How Feedback Helps Your Grow As An Entrepreneur and Business Owner: Carlos Gil

Transcript

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this is the beyond the story podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story.

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And now sebastian Carlos Gil, voice from the past.

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Welcome to the show, brother.

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Thank you so much, my friend, for having me on.

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It's been a long time coming.

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Way long time, man.

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So good to be back connected with you, man, and it's just crazy how life's twists and turns happen and gosh, it's been.

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I want to say it's a good 13 or 14 years since we first met, because it was my early days of social buzz and the bow tie and I think it was social fresh.

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I mean, I can't even remember where we originally met, because you weren't in Miami, you were a South Florida guy but you'd always been in Jacksonville.

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So but anyway, man, it's good to see you again and good to good to get reconnected here and, of course, great to have you on the show, man it's.

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It's a pleasure, brother.

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I I've always, uh, admired your energy.

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I've admired your ability to uh drop real talk.

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You've uh someone behind the scenes have been critical of my I don't want to say my work, but more so my persona at one point in my career when I was much younger and you know, in retrospect man, I really appreciate that.

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You know, when I got started in this game of social media marketing, I was 25 years old.

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It was 2008.

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So, to give you some perspective, we're in 2024 right now and I'm 40, about to be 41.

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I have a lot more grays in my beard than I did early on.

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And when I got started in this industry, man, I immediately gravitated to Gary Vee.

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I think a lot of us that have gone on to build successful businesses and personal brands in this industry we've always looked up to Gary, right, he's an OG, if you will, in this space.

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And what I really admired about Gary back then, and still do, is his ability to connect with an audience.

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Naturally, it's not necessarily a corporate persona, not necessarily the most polished of speakers, but he's real.

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And when I was 25 and I got started in social media marketing you mentioned I'm from South Florida, which I am.

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I've lived most of my adult life in Jacksonville and I started an online job board and that was my early days of tapping into social, using social media to pitch to media and produce events.

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And slowly I started developing a persona.

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And, just so you know, I'm a big pro wrestling fan Like die hard, since I was five years old, would watch WWE, or back then known as WWF, and I always kind of fell in love with the gimmicks.

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So Shawn Michaels was one of my favorite wrestlers growing up as a kid and he had this cocky heel persona, but the fans loved him.

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And when I got started in this industry, I started thinking well, everyone that I'm seeing that's famous on the internet has a personality and it's a larger than life personality, and today we call them influencers, but back then, the early days, they weren't really called influencers, they were just personalities, right, and Gary Vee was one of those.

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And as time went on, I started realizing if I want to stand out, I need to develop my own voice, my own tone, my own persona.

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And Snapchat came to the mix and when I look back at my Snapchat content circa 2013 and 14, it was cringy as hell and individuals like you.

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They and I don't want to speak for you, but I would assume looked at me as this arrogant, cocky a-hole.

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And in one hand, it was opening up doors for me from a business standpoint.

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I was getting on stages, I was teaching about Snapchat, but on the other hand, I was alienating a lot of colleagues in the industry, such as yourself.

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And where I'm going with this is that I look back over my journey that spans 15 years being on the older side now and I look back and think you know what?

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Sebastian wasn't really a bad guy.

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He was someone that was just looking out.

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And we need those kicks in the ass.

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We need those reality checks Because, as I tell my son that just graduated high school a couple days ago, who's now 18.

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Congrats, and he's thank you.

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And he's grown up seeing his dad as a business thought leader and business guru using social media to build a brand.

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As I've told him most recently, not everyone in life is going to like you or accept you.

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So, yeah, ever, and it's okay for people not to like you.

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But what I want to build on that, because I think where we're at at this stage of our lives and journeys is just because someone doesn't buy into you or like you today doesn't mean that they're ever going to like you Over time.

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Time we evolve and we change as people and I think we're all living proof of that as we get older and we're able to reflect and look back and say you know what dude, I've known you 13, 14 years.

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Yeah, you might not have been the nicest of people to me, but you meant well and I appreciate that and thank you.

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Yeah, I appreciate you too, man, and I'm glad that you know here we are full circle.

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I've had that, you know.

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I'll never forget speaking of Gary.

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I had a gig with him and when my first book came out in 2013 in Philly for um, eo, nerve and entrepreneurs organization in Philadelphia, and I went right after Gary, which is a terrible speaking spot to have and, um, especially, being wet behind the ears and green, unbeknownst to me I thought I had it all figured out, but that evening an entrepreneur organization is I don't know if you're familiar with them or not, but it's you got to be doing a million bucks a year, a couple million bucks a year.

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There's a bunch of.

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It's a business, fraternity essentially, and just an incredible organization to be part of.

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And I had the privilege of speaking there because the guy that I published my book with was a member, so that's kind of how I got in.

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So this was all sight unseen for me outside of knowing Gary.

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And that night there was a party up in the suite of the hotel, the Lowe's Hotel in downtown Philadelphia, and I went up there and it's about 1230 and there had been a dinner and all kinds of other stuff that went on that evening and you know, typical event stuff up in the suite that night and there was a bunch of people up there and one guy walks up and he's one of the speakers.

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He's an older guy and he said so, you're the guy that that they gave a talk on social media today.

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I said, yeah, yeah, well, I mean, one of them, gary, pretty much covered everything that I wanted to talk about.

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Anyway, he goes.

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You know, I got to tell you that was the worst fucking talk I've ever heard in my entire life and I'm like what in the world?

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He's like yeah, yeah, it was fucking terrible, like the worst, and I'm like so, so, so what do you mean?

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He goes.

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Don't worry about what I mean.

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I go.

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Why don't you?

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Can you explain yourself?

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He goes listen, it's 1230 at night.

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I'm a little drunk and I don't feel like fucking explaining myself.

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Okay, and I'm like okay, and I said well, I'm not one to really back down and give up.

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I really would like to know where your opinion was formed based on where it was at.

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He goes.

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I tell you what my talk's tomorrow morning nine o'clock.

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You be there After my talk, you and I have a conversation and I'll give you some feedback.

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So I went back to my room and you talk about tail between your legs, boy.

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This guy rattled my cage like you would not believe and I literally am checking flights and I'm like I got to save face and just get the fuck out of here.

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And I'm literally checking flights and I sat at the edge of the bed, had a conversation with myself that next morning and I said we got a couple choices here.

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We can put our tail between our legs and we can go home, we can put that bow tie on and we can go downstairs like a man and sit in the front row of this guy's talk and get the feedback that you so eagerly want.

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So that's exactly what I did.

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Guy's name's Jack Daly.

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Guy's a fucking legend, anyway.

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So I go down.

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Guy just murders his talk, does a breakout session.

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He's a fucking legend, anyway.

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So I go down.

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Guy just murders his talk, Does a breakout session.

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Guy's just a sales business, just legend.

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And I learned a lot.

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And we get done with his talk and he says a bunch of people lined up to talk to him, get his book, come to find out.

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We published our book with the same publisher, so it was only that common, it was like common ground already.

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So he gets done with his talk.

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He's like, hey, man, I don't have time to talk to you because, man, I got to run.

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Too many people got what's called he goes, but are you going to be in the suite at the Phillies game?

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And I said I'm broke, I'm like I can barely pay attention.

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Right, tickets are like 250 bucks.

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And I said, well, I was kidding, he, he goes.

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You need to be in that fucking suite.

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You and I will sit down.

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We'll have a beer, have a conversation then.

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And I ended up finding a credit card in my wallet that had 260 bucks on it, bought the ticket to the suite, went to the Phillies game and sat down with him and I said, and I'm like all anxious to get all the feedback from him and everything and he's like you have something that I don't have and that most people don't have.

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And I'm like what's that, jack?

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And he said stage presence.

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You just got it, kid, you just got it.

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And not everybody has it.

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Some people work for it, some people just have talent, whatever.

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And you got it, but you got to bring it down somehow to a level that's comprehensible for people, because the combination of your natural gift and you being able to get that all dialed in, you'll be unstoppable.

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That's all the advice I got from you.

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Thanks for coming to the suite, and that was it.

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Guy became an absolute incredible mentor in my life, called me six months later, asked me to be a guest speaker at his workshop in Fort Lauderdale Um and um, yeah.

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So the point of sharing that is that there's certain times in our life where we get our, we get our, our our cage rattled, um, and we don't understand why, and when it's unclear to us and it feels like an attack.

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Right, but until we go through what we need to go through, it doesn't ever make sense.

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So, yeah, I was quickly reminded of good old Jack Daly and that conversation in the suite in Philadelphia that I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever forget.

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You know what I mean.

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And to build on that.

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I love that story where I just want to build on that, and especially because we're in these times now coming out of a pandemic where there's so many virtual conferences and people now are used to doing what we're doing chatting over Zoom.

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But you cannot disregard and again I hate to sound like the old guy in the room here, but I'm telling this to my son now who's entering the real world you can't disregard the power and the value of connecting with people in person.

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You can't disregard going to conferences in person.

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There's so many conferences happening in big cities.

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Even if you don't live in a big city.

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Try to look at what's the nearest big city to where you live and whatever business conference is happening, find your way to get there.

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You can volunteer and you'll be there for free.

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The growth act that I've shared with so many people over the years is, if you want to get access to high level speakers, volunteer at a conference, volunteer at the conference, possibly in the green room or however you're able to finagle your way in you'll get access to the speakers.

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That way and by networking, by soaking up their knowledge man, look, feedback is a gift, right, that changed the trajectory of your career.

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I'm sure, like I have also very similar stories to where people said things to me that I didn't want to hear.

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At that point in time, I thought it was better than what I really was, and the reality is that it's the bad feedback, or what we perceive to be fat bad feedback, that ends up being the best feedback and completely changes not just our careers but our lives.

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Yeah, and I think it.

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You know, I I think that the core to all of that, in the only, the key to unlocking all of that, is to unfuck yourself and to heal yourself and to do the internal work on yourself that you know you need to do.

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That we all avoid far too often, and that's the problem with the world is that we go through it.

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We're, we're, we're living in a world where I'll sell you my bullshit, you sell me yours and we'll call it a deal, and I just I think that life is far too precious and far too short to just be, just to just kind of skimming along on the surface on here.

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I think that everyone has an opportunity to to to heal their past, present and future, to be able to step into a completely different version of themselves, and that allowed me.

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I'm grateful that I was, that I was introduced with the opportunity to do this back in 2016.

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And and because I did that and during that time it was still a time of not understanding you know what the fuck is actually going on.

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It was a perpetual, you know life, life is a perpetual flow of what the fuck moments, but this, this was, specifically, and people kept saying you know, sebastian, when you, when you finally step into your power, it's all going to change.

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When you fight, when you start believing it, everyone else is going to start believing it.

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And I was like I believe in it.

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But until I actually did it and did the healing and the core of it all was self-love I thought I hated everything I was doing, I hated myself.

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So when I learned how to love myself, I learned how to step into a completely different version of myself, and now I very rarely even plan for a talk because I believe that God gives me every word that I need and he puts it on my heart and whatever needs to be shared.

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From that moment, once I hit the stage and I'm you know, I there there's very few moments I'm at a loss for words.

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I mean, I'm a guy that talks for a living, so it's kind of rare here, but I think people miss that point a lot.

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And there's a big conversation around mental health these days, especially after the pandemic, but especially in entrepreneurship, because it's a lonely man's game like lonely you know Trust me.

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I got my war stories, man, and my battle scars.

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My daughter's a psychology major and she's, and she's getting her master's in mental health counseling and I thought you know there's never going to be a shortage of work for you.

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So I recently started a new gig at GetResponse as their global brand ambassador, which pretty much means you getting out there and representing the brand and doing stuff just like this to kind of tell the story about it.

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How did all that come together?

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You know.

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So, before I get into how it came together, you know you just mentioned entrepreneurship, running your own business, the mental health challenges that comes along with it.

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And look, I've worked for corporations on and off for the last gosh at this point, almost 15 years and although I've worked as an employee for different companies like LinkedIn and Winn-Dixie and others, I've also been highly entrepreneurial as well.

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It's in my DNA.

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My parents are serial entrepreneurs.

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I grew up in a household where my parents always owned businesses and I was just taught how to get shit done, which is a very valuable skill set that they're not necessarily teaching in the walls of a college campus or a high school, for that fact in the matter.

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So I've always thought of myself as being entrepreneurial, being able to get things done, being scrappy, and over the last seven years I have been a full-time entrepreneur and a lot of people see the highlights in social media.

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They see the speaking engagements.

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I've launched two books.

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I opened up a sneaker store in the last couple of years.

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Before that, I opened up a very successful e-commerce business selling face masks during the pandemic.

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Go figure, everyone sees the highlights.

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Rarely do we ever see the lowlights.

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I could literally give you five things that have gone very well in my business over the last few years.

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I could give you probably closer to a hundred things that haven't gone well, but you're never going to see a piece of content, right?

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Like you know, someone steals from your sports card shop and you have to fire them, but at the same time, while you're firing them, you have to find ways to get those cards back, because they don't belong to you.

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They belong to someone that entrusted you to get the cards sold for them.

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Right, those are just the stories that.

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I just said this to Sebastian before we came on the air here.

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Right, we need to have more real talk, conversations about real shit that happens in life, versus the success stories, because the success stories there's so many of them out there you would think that every single podcast guest is like the most successful person in the world poured in.

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No, it's a byproduct of, to your point, ate shit and things went wrong and they went south and you kind of somehow figured things out and you hung around long enough to be successful.

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So in the last couple of years, I opened up a store with my brother-in-law and business partner called the Hype Section.

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It's a sneaker resale store and a sports card shop.

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Before I get into how he started this store, you had mentioned Gary Vee.

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We were talking about sports cards before getting on air here.

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So in 2020, before the pandemic happened, before the world completely changed, I was invited to do a keynote for Upper Deck's annual dealer conference.

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Upper Deck Trading Cards right Iconic brand.

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Michael Jordan, ken Griffey, wayne Gretzky those have always been the iconic figures in the Upper Deck family of athletes.

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So I go do this conference and up until this point, 2019-ish, gary Vee's talking about trading cards exclusively on his social media.

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It's just trading cards collect this player, that player.

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So in a way, gary Vee became the catalyst for the rebirth of sports card collecting amongst older millennials and Gen Xers.

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He really became the catalyst to make us start thinking about trading cards as alternative assets.

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So I go speak at this conference and normally I fly into a conference, I'm paid to do my speaking gig.

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I fly in, I'm there overnight, I fly out, I'm on to the next right.

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This is the first time I can honestly say that I was so impressed from hearing the other speakers at the conference where I decided to just hang out for the entire conference and what really caught my attention was the money that was being made in the sports card industry from what's called live breaks.

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Live breaks is to kind of sum it up in layman's terms people buy into a slot, into a box.

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You've got hobby boxes.

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Let's say you have 32 NFL teams.

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You pay to have a random slot.

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You might be assigned the Miami Dolphins and all of the players from that box that are opened up in packs.

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You're going to get all the Miami Dolphins players.

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So at this point in history, zion Williamson was a rookie and hadn't played a single game yet.

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All of his rookie cards are white hot.

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And I sat next to a guy at a dinner at this Upper Deck conference and he's breaking down to me the millions of dollars that his store's making a month off of this concept of online breaks.

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So that put the bug in my ear of okay, there's a lot of money in sports cards.

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Gary Vee, which is someone I've grown up learning from admiring he's talking about this like this isn't a fluke.

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Covid happens, world gets shut down.

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Cards take off.

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Because now what are people doing?

00:20:20.122 --> 00:20:20.343
Right?

00:20:20.343 --> 00:20:20.984
They're indoors.

00:20:20.984 --> 00:20:23.550
They're looking at these live breaks on YouTube.

00:20:23.550 --> 00:20:26.117
There's no sports live that are happening.

00:20:26.117 --> 00:20:29.830
So the only kind of real connection to sports is trading cards.

00:20:29.830 --> 00:20:46.733
In that process, the card company I'm wearing their hoodie right now Cards and Coffee founded by Dan Fleischman, they start up to capitalize on the booming sports card industry and they start off as just an online breaking company.

00:20:46.733 --> 00:20:48.297
So that's happening.

00:20:48.438 --> 00:20:55.698
Simultaneously, my brother-in-law and I we start this company called Outlaw Masks selling fashionable face masks.

00:20:55.698 --> 00:20:58.292
The business takes off like a rocket.

00:20:58.292 --> 00:21:11.738
We use just TikTok to create videos of us giving masks to frontline workers and those videos started getting hundreds of thousands and millions of views, which then resulted in a lot of sales for our new business.

00:21:11.738 --> 00:21:15.910
That was spending zero money in marketing, but we were just creating these feel-good videos.

00:21:15.910 --> 00:21:21.451
Well, the mask business shot up like a rocket and came down really fast.

00:21:21.451 --> 00:21:29.496
It was a good six to nine months of like we're booming, baby, we're making all this money, we're hearing these cha-chings on our phones, we're really excited.

00:21:29.496 --> 00:21:31.652
And then vaccines come out.

00:21:31.652 --> 00:21:36.510
There's no more mask mandates in cities across america and there's no more outlaw masks.

00:21:36.510 --> 00:21:40.000
So again, man just keeping it 100.

00:21:40.221 --> 00:21:42.828
We saw success, but then that success died down.

00:21:42.828 --> 00:21:48.829
So my partner and I we had to have a come to jesus meeting and think through like, well, what do we do next?

00:21:48.829 --> 00:21:52.801
Right, like he comes from car business, he's an ex-professional athlete.

00:21:52.801 --> 00:21:55.390
He's assessing what his next steps are.

00:21:55.390 --> 00:21:59.823
I'm assessing maybe I get a job in marketing at a company.

00:21:59.823 --> 00:22:01.326
The reality is, this is 2021.

00:22:01.326 --> 00:22:02.410
No one's really hiring.

00:22:03.010 --> 00:22:09.806
So we decided to take a trip to Atlanta for NBA All-Star weekend.

00:22:09.806 --> 00:22:20.705
For no other reason than my son, who at the time is a freshman in high school, was into trading cards and he wanted to go to Atlanta for his birthday for NBA All-Star Weekend.

00:22:20.705 --> 00:22:27.479
So in going to Atlanta, we stumbled upon a sneaker store that has a card shop within it.

00:22:27.479 --> 00:22:38.291
And as soon as we saw a sneaker store that had a card shop, we said to ourselves all right, which is outside of Jacksonville and St Augustine.

00:22:38.291 --> 00:23:01.519
So we're like a hybrid kind of small little city that's sandwiched between St Augustine and Jacksonville.

00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:09.313
To give you some context, st John's County is the most affluent county in the whole state of Florida, the best public schools in the whole state of Florida.

00:23:09.313 --> 00:23:17.634
So we're here in this county where there's a lot of development, new construction, people are moving in from all over the country.

00:23:17.634 --> 00:23:22.652
There's a lot of money just to throw it out there, a lot of money in St John's County.

00:23:23.125 --> 00:23:28.511
So our whole drive back from Atlanta was how do we replicate what these guys in Atlanta are doing in our backyard?

00:23:28.511 --> 00:23:32.433
And at that point that's where the light bulb went off of.

00:23:32.433 --> 00:23:36.367
Let's do a sneaker and sports card shop.

00:23:36.367 --> 00:23:40.115
Let's combine both of these subcultures of the collectible community.

00:23:40.115 --> 00:23:48.118
Let's do a store that caters to an affluent, younger audience in a family-oriented county, which is St John's.

00:23:48.118 --> 00:23:52.950
So we signed a lease and then we're off to the races to build this business.

00:23:52.970 --> 00:23:59.317
And where I'm going with this is, when you start up a business, having strategic partners is key.

00:23:59.317 --> 00:24:03.300
Whether you want to call them investors, partners, having partners is key.

00:24:03.300 --> 00:24:17.297
With Dan Fleischman at this point went from being just an online-based business with Cards Coffee to now having multiple brick-and-mortar stores.

00:24:17.297 --> 00:24:21.089
We let Dan know hey, we're opening up this store outside of Jacksonville, do you want to partner?

00:24:21.089 --> 00:24:26.730
And we came together and we opened up a co-branded hype section Cards Coffee store.

00:24:26.730 --> 00:24:29.675
We're about two years into the business.

00:24:30.196 --> 00:24:32.851
Things have gone predominantly well.

00:24:32.851 --> 00:24:40.027
But for anyone that's ever ran a brick and mortar business before, there's a lot of money that comes in and there's a lot of money that goes out.

00:24:40.027 --> 00:24:42.194
There's a lot of overhead expenses that have to be covered.

00:24:42.194 --> 00:24:49.813
So again, kind of going back to the real talk of running a business and the highs and lows of it when you are in business for yourself, you're the last person to get paid.

00:24:49.813 --> 00:24:55.048
Yeah, if you have a bad month, then you have a bad month.

00:24:55.048 --> 00:24:58.847
You still got to pay your rent, you got to pay your employees, you got to keep the lights on, you got to pay your suppliers.

00:24:59.429 --> 00:25:27.657
So right around I'd say, the midway point of last year, I started thinking, you know what, maybe it's time for me to go back into corporate and I take on a job that is going to provide me more stability and security than just running my sneaker store, because I'm not able, the sneaker store can't afford me and I'm not able to take from the sneaker store to pay myself what I'm worth.

00:25:27.657 --> 00:25:31.412
Sneaker store can run itself without me in it every single day.

00:25:31.412 --> 00:25:33.778
And I started applying for jobs.

00:25:33.778 --> 00:25:54.568
I was very transparent about my job search, but what I discovered very early on is that when you've been in the game of personal brand content creating you're this world-renowned speaker and author you kind of box yourself in in terms of the type of opportunities that you're going to receive at a corporate level A lot of corporations.

00:25:54.568 --> 00:25:56.653
They want people to work in marketing.

00:25:56.653 --> 00:26:02.886
They're going to press buttons and take orders and they're not going to be out on the road speaking at conferences doing podcasts like we're doing here.

00:26:02.886 --> 00:26:04.290
That's just a reality.

00:26:04.290 --> 00:26:14.385
So as soon as I started putting applications in and started getting called by different recruiters, I realized early on, like shit, maybe I've kind of outworked myself of a job.

00:26:15.207 --> 00:26:32.394
And earlier this year on LinkedIn, the role that I ended up getting hired for with GetResponse, which is a 25-year-old email marketing service provider, they posted that they were looking for a US-based brand evangelist role, which essentially's a brand ambassador.

00:26:32.394 --> 00:26:40.689
You're on podcasts, you're on the stage, you're representing the brand, you're a marketing thought leader, but all representing the brand.

00:26:40.689 --> 00:26:44.096
So a LinkedIn connection tagged me in a post.

00:26:44.096 --> 00:26:45.768
He knew I was looking for work.

00:26:45.768 --> 00:26:52.130
Ironically, this LinkedIn connection worked for a company that I met social media marketing world like seven years ago.

00:26:52.691 --> 00:26:56.239
So again, the power of going to conferences and networking and meeting people.

00:26:56.239 --> 00:26:59.394
And he introduced me to this company.

00:26:59.394 --> 00:27:01.402
I know nothing about the company.

00:27:01.402 --> 00:27:03.828
I've never worked remote for a company that's based in Europe.

00:27:03.828 --> 00:27:07.489
They're headquartered in Poland and this is January this year.

00:27:07.489 --> 00:27:17.622
We're now sitting in almost June and I just started in this position within the last couple of months, where I'm their US brand evangelist, responsible for strategic partnerships.

00:27:17.622 --> 00:27:36.410
That includes partnerships with creators and influencers and business thought leaders like yourself, sebastian, and what I will say, man, is that had I not invested the last 15 years of my life to being a personal brand and marketing thought leader, I would not be sitting in the seat that I'm in right now today.

00:27:36.691 --> 00:27:50.904
Yeah, Well, I mean, it just goes to show that you know there's a fine line between being smart and and just full-blown, you know stupidity, knowing that, yeah, I am an entrepreneur at heart and, yes, I am a business owner.

00:27:50.904 --> 00:27:56.798
But I also know my worth and I also know what's possible with what the eggs that are in my basket right now.

00:27:56.798 --> 00:27:59.588
And also not too proud.

00:27:59.588 --> 00:28:05.460
I mean, I'm unemployable, like it is impossible to get me to go get a job.

00:28:05.460 --> 00:28:06.528
I will not last.

00:28:06.528 --> 00:28:08.093
It's just I'm not good at it.

00:28:08.093 --> 00:28:09.215
I haven't had a job in 22 years.

00:28:09.215 --> 00:28:15.349
Some people are good at being an entrepreneur and having a job too.

00:28:15.349 --> 00:28:21.809
So, you know, congrats to you for being able to balance those two, cause I sure as hell can't do it, you know.

00:28:21.809 --> 00:28:25.336
But you can tell that you found a role that works for you.

00:28:25.336 --> 00:28:32.897
To home-based uh requires your existing expertise and the stuff you've already been doing on there.

00:28:32.897 --> 00:28:34.268
So I love that man, I love that.

00:28:34.268 --> 00:28:36.334
So the card business is still rocking and rolling.

00:28:36.334 --> 00:28:39.748
I mean well, rocking, yes, rolling, yes.

00:28:42.633 --> 00:28:44.978
The card business, aka the hype section.

00:28:44.978 --> 00:28:46.345
Yeah, it's still thriving, man.

00:28:46.345 --> 00:28:54.980
We're actually in discussions with a couple of strategic partners about expanding the business into some new markets.

00:28:54.980 --> 00:28:58.310
So I don't want to reveal too much yet, but more to come.

00:28:58.845 --> 00:29:11.148
But what I've realized in this last, in this last just couple of years, man, is that for a business to work, you don't necessarily need to be in the business every day to still work on the business.

00:29:11.148 --> 00:29:29.448
Right, you get to a point where, operationally, you create all the piping, you do the marketing, you do the PR, you get things rolling and then you move on to the next, and that doesn't diminish your expertise, your credibility as an entrepreneur, but it's working smarter, not harder.

00:29:29.448 --> 00:29:44.289
Man, again, when you're used to making a certain amount of income and your business is going to depend on that income going towards covering other expenses, well then you got to make a hard decision.

00:29:44.289 --> 00:29:49.568
Right, and to your point, I thought the same thing that I was unemployable.

00:29:49.568 --> 00:29:53.907
And when I was going through this interview process with GetResponse, I let them know.

00:29:53.907 --> 00:29:57.788
Look, in order for this relationship to really work, the key here is autonomy.

00:29:57.788 --> 00:30:00.635
I need to be able to have the autonomy to still be Carlos Gil.

00:30:00.635 --> 00:30:11.528
Yeah, and if anything, I'm Carlos Gil representing GetResponse, and there is a merger of brands, but I'm still me.

00:30:11.769 --> 00:30:18.757
Yeah, whereas other companies that I was interviewing for for like your traditional head of social media role, to your point, they wanted me to relocate.

00:30:18.757 --> 00:30:23.826
Well, at this point, I'm not going to relocate my family across the country or outside of where we live.

00:30:23.826 --> 00:30:29.767
Stability is something that has become very important for my family and I the actual autonomy of the role.

00:30:29.767 --> 00:30:33.616
I'm still an author and speaker and marketing thought leader.

00:30:33.616 --> 00:30:40.758
So if I can't do the things that I love within the confines of your organization, then I'm not going to be able to be successful for your organization.

00:30:40.758 --> 00:30:50.631
So for anyone out there that's kind of been out of the game, look, this is the first job that I take in seven years and you're never too old to be unhirable.

00:30:50.631 --> 00:31:02.387
I'm sure right now, sebastian, there's a company that would bring you on board because you know a lot more than the average marketer that's getting paid a salary just to click a couple of buttons.

00:31:02.709 --> 00:31:05.073
Yeah, yeah, oh, it's again.

00:31:05.073 --> 00:31:05.933
I get I never.

00:31:05.933 --> 00:31:07.877
I I'm always open, but again I just haven't.

00:31:07.877 --> 00:31:15.449
You know, thank, thank God, the business has continued to grow in the world of podcasting.

00:31:15.449 --> 00:31:19.538
It's not slowing down, at least to my you know predictions at the moment on here.

00:31:19.538 --> 00:31:20.665
So I kind of found my.

00:31:20.665 --> 00:31:23.554
So it started with social media and then I got you like you.

00:31:23.554 --> 00:31:25.167
I was like man, there's got to be more here.

00:31:25.167 --> 00:31:33.593
And you know, somebody called me in 2016 when I kind of went through my whole you know unfucking phase and said, can you help me start a podcast?

00:31:33.593 --> 00:31:35.236
And I was like, actually I can.

00:31:35.236 --> 00:31:37.906
Like how do you figure out how to leave an industry but still stay in it?

00:31:37.906 --> 00:31:39.049
Like what an oxymoron.

00:31:39.049 --> 00:31:44.307
But the world of podcasting, uh, showed up and, oddly enough, I grew up in a radio station.

00:31:44.307 --> 00:31:47.672
Uh, who would have thought I would have ended up being a podcaster, you know.

00:31:49.213 --> 00:31:52.759
Well dude, I casting is a new radio yeah, it sure is, man, I say that all the time.

00:31:52.759 --> 00:31:53.240
Sure is.

00:31:53.240 --> 00:31:58.342
Well, dude, I got to get up in uh and uh get up north a little bit and check out your store.

00:31:58.342 --> 00:32:01.977
I see you posting pics from it as well too, and I happen to be good to catch up with you too.

00:32:01.977 --> 00:32:05.611
I were not right up, right up 95, just a few hours there.

00:32:05.611 --> 00:32:17.376
I was up there in august for a retreat in a in a similar area right where you were talking about in between, about an hour from Jacksonville, north of St Augustine, close to the beach.

00:32:17.376 --> 00:32:18.178
It was a beach town.

00:32:18.178 --> 00:32:20.507
I forget what the name of it is, it's hard to pronounce.

00:32:20.507 --> 00:32:24.433
There it is, there it is, yeah.

00:32:24.534 --> 00:32:24.974
Beautiful.

00:32:24.974 --> 00:32:29.652
Next time you're here, you've got to hit me up, man, I totally will.

00:32:29.652 --> 00:32:31.016
I got a car car.

00:32:31.016 --> 00:32:33.505
I got a buddy bourbon yeah, let's definitely do that.

00:32:33.605 --> 00:32:40.752
I got, um, um, I got a buddy from high school that's lived there forever in a day and another buddy of mine, uh, that lives in the area too.

00:32:40.752 --> 00:32:44.185
So, yeah, I'm that will definitely be intentional on on making that happen.

00:32:44.185 --> 00:32:48.057
But, dude man, it's so great to see you again and I appreciate you coming on the show.

00:32:48.057 --> 00:32:50.269
It's been so good to uh to reconnect over.

00:32:50.269 --> 00:32:51.369
This is why do what I do?

00:32:51.369 --> 00:32:56.819
You get the opportunity to reconnect with new and old faces, you know, through the power of podcasting on here.

00:32:56.819 --> 00:32:58.471
Any final thoughts for our listeners.

00:33:01.205 --> 00:33:03.992
You know what for anyone's listening to this right now.

00:33:03.992 --> 00:33:08.394
First of all, if you're ever in Jacksonville, florida or nearby, make sure that you hit me up.

00:33:08.394 --> 00:33:13.173
Let's connect on LinkedIn, follow me on Instagram and on all the socials.

00:33:13.173 --> 00:33:15.228
You can find me at CarlosGil83.

00:33:15.228 --> 00:33:19.698
Look, it's a full circle moment to come on this podcast with you, sebastian.

00:33:19.698 --> 00:33:24.356
We've talked a little bit about the journey, getting some harsh advice.

00:33:24.356 --> 00:33:27.631
I just want to go back to what I said before.

00:33:28.113 --> 00:33:32.107
Whenever you receive feedback, think of feedback as a gift.

00:33:32.107 --> 00:33:36.065
Whether it's good feedback, whether it's bad feedback, Feedback is feedback.

00:33:36.065 --> 00:33:46.717
The only way that we get better over time is by listening to what people have to say and by taking that not necessarily to heart, but taking it as constructive feedback.

00:33:46.717 --> 00:34:02.957
I'm someone that has been wildly successful throughout the years in his career as a speaker and marketer, but at the same time, there's also individuals that naturally, I have alienated throughout the years as well or not kept in touch with, or better in touch.

00:34:02.957 --> 00:34:09.474
So when I sit back and do a reflection of my own journey, I think how many more opportunities could I have unlocked?

00:34:09.474 --> 00:34:16.170
How many doors were closed on me that I didn't even know because I didn't take people's feedback into account.

00:34:16.170 --> 00:34:20.608
So if there's anything I have to say I have to say just wrap a bow on it's just.

00:34:20.608 --> 00:34:23.275
Feedback is a gift, good, bad or indifferent.

00:34:23.275 --> 00:34:26.490
Take it, use it and keep moving forward.

00:34:27.052 --> 00:34:27.835
Amazing final thoughts.

00:34:27.835 --> 00:34:28.726
Love you, brother.

00:34:28.726 --> 00:34:29.628
Great to see you again.

00:34:29.628 --> 00:34:30.550
I appreciate your time.

00:34:30.550 --> 00:34:31.333
Thank you, bro.

00:34:31.333 --> 00:34:32.215
Until next time.

00:34:32.215 --> 00:34:37.875
Friends, Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story podcast.

00:34:37.875 --> 00:34:39.307
We sure do appreciate it.

00:34:39.307 --> 00:34:41.755
If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show.

00:34:41.755 --> 00:34:44.612
This way, you'll get updates as new episodes become available.

00:34:44.612 --> 00:34:47.648
If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review.

00:34:47.648 --> 00:34:49.112
We sure do appreciate it.

00:34:49.112 --> 00:34:55.286
Signing off from the podcast LaunchLabcom studios.

00:34:55.286 --> 00:34:56.829
We'll talk to you next time.

How Feedback Helps Your Grow As An Entrepreneur and Business Owner: Carlos Gil - Keynote Speaker & Marketing Expert

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