Setting Goals Changed My Life – Richard Robbins

Richard Robbins International (RRI) provides leading-edge sales and business training solutions to real estate agents and leaders at all levels. It delivers programs to countless customers worldwide.

But it all started in Peterborough, Ontario. And where it truly began to formulate as an idea and then a business was when a seminar he attended showed Rich that when you give to the world the day will come when you get more than you give. That sparked goal setting which Rich calls Future Focus.

He began offering training. 
And the business grew. 
And it got big. 

Guest: Richard Robbins
https://www.richardrobbins.com/ 
 

Ken can be reached at:
ken@remaxhallmark.com

Transcript

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Richard Robbins (00:01):

And I used to drive by the Century 21 office all the time and I'd seen all these really nice looking cars and everybody at the time was all dressed up in suits. And anyway, I decided I was going to get in real estate. So it was just based on getting into sales. I wanted to be a salesperson and I wanted to sell something that I enjoyed, which to me was house as more so insurance. So that's how it all started. I got my license when I was 24 years old.

Ken McLachlan (00:36):

Hi everyone, it's Ken McLachlan. Welcome to my podcast called Realty Life. I get to talk to really great people throughout our industry of real estate and obviously hopefully through other industries as well, and really with the hope of discovering their journey, what they worked through to get to where they are today and all that great stuff with it. So I'm especially privileged to have with me an old friend, not old in years, but old in friendship years with me today, and someone I highly respect and someone that's been a big influence on my life. Mr. Rich Robbins, thank you Rich for being here.

Richard Robbins (01:15):

Oh, Ken, thank you so much. And you're probably right to say old in years, you know what I mean? But it's all good.

Ken McLachlan (01:23):

For those that don't know Rich, rich is one of the premier real estate mentors, coaches, trainers in the industry. He has been, we find out how long he is been in the business, but he's well respected, he runs great programs and we're going to get a little bit into that as we go through that. But what I want to find out is how does a guy from Peterborough who started his life in Peterborough and his foundation there and his small real estate company, all that become Rich Robbins guy for trainers, for all of real estate people in Canada, how did you transition to that?

Richard Robbins (02:01):

Well, I was born and raised in Peterborough, but saying that I did live in Collingwood, Hamilton and Smithville when I was very young. My dad used to actually work for a newspaper called The Telegram. I dunno if you remember that, Ken? Yeah,

Ken McLachlan (02:14):

I do. Yeah.

Richard Robbins (02:14):

The Telegram was a competitor with the Toronto Star, and he was a district manager up in that Collingwood area, but he started in the gas station business. My dad was a mechanic, my dad was a stock car racer. He was just totally into cars. So we moved back to Peterborough and he took over working for Shell Canada. It was actually Beaver Gas Stations, which was a subsidiary of Shell. And he opened,

Ken McLachlan (02:42):

I remember that too.

Richard Robbins (02:43):

And he opened three of them in Peterborough. We had the highest volume gas station, all of Peterborough as well as two others. And so I really spent most of my time in that business. And it was interesting because when I was 23 years old, I started playing squash with a gentleman by the name of Terry Windrow, and he was about five years older than me, so we used to play squash and he was in the insurance business. And so the more I got home, he invites me for dinner to his house and he's driving a nicer car. I'm driving a car that I painted with spray bombs from Canadian Tire, that sort of thing. And I got to know him. He was in sales, so he was trying to convince me to get into insurance, but I didn't want to sell insurance. And I know this sounds crazy, but I literally used to drive around Peterborough.

(03:33):

This is back before the internet, and I'd have to check all the prices of the other gas stations. And I used to drive by the Century 21 office all the time and I'd seen all these really nice looking cars and everybody at the time was all dressed up in suits. And anyway, I decided I was going to get in real estate. So it was just based on getting into sales. I wanted to be a salesperson and I wanted to sell something that I enjoyed, which to me was houses more so insurance. So that's how it all started. I got my license when I was 24 years old.

Ken McLachlan (04:04):

So looking at cars inspired you?

Richard Robbins (04:07):

Yeah, well it was like when I drive by, they had suits on. You got to remember here I am working at gas stations, I'm dirty and all that sort of thing. And if you knows me, know me, I'm a bit of a clothes guy, right? Yeah. So he see he you're suits. I went, Hey, that's really cool. So anyway, I met with Don Herman, who was the manager at the Century 21 at the time, and he actually paid for my course and the whole deal. And I got licensed and that was the beginning.

Ken McLachlan (04:36):

What year was that Rich?

Richard Robbins (04:37):

1985. I started July 15th, 1985.

Ken McLachlan (04:41):

Yeah. So you are licensed now, you are in the industry. And what was it like the first year or two? What did you find the process to be like?

Richard Robbins (04:54):

Well, my manager, Don Harriman was really an amazing human being. He actually played in the World Hockey Association, so very competitive guy, and he trained us on prospecting. So the deal was this, there was five new agents started at the same time, Ken. And we all had to prospect the telephone from nine to 12. Now we're for lunch and we had to door knock from one to four, and then we had to do two open houses on Saturday and two open houses on Sunday. That was our start. And they weren't our listings, but he would get us listings in the office. So basically my first year in real estate, Ken, I bet you I put in, I don't know, 80, 85, maybe 90 hours a week. I just worked, worked, worked. I didn't work smart. And my first calendar year, believe it or not, it was quite amazing. So from January of 1986 till the end of December, actually, and you got to remember I was selling homes for 49, $50,000, but remember made $102,000 and I thought I was on top of the world.

Ken McLachlan (06:00):

Wow. That's a lot of money. A lot of money in that marketplace in Peterborough at the time for the price point you're looking at. And your first year, that was your first year?

Richard Robbins (06:10):

Yeah, well, my first calendar year, I started July. So if we go to the following January through the end of December, that was my first calendar year. But yeah, I, I just broke up. That's

Ken McLachlan (06:21):

A lot of money, rich, big. But you worked, I thought,

Richard Robbins (06:25):

I was like, oh my God, far from work smart. But yeah, all I did was work seven days a week. So 12, 14

Ken McLachlan (06:33):

Hours you actually had the discipline and you had someone to mentor you to create the habits that mattered in the business at the very early stage. So how did you transition from that first year to the third and fifth year? What was that journey? How did you grow?

Richard Robbins (06:50):

Well, it was interesting because I actually became depressed after my first year, which is really weird. And the cause of that I think was, I didn't set any more goals and I thought there was something physically wrong with me. And I think what I had done was just wore myself out. And so I went to the doctor, I got all checked out. He goes, there's nothing wrong with you. And he said, he started asking me about how we did last year. And of course I got all excited when I started talking about how I did. And he goes, oh my God, I'm a doctor and you're making more money than me. And he was a family doctor that looked after the family and he said, I don't think you have any goals. So I'll never forget. I went home that day and I sat down with the yellow pad and I wrote down all the things I wanted to do before I died. Wow. I know this sounds weird, but I I've always been a goal setter and that got me.

Ken McLachlan (07:42):

Wait a minute, Rich, you, you're at 25 at the time or?

Richard Robbins (07:46):

Yeah, I would've been So that if we go, this would've been say January, February of 19 85, 86, 87,

Ken McLachlan (07:55):

Yeah. Wow. So having

Richard Robbins (07:57):

Would've been January of 87.

Ken McLachlan (07:58):

So having that thought process where you actually think that far ahead things you want to accomplish. Yeah, it's tremendous. So what did you write down?

Richard Robbins (08:08):

It was all materialistic stuff, Ken. Yeah. And I don't really write a lot of that stuff down as much anymore, but back then, when you're in your twenties, that's all you're thinking about, right? Yeah. I remember the one thing I wrote down, I wanted to fly a fighter jet. And that happened many years later when I was in South Africa speaking, believe it or not. But it, it's like you've heard about the reticular activator in our head it's like we will find what we're looking for in the world. So if we don't know what we want, then everything's going to seem really, really cool. But the minute you get very specific on what it is you want to achieve, then the only idea is the brain can't avoid a question. So in other words, if I say to myself, how can I produce this result? My brain will go to work to figure out how to produce that result.

(09:05):

And I'm a believer that every idea necessary to produce a result for at least me, maybe not for Elon Musk, but for me it's already in the world. I just have to know what I want and then constantly be looking for those ideas to help me produce that result. And I believe that people, I call it your atmosphere, the atmosphere that you live in, the people you hang out with, the people you proactively try to have lunch with, try to have coffee with, try to have a beer with the right people, have all the answers.

Ken McLachlan (09:45):

I agree.

Richard Robbins (09:45):

So you just have to find the right people.

Ken McLachlan (09:47):

Yeah. You are some of the people or the nine people you hang out with? I believe so. Rich, no. Was this a 25 year old kid that knew this? Yeah. Or you were told this. How did you learn that?

Richard Robbins (10:02):

No, no, I didn't. I hadn't learned it at the time. What happened, I go back. When I went to the doctor, the doctor said to me this, he goes, listen, there's nothing physically wrong with you. And keep in mind, this doctor had known me and my family for years. He goes, I think that you worked really hard last year. I think you're worn out. And then he asked me a question, he goes, what do you have planned for this year? And I realized I didn't have any plans for this year.

(10:27):

He said, I think what you need to do is you need to sit down and decide and set yourself some goals and get yourself excited again. So I know this sounds crazy, but his name was Dr. Caskey. It was Dr. Caskey that got me thinking about the possibilities for my life. Now again, I'm a little O C D in some ways, so of course I'm not thinking about goals for this year. I just start randomly writing everything down I wanted to do. Some of them were smooth, some of them I never achieved. Some of them after the couple years, I didn't want those, right. But at least it got me excited about the possibilities of what I could do in my life.

Ken McLachlan (11:07):

So you have actually started dreaming, I bet

Richard Robbins (11:11):

Dr. I call it future focus and it's what it is. It's a form of dreaming. Think about this, Ken. If you had a puzzle and let's say a thousand piece puzzle, and let's say I walked into your house and I took the puzzle and what I did was I threw all of the pieces down on the table and I took away the box, you didn't know what you wanted to create, it would be pretty difficult. I'm not saying you couldn't do it, but it would take you a long time to put that puzzle together. If I showed you the puzzle box and you could see what you're trying to create, it's called selective attention. So what then happens is once you can see what you're trying to create, those pieces become more meaningful to you. And I believe that the future focus, dreaming, setting goals creates selective attention.

Ken McLachlan (12:00):

It's a perfect example. Perfect. I get it. Absolutely. So you're this guy in the doctor's office, you go away, you dream, you write things down, you start your second, third year in real estate and then transitioned, changed companies I guess at that time or what was your journey as a realtor?

Richard Robbins (12:21):

So in 1988, I've had a few good years in real estate. And let's face it, I didn't have a lot of money. I was at that time spending a lot of money because as a kid I never had any money. If you make a hundred, I was spending one 20. So anyway, that was all, that's another story

Ken McLachlan (12:43):

That hasn't changed much. It No,

Richard Robbins (12:44):

I know it's still the same deal. And I was bored. I was bored with Peterborough. I left Peterborough in October of 1988 and I opened a real estate company in Markham where I still live today. And I did that with Dana. Yeah. Who was my partner at the time. And actually who today still runs our coaching division in our company. So we've been together for getting close to 40 years. It's crazy. And we opened up a real estate company and on a shoestring. And that's sort of when I got my ass handed to me, if you know what I'm saying. The next three years were,

Ken McLachlan (13:26):

Yep,

Richard Robbins (13:26):

I did pretty tough.

Ken McLachlan (13:28):

I understood that. Not just the new company, but the market had shifted at that time, as you know, right? Yeah. In 89, 90. Yeah.

Richard Robbins (13:36):

I'm sorry, I said October. Not it was October. It was February. I'm sorry I'm wrong. It was February of 1989. I sorry. When I moved.

Ken McLachlan (13:44):

Okay.

Richard Robbins (13:46):

And the market shifted. The market shifted tons of listings. I remember Canada Homes who was a new home builder, rates were so high, they were offering eight and seven eights mortgages for somebody to buy one of their homes. And that was a deal.

Ken McLachlan (14:03):

That was a deal. I mean they were raised 21 points at the time. I remember that. And so you had this company, you were running it for three years, you got your ass handed to you and you licked your wounds by doing. What did you transition to at that point? Well,

Richard Robbins (14:19):

It was funny because I didn't know Ken, I didn't know what to do. So here I am, Dan and I we're like, we're getting by. But I mean every month it's like, do we have enough money to pay our bills? That went on for about three years. And somebody said to me, I don't, and I had never been to a seminar in my life, and this is probably why I'm a bit of a junkie now, but somebody said to me, you need to go see Jim Rowan. You probably remember Jim Rowan.

Ken McLachlan (14:43):

Yeah.

Richard Robbins (14:44):

And he was in Dallas, Texas. And he had this big seminar down there and I looked at Dana, I said, we're stuck, Dana. We don't have any answers right now. We, we've got to find some answers here. I'm not comfortable with just getting by and wondering every month if we can pay our bills and sometimes pay our bills 60, 90 days late. So Dana and I agreed I was going to go down, so I flew down to Dallas. Now you got to remember I had no money. So I flew down to Dallas. He was at the Marriott Hotel speaking and there was like, I don't know, a couple thousand people I'd never seen like this in my life. And I couldn't stay at the Marriott cause I didn't have the money. I couldn't buy a v I P ticket. So here I'm sitting in the back middle to the back of the room.

(15:25):

I stayed in some cheap hotel where there was about 25 locks on the door. So you can imagine what area of town I was in. And Jim got up there and he started to talk about value. How if you want to make more money, you got to bring more value to the marketplace. And then he used some Zig Z codes. If you go out into the world, if you would give more than you get, the day will come when you get more than you give. They all these sayings that stuck with me and I started to think about it and Jim talked a lot about the whole idea is you have to focus on the market, you got to bring value to the market, don't worry about yourself. And that was change for me. And because we had agents at the time in our office and I thought to myself, all Dana and I was thinking about ourselves, we were trying to figure out how to pay our bills and the agents were more of a pawn in our personal chess game of life.

(16:17):

That's what I felt. So I got back and I said to Dana and I was blown away by the seminar. I literally changed my life. And I said to Dana, I said, we got to stop worrying about ourselves. We got to stop worrying about paying the bills. We have to start thinking about how can we help our agents make money that's going to become our soulful? Because if we help them make money, we obviously are going to do better and it's going to eliminate our own personal challenges. So we started to train coach, hold accountable. We had mastermind meetings. A lot of the same stuff you do today, Ken, with your people. We had mastermind meetings. We started learning from each other because no one person hauls all the answers. And within two years we had the highest production per agent of any company in our area.

Ken McLachlan (17:11):

Lemme back that, lemme back that up for a second. Rich. So you come back from Dallas and you, you're inspired to create value for your agents and help them build their business and then you go to work. Yes. But how did you get the blueprint? Where was it that you just didn't, did you just make it up or did you grab it from Jim Rowlings? What did you get it from?

Richard Robbins (17:31):

Yeah, I had bought all Jim Rowland tapes and everything else. And what we started to do is we went back to the basics of what we had learned. Like Don Harriman had taught me how to prospect my manager, Don Harriman said There's not a lot of problems in the world that having 20 new leads won't solve. He say that to me all the time. He said the challenge in the real estate industry and sales in general is people do not generate enough leads. So what we did with our agents is we started doing exactly with them. What Don Herriman had done with me, we called them in individually, we set goals with them. Say, what's your, what do you want to hit this year? And then we would lay it all out, well here's some of the things you need to do. We'd hold them accountable. We started having one-on-one meetings. We started having masterminds like one-on-one today. I would call them coaching sessions, we didn't call it back then. And we started to hold them accountable to the lead generating ideas that would help them get more leads. And we helped 'em learn how to qualify the leads. And this all came from what Don Harriman taught me. So

Ken McLachlan (18:35):

You just mirrored what he mirrored what you learned and critiqued it and got better at what it is that often when we learned from our mentors, we actually push it up one level at the time. And that sounds like that's something you did really.

Richard Robbins (18:48):

A hundred percent. And not only that, what happens is you, we have to understand that even in this business today, so I'm in the coaching training business and I know I don't have all the answers, but we have this amazing community of people that are always sharing the best practices. One person takes that idea, somebody else uses it, they make it better. And the idea evolves where the idea continually becomes more effective over time.

Ken McLachlan (19:16):

Yeah, I love it. Yeah, exactly. The blueprint is there for you. So Rich, I want to push it ahead a bit, that you have your company, you've taking the initiative to train them to help them grow their business. So you have this company going and when was it that you transitioned into out of the brokerage business, into the training, mentoring, coaching business? How did

Richard Robbins (19:40):

That I sold the company in 1996 to RE/MAX, right? It was Max Allstar who I sold it to at the time. Yeah. I had an agreement with them that I would stay with them for two years. And I was doing this with the intention of starting the company I have now. So I stayed with them for two years. And then 1998 was when officially we opened R R I. And where that actually came from, there was a lady by the name of Nancy Che that worked for me at the time. At our peak, Ken, we had 24 agents, our company. So Reax sort of okay. Purchased our company with 24 agents. And of course they had to take all the agents, all that sort of thing. And so Nancy Che came up to me one day and she said to me, you know, work so hard helping us be successful, why wouldn't you take this to other people? And as crazy as it sounds, Ken, that was the seed of a dream.

Ken McLachlan (20:39):

That was it. And

Richard Robbins (20:40):

I go, that was it. This lady like Nancy who's still in her business today by the way. Yeah, she said that. And I go, yeah. And then I studied, I mulled that and thought about it for quite a while. And then I thought, yeah, we could do that. And Dana had left, my partner had left before that because his wife didn't like living in Markham. She wanted to go back to the smaller town. So I bought the company off Dana. And then shortly, couple years after that, then I sold it to Max. And then 1988 we started Richard Robinson International. And essentially as a company today we do almost the same thing that we did back when I had 24 agents cause up we do it with thousands of people.

Ken McLachlan (21:23):

It's amazing. And again, thousands of people. And I want to understand be how you learned to, I mean you took a lot of risk along the way. We all do. Yeah. Okay. That's what entrepreneurs do or do and all that great stuff. But you actually developed it. Cause there weren't a lot of people around, trainers around, there were the odd Floyd Workman's of the world and stuff like that. But you actually had to develop it on your own essentially. I'm sure you had mentors helping you, but this company who by your sweat and your toil and your imagination to be, make a difference in people's lives. And it's very interesting, that whole thing. What was it like back then when you first started it, rich?

Richard Robbins (22:13):

Well, when I first started, so keep in mind, from 1996 to 1998 when I was still with RE/MAX Ontario. Atlantic asked me to start doing some regional speaking engagements and they wanted me to talk about, back then it was all based on lead generation. Cause I was always, Hey, lead generate a lot and you're not going to have a lot of problems. You have all kinds of listings, all kinds. So they asked me to start speaking on the whole idea of prospecting. So I started speaking, what started happening from 96 to 98 when I was still with Max is people started coming up to me and say, well that's really cool. How do you do that and when do you do it? And I didn't do any coaching then I just started, I had people used to come and watch me prospect in my office, Ken, they'd sit there all morning and prospect.

(23:11):

So talk to myself, well maybe what I could do is I could actually start speaking and there seems to be a lot of interest. So my first year with Richard Robbins International, I set a goal that I was going to do 50 talks in one year. And I, that's like to me, wow. That was prospecting to get coaching. And I ended up doing 51 talks. Now a lot of these talks, Ken, were for 12 people, seven people, whatever, 20 people. My biggest audience was in Calgary. And by the end of the year I had done 51 free talks and I used to fax to brokers like yourself, an outline of my talk. And then I would follow up. Yeah, I remember I would follow up with a phone call to see if you had any interest in that. And of course some did, some didn't. I was cool. So I was still prospecting. And then at the end of the year I'd done 51 talks and I was coaching 66 people myself.

(24:06):

So I reached a point then where I call it golden handcuffs is I had no time left. So I thought to myself as an entrepreneur, what's the highest and best use of my time? And I thought, well the highest and best use of my time is speaking because I was starting to get pretty comfortable with it. People were requesting me to come back again. So I thought, well there's something here that was marketing for me. And I ended up hiring. I phoned Dana, Ru Richard, my partner, I said Dana. And he was a back home and a lot of our coaching at the time was on the phone. It's now on Zoom. And I said, Hey, can you help me out? And so he was teaching, believe it or not, somehow he got into teaching and he goes, yeah, let's cool. So because Dana and I are like brothers from another mother. So, and my dad started coaching with us. And so that's how it all started. I just kept speaking and then after two years of free engagements, requests were getting more than I can handle. So of course then I started charging for it and it just sort of all evolved from there. That's how it all started.

Ken McLachlan (25:08):

So you actually trusted the journey. It sounds like that you actually, one, you were confronted with opportunity and changed. You actually didn't stop. You actually took it on and grew with it and let it evolve to what it is today. You had the freedom to, what I'm hearing, rich is the freedom to actually embrace it and let it happen. Yes. And I see so many of us out there that put these roadblocks in front of us. What if this happens? What if that doesn't happen? The risk involved with things, but it sounds like you actually had this dream of being Rich Robbins, the mentor, trainer, coach. And wherever the road took you on it, you actually embraced whatever was in front of you. And that's incredible. That is really inspirational.

Richard Robbins (25:59):

Yeah. Thank you. I think I've always been, I'm inspired by opportunity and I kept seeing in front of me, instead of going back and doing the same thing again, I kept thinking, well if I did that and delegated that and did that and delegated that and more of that and delegated that, that's how, you know, can grow an organization. And I don't know why I think that way, Ken, who knows. We all think our own way.

Ken McLachlan (26:27):

A great, I get it. I agree with you. It just happens. I mean, you embrace the opportunities that in front of you, and you do that all the time. You deal with a lot of Asians. You had the opportunity to meet a lot of people, to coach a lot of people to change people's lives. I'm going to ask you two questions, rich and I don't never, ever focus on negative, and this is not a negative question, but what is it about realtors that if you could just had a magic wand and make a change to them and say, listen, if you just did boom, your life would be, roadblocks would be gone. You know, would go through it on that. What is it that you see in the mentoring and coaching you do?

Richard Robbins (27:09):

Well, the first thing that I always like, let's say you came to me, Ken, and you said, Hey Rich, I'm a realtor and I want to grow a business and I want some help. The first thing I want to say to you is, well, what do you want to create, Kim? Where do you want to go? What's your future? Look what, until you get future focused and you can be excited about the possibilities of what you can create. The old saying, the way we think, cause the way we feel, the way we feel causes, the way we act and the way we act causes the results we get in life. I need, the first thing we've got to do is get excited about the possibilities. And believe it or not, that takes some work and build a business that will fund the life you want to live. Get excited about that possibility of building a business that will fund the life of your dreams. Say to everybody until you figure that out, all you're going to do is pay your bills.

Ken McLachlan (28:03):

Yeah. Do you find that people don't have that energy to dream? Is that what you see? Or,

Richard Robbins (28:08):

I think most people live in a state of fear and instead of a state of love or passion, right? Yeah. So they're fearful about, well I've, I've got to do a deal cause I got to pay this, or I got to look after this. What if the market goes bad and what if rates go up and they're so tied up in this? Yeah, yeah. This whole mentality of fear. But my theory is that I don't care what happens to the market, I'm going to be fine. Don't allow the market, determine the way you feel, allow the market to determine what you need to do to succeed in that market. That's a whole different mindset.

Ken McLachlan (28:44):

Our good friend Walter Schneider, I know he's your great friend. He used to always tell me that people think of the next, rather than thinking of the next two deals, think of the next 200 deals. And that to me is future thinking. And it made so much sense to me because I see a lot of people chasing the deal to get the commission, to get the money, to get the pay the bills and things like that. Well, certain thinking more of the 200 deals. So we have that lack of the frustration we all see is in our, and I have to train myself to think that way as well. And we again, what do you love about these realtors you deal with? I mean there's that energy that you get the inspiration from them. What is it that really sits with you a lot from the people you deal with?

Richard Robbins (29:25):

Well, it's funny because all of our teachings would be transferable to many other businesses. And a lot of people have always said to me, well, why aren't you working in financial services insurance? The list is long. And I say, because number one, I know this really, really well. That's all I've ever done since I was 24 years old. And I said, number two, I love realtors. I love the fact that somebody's willing to take a chance, give up a steady paycheck, go out there and try to serve the public. And the only way that you can be successful is by bringing tons of value to the marketplace. And I know how hard these people work. I defend them all the time. I go to parties and what do you do? And oh realtors. And you know what it's like, right? Yeah. I just say to these people, I say, you have no idea what these people go through. Yeah, I know how hard.

Ken McLachlan (30:18):

Yeah, right. It is. Yeah, you're right. Dead on. It's really, these people are so generous. Our industry, the people, they give so much to people that need it. And they're the first people to take up a cause for a flooding in Alberta or fires in Quebec and things like that. They're really all over it. I agree. I love that about our people in our industry like that. The other thing I know about you, rich, which I love, is that you are the real deal. That what you see is what you get. There's no facade about Rich is this kind of guy on stage. He's this blah blah, blah. You are the real deal. And I love that about you. You're generous, you contribute. You live by making a difference. Listen, you've impacted my life by one conversation, one conversation, golfing made a difference to my life.

(31:08):

It saved my life. And just a matter of that, I should get a checkup for my health and things like that. And it changed who I am today because of that moment. And you being generous enough to talk about it and me being open to listen to it was a combination because I respect you so much. That made a difference to me and how much I thank you for that. With everything you've done with me, you've always been there for myself, my company. You've coached my son Michael, when I asked you to jumped right in and did that, you made a big difference in his life and you make a big difference in so many people's lives. So tell me, what's the next five years look like for you?

Richard Robbins (31:46):

Well, I want to, I'm 62, Ken. So the next five years for me is bringing my daughter a little more into the bus. She's already, she's worked for me forever. She used to stuff workforce when she was six years old for us. So she's a part of the company. But I want to get her more involved. I want to continue to work for the next five years. I've no desire to retire. On the other hand, I want to make sure that my wife and I are doing all the great things we want to do along the way. So to me it's about how can I continue to grow the company and maybe have a little bit more time off as I do it. So it's all about, as Dan Sullivan says, sort of the who's not the how. So a company is not dependent on me. So instead of thinking about how am I going to do something, I think about who can I get to do that? Yeah. That has that talent. The company can continue to grow but is not dependent on me as much as maybe it has been in the past. Yeah,

Ken McLachlan (32:46):

Absolutely. And you do that, brother, you do it. I want to encourage people to connect with Rich in our industry and outside of our industry to Rich will mentor our, he has a team that will mentor with you, grow your business impactful without question. And I love that he is there for us, our industry. He's made a big difference in our industry. And you've valued so much rich in our company for sure. You speak to Hallmark all the time and we share ideas if you go forward. The last question I want to ask you is, what was it like in that fighter jet?

Richard Robbins (33:20):

It was unbelievable, but I got to admit, I was just trying to hold my stomach down, Ken. So we took off, it was a hawker hunter, this was in South Africa. It happened just outside of Cape Town. And this guy who had made a lot of money in the tech industry was into aviation. So he had all kinds of planes and helicopters. And so we took off, we're up there doing 650 miles an hour, 50, 60 feet off the ocean. And then he said, okay, you're ready. We're going to flip it over inverted. So next thing we're flying upside down. And then he said to me, he said, did you see the shark there? And I'm going, we're doing 650 miles an hour. I'm upside down. I didn't see any shark. Of course he's decides he wants to turn the plane around upside down and go back and see if I can see the shark.

(34:12):

Of course then now we pull five point some Jeezy said, we go the circle, we come back upside down. He said, did you see the shark? And I totally lied. I said, I sure did. And that's because I didn't want him to do that again. Oh, you sure did. Anyway, it was honestly one of the greatest experiences. I was surprised how peaceful and quiet it is inside of a fighter jet. Because when they go over us, we hear that loud noise. And I flew it for about 10 minutes by myself and Wow. And we went through them.

Ken McLachlan (34:41):

What a thrill. Yeah.

Richard Robbins (34:42):

Geez. It was unbelievable. It was one of the

Ken McLachlan (34:47):

Go. If you had the chance, would you fly to the moon?

Richard Robbins (34:52):

Probably. I can't say yes right now. I'd have to understand it a little bit more and understand the safety and all that. Cause

Ken McLachlan (35:01):

I actually think you could do it. I think if you put your mind to it, I knowing you that yeah, nothing's impossible. Yeah, no would jump on that stuff so

Richard Robbins (35:09):

Quick. It interests me a lot. I like experiences. I say try anything once. You don't have to do it twice, but life, they say a great life is made up of great memories. And that fighter jet to this day is a great memory that I have with me. And my dad was with me. He was on.

Ken McLachlan (35:26):

Yeah. I'm so glad you, I'm so what a thrill. I'm glad you shared that with us. Rich. If people want to get ahold of you, it says Rich robbins.com or what is it? Your website?

Richard Robbins (35:37):

Yeah, they can go to the website. It's richard robbins.com and everything is there. We get a live chat on there. All the contact information is on there. And we, we'd love to hear from anybody.

Ken McLachlan (35:48):

Yeah, I encourage people to reach out to Rich in this industry. His team is incredible. They'll be there for you. They offer a lot of different opportunities for you to just to peruse. Your library is incredible and you make a big difference for people. So I want to thank you, my brother, for being here today, for sharing your stories and your journey has been incredible and your inspiration to a lot of people. And you know what, thanks a lot,

Richard Robbins (36:15):

Ken. I appreciate you. You're a great guy. You built a wonderful company and I really, I thank you for inviting me to this. It was fun.

Ken McLachlan (36:23):

We'll do it again sometime, rich. Thanks everybody for listening. If you like it, subscribe to it, share it with people, and check out Rich. He's got a great company here. Make a big difference in your life. Thanks, rich.

Richard Robbins (36:34):

Thanks Ken. Talk to you buddy.