EP. 13 Quantum Leap From 4 Jobs to Living the Dream and Supporting Others in theirs with Reef Colman
Updated: Jan 27, 2023
Bethany Londyn 0:00
Got it. We are recording, recording and plot progress. It's working. Yeah. All right. So excited to be here with reef from we assist. I was introduced to him from the lovely Kendall and or can she goes by can now?
Reef Colman 0:18
She's awesome. Absolutely awesome. She
Bethany Londyn 0:21
spoke so highly of you. She's like you're tuning into me. I'm like, Okay, let's do it. So here we are.
Reef Colman 0:28
I love her. I appreciate her. She's absolutely incredible human being and I can't say enough great things. But I have to say, a magnitude of powerful entrepreneurial ladies that should be exemplified and the youth should look at as this next generation comes up. She's that person. She's phenom. Yes, yeah.
Bethany Londyn 0:45
And I think she was like three podcasts ago for anyone that's listening. I need to know my numbers, right? Yeah. So let's hear well, let's hear about your company and what you've created, and then like, dive into the juicy stuff behind it.
Reef Colman 1:01
Sure, yeah, I can give you the elevator speech. I I'm Ruth Coleman. I'm the founder and CEO via Sr. IO. And we help people find high level outsource professionals for 30 70% less than you would domestically or differentiating factor or mission statement is to feed as many people as humanly possible around the world through equally advantageous opportunities. And yeah, that's essentially my business as a whole.
Bethany Londyn 1:27
So now you're making me think of Tony Robbins and his mission to feed everybody.
Reef Colman 1:32
Very, I don't know what Tony Robbins is messages, but I am familiar with some of his content. And I'd say that I align a lot with what he's trying to do for the world. I think he has a greater, larger purpose and view. I like that. I love people that operate in that format. Yeah.
Bethany Londyn 1:47
To feed. Feed the Planet. I love it. Beautiful. So how did you? Yeah, how did you get to where you're at right now? I will I will ask I might go like this. If I have a question, or I'll just jump right in.
Reef Colman 2:00
Shoot. Yeah. As whatever you like, how far back? Do you want me to go? I'm I was born and raised in Uruguay, South America. Is that too far back? Is that? Is that like, way too? Short? I started somewhere in the middle from here. And they're like,
Bethany Londyn 2:12
where would you go? Wherever your call what feels natural?
Reef Colman 2:16
I guess Yeah, I think I would like I'd like to start maybe earlier years, if we're really going in depth I my goal next year is to really get into podcasting. And then doing more speaking engagements as I scale out my sales team, reading Blitzscaling, as we speak now, and I feel like I would like to incorporate or have this become like a practice towards that right? No better way to do it than jumping into the deep end, right? Go in and do it like, so appreciate you for giving me that space, and ability to do this. I guess I'd had to start with Yeah, Uruguay, South America. And I only go to that, for expressing coming from another country and appreciating this country so much what America has to offer and what a beautiful place it is. And the opportunities you have here. We all have here, right? I think in most places you work like a dog with like a dog and die like a dog. Here you can work like a dog and build yourself a kingdom, right? And make generational wealth and change other people's lives and your period in your immediate people's lives.
Bethany Londyn 3:12
How long have you been here? Since I was
Reef Colman 3:15
four and a half. And that's it. That's thanks to my mom. My mom is the true piece of the beginning here is my mom was an absolute savage of a human being, and I hope to edify her in every communication I get to have, she worked three jobs and collected cans to get me here to the US. She left me in Uruguay with my grandma for four and a half years as a newborn, and even three months and, and worked until she made enough money in 1981 to pick to pick me up and my uncle and my grandma, and bring us back to California. So she's Yeah, she's an amazing human being for sure.
Bethany Londyn 3:53
Wow. That's beautiful. So for the so so you've definitely lived most of your life here.
Reef Colman 4:00
Yeah, pretty much Californian, right? Yeah,
Bethany Londyn 4:03
we're in California.
Reef Colman 4:05
I was raised in South Central Los Angeles like concrete jungle. My mom was held up at gunpoint a few times. I was pretty heavy. Not that I can recall. Then Alhambra. Alhambra was a wee lad in South Pasadena. South Pasadena is where I really got to see like violence and crime for the first time. That was pretty heavy. It was a Marine go Avenue. I don't know if I'm allowed to say that but whatever in Pasadena, California in the 90s and then Rosemead, San Gabriel Valley was where I really got into something that's okay crowds because there's a lot of apartment complexes lower income living and gang life was kind of like the way to go bald headed, you know, short haired or whatever the Dickies. Now my mom
Bethany Londyn 4:48
got assaulted like probably a month ago now, but that was my first time preferably only time. That I mean, I think I felt like I was passing Uh, you know, I'm not a gamer, but the only game I can really talk about is Mario Brothers because that's my. Yeah, yeah. So I felt like I passed level like, I got to the next level I saw it. I made it out safely. I spread love. I wasn't actually even mad at them. Because I just felt like, you know, they're just doing the best they can. So preferably, they don't do it to anyone else. And then it stopped because they didn't react the way they wanted me to. But we'll see.
Reef Colman 5:34
Yeah, I mean, that's a beautiful way to operate. I love that you operate in empathy, right? I mean, some people like you don't know what you don't know. Right? And when you operate in empathy, you can see people for who they are holistically instead of judging others, right? Yeah, we have so many layers of our humanity. It's hard to step into the feet of someone else and project what our hurts are unto them. Right. So yeah, yeah. I appreciate you for doing that. Yeah, Arcadia was where I ended up most of my time, which is a very nice school district in Los Angeles. And Los Angeles County right in the foothills, very beautiful area. My mom worked so hard to get us there. George nightclubs, like night cocktail waitressing. She would work nonstop three, I don't think I've ever seen my mom work less than three jobs. And my, one of my missions and goals is to retire my mom. And I think even when I retire her, she loves working special needs kids. I don't think that she'll stop working. I think that she'll continue no matter what I give her and I won't be able to have a say on where she spends her money either, if you like, give it away to whoever she wants. And it's gonna be like, well, here's a draining bucket. And then what is she doing now? She works at a elementary school with special needs kids and then does home daycare for some like and nannies them and then works in an office at a school.
Bethany Londyn 6:49
So she does not work three jobs is what I'm hearing.
Reef Colman 6:53
Correct. Similar to me, I got that from her right. through college, I worked four jobs at 16 units. And and I've always kept my my schedule, pretty busy and consistently busy. To the point where, four months ago, or now, I'm sorry, I lied to you. Five months ago, I took my first vacation seven and a half years. And I struggled. I went camping and not being able to be in front of a computer. I almost thought my friend got into was like, hey, I need to get a lot of the quotes that a drug addict would have. Right? I was like, You don't understand you don't get it. I have to go I need to do this. I need to I need to get online need to check my email. And he was like, No, you don't and ever. Yeah, totally addiction, right. And a good thing that happened on that trip was figuring out that I knew how to be a human doing but I didn't how to be a human being was kind of the overall synopsis of the time. So day three, recognize that I had to make a change. If I focus on the anxiety of not being present, then I would be double negative, I wouldn't be there in time. And I wouldn't be there in mind. And I wouldn't be using the time wisely. So I I focused on what maybe this moment needed me to focus on and that was releasing and really getting in touch with being okay with self. Right. And I did and turns out, nothing went wrong. By nine days later, after the three day right and I did 12 days all in the company was doing great team was so happy to see me. I allowed them and in a fellow entrepreneurs said something very nice to me. He's only a few and exited a few businesses. He said, sometimes you have to let your team be the team so that they can grow and not be with you or dependent on you just see how they function. It's a good litmus test right to see how people react in the stress. Do some people just throw it up in the air? And who cares? Or do they go for it? And they say, I can do this? You know?
Bethany Londyn 8:45
I love that. So yeah, it was very hard also making me think of a conversation I think I had yesterday times flying by so quickly. And I was like, I work so much because that's my safe place. Fair. So for me that's how I was raised. My my dad definitely was a workaholic. I'm sure he's gonna listen to this. Love that. But yeah, I definitely pick that up. And it's like being the oldest of five kids, it's so much easier to just work and like go make money. And that that's then I get out of the house. I can go hang out with my friends and buy things. Yeah. So much safer. Yeah.
Reef Colman 9:21
I would say it is a form of escapism, right? I think anybody who says it's not escapism is kind of I had another entrepreneur in a meeting say something that that was deeply profound but simple, very quickly. And we're all monkeys just chasing entertainment. Right? And he said in a way that was so simple, but so beautiful. Essentially like some of us find entertainment in shooting or driving or in cooking or in playing pool, rock climbing, kayaking, camping, whatever it is that you find that entertainment is something building business some love watching drama being a part of drama or TV or movies or shows or music and festivals, there's such a large spectrum of what entertainment could be right? That we're all just kind of seeking entertainment. And we've been doing that for ages. The only thing now is that we have a very, very large spectrum and ability to do entertainment. Right. And I thought that hit me that hit me so profoundly in the in a format of thinking we are off seeking entertainment, what is your entertainment, right. And some people work is a form of escapism. You can get away you feel comfortable, you understand the you understand that realm, you understand what it's like. So being creatures of habit and a comfortable space, it's so safe, right? It's such a warm place to be. It's like, Oh, I know this, even in abusive situations. Some people find peace in that, because they're so familiar with the abuse that this is peace. To the outside. It's like whoa, but so their own brain somehow justify this is peace, right? So it's interesting how the brain seeks entertainment and seeks peace. But those two terms are so subjective in so many ways. Find the Fit deeply interesting.
Bethany Londyn 11:02
Yeah. So how long has your company been around?
Reef Colman 11:08
This company has been around now for three years. Started in? Yeah, three years. So I had raised marketing, which is a marketing agency since 2015. And that launched in Pasadena, California. And I worked on that, until about 2019, where I pivoted to we assist in helping people outsource. And that's where we've been since officially on the books since March of last year, after dissolving my last company and switching overall payroll and everything else. But unofficially, we've had our oldest team member has been three years and three months with us since the first day since inception.
Bethany Londyn 11:54
Oh, awesome. And are they a VA? Or?
Reef Colman 11:59
Yeah, they're out of the out of the Philippines. So that his story is one of my favorites. He we're doing a video I'm going to Philippines next month. So we're gonna do a video on this. But he started off with borrowing a computer, from a family member borrowing a device, like a cell phone, for the family, sharing it. And now everyone's got laptops in the family. Everyone has cell phones. Yeah, he used to have to borrow to give. And now he actually gives back to his mother and his brothers. And he's looked at as a respectable breadwinner that he was able to get his own place. He does podcasting now blogging through the countryside, which he's always wanted to do. So he gets on his motorbike and drives through the landscape of the Philippines. And yeah, shows that people what the Philippines is about, it's pretty neat. It's cool to see that what, what three and a half years or three years and three months could do to somebody, right,
Bethany Londyn 13:04
this shift. And it's a testament to you and your your ability to you know, create teamwork.
Reef Colman 13:14
Yeah, I appreciate that. I mean, yeah, that's a huge reason why everybody vulnerable? Can I just be honest, like why? Yes, please. Yeah, I think I think this would be an interesting place to talk about this and just kind of want to boldly myself and really not give a fuck what anybody says, right? On podcasts or anywhere that I go. I think that the landscape of business is changing drastically, right? I think that humanity as a whole is starting to understand that the exchange of time for money is kind of an interesting format that we've created, right? By salary comes from the word Stellarium, which is what we paid Romans with salt, right. That's what they used to preserve meat. So the time it was a very coveted currency, because salt was how you were able to maintain meat for so long. So Roman soldiers appeared in a solarium, and people wanted salt. So it was then called the salary right. Now it's money paper with a dead president, maybe in the future will be sticks. We don't know, right? But the idea that we chase these, you know, it's just kind of like we chase these things that we give as a society value. And we forget that the greater picture these things that we're chasing monetary value, or equitable goods are so that we can buy time for the future so we can solve some of the larger issues at hand. And I feel like we've lost scope of that a little bit as a humanity, right. My whole reason for doing this is personal mission. How do we make the world a better place for the next two, five or 10 generations through all our actions? Right? You said it with Dan. You're right. He is part of like the we assist ecosystem and what we try to have as an output Mondays we do conversations on emotional intelligence on how to agree to disagree having hard conversations financial literacy, we Just yesterday I had an ergonomics teacher on right teaching how to like sit in a desk, how to pull my shoulders back how to sit correctly, feet grounded, how to put your hands on your shoulders, and everyone gets to learn from these things, which I find fascinating because then we pass it on to our next generation or youth, right? If we look at if we look at the system that we've created since the Henry Ford era, it's the first time in human history that we're decided to work five to six days a week, eight hours a day, and slave away this way, right willingly by choosing li this like weird dichotomy of I choose to do this because I need to choose to do this, right. So it's a very interesting time, I find if we're going to be somewhere for eight hours, I find that the future CEO has to have a larger responsibility on their back or shoulder the responsibility with CEO can no longer be, oh, I make money, p&l Great. Move on. I think the responsibility of a CEO is our future generations depend on our outputs and inputs. We worked eight hours, we sleep at hours with their family eight hours, wherever school failed this I think CEOs need to step in and have those conversations so that we could have a better generation a better future for the model. Right? We
Bethany Londyn 16:09
just we just roll the roll for Londyn heights, which is my corporate healing group that if someone if a CEO or business owners coming in and just wants money, and that's all that they're looking for is to increase profits. Yeah, we don't want to work with them. I appreciate you for doing that. Yeah, there's, there's a line. Yeah, we want people that are expansive and can see. Yeah, beyond just their business.
Reef Colman 16:35
So it doesn't make it does sense to make money earn money than pillage the earth for something that we're going to throw away in six months. And then after pillaging that for six months, go and turn it around and make more money, just pillage the earth war, right? I think we're getting into an evolutionary state of the species. And we're recognizing that's not the end goal, right? We have to have a bigger vision and a bigger, like, a bigger view of the world. Like the Japanese, when you build a business model, they have they call it 100 year plan, you have to show 100 years of what your business is going to do. And that fascinating to think what is the impact of my business? 100 years from now? Like, that's such a far more progressive way to think or operate right? Instead of a now now now? Yeah.
Bethany Londyn 17:18
Okay, so that is so cool. Thank you for sharing. I appreciate you. I know, thank you, like I'm gonna that's like, so expensive to think in that way. Wow. So good. Okay, so you're bringing in like training to your team with the you're talking about, like, the chairs and everything emotional intelligence is that like a weekly thing or like, how often every Monday, so every, every Monday,
Reef Colman 17:41
it's actually it's actually tied into their annual bonus. So if they don't show that the show up a minimum of 75% of the time to them or they meetings. And if they do, it's their first activator to being able to get more of their bonus on an annual bonus. So example, if they do 75%, show up to their meetings, they are allotted the whole amount, right? Wonderful. If they show up, a poll off, if they show up, if their client cards to their client, giving them a report card and say, hey, my players ageing, good, then they give a certain amount, if they're within the parameters of what they should be doing for being at work on time and their screen, and so on so forth, then they get asserted a lot, a lot to them. It's just checks and balances, right? At the end of the day, I want everyone to do very well. But I want good, honest people to work with good, honest people, right. And doing that there has to be a system for that or process for that. And a way to be able to keep people accountable on one side of the other. We find that monitoring services and being able to tie KPI to a monetary value allows people to see that their actions pays them back, right? In other words, I think we go out of school, right? And in education, it's like I pay to be educated. Well, what if you got paid to be educated instead of you paying to get educated? Right? What if you can immediately say that by you doing this class, not only you're growing your mind and your brain, but you're also growing your pocketbook? So it's net positive on all three fronts, right? And that's kind of
Bethany Londyn 19:12
you making me think of something that I was trying to digest. That makes so much sense, but my cousin will give her daughter who's like three dessert with dinner. Like she gets both of them because they're taking the reframing that that it's not like a reward to have dessert. It's not like, you know, it's their normalizing desert with the wheels. So yeah, you're you're the kind of restructuring though. That's so cool with education. Okay, so curious, are all the VA like or is this all the VAs? Or is it the VAs for your company? Okay, trying to say how do I say that? There's the company VA, and then there's the VA is that you're outsourcing other people. Are they all coming to the US or is that just for your
Reef Colman 19:55
company? It's open to all and we We're, we're coining outsource professionals out of virtual assistants because assistant virtual leads like assistant role as virtual right? As we're writing out blog content, now we're going for outsource professional op, that's just professional being someone a professional that you outsource, right? Because there's a plethora of different functionalities somebody can have its accounting, bookkeeping, data entry, Assistant, virtual assistant, sales assistant executive assistant, even in that realm, there's kind of so many roles, right? Yeah. So with that, I, we're trying to really push the term op, or outsource professional, and have that be how we coin them and turn them that we open it up to all players. So the bonuses and all structures are open to all players across the board in our company. And the reason why we do that is because learning and knowledge shouldn't just be for like the privileged right it there should be a way that we're able to give knowledge and learning and I think if company owners see that, the more knowledge and wisdom you pour into your players, the better players they are for your company long term. And people remember, right people care that you poured into them. They did matters, right? Someone's gonna say that company changed my life fundamentally. Right? And that matters more than what an extra $20 Money is not money is not the reward. Money is a byproduct of your efforts, right? The true reward is are the relationships, the knowledge that you gain? Like we said earlier, Celerio money would write paper would like however you want to go about it. If you have the knowledge, you can rebuild that every one of those stages. And that's the true reward, I think.
Bethany Londyn 21:37
Amazing. So in the building of your company, I'm sure there were setbacks. So how would you say quantum leaps?
Reef Colman 21:47
Oh, great question. Yeah, I'd say I give you a rundown of that, which is like a rundown of that.
Bethany Londyn 21:52
Yep. So yeah. We're all about okay, cool.
Reef Colman 21:56
Okay, yeah. So when I when I started my journey, I started with jersey, Mike's I was a marketing director. I left college, I was doing the 14 for jobs and 16 units. I actually paid an Asian kid to Asian kids in my class $100 a month to finish my notes for me. So I could do my homework and also take my tests. When I got the job at Jersey, Mike's. I was dating a girl at the time, and she went to Jersey Mike's and one of my classes are canceled. So let's go get a sandwich. And the owner was there, Alberto Garcia and that man revolutionized my life. He was such an impactful man, largest franchisor in the US, and he had over 400 franchise units. Man does over like $4 million dollars a month. Right? And he he taught me so many great principles like anything outside of the results excuse, right? Push, don't give me your your excuses. Give me your how you achieved it. Right? Find a way. He also taught the work at the position that you want to be at another position that you're at, right? So work where you want to be not where you are. Meaning like if you want to be a manager work like a manager now or if you want to be a business owner, start practicing the principles now rather than I'll do it when I get there. Right, which is the case across so many mines. You don't pay me enough for this. You think money is the reward. It's actually the learning. That's the reward. Right? So he is he was phenomenal. That's so cool. He's the one that I essentially like The Godfather of Jersey, Mike's asked him if I could leave and start my own company and that's when I started we assist or so I raised marketing, raise marketing was interesting. I Ubered from 4am to 6am or 9am in LAX because they were really good runs that lax runs got you a lot of money. From 9am to 6pm. I worked in an office for $500 I had no AC no heater, I have pictures I need to send them to send you some of the photos. horrifically no bad not horrific, but like during the summer I sweat through my shirt so I had to like Uber or I had to drive only on Wednesdays for my meetings and stack up so I could be in the Prius with the AC Monday Tuesday Thursday. Friday did follow up simple right? I burned my toes and a little thing on the bottom during winters. It was just an interesting time but still worth it 6pm to 10pm or midnight. I had Uber again Postmates DoorDash then on Fridays and Saturdays at Uber till four or five in the morning in Hollywood because they had activators so it was great tips I had
Bethany Londyn 24:27
money or were you actually working with you or working the company them
Reef Colman 24:31
I had so had lunch raise marketing my first marketing agency and to have my first employee US base I had a work goober nonstop Sundays even Sundays I'd go to the nine cent store and buy sunscreens banana incense and selling for 10 bucks a pop at the beach. I just walk up another beach of the backpack and make 200 or $300 and call it a day. Seven days a week for seven and a half plus months. Make it happen right i over i blame Alberto and my mom it's like anything outside of that. There's always an excuse, right? I mean, they're gonna make excuses and tell you some bullshit story for why it didn't achieve. There are plenty of those in the world. Everyone's got one mad and do this right? Or you're gonna turn around and be like, here's how I succeeded. It was hard. It was crazy. It was interesting, but this is how I did it right. And I much rather have a life full of those stories and the other side of the spectrum. It just got to be more fruitful for me personally. Yeah, yeah.
Bethany Londyn 25:22
Well, thank you, Dana. And so as How did things start shifting?
Reef Colman 25:27
Yeah. So Ray's marketing and the things shifted. When Ray's marketing I realized, scaling a marketing agency was very difficult. I was actually selling my buddy's platform, Ian Blair, he's my best friend from college, wonderful human being. He's a CEO of three companies right now currently, and he's just a juggernaut of a sapien, right, he just really well minded and just great frame of mind great principles. And he, he started an app company, like a Wix for mobile app. So graphic user interface to make mobile apps. That is that a white label has software to sell it. And nobody wanted it. Like at the time everyone was like, and just to give you like, understanding, I guess, in Jersey, Mike's I opened 190 Plus Jersey Mike's and opening up all those Jersey Mike's as a marketing director, I created the national marketing campaign for how they launched jersey, Mike's in 2012. So that was like my project. And I read recreated their format, essentially for launching, which is kind of interesting. They went from a negative 20, negative 40,000, a grand opening deposit, 40, positive 60,000, a grand opening. And there's just my fundraising, getting back to school and education and kids, which is like where my hearts truly at, right? The future, the youth is really important to me. But I've met so many mayors and officials and city officials and whoever, whatever it is, and Chamber of Commerce. And I was like, this is something interesting, right? Like you look at all these people like how, what can I do here? So I started some mobile apps. So they needed help with technology. And I would give them apps after nine or 10 players, or nine or 10 people that I approached, I realized that nobody cared for a mobile app, I was educating more about what a mobile app was than actually selling mobile apps. So I ended up getting to a space where in the in the moving of mobile apps and helping people make mobile apps, I would ask them if Would you like a mobile app? And they'd say, No, but I need a website. Finally, like tunnel vision of an entrepreneur, right? Like you're stuck in these blinders. I was like, if I can get you, if I can build you a website for free, will you buy a mobile app? And they were like, Sure, right. Never touch them. They never and I can see the back end never opened the app. But the other website, oh, this is great. So I realized, and one of the principles I realized there, my my journey was listen to your customer, and ask plenty of questions, because they will tell you what their needs are. And you can deliver on those right. So that they needed websites. And that's when it was like, Okay, we're doing websites done, drug and mobile apps are doing websites, and building websites for people. And that's how raise marketing was born. And it was horrifically hard. Again, I worked all those jobs just to have my first US base employee and be able to pay his salary plus mine plus, working on the business and growing and scaling. And I still remember I remember him working from like, nine to five or nine to six daily. And I and he was like a partial partner in the business, right, like a profit sharing partner. And I just remember me working from like 6am to 10pm or midnight and thinking like, I'm grinding you know, as any Why Why can't other people around me grind the same way? And that's another interesting thing. I have zero desire
Bethany Londyn 28:38
to.
Reef Colman 28:40
Yeah, you know, I was like, that's kind of something I noticed that there's some people that do and some people that don't right are some people that want to do that don't want that right. And it was it was a very hard awakening for me to realize that I just have to worry about me self and I and then do me at the best level possible and that project my goals, my wants my ambitions on to others and allow them to be that right many same diverse and so beautiful. So it was a very good learning lesson for me, but ended up Yeah, I ended up dropping. Jersey Mike started my own agency from starting my own agency. I worked that for as long as possible. I got to talk to a gentleman in a McDonald's drive thru who had a red Lamborghini Huracan. And he was like 20 years old and Asian kid. And I scare the bejesus out of him. I got out of the car and was like, hey, what do you do for a living? And he's like, What do you want? How would you ecommerce? And yeah, to Porsche clients behind him? And I was like, What are these cars? Like they're my company cars. I think he thought I was gonna bug them, you know, because I'm gonna Yeah, I'm a six foot two. You're weighing like 240 pounds in a in a Toyota Prius. Yeah. And so he's probably like, this guy's desperate. Yeah. So, yeah, I ended up making friends with him. And that friendship was very fruitful. A few months later, he put on an event called the comic accelerators. And I couldn't. I couldn't afford the tickets. But because they're 18,000 or is ridiculous amount of money for the weekend, he brought a bunch of people from around the world. So Hollywood Hills house and closed invite like 100 people only. And they got to talk to all these high level entrepreneurs and ask them questions and 2018 back in the day of like, econ was blowing up, right? Hey, here's how you do a drop shipping store, you know, like, learn how to do ecommerce. So, people paid for it. I asked them on a on a serendipitous phone call, like, Hey, do you need help with anything? I said, Yeah, I need a videographer. You have a marketing agency. Right? And I was like, Yeah, of course. Him not knowing that I had one one team member, right, and was like, Can I can I get gonna get through videographers? I was like, Sure, right away, tell me the date and time you know, so I got the address, date and time I went on Upwork. I hired through videographers, I got shirts that said, raise marketing on them, and ask them to be my employees for the weekend. And I absolutely went to the event at pretending like they were my employees. And that's how I got into an $18,000 Plus event for like, amazing $750 Essentially all in. But there I met some great people bend the law, Vince Wang, Beast of EECOM. Sean Kelly, right. Jeffrey, like just these wonderful human beings. And Sam Bening is the guy that changed my life. He, he had an interesting model, he would do, like $50,000 of ad spend on a product right? Or whatever it was online, been tested for 14 days. And if it brought a return on adspend of 1.25% or more, he would put in five to seven officers professionals on the store, give him a salary plus a percentage of the profits and run the store. He had like 17 stores doing between a million to $3.5 million. absolute beast that human being right just so impressive. And I was like, shoot, I need to do this now. Wow is right. That's exactly what happened. I was sitting there like, Oh, my God, you would Who are you people, you know, what is happening in here? How did I get here, ended up taking him out to dinner and lunch before he went back to the UK with his wife. And he essentially shared with me how to do a little outsourcing and that's where my journey started. took me nine months to find my first player. And it was hellacious first three did nothing. I didn't know what I was doing. The 60s was professional luck, my father my software and helped me ransom I had to pay them to get back into the software. That's yeah, I didn't tell anybody that that happens. I was so embarrassed, right. And it kind of I think in entrepreneurship, you have to learn to have a very healthy relationship with pain, right? Like you have to learn to love the process, and that nothing is forever, nothing is long lasting, right? Like Pain is temporary, and so is happiness. You can choose them and how to exist within them. But those moments of pure bliss, enjoy them, because they will end at one point, right? And then the moments of pain, enjoy it. Because on the other side of it, there's a huge learning lesson and start seeking what that learning lesson is in the midst of the pain. So then it's much lighter to carry and it carries you towards more happiness, right? So for me, it was like, kind of like endurance athletes, right? Like, no one likes to run like I do 180 mile bike rides or long bike rides and it's like, I don't know, one enjoy. It's not like you don't feel pain, we all feel pain, but there's a goal right? And you tell your mind to keep going. And in that I find the same thing for entrepreneurship that mental fortitude is so necessary rate the more you practice and sharpen that that weapon or that blade, the stronger you'll be long term because you'll be able to supersede others or beat others where they're like fall apart. Right? So the seventh, eighth ninth, the ninth as a professional was a winner after suffering. And I also didn't give up because I have a way of looking at things and seeing if someone else is doing it. Why can't we like it was someone was doing it right. I've seen it working. All I had to do is figure out how to make it work. Right. It was like I know it does. I just need to it's like making a puzzle, right? You're sitting there with 1000 piece puzzle and you're like, I know this works against obviously, unless someone messed all the pieces up and like scattered five puzzles together. I was like haha, you know, like the Joker of the worlds like, Here you go. Let me let me just strike Gotham through this process. Chances are all the pieces are there and you have to figure it out. So in that, I just decided to keep going and keep pushing until I got a results and ended up getting a result. Right. And that night, that's what professional showed it. It was like they were hungry. They were gregarious, they were open minded. They were hard working. They pushed it was just something that I'd never seen before in a player domestic or abroad or in companies. I mean, I hired more than over 1000 people in Jersey Mike's right I hadn't seen players like that. It's such a rare breed of a person. And I thought if I could figure out how to do this for other people, there might be a business here yeah.
Bethany Londyn 35:00
Love it. Yeah. Oh, I can see, I feel that working for you would be a dream. You know? I mean, it's, I feel like yeah, you really take care and love up on your people. And when I'm working with CEOs and business owners, it's all about, I actually tune in to their level of love because it radiates throughout the whole entire company.
Reef Colman 35:28
So I'm trying to get more chuckles from the top. Yeah, I appreciate you and I'm getting better at accepting compliments. So I'm gonna say thank you. Appreciate you, I'm working on that. It's very interesting waters for me, but I, I value it and I'm gonna reset myself here and adjust myself on my sleeve. The real? Yeah, I think, I think that I think that love is love is a very important component to running a business, right. And helping people I mean, like pouring into others, and people are the business. You know, I think it's, I think people are waking up to like, like, that's why entrepreneurship is so big, and people, I can't find a good player, because we're waking up, we're like, I recognize that me trading my life points to help you buy a Ferrari for $10 an hour, I'm giving you the most precious thing on this planet, my time. And you're gonna give me fucking $10 an hour? Yo, like, why would that is changing? It's shifting so fast before our very eyes. And I don't think it's I don't think it's something that people if people don't have just thrown, people are waking up to it. And they don't want to be a part of that process. Right? I tell people, you are the business, you are literally the running engine. If every single one of you got up today and said, I'm not coming to work, we would fall apart. There's nothing else keeping that structure together. And it's antithetical, right? Like a lot of people say that I'm like, Oh, don't say that you would if they actually think to do it, good. If they think to do it, then they should, because I'm not doing something right. As a leader, there should be no reason why that exists for them to do if I'm doing everything right, as a leader, right? If I'm saying, Hey, here's your needs, your wants, what's going on asking the questions? What do you need? What's going on? What can I help you with? What would make this better would make us better? We'll make this process better, we'll make the situation better. Hey, does anybody have any great ideas? Let's run these. Let's try it. Let's check it out. Why not? Who knows? If I'm not doing that as a leader, then I'm, I'm literally put setting myself up for failure, they should turn around and walk out. Like what like it's not the elephant in the ring idea right where you like now they can't leave because they've had a chain on for so long, right? They say if you put a chain on elephant for X amount of years, after you take the chain off, they don't know how to leave past 20 yards, they get stuck to that circle because they're behaviorally conditioned. I want to actually I understand that we can behaviorally conditioned, I'm totally aware. I'm not ignorant to that. My idea, or my thesis is instead of behaviorally conditioned how to make slaves or how to make just mouth breathers that are just like here fulfill work about we behaviorally conditioned people to think outside the box, be expansive, had passed that on to future generations so that we can have a better tomorrow. Instead of like, continuously, like, I'm tired of hearing people at the highest Echelon complaint like US society, humanity, people just don't get it, then teach the user mind and teach so that we can have a better humanity. Right? Yeah. Have
Bethany Londyn 38:17
to ask you a question. Coming through and then and then and then I'm going to ask you like the final one, because I feel like I could talk to you for 20 hours.
Reef Colman 38:25
Okay, I don't mind it. I'd love it. Yeah, that's good.
Bethany Londyn 38:29
I'm like usually like 30 to 45 minutes, but we're going I'm I'm curious if you have like for any other business owners listening any they can't that aren't that are looking, let's say for in person people. Any interview questions that are like really juicy?
Reef Colman 38:49
Yeah, why do you do what you do? Why do you get up in the morning? Okay, quite simply figure like Simon Sinek. Find your why, right? Like your functional questions, you should always have a several tiered hiring process. We have nine steps in our company, right assessment tests, personality tests, background check, reference check, we do a digital cover letter, we have them write a piece on their, on their position, we do a video which is the digital cover letter that we do a digital resume, we do three interviews of a group interview, and then we have them do a test for whatever role or position right and then within that we've been asked to accompany like, Hey, bring your specialist and to have these conversations, you should have a process for your hiring engine. If you're creating a process for hiring either hire someone to buy that time back for you. We go through 220 280 candidates every hire which is a I can't tell you how much work it is to go through them and the applicants just to bring three possible applicants and say hey, try these guys out. That process alone takes time and energy so dedicate time and energy to that because you're hiring engineers and most important engine to your business, who you bring on board. Jim Collins Good to Great, wonderful book right peak performance right? Never split the difference. Principles by Ray Dalio, most of these books is At the core, talk about great people, right, the four hour workweek, like they talk about having great people in your organization. And literally who you put in your team will decide the fate and future of your business. So truly find out who that person is right? Do they do you agree with them and find common grounds or commonalities? I say ask them what they care for. And like, were you What do you why do you work? Right? Family? Okay, great. Like that's very heavy, right? Just Yes.
Bethany Londyn 40:30
Oh, you know, I think you put more time into hiring than the most people
Reef Colman 40:36
100% Yeah, hire slow fire fast. And I wear that I wear that weighed heavily. Like if you really want to hear the weight that I carry. And what keeps me up at night, everyone has little nightmares. Mine is a people company, you only name three things like a baby, a pet and a company. That's huge. Everything else is named a rock is rock walls, wall balls a ball, right? We don't name anything stars, maybe you're if you're a microbiologist in the ocean, you're naming right, but yet to be discovered and explore. Entrepreneurship allows you to be your own Explorer from your living room or your kitchen. Like that's crazy to think about. That that's something that we sweat and bleed into. Like, it's a big deal with company. So I wear the weight of somebody's harder in business. And I wear that not lightly because I was taking advantage of so many times. On the other end, we're feeding an entire family, right? So you have this entire family system, that if you mess up the process. It's not just a hey, you know, let's go return these. You're fine. Alright, cool. That's great. Let's just throw in the Amazon box. No, like people are depending on food. Right? So live off of that. So I carry that weighed heavily on my shoulders and putting the right people together. Another one I'd say is, is is watching how people answer right? Are they are they telling you their victims scripts? Or they're telling you their heroes stories? Are they projecting and pointing the figure on others for why they didn't succeed? Or are they taking responsibility and ownership? Are they telling you complaints? Are they telling you they're learning lessons? How are they expressing their humanity, their journey, right? We're very simple creatures Sapiens of habit, right? Then we take in content and we spew out content, the content that we take in, and other lenses and frames that we process that information through which is our mind and past experiences of life are very important because they will tell you how you view the world and how you express the world as you speak it out how someone speaks of life themselves, their history, their surroundings, however, whatever is a huge insight into their mind and how they process and view information. Right. So listening to how people listen, and that's a nuanced thing, right? It's kind of hard to explain, and just this five seconds, or five minutes or whatever, but I would say paying attention to your
Bethany Londyn 42:38
question, but that was so good. So good. I hope I'm answering it. Well, I apologize. Oh, you did? You did?
Reef Colman 42:44
Yeah. Yeah, I apologize. I they tend to do that times. No, I love it. I think it's I think it's Yeah, seeing how people answer is big finding out their way. And see how people answer are pretty interesting questions than the rest are really about their humanity. Who are they as a person? Right?
Bethany Londyn 43:04
Yeah. Love it. Okay, so to wrap it up, maybe? My I always end with what would be if you had a button it all up? What would be your three keys to quantum leaping? In business in life? It's in your toolbox.
Reef Colman 43:24
three keys to quantum leaping for others to use? Yep, I'd say I'd say the first one is be religious and be dedicated and devoted to making principles for your life. Right? Be absolutely obsessive for making your own principles, how to operate your own life, your events, how to operate, et cetera, right? I'd say the next one is make the world a better place so that our future generations can answer the questions that we've not yet answered. And that one is the one that guides me most right? They selflessly live selfish is living for like, maybe I go to heaven and maybe reincarnation, whatever. I have to do good deeds now because I'll be rewarded later, right? Like, ooh, like, it's it's a selfishly selfless, right? You're like, I'm going to be selfless. But it's because I'm selfish because I want this reward at the end. What if we operate in a truly selfless pathway, which was we don't know what's going to happen in the future, the only thing we truly know is that our loved ones are going to miss us. That's the only thing we can verifiably check and know for a fact outside of that realm. In reality, we can say that the probably our best bet, because there's so many questions that we don't know yet is help our future species be able to answer the questions that we have not yet answered, by giving them a better platform to do so. Why? Because this experiment or this thought process of consciousness or human cognition is a very interesting thing and we still don't know what it is or what lies to what it lies in at the core. We have no idea everything's a hypothesis. So we should probably probably our best or Best bet is to make sure that our future generations can answer some of those potential theoretical questions. Where do we come from? Why are we here? What's our purpose? What are we doing? Give them the opportunity to answer instead of proposing answers that don't exist just yet. And the last one? That's a good, I think I answered the other two inside the actual dialog, right. But I think making principles for so ah, yeah, the last one, I would say, for success is practice emotional intelligence, I'd say that the most important thing that we can do as a species is understand that we are experiencing an observer experience instead of being our experience, right? Instead of functioning in actual aggression, or sadness, or whatever else that deviates us from our desired result. be emotionally cognitive and emotional aware, right? Take responsibility for all actions. Like how do we operate in the world? How do we respond to the world you're not? I can't stop you. If you want to sit here and cuss me out for the next 30 minutes. I can't stop you from doing that. What I can do, what I do have power in is reacting to you, right? I mean, they're gonna react and oh, yeah, well, welcome to hack, you know, like, I'm gonna get worse, my ego, my hurt inner child, ego is gonna fight back. Or I could take a step back and recognize this is a hurt person, or they're trying to express something and really try to figure out what's going on. Right? That emotional cognition and emotional intelligence is incredibly important. I find that that's key to success. And I think if more people in fact, they go far enough to say that the the wars of the future will not be fought amongst each other, because I think it's silly that we fight over dirt and soil on land. Like if you gave somebody a bag of dirt for their birthday, they'd be like, What the fuck, but if you give them an acre, they're like, oh, my gosh, an acre. Thank you real estate. That seems right. Just because the amount of dirt makes it like what it doesn't make sense. Or that like, who's God has the bigger we right like mine, yours haha, like our latest promise, why not? Right? Like, it doesn't make sense that we're fighting over like who's died as a bigger dick. So I think that the wars of the future will not be fought against each other. But rather internally, we'll be fighting our own self and our own our Antiquities and like our own hurts and our own inner traumas, because that's truly how we'll get to a more utopian Welding Society. When we are okay with our own journey, we will be much more understanding of the journey of others happening before us, we'll be much more open minded to their experience, because we'll be like, Ah, you're experiencing just like I am and learning how beautiful show me your notes. Let's talk.
Bethany Londyn 47:38
Show me that. That's what we're doing right now. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. So good. Well, you are you're a total gift and leadership to this world. So I'm excited. Yeah. There's something great for you here to support other owners, for sure.
Reef Colman 47:57
I appreciate you saying that.
Bethany Londyn 47:59
It's like I don't know what that looks like. But I just I feel it.
Reef Colman 48:04
I appreciate your support. And that 2023 is my year to start speaking. So I would love
Bethany Londyn 48:10
and yeah,
Reef Colman 48:12
you and I are getting early access. I don't know. I'm very nervous and excited for this next year. But this is kind of my first tipping of the toes into podcasting and speaking. So I appreciate your
Bethany Londyn 48:22
Oh, so good. Yay. Well, I am so blessed to have you on the Quantum Leap.
Reef Colman 48:27
Likewise, likewise, it was a pleasure being here. Bethany. Thank you. You're awesome.
Bethany Londyn 48:32
You're awesome.
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