0:57] Well, to get started, the comeback coach was actually a name given to me by Gary Vaynerchuk, also known as Gary V. And the reason why he gave me that is because I've come back from drug addiction, alcoholism, homelessness, PTSD, blindness. I'm a ninth-grade dropout. I got thrown out of the military and then got back in, almost got thrown out again. Turned my life around got hurt on duty lost 80 of my vision and then had to just re-evaluate my life and I started a podcast and it was all about helping people you know that are struggling in life or business because we all struggle especially after covid you know a lot of people went out of business or had to change businesses so that's my it's my passion is helping people say okay I’m struggling here whether it's in life or business how do we get from here to there, and for me I didn't know how to get to here from here to there so I started interviewing people that got from here to there really okay and that's why everybody I have on my show.

Richard:

[2:18] The first question I ask them is, what is your definition of resiliency? And they go to their backstory and tell how they came from, from where they came from, from darkness to despair. But now they're successful. But what got them there? And that's why the whole podcast is about resiliency. Because like we talked about on the phone the other day, we're all struggling with the same thing, whether you're the janitor or the CEO. We're all struggling with the same issue. It's just maybe bigger, but we're still struggling with issues. So that's my goal is just to let people know that it's okay not to be okay, and you'll get through it.

David:

[3:01] Yep. That's an interesting take on life. It's like, I don't know how to do it, so I'm going to go find somebody who's done it and then just start interviewing them and learn from them. That's a good idea. Very good.

Richard:

[3:12] Well, you know, because success leaves clues. And if you want to learn something, like my wife makes fun of me all the time. One of my favorite sayings is, I don't know what I don't know. So let me find somebody that does know and ask them. And that's why I've had people. I can't afford to sit in front of Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lecter or David Meltzer or John Lee Dumas. I can't afford to sit in front of them for three hours. And ask questions. But I can have my call on my show, and I can ask him as many questions as I want, as long as I want because I have a platform. So that's just the way I've got my information was interviewing people that have been through the crap.

David:

[4:02] Very good. So, of the people that you have coached and met, what percentage of the people are stuck and not able to bounce back versus the people who are bouncing back?

Richard:

[4:17] So far, I've helped anywhere between my videos, my courses, my podcast, anywhere between. I mean my podcast has almost three million downloads but I’ve helped probably anywhere between 10,000 to 100,000 people but it's the three that I couldn't help that haunt me, and they were they were all a suicide so those three so the three are the ones that keep me going to help every you know to help other people so it was the three that I couldn't help that really keep me going and getting at it every single day.

David:

[5:01] Okay. Make sure there's no more of them.

Richard:

[5:04] That's my goal, yeah.

David:

[5:05] Yeah, yeah. Have you found a common theme when people are knocked down and they need help getting back up? Have you found a common theme where people are struggling to get back up and get going?

Richard:

[5:18] Yeah, they try to do it on their own. And I tell everybody, you know, a lone wolf doesn't get fed and it doesn't get protected. So, you know, we are pack people. We have the pack mentality. And sometimes you just have to say, hey, I need help. I'm struggling. Like tomorrow I had something on my schedule. I had to rearrange my schedule because I'm going to go see my therapist tomorrow.

Richard:

[5:49] So even you know you may be a top-selling author great podcaster we're still struggling with stuff so even me honestly hey I need help I’m gonna go talk to my doctor tomorrow so it's okay to be not to be okay you know.

David:

[6:04] Very true. And I know I'm, I'm a recovering perfectionist. You know, I've always tried to be perfect and everything. And I remember as a kid getting upset because my new shoes got a scuff on them. And like, looking back, it's like, that was insignificant with life. But it's interesting. I, at first, growing up, people were like, oh, y'all need accountability. And I'm like, I don't need accountability. I'm good. But as I got into business and things started to get harder, it was like, oh, I do need accountability. I do need somebody else beside me to help me out. And I know everybody's level of that is different. And I found that I reached my point just like everybody else reached their point. And yes, working together, accountability is great that way.

Richard:

[6:50] I think that's why you also, you know, the power of the five. You are the average of the five people that you associate with the most so mentorship is so important like John Lee Dumas the number one entrepreneur podcaster in the world entrepreneurs on fire actually wrote the whole back cover of my book and he's my mentor and I hired him to teach me so I think sometimes if you want to level up I think you have to find mentors that are going to help you level up whether I have a I have a mentor for spirituality I have a mentor for my physical for my financial I have a business coach so I think if you want to level up in your life you have to go to the people that have what you want and sometimes you might have to hire them and pay and pay to get that mentorship but you need even you know even the greatest football players like you know or even basketball players like Mr. Larry Bird I think we talked about Larry loved to be coached. And I think the greatest, most successful people love to be coached. And if you don't have a coach and you're coaching yourself, then you have a bad coach.

David:

[8:04] Yes, I agree. And coaches are essential, you know, because they keep you going in times where you want to slack off. And then they also bring new insights into your life, and they can see from the outside. I found that very valuable with my wife and she sees a lot of things in me that I didn't see. And so, she's helped me over the years become a better person because she's outside looking in.

Richard:

[8:28] Sometimes if you ever want to learn something coach somebody else on that like read a book learn that thing okay coach and teach somebody else so you're going to learn a lot more just by coaching somebody else and I think that's why coaches are a little bit smarter because they know well hey if I gotta teach this course I need to know it inside out because I know I’m going to get peppered with questions so I think you know even somebody might want to think about coaching one day you know yep.

David:

[9:01] That's absolutely right I found that true too and all the teachings I’ve done is because you end up getting a hundred like if you're getting a hundred pieces of information you only have time to give 50 so you have all this extra stuff that you study to give but very good so when we look at business owners and this comeback muscle are they trying to do it alone or is there other things in their life holding them back

Richard:

[9:31] Well a lot of them they don't realize what made them successful in the first place, and we talked about that on the pre-show um you know like if you're if you're a successful entrepreneur you got there for some somehow you got there but sometimes you get that shiny object syndrome and you're looking at all these other businesses and you're the one business that got you successful you're not putting as much time or effort into it's kind of like being married it's kind of you know I had lunch with TD Jakes once and he said you know what you know if you don't if you date your wife another man will so even in business if you don't take care of your second wife, which is your business, it's probably going to fail because you were looking at other women or other business sometimes both so I think that's the main thing is when I talked to Dean Graziosi something you know he taught me about the seven whys you know once you figure out why you became successful and why you're not successful now then you'll figure out how to.

Richard:

[10:43] Turn courses but sometimes you just have to have that that person and say well you know you want to be successful why then you take it down another level then you go seven levels deep once you get to the seventh level you're going to hit your real why and then you might and then you can get back on track because then you know exactly what you're doing this for you know.

David:

[11:05] So that reminds you of purpose. When you're doing that seven whys, are you trying to get down to the root purpose of why you're in business? Is that the idea?

Richard:

[11:14] Yeah, because nobody just starts. I mean, even if somebody says, well, I'm starting a business, I want to make money. Why do you want to make money? Oh, I want to buy a nice house. Why do you want to buy a nice house? well you know I have a new a new bride and I want to have her living in a nice house, so you want to make your keep your wife happy. Why but then it just keeps going down and then you're like you get tired of the why but then you get down to the real nitty-gritty and like okay this is why I started it and you know 10 years later I’m a successful but you forgot why you did it you forgot why you started the grind, it's just kind of getting back to basics you know it's kind of like I’m in recovery 35 years and sometimes I go to a meeting and hey just like all right this is where it all started I can I can go back in a minute you know as long as I can get back to basic and saying hey I can't drink, I don't drink that's the basics and I think a lot of business owners we forget where we come from.

David:

[12:19] That makes sense it makes sense and a lot of times I think I’ve seen where people get sidetracked and busy like the new shiny object syndrome or they forget because it's become stressful and busy and everything else and they wanted it to have a little freedom and one thing I’ve seen is people don't like their boss so they want to be their own boss and then they make themselves do things they don't want to do it's like why do you want to do that to yourself

Richard:

[12:48] Well you know they say that an entrepreneur is somebody that's willing to work at 18 hours a week so he doesn't have to work 40 hours a week for somebody else, but you know that's funny but I tell everybody you know being an entrepreneur is not for everybody because everybody wants to be an entrepreneur until you have to do entrepreneur stuff.

Richard:

[13:15] Until you're sitting there with an accountant trying to get your corporation set up and you're worrying about taxes and you're worrying about all. Nobody sees that. They just see the cruise ships. They see the boats. They see the cars. They don't see you up late at night pulling your hair out because you have bills the next day and there's no money in the account. Entrepreneurship is not for everybody. You can be an entrepreneur and a lot of people became millionaires and billionaires by being an entrepreneur and not an entrepreneur.

David:

[13:47] Can you explain to our audience the difference between being an entrepreneur and not being entrepreneur is.

Richard:

[13:54] Well like my wife she works for a company that does hips and knees and joints and she's been there 30 years, and she has millions in her 401k because she's been here 30 years. She's invested in the company. She's spending time in the company. So, she can walk away and retire. So, you know, it's kind of like when you're an entrepreneur, I mean, you're working for a company, but you're really self-employed. You're like, well, if I make this company better, I can make more money. I can buy more stock. I can buy more, get more money into my 401k. So, you're an entrepreneur, but you're just working inside somebody else's business. And then you make yourself more valuable. If you're creating more money for the company and you're getting bigger bonuses and you're getting a 401k and you're buying stock and the CEO is looking at you like, wait a minute, you're making me money. So why don't we give you a little bit of a bonus at the end of the year? So, you know, there's a lot of different ways to become wealthy in this country, and it doesn't have to be through entrepreneurship.

David:

[15:04] Very good. Very good. Well, one of the questions I like to ask all my guests is when we look at business, I believe that business and God go hand in hand in our relationship with God is very important. And I like to ask them, how has God made an impact on your business in running it or operating it or in your life?

Richard:

[15:26] Well, like I tell everybody that knows me, my priorities in life are God, family and friends, business. Other than that, if you ask me to do something, I'm probably going to say no because I don't have the bandwidth. But if I make God the CEO of my business, I can't fail. And if it goes against you know if it goes against my beliefs or it goes against what he's telling me then I’m not going to be successful anyway I’m going to lose it all you know because like we talked about earlier you know what sense of it even the bible says it what good is it to gain the world but lose your soul well what good is it to have the house the boats the cars the pianos the guitars and you're sitting at the kitchen table eating alone.

Richard:

[16:21] So if you put God first for me if I put God first I'm going to have all the blessings because I'm doing the right things and I'm in the moment and I know that if I'm home I'm down in my office and I'm talking to you, that means I'm not out doing stupid stuff, I don't have to worry about losing my car losing my house losing the future boats I don't have to worry about any of that if I'm doing the right thing at the moment And I think you win, like James Clear wrote in his book, Atomic Habits, you win in life, not by the years or the months, but by the moment. So if you're doing the right things at the moment and you're being present at the moment, you can't lose. There's no way to lose.

David:

[17:11] Yep. And that's why I've been learning, too, about being joyful in the journey, not just waiting to be joyful at the end, at the destination, because life is the journey. We don't end at the destination too often because we keep pushing it back.

Richard:

[17:28] Yeah. And, you know, unfortunately, unfortunately, you know, all we have is this moment, we're talking right now. I'm not guaranteed tomorrow so if I’m in the moment I’m not thinking about what I got to do this tomorrow I got to do this next week I’m putting all my attention on you and same thing with my wife you know certain times of the day my phone goes in the other room I shut it off it goes in it goes in a draw I don't turn it on another 12 hours I mean tonight I got to work late because had something to do but I think that if you're living your life on purpose and with intention, you can't lose if you're doing the right thing yes.

David:

[18:13] Absolutely well our time is drawing to a close but hey what is next for you do you got anything in the future that you're looking forward to

Richard:

[18:21] Yeah my new book dropped is called Mastering Purpose Power and Profit my new book about podcasting how to start a you know a podcast and how we've got over three million downloads, and how I’m going on a cruise again in July and November I’m going to be in the middle of the ocean for eight days with no internet and when I come back there's going to be money in my bank again so I teach you how to make money doing exactly what we're doing and be able to live the life that you want you know without having to have limits and I also I put a lot of biblical principles into it so if you're doing the right thing you don't have to worry about losing good.

David:

[19:09] And when is that book coming out?

Richard:

[19:10] It's out now it's all it's on amazon right now. Yeah, it's out right now it’s hit number one on amazon and the prices are going up. October 1st right now the eBook is two bucks two dollars for my eBook and the best thing about the eBook everything is clickable if you buy the eBook at breakfast you can have a podcast by dinner, because everything is clickable and I teach you how to do everything it's 43 pages it's just no fluff no bs here do this this this and you'll be and you'll be a you'll be a podcaster now I have the physical copy I also have autographed copy and I also do coaching where I actually take a person take them from thought all the way to profit in 12 weeks.

David:

[20:04] Very neat. That sounds cool.

Richard:

[20:07] Yeah. And if they want to hire me, they can do that. And it's actually working with me for 12 hours, one-on-one. Sometimes it goes up to 20 hours, just one-on-one, getting your podcast out there. And then what I do, I throw it in because for my students, I actually run Facebook ads for your podcast, for you. That's included in price.

David:

[20:34] Okay cool so how can my audience learn more about you or get in contact with you about this book and getting to work with you?

Richard:

[20:43] Well Gary V. started this whole thing with me and he told me you know if you if you're on the seventh page of google nobody's going to find you so I decided okay how about we're on the first eight pages of google so if you google vertical the momentum podcast we are on the first eight to ten pages of google and it's all me I have one assistant but if you direct message me it's always going to be me it's not going to be anybody else and I want to offer your listeners something if any of your listeners want to talk about podcasting or resilience we'll hop on a zoom call for an hour no charge nothing just let them know that you're your friend and I’ll hop on a call with them and try to help them out any way I can no strings that's hashed whatsoever okay.

David:

[21:38] That's very good, very generous of you well Richard it's been great.

Richard:

[21:42] Having you forward brother I’m just trying to pay it forward.

David:

[21:46] Yeah yep that's great it's great to have you and I’m looking forward to reading your book sometime and I read a lot of books but thanks for coming.

Richard:

[21:54] Thank you so much for having me and guys if you're watching Just make sure that you leave a written review for this show. I love this show. Make sure you leave a written review because each written review is worth 10-star reviews. So, make sure you leave a written review for this gentleman in this show.

David:

[22:13] All right. Thank you very much, Richard, for that encouragement. Well, there you have it. Our conversation with Richard Kaufman, the comeback coach and host of the Vertical Momentum podcast. One of the things I have taken away from this interview is that we all need resilience in life to keep moving forward. Being resilient to the trials of this life are made easier with the support and accountability of others. Whether you are coming out of a crisis, hard time, or just want to up your game in your marriage or health, we don't know what we don't know. And mentors and coaches help us understand our blind spots and get better. I trust you were encouraged by today's episode like I was to keep on keeping on no matter what life throws at you and be resilient. And remember, life has limits. You can't do everything. Choose wisely.