Wealthy AF Podcast

Unleashing Entrepreneurial Success (w/ Franco Lofranco)

• Martin Perdomo "The Elite Strategist" • Season 3 • Episode 478

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Ever wondered how a pioneering entrepreneur like Franco Lofranco views the fast-paced world of modern business? On Wealthy AF, we sit down with Franco, co-founder of one of Canada's first high-speed internet companies, to uncover the secrets behind his success. From the early days of the internet when many saw it as a passing trend, Franco offers a compelling narrative on vision, market awareness, and adaptability. Join us as we discuss the parallels between past and present entrepreneurial landscapes, and explore how today's rapid technological advancements have transformed the stakes.

Confidence and self-belief are non-negotiable in the entrepreneurial journey, and Franco's personal experiences in real estate development bring this to light. Reflecting on the lessons from Napoleon Hill's "Outwitting the Devil," we discuss how to silence doubt and criticism to stay on your path. Learn how the distinction between being and doing can lead to powerful outcomes, and discover resourcefulness as a key trait for overcoming challenges. Franco’s insights into building a positive team environment and cultivating essential habits like relentless execution offer actionable advice for entrepreneurs at any stage.

Social media isn't just for selfies and memes—it’s a powerhouse for business growth when used strategically. Franco shares insights from his book "Vortex," detailing how platforms like TikTok and Instagram can be leveraged for competitive analysis and marketplace research. We also discuss the importance of choosing the right mentors and the benefits of masterminding, even with competitors, to elevate your industry. Tune in for valuable nuggets on maintaining resilience, avoiding distractions, and achieving impactful results in today’s entrepreneurial landscape.

CONNECT WITH FRANCO!
https://www.instagram.com/cavfranco_official/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cavfranco

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Speaker 1:

This is Wealthy AF, your ultimate guide to understand what it truly means to be Wealthy AF. And today's guest is Franco Lofranco. And. Franco is a seasoned entrepreneur with over two decades of experience. Franco has built multiple successful businesses from the ground up. His journey began early and by his mid-20s he was already co-founding one of Canada's first high-speed internet companies. Recognized for his entrepreneurial prowess, he was honored with the prestigious title of Cavalier by the Italian government. Franco is passionate about sharing his knowledge and helping others achieve financial freedom through strategic investments in industries like healthcare, energy and telecom. And today Franco and I will be talking about the mindset of the modern entrepreneur. Franco, sir, welcome to the podcast. My pleasure to have you here, brother.

Speaker 2:

Honored to be on here. I love talking to entrepreneurs. It's the funnest thing I get to do is talk to other entrepreneurs. The best thing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, man, me too. For me too, I love to talk about mindset. I love to talk about business, ideas and just family. These are all my favorite topics. So, franco, you've been in business for a long time. I mean we talked about in your intro here we mentioned you one of the co-founders of Canada's first high speed Internet companies. That's an amazing accomplishment. What does it truly mean to be an entrepreneur in today's world, compared to previous generations?

Speaker 2:

Oh, what a question. To start right away, being an entrepreneur is being an entrepreneur mindset. The thinking has always been the same, which is accountability, responsibility, clarity, execution, all those things. But today, responsibility, clarity, execution, all those things but today things are moving so much faster than they were back then that today you have less room for error than you used to have. So back, maybe two decades ago, you could have made a few mistakes, but it's okay. Not everybody else wouldn't have passed you while you're making your mistakes and you could have cut up right, or you could have been fourth or fifth or sixth coming in and still achieve success.

Speaker 2:

Today, with technology, with all the things that are happening with AI, you have to be on the ball literally 24-7. Now the potential reward is way bigger. Right, you can literally 10X what you make versus two decades ago or three decades ago. It's a whole different scale now of reward, which is amazing, but you're going to have to be on your toes the entire time. So, just as a well, I'm sure we'll get into this deeper, but just the biggest difference from two decades ago is the speed to which companies grow.

Speaker 2:

Like companies are growing today from a million to a hundred million in the blink of an eye. That would have taken two decades, three decades back in the day, right and so. But you got to be on the ball. You got to know the right trajectory, your audience, your marketplace better than ever before to hit the targets that you want, because the company that's made by you or be partnered with you is going to be looking at everything you're doing, and it's also important to be structured in the right way every step along the way. So you got to be prepared for the run of your life yeah, I want to.

Speaker 1:

I want to talk to you about again I, I, my mind is, in this high internet, high speed internet, right, that was what. What year was that? Early 90s, when you guys uh, developed that early Early 90s when you guys developed?

Speaker 2:

that, yeah, early, early 90s, and this is when people thought the internet was a fad.

Speaker 1:

We'd be talking all the time.

Speaker 1:

That's crazy, right? Isn't that crazy the way we were thinking back then. I remember dial-up, right? I remember in the late 90s, with dial-up, we had to disconnect our house phone, which hardly anyone has any of those anymore. Disconnect our house phone, connect it to our computer and AOL will do all the noise, right to get you on. I like to get into your world and your thinking as a co-founder of High Speed Internet in Canada. What were you thinking as you guys were innovating this? What were some of the things that people were telling you no is, this is not realistic, you can't do this. I mean, internet was like faxing at the beginning, if you remember, you had to dial a bunch of numbers. You can't see which of which number was available. And yeah, here we are high speed internet. I just like to get into your world and what you guys were thinking back then. How was it like? How did like? Did you guys encounter a lot of naysayers along the way when you got there?

Speaker 2:

That's a great question. It's so funny, you know. What's funny is a lot of the lessons I'm going to talk about actually apply to today as well, and so whenever you have a vision about something, you got to be clear about your vision. You got to be able to read the market and see where society is going, where the world is moving and shifting to. And one thing I've always learned is technology will always lead the way and we've got to catch up because technology will never slow down. There's too many smart people, too many smart companies, too much money in technology, because there's so much capital available that you have to be able to see where it's going and you got to just like write it right. So when, uh, back at you're talking about there was dial-up internet, remember that you would log in those of the audio they're listening and don't know. There was a time where we take five minutes for a page to come up on the internet, right? I mean, we had a. We also had a web development uh company built it and we built some websites. They they were ugly but they worked and they were great Fun to watch. So when you're building companies and you're cracking a market, it's never been cracked. You have tons of naysayers. That is totally normal. So it's your conviction and belief that will get you there.

Speaker 2:

I'll give you an example of what people were saying to me Franco, the internet is a fad. Who's going to do online shopping? That's ridiculous. Why do I need a website? I don't need a website. People have to come physically see me. I heard that every day, in fact. Listen to this, okay. The CEO of Bell Canada, canada's largest telecom company, told me I was wasting my time. What? A couple of years later, he was fired and they had to go buy an internet company because they were missing the boat, right? But that just goes to show you people's vision about what's happening or where it's going. I've always believed this. As an entrepreneur, you have to have vision in the sector that you're in and be able to understand where that sector is going. You do that. That's half the game. That is half the game, and so I saw. What I saw back then was what do you need? Of course people want to go online and buy stuff. It's more convenient. Why should I have to go out If I can get it brought to where? That doesn't make any sense. Obviously, I want an online person. Obviously, I want to learn more. Obviously, obviously, obviously, so to me it made sense. To a lot of people it didn't.

Speaker 2:

Now, the problem is, when you have a lot of naysayers, you have to watch and guard your mind. Right, you got to protect your mind because these folks will well listen. Some of them were so good, they had me doubting myself. They were so good. Wait a minute, maybe I made a mistake. Because of one of the companies, I raised $40 million. I said, oh my gosh, maybe I made a mistake raising this $40 million. Am I going to lose all this money for the investors? Oh, no, what did I do? And then, no, no, no, give me a head of shade. No, no, no, this is where it's going. So you have to like shower, like you know. And no, no, it's all fine.

Speaker 2:

Don't believe these people. Surround yourself with folks that have the same vision in you. Surround yourself with people that understand the marketplace, where it's going, and that's what I did. And when you do that now, you're reinforcing what you're believing, but you're also looking for them. When you're building a market, you've got to be clear on where the market is moving to Some places, especially when you've got a disruptive technology like internet was back then, like ai is today. You got to be able to be clear of what segment can make you money now and moving forward right. Like a look at amazon when they launched back in the same area. What was their first business? You remember martino? What was amazon's first business?

Speaker 1:

it weren't, it wasn't it books or something.

Speaker 2:

It was books right in 92 or something like that, digital books because it made money right, but they had a long-term vision of where they wanted to be. So you better be okay. What makes money right now? What creates cash flow right now? Amazon's always been created for that cash flow. That's what makes them a brilliant company and so, as long as you're creating cash flow, you can reinvest, put, put more money in, see where the sector is going, put money into that Amazon, I think it was like for I don't know how many years 10, 15 years and never took a company. They just kept reinvesting it, reinvesting it to where they were going and what they believed that. And so great companies, I believe, have that kind of success and that kind of record because they're clear. They're clear and you got to protect your mind. Surround yourself with people that have the same vision and keep going, and if you do that, hey, you got a fighting chance.

Speaker 1:

So how do you protect your mind? I want to talk a little bit about in those times when you were hearing you got a CEO of one of the biggest communication companies. Hearing you got a CEO of one of the biggest communication companies tell you you're not, this is a smart man, obviously a powerful man, right, that is respected in the business community, and tells you you're crazy, that would never work. What were you thinking in that time when someone like that is telling you, what was the conversations you was having with yourself to overcome that and keep moving forward?

Speaker 2:

That's a great question. So I'm somebody that, when I started that company, was already doing personal development, leadership training from some of the best companies, reading some of the top books, and so I was working on me. And so what happens is, if you don't have belief in yourself, martino, if you don't just don't believe in what you're doing, and somebody comes and tries to knock you out by creating doubt in you, you're gone right. So the more belief that you have in yourself, that you have confidence in what you're going to do, the quieter those voices become. And so in that gentleman's case, when he said that, inside I was actually laughing. I wasn't laughing at him, I was laughing internally. Right, like this guy doesn't understand. This is what I was thinking. Right, this guy doesn't understand. Like how can he be all of this company? Like he's so clueless he has no idea what he's talking about.

Speaker 2:

That's what I was saying in my mind. I didn't say that to him. I said, okay, well, that's interesting. One of my favorite words is okay, that's interesting. I always say that oh, okay, that's, by the way, anybody that knows me, that's interesting. One of my favorite words is okay, that's interesting. I always say that oh, okay, by the way, anybody that knows me that's watching this. If I ever say to you that's interesting, it means I probably don't agree with anything that you're saying.

Speaker 1:

I got a question for you have you read? Because what you did then was something I read. I just read the book, reread the book recently Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill. Have you read that one? Okay, great book, okay great. So you remember towards the end of the book I don't know if when was the last time you read it towards the end of the book, when he's I heard it on Audible this time around. So at the end of the book, the devil says something in one of his principles, or something on how not to be a drifter and how to take control of your mind. He says one of the points he made that stood out to me this time around when I read it, which is exactly what you did. You can always, regardless of whatever circumstances is happening in your life, you can always say to yourself that you do not accept that as your reality, and I think that's what you did. That's what you were doing there when this gentleman was telling you. You told him yeah, okay, that's interesting. And you were laughing inside. You were not. You was not accepting his words as your reality and you made it yours.

Speaker 1:

I recently I'll share this with you real quick I just finished a redevelopment in the city of Scranton. I'm a real estate guy, so I buy properties, fix them or I develop properties. We just finished this 12 unit development property. This was looked at by like 12 different developers and investors. No one wanted, no one wanted. People walked through my property. They said you're crazy. You bought this property. It's going to cost you a million. It's going to cost you all this. It's going to cost you all that, more than you think, is it? And I kept saying I'm going to finish this, I'm going to show you guys, I'm going to show you, I'm going to show you. And we finished it. And now that we're finished with it, the city actually wants to partner up with us to be their premier developer to revitalize the city. Because, like what you did back then is you didn't care what the naysayers said to you, but you trusted your vision and you went with it and I'm sure, I'm sure Did you sell that company Was that what you guys did.

Speaker 2:

Well, we was a long story for that company. It was taken over by one of Canadaada's largest companies, so I was pretty good. Okay, I'll tell you. I'll tell you what created. See that, the way you were thinking right then and the way I was thinking right then, there's a reason for it, right? So this is what I learned years ago that obviously we're something called a human being.

Speaker 2:

Now, if I ever ask somebody, what is a human being me? No, almost no one can tell me the definition of a human being. Now, if I ever ask somebody, what does a human being mean? Almost no one can tell me the definition of a human being. Right? Like, why are we called human beings? Why are we called human doers? Why are we called human beings? Right, because most of us, what we focus on every day is what to do, right, like, tell me what to do, tell me what to do, I'm successful, just like you. Tell me what to do me what to do, I'm successful. Just like you, tell me what to do.

Speaker 2:

And I said wrong question to ask. The question to ask is who do I need to be? If that gets me into this action, that gets me that result right. So that's what I've always learned. Like, for example, if you're being a victim in life, you will then take the actions of a victim and have the results of a victim. But if you're being powerful in life, if you're being joyous in life, if you're being happy in life, if you're being unstoppable in life, you will take the actions of that person and have those results. Results are always a function of who you're being. So my entire, since I learned this when I was young, I've always learned that who am I being? That's giving me this result, good or bad. If it's good, I want to duplicate that. If it's bad, let me shift my being, because there's infinite ways of being in life. Right, you can be any way you want.

Speaker 2:

The problem is, most people live in default ways of being. That's how most people live it. So most people don't even know who they're being. They don't even know that there's a way of being. They're just being however they've been being since they were young, and then that's giving them the results that they have. And they wonder why don't I have the results that I want? Well, because you need to shift your being, because you can have two people. This is what I learned. I see this every day in business. You can have two people taking the same action but drastically in different results. Why? Because of who they're being, because they could be totally different. If someone is taking the action of starting a company but who they're being is a saboteur, that company will not go anywhere. If somebody starts a company, who they're being is an unstoppable force, they'll have tremendous success. So I always tell people tell me who you're being, I'll tell you where you're going and the result that you're going to have, even before you start.

Speaker 1:

Tell me how do you become an unstoppable force? Let's give people the secret.

Speaker 2:

I'll start by this. First of all, when you start your company, you're already going to have baggage that you come with relationships, family, your environment. It's funny you could have two people growing up in the same environment and you're going to have baggage one way or the other, like I'm not good enough, all these stories that get created in your mind. What happens is one of the things you're going to deal with. To achieve success is overcoming that baggage, and how you overcome it is by getting complete with it. So, whether it's parents, families funny I talked to a lot of entrepreneurs.

Speaker 2:

For them, a lot of the driving force why they're doing one thing or another, is the relationship with their parents good or bad, relationship with their spouse good or bad, and they're just keep trying to overcome it or please them or whatever they're trying to do, versus doing something because they're mission driven by the opportunity that they've been given. And so one of the things you've got to do and there's courses you can take and books you can read is getting complete with all that baloney in your past. Once you get that complete now, it creates the space for you to truly become an unstoppable force. Because think about this if all you're trying to do is make your parents wrong for how they raised you right, or please your spouse or whatever. You're trying to do right and be an unstoppable force. Good luck. It's a tough task to take. When you're being an unstoppable force, that means nothing in your past matters. All that matters is where you're going and what you're creating and the future that excites you. Because, unstoppable force, you have to be truly and genuinely excited by the mission you're on. Because then, if you're truly excited by the mission you're on, because then, if you're truly excited by the mission you're on, it doesn't even occur as you're being an unstoppable force. It just occurs as what needs to get done because of where you're going, because you're so excited about the future you're creating. So it's in the background of operating.

Speaker 2:

I look at my. I give you an example here's my phone. On my phone, I am the possibility of fun, wealth, acknowledgement and accomplishment. That's who I am. And so in this conversation, that's what I want to bring to the table. Who I am is the possibility of fun, wealth, accomplishment and acknowledgement. That's who I am. That's what I want to bring to the table. But that's intentionally created to do that with you, because I get to create the narrative from which we speak. I get to create the narrative for which I get to choose who I'm going to be, versus some default way of being that, uh, doesn't make any difference or doesn't forward the conversation.

Speaker 1:

So what are the key mental mindset attributes that differentiate successful entrepreneurs from those who fail?

Speaker 2:

There's a lot, but there is one that I've noticed from all the hundreds of entrepreneurs that I've interacted with. One of my mentors was a billionaire. He owned 80 companies. I'll tell you what every single one has in common. One key characteristic resourcefulness. So no matter, because when you operate a company right, you're going to have, like when you did your real estate project, how many issues came up.

Speaker 1:

Right, how many options? That was my mantra. I am resourceful. Every time some new shit came up and it was like listen, I had one day I got a call and my project manager says gonna take one year to get that meter gang base and I said absolutely not. I put the whole team together, I said not happening. I said if I have to fly to china and fly it and get it myself, I got investors, I got I'm responding we're gonna go get it from China wherever it takes. And I found that it was literally a town over. I found it a week later in a town over. Some electrician had it, he had a job, he bought it and it was sitting in the warehouse and just like that, it just showed up in my life.

Speaker 2:

So the number one thing is resourcefulness. You nailed it Exactly right. If you're not resourceful, you will have a tough time building a company, because, to me, an entrepreneur is a problem solver. Every day you're going to face problems, and either that excites you or it debilitates you. If it debilitates you, that's probably a good many challenges. So our job is to resolve those and let that be exciting for you. And if that's exciting for you because ultimately, you know where you're going and you're excited by the challenge of overcoming the obstacles, great. That's entrepreneurship. Because at the end of the day, you're 100% accountable for everything that happens. There's nobody to blame. There's nobody, it's all on you. For everything that happens, there's nobody to blame, there's nobody, it's all on you. And so if you don't, if you don't be, if you're not the resourceful one, your team won't be, because, by the way, it's contagious.

Speaker 1:

How do you become? Yeah, it's very interesting. You say that because I was talking to my operations manager this morning and I'm like, hey, we need to hire this talent, I need you to hire me, this talent, we need this. And she was like, well, I don't think that's a good idea. I said, stop.

Speaker 1:

I was like you know, and I had to kind of reframe her thinking. I was like you know, we could get so much more production if we have these people on our team, versus, you know, the people that we currently have on our team. And she said something. She was like well, you know, we finished this project, we finished this project, we're doing this project, we're doing this. And she was like well, the reason is because and I'm quoting her she was like it's you, it's your attitude, like you nailed it, it's your attitude of not just being relentless with execution and making sure that we execute. And I said, well, you know. And I was like well, that's what I need you to be, I need you to become relentless with execution and the vision that we have for the company. But how do you develop that, franco? That's what I want to ask you is how do you become resourceful? Where does that come from? How do you build that muscle of?

Speaker 2:

resourcefulness? That's a great question. It's by the habits that you create, right. So the habits that you create are do that. So one of the things I found is I've built teams of thousands of people and one of the things I see lacking in people are the habits, every day, that do that. Because resourcefulness can be learned. I've seen that over and over again. You can little kids if you look at little kids when they play, aren't they resourceful? They're so resourceful, right. And then what happens as you get older is you try something, you fail, you try something and you fail. Then what happens? Well, that's it. I give up, I can't do this. What's the stat? The average millionaire bankrupts three companies before they become a millionaire.

Speaker 2:

For a reason, you got to develop your resourcefulness, so you have to be willing to go through the failures. You have to be willing to accept that you're not going to be good, that you will fail. You have to be willing to accept that, all the while developing good habits and developing the habits that the next time will make you successful and learning from those. That's why I created a book that the next time will make you successful and learning from those. That's why I created a book. It's like a journal that every day it's a system that you follow that develops your habits. So by 90 days you'll have all the habits that you'll need to be a successful entrepreneur and the way to think to be a successful entrepreneur. The most people don't know how to think every day to make that happen.

Speaker 1:

Are you selling this journal on Amazon? Why don't we tell our listeners about that, where they can find this journal? Are you selling it, or is it just your own personal thing?

Speaker 2:

It's on Amazon. It just came out actually last week, ironically, I wasn't planning to promote it. I got it here. I wasn't promoting it.

Speaker 1:

Well, you mentioned it. So people are going to be like, hey, I want to get that. People are thinking like hey, how do I build those habits right?

Speaker 2:

It's $9. I made it really cheap because I wanted people to be able to afford it. It's called the Results Vortex Accelerator. It's how do you set your mindset and your goals and then dramatically accelerate the speed to which those results come to you. And so it's like how do you open up a vortex in time and space is what I teach folks. I learned from some really successful mentors. Vortex in time and space is what I teach folks. I learned from some really successful mentors. How do you open up a vortex in time and space that, literally, as you put forward what you want, accelerates the speed to which those goals come to you?

Speaker 1:

Tell us about that. How do you do that? Tell us how you do that. Give us some meat and potatoes on that.

Speaker 2:

It's a five-step process. It's all about when you're able to clearly think about. First of all, you have to clearly know what your goals are. What are your goals? What do you want to achieve? Too many people are all over the place, right, they're all scattered. But you've got to be laser pointed at the goal that you want and be excited by that goal. Like your goal has to excite you. If your goal doesn't excite you, it's not the goal to be chasing. Like, I love the goals that I'm chasing. They excite me, they get me excited, right.

Speaker 2:

And so while you're doing that, the next thing you do is that you draw it, draw it, outline it. Like you have to literally be able to hold it in your mind, because your mind to me, I've always learned this the mind is a receiver and transmitter. Your brain is powerful. Like in the book that you read out, winning the Devil, it talks a lot about that how your mind is so powerful it can create whatever it wants. If you feed it the right information and spit out the right information, it'll send you what you want. But you got to be able to do it in a focused way. And so if you're drawing what your goal is outlining it. Then what you do once you've done that and I go through it in the journal book is then what you do. Once you've done that, then you say it out loud, because now your voice, emanating that into the universe, creates the second level of power. And so now you're sharing out loud, just to yourself there's no need to be there what you want to create.

Speaker 2:

And then the third thing is to think about it for about 10 minutes. Just hold it in your mind, visualize it. What's it like, having achieved it? Because if you can hold it as if it's already done, then that vortex that you're creating in time and space stays open. And now that it's open, you want to keep it open all day, so that then all the circumstances that you want to achieve that goal will suddenly magically start coming into place faster than you ever anticipated the people that you're supposed to meet. Imagine it's like what you did there. It's like you probably do it unconsciously, martino, because think about it you found that object that you needed, that tool that you needed, right In a city nearby.

Speaker 1:

It's literally the city next door, we COVID, and people around the world can't get this. It's a meter gang base to put the electric meter. Couldn't find it anywhere. We looked everywhere all the vendors and it was city. An electrician had it sitting there. He didn't finish a job and he had it. He had bought it and we bought it at a discount on top of that.

Speaker 2:

That's exactly that's what I'm talking about, right? I always say this expect miracles. When you do this, that's a miracle, right? And to some people that's a miracle. How did that happen? Well, no, I expect miracles. Why? Because when your vortex is open, you'd be amazed what shows up in your life. You'd be amazed what comes into your world when that vortex is open. So a lot of folks do this. Naturally, they don't even realize they're doing it, because their focus, their positivity, their resourcefulness keeps that vortex open. And then what I walk them through in the book is okay, what do you do now, at night, before you go to bed? What do you do in the morning, when you wake up? What do do, though, at each time? And when do you actually do what I just said? You do it twice a day morning, at night, and then what do you do to keep that open, so that now all this stuff comes to you and then the world aligns with your goals?

Speaker 1:

you know, it's really interesting because I, you have a really great process for it and I've never you're right, I do a lot of this stuff. When I do it, I did it unconsciously but write it. You said, write it, write it, share it out loud and then think about it, right, and then you have timelines. You do it in the day.

Speaker 2:

Each time, after you do it, just write down just what you observed, because in that 10-minute window, that eight to 10-minute window, things are going to be coming to you, ideas are going to be coming to you who to talk to, who to go speak to next, or what actions to take. Write those down right after it's done, not during, after the period of thinking about it, and then you're going to be amazed at what comes to you in that eight to 10 minute window. It literally is almost like time travel. It's incredible.

Speaker 1:

I love it. You know there's a. There's a guy I studied with. His name is Keith Cunningham. I don't know if you know him. He wrote the book the Road. You know you know Keith, right.

Speaker 2:

So Keith, Great, brilliant guy. He's got a unique way of explaining accounting.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, brilliant. So I did his four-day MBA with him when he was teaching. He's not teaching anymore in Austin and he says he has think time. So I learned this from him and that's basically kind of what you're saying. It's like I'm seeing parallels here in a lot of successful people's way of doing successful entrepreneurs thinking, he says he says in his book, the road less stupid. He says business is an intellectual sport, not a tactical game, um, and so he puts it in his way. But the thinking part is where it happens. But you open up, you open up the vortex, you do it in a in a neat way where you, you open up this thing, um, and you, just you attract faith in a bunch of different things, which is what I told my so my team, because we had this over and over and over and over again.

Speaker 1:

By the way, with this project we had a budget and people were coming in with these numbers. The other time was I had a plumber say, hey, I'll do the whole job for $55,000. And then when we needed him to do it, he said $95,000. And I said, nah, dude, you're out of budget. You told me right. And then the team all freaked out. They were like oh my gosh, what are we going to do? I said we're going to do nothing. I said everyone's going to start calling around. We're going to call all of our resources and there is someone out there. There's a plumber out there that's praying for us, just like we're praying for him. All you got to do is find him for me, get to work, go find him for me. He's out there waiting for our call. And, sure enough, man got all the labor done for $25,000, not 95 or not 40 or not 55, for $25,000 of labor. I had to buy the material but I got it right in budget.

Speaker 1:

But that's because I had took this attitude of like it's going to happen for us, it's going to happen for us, it's out there, just find it. We just got to look for it. I believe in. The great book says if you look, you'll find. If you seek, you know. If you seek, you shall find it. If you look, you'll find. If you seek, you know. If you seek, you shall find. If you knock, the door opens. And if you ask, you receive.

Speaker 2:

So I take that literal Like I take that literal, like I'm asking, that's how it works. You actually have the. Now look, which school would teach kids this, right? Unfortunately, school doesn't teach you. What does school teach kids? What to do? Right Study, this drive the straight line, none of which have anything to do, honestly, with being successful. Being successful is all about asking for what you want, holding what you want and then believing that it will happen. Right, but genuinely and authentically, not pretending. A lot of people pretend really they don't believe it, but they pretend oh yeah, I want this. But really, secretly, they're thinking believe it, but they pretend, oh yeah, I want this, but really, secretly, they're thinking no, no, no, I can't really have this. So they're creating this friction Exactly. So they go nowhere, it doesn't happen and it doesn't create anything, right? So you've got to be clear for yourself.

Speaker 1:

You mentioned that word of not believing, right, and I want to. That's my next question. How do you manage a feeling of isolation and imposter syndrome as an entrepreneur, right? So when you don't have nothing and you're starting out, how do you manage that voice in your head that tells you first, when you're first starting to do this type of stuff, this type of work, where you're writing your goals and you're holding a vision, and you have this vision and obstacles start to come out and you've got to overcome them, and you have that voice in your head which, in Outwitting the Devil, he talks about. You know, that's the devil voice, right, that's in your head, trying to bring you down. How do you manage that imposter syndrome? What strategy are you telling someone? You mentioned standing guard at the door of your mind. I think that's Zig Ziglar. Is it Zig Ziglar that used to say that standing guard at the door of your mind? How do you manage that? How do you do that as an entrepreneur?

Speaker 2:

Well, think about how it happened with you. How did it happen with you? When did you start believing in you and what you can do? How did that happen? So, first, it happens by getting small little wins right little, because that starts believing, that starts creating belief in second read books on personal development, on leadership. You have to do that right. You have to grow, you have to put that good. You got to feed your mind like in outweighing the devil. What does it say? Whatever you're putting into your mind, your environment always wins right, remember that yeah the environment always wins.

Speaker 2:

so if you're in a negative environment, you're already behind the equal, you're already losing, because that it's. That negative environment will always suck you and you have to get yourself out of a negative environment. Put yourself in an empowering, nurturing and enriching environment. You will be successful. And then so they take personal growth courses. Those people in personal growth courses guess what? They're just like you. They want to be that.

Speaker 2:

A lot of the people I work with today, a lot of people I personal life today, the people I do business with today, I met through personal development programs because they were on the same journey as me. They wanted a better life. They wanted to improve themselves, become more resourceful, become more effective in communications, have a better life for themselves and their family. That's what I want to be with. Why would I want to hang out with victims? Why would I want to help people like that? I don't want to be around those people. I'm glad you're down.

Speaker 2:

So put yourself in environments and in groups where people are on the same journey as you. Maybe they have different goals, right? Like one person wants to build a company, another person wants to do this, that's fine. But if they want a better life for themselves or family. They're going to do these personal growth courses, participate, go learn from them. It doesn't even matter which one, it really doesn't, they're all good Any course. Go, take it right and then invest in yourself. So you start doing all those things. Let me tell you, within a year you'd be amazed You'll be a totally different person in how you think you operate. And if you're building a company, by the way, it never stops. I still do. I still take courses, I still read these books, because there's never a level that you can reach that you're done right. It's what's that old saying Finish never hits right. You just want to keep building and keep creating, because there's infinite levels to which you can achieve anything.

Speaker 1:

So what do you see in today's environment, with technology right, where I believe and I'd like to get your thought on this right, because you've seen, you've seen a lot of different markets and a lot of shifts and you, you've experienced the no, both of us have no internet, right?

Speaker 1:

I grew up with no internet, no phone to now. What do you see the biggest challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurs in the next decade as we look on the internet and people look on their feed, and the biggest? I think that one of the biggest challenges is all the fake stuff out there that's not real, right. Like, hey, look at this guy, he's driving a Lamborghini and he's this 24. He's this 24 year old kid with that. Like, I'm 46 years old, I know that what it takes to make a million dollars and what it takes to hold a million dollars If you make it at 24, what it takes to hold a million and to invest it into it is going to is a different skillset. How do we manage? What does it take? What is your advice as a seasoned entrepreneur to deal with that, those challenges when you're seeing oh, this business, look at this guy, he just did that.

Speaker 2:

And you're running your race and you're trying to build your business. What's a great question. So here's part of the problem is what you said. People look on social media and they'll see this person having success and that person having success. Most of them, honestly, they're lying. They're lying, 99% are lying. That is one guy. He was promoting Amazon dropshipping business, right, and he's doing this revenue. He wasn't telling you it was gross that he was doing six digits a month or six and a half digits a month, right, when really he was clearing this much little money and he was making his money from selling the program versus actually doing it right. And so the internet is littered with these people. They just want to sell you something for 5,000, 10,000, 4,000. And then, here then join this coaching program with all my videos and watch all this crap, right. So we have to understand something. Look, if you want to go into business, cool, do your research, do your homework. Don't just go pay somebody nilling willy some money, expecting that in six months you're going to be rich. You're living in a fantasy land. You're living all the way right. Any business is going to take time and you've got to grow and you've got to develop. You've got to learn that sector.

Speaker 2:

I look at all those people jumping into the trading world. Right, 90% of traders lose money, 90%. They're all jumping in spending all this money because the professionals see these retailers come in and go oh, look at this guy, thank you, thank you, and they just clean it up. But those guys that own the hedge funds, they just clean it up and making a fortune off the retailers, like I was. I was talking to this one guy. He's been training for seven years, never made any money. What are you doing? What are you doing, right, seven years? Right, he just keeps losing it a little bit. Why did he do it? Why are you angelina? Because he believes eventually he'll figure it out. Okay, but how are you going to figure this out? What's your plan? How are you getting better? He has no plan. He just thinks he keeps doing it. Eventually he'll figure it out.

Speaker 2:

So, look, whatever business you want to get into, that's fine, but you're going to become an expert in that sector. You're going to learn that sector. Do your homework. The good news is, it's never been easier to learn anything right. With AI today and the internet and all the research that's available to you, you can become a master like this. You can't be lazy but at the same time, competition is fierce, right, we can all agree. Competition is fierce today, no matter what space you're going into, and things move quickly. So you've got to become good at your space and remember you're bringing value to people. So, look, I know most of us will become entrepreneurs to get rich.

Speaker 2:

Fine, but what's the value you're bringing to a client? What's the value you're bringing to somebody? Because if you can't bring value to somebody, you have no business being an entrepreneur. It's the value that you bring.

Speaker 2:

If I look at the companies I'm involved with, I'm fanatical. But, okay, what value can I bring to these clients in this business? Where can we differentiate ourselves if the client is just ecstatic, just excited about doing business with us? Because if they're not, then I'm failing. I'm failing the client. My job is the client because I work for them. I work for the client and my job is to make them ecstatically happy to work with us because of the value that they're getting for what they're paying. And if I can do that, great, I deserve to be in business.

Speaker 2:

And then you have to be able to communicate that and articulate that, because a lot of people are a great product, they can't communicate it, they don't know how to market it, and then they fail, even though I've seen that often with people that have tremendous products, the marketing is wrong, right? So when you're looking at building a company and you're looking at it from that perspective, you've got to be able to clearly, clearly be able to communicate, market, understand your marketplace. And then you want to dominate. You literally want to go in there and be one of the people that can dominate your marketplace. If you're going to survive one, two or more Partner with something that's dominating and just eat what they're doing, just be like the flea on the elephant's back. Right, you follow the elephant, you're eating off what they're doing. That's a great strategy, too, right? Definitely they are on your strategy. How do you?

Speaker 1:

discern. Right, let's give people some wisdom. Right, let's give people from wisdom. How do you discern the real entrepreneurs to listen to and or follow, versus the the phony right? Um, how do we discern that?

Speaker 2:

that's a great question. So I always look at what have you done? Show me your success, what did build? So if I feel all these coaches online now, really what have you accomplished? Tell me what you've actually accomplished. Show me before I listen to a word you have to say. Especially, there's so many people coaching today that their life is a mess.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, man, I see them all the time.

Speaker 2:

It's so right. Well, show me your life, Show me your bank account, show me how successful you are right. Wow, wow, you know. Then why are we talking like? Why are we talking? Because I have coaches, but my coaches are brilliant at what they've done, and so I specialize. I look for people that have done the exact same thing or are in areas where I want more expertise that they're agreed at. That's what I focus on.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, which is which is, which is a challenge, right, we talked about you talked about environment, and we talked about how important your environment, but who you're listening to is also as important. Right, I teach, I teach like, hey, you, who you're listening to, who you're spending time with, and then your environment, right, these are the things that, like these, have a major impact, literally. I was just. I texted this morning to, to a few people that I mentor. That's what I was. That was my text. I sent him a text every morning. That was my text to them this morning. So, be very, very selective on those three. And what you're watching, too, what you're letting in with your eyes right, what you're letting in because you got to stand guard at the door of your mind.

Speaker 2:

I'll say something. With the progress of that. You know the controversy, so I've always believed this. Sometimes you're going to be like you need to have a mastermind. It's a very important business, right? A mastermind, actually, we're rich. One of the biggest chapters in the book mastermind, right.

Speaker 2:

I always believed truly masterminding with your competitors. Here's why Because if you can create that open, honest relationship with your competitors, you can learn how to help each other in business. There's nothing wrong with that and just create that trust with each other. I'm a big nfl fan, right, I watch the nfl and I see teams practicing with each other. Now, right, which is smart. And they're sharing some secrets with each other to help each other. Um, now, are they enemies? Yes, they competitors, yes, but they're also sharing to both give proof, to go to the next level. So I've always been a firm believer, like I.

Speaker 2:

Look at musk, what he did with tesla. What did he do? He open sourced it. Why did he open source it? Because he goes look, if we have other competitors coming in and everybody's elevating the game, that's good for everybody. That's about execution, right, let's all share the technology. Let's all share and learn. And look, look what he did. He dominated the space by doing that. No one can claim that they have some exclusivity on the electric vehicle. Anybody can create it. But what did he master? Execution right, but anybody can access that technology. That's what's brilliant. I learned a lot from what he did when he came to Tesla. I thought he was nuts when he first did that, but then I realized that was brilliant, that he open sourced it, and so now it just creates a lot of people that come in and it elevates the entire industry.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, which is amazing. Final question, franco what's the one thing, piece of advice that you're giving an entrepreneur, an entrepreneur or someone that's wanting to be an entrepreneur as it pertains to their mindset that they need to really really non-negotiable for them that they need to really work?

Speaker 2:

It's going to be tough and just be, stay present to your role. But it's going to be tough. And if you can stay off social media and all the baloney on that. Because unless you're marketing on social media, most of the social media is totally useless. It totally is. There's very little there you can use for your everyday life. All it can do and it's proven all their algorithms will do is addict you, create divisiveness, creates depression. So none of that has any value for the entrepreneur. Now you could use social media to generate revenue, to make money. If that's one of your marketing ways of making money, cool. But as far as a thing to spend time on, don't do it. There's nothing of positivity that can come out of that unless you're using it for research. Like some people use it for research, they get on all TikToks, instagrams and they're researching competitive, researching their marketplace. That's cool, but understand what you're using it for not to be engaging.

Speaker 1:

Outstanding. Well, thank you so much, my friend, for coming on today and sharing your wisdom and your insights with my audience. If folks wanted to connect with you, frank, or they wanted to get your book, your Vortex book, they wanted to just connect with you, continue a conversation with you. How do they find you wanted to just connect with you? Continue a conversation with you. How do they find you?

Speaker 2:

Where do they find you, my friend, we'll make sure we add it on the show notes. You can, they can be on LinkedIn. I'm on Franco LaFranco on LinkedIn and the book is available on Amazon. I'm on Instagram, which is Cal Franco C-A-V. Franco F-R-A-N-C-O.

Speaker 1:

Franco. Thank you so much, my friend, for coming on. It's been a pleasure and an honor to get your golden nuggets man. That was a really good thing. My biggest takeaway was your Vortex strategy man. That's the results of Vortex Accelerator. I'm going to pick that up myself, brother. Thank you so much for that. That was really good stuff.

Speaker 2:

Pleasure being out with you, Martino. You have a great audience.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, brother.

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