Starting Over Is Hard. Staying Stuck Is Harder.

Kait Dinunzio: ⁓ and welcome back, listeners, another episode ⁓ of the Unbreakable Podcast. ⁓ I am your host, Kate Denuncio, and today I joined by a very good friend of mine, ⁓ Mr. Richard Walsh. Richard.
Richard Walsh: Kate, so good to be here.
Kait Dinunzio: Yes, it is. It's wonderful. I ⁓ it's been some time since we actually had a video call and ⁓ got to kind of get together.
Richard Walsh: Yeah, this is ⁓ podcasts are fun. I love podcasting. I love being a guest, love being a host. ⁓ especially being your guest. This will make it even better now.
Kait Dinunzio: ⁓ wonderful. Makes me feel like Lumier from Beauty and the Beast. Be my guest. ⁓ so listen, why don't you do a little bit of an intro? You are a very, very interesting human. And you know, for context for our listeners, you are a former Marine, you're a father of six, you're a husband, you're an entrepreneur, you're an operating partner in private equity. Like you are doing all the things. as much as you can and you still get up and work out in the morning, you train your kids, you do all the things. So talk a little bit about who you are and those drivers.
Richard Walsh: Yeah, it's ⁓ yeah, it's a lot. You know what I I the cool thing about looking back is you go, ⁓ I actually did some things. Hopefully that's what you say when you look back. But I'm also a big fan of the glance, you know, glance don't glare when it comes to the rear view mirror mirror stuff. Just glance, look back, okay, that was cool. Get back, focus front and do what's next. Okay. 'Cause you left out like a champion boxer, I'm a black belt, I'm an internationally recognized steel sculptor.
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Richard Walsh: Okay, so there's ⁓ there's all this other stuff that I've g I glance at from time to time, right? Yeah, I I don't I don't I don't do any of that stuff now. I'm on a new thing. So but yeah, really it's it's been an incredible journey. Again, coming out of high school into the Marine Corps, out of the Marine Corps into business, which was swinging a pickaxe, digging trench for five bucks an hour. I started with that and I'm like, Hmm, I'm not I'm not I'm not getting my future here. This isn't this is all I'm gonna be doing down at
Kait Dinunzio: Just a couple of things. It doesn't feel good.
Richard Walsh: Down in Tucson, Arizona. So one day though I'm working, the guy walked and he goes, Hey, I got a side job for you if you're interested. And I go, I'm always interested in side work. I make five dollars an hour. Now you could kind of live on five dollars an hour back in eighty-seven, eighty-eight, you know. But ⁓ I said, Okay, so I showed up on Saturday and he had thirty-five tons of gravel piled in the street. Okay. And he goes, I need you to shovel this from the street to the backyard, spread it, because that's what they do in Arizona instead of grass. I go, I got this. You know, so
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm.
Richard Walsh: I I I spent like my ass my last eighty-five bucks on a wheelboard on shovel. Just went to work. It's like a hundred degrees out. Shovel that sucker ten hours, done. Okay. Crushed in ten hours. Now that's all good. Here's the best part. He came out, Kate, and he put a thousand dollars in my hand. And I'm like looking at this going, dang, I know my future. I will shovel rock every day, all day for a thousand dollars a day. I did this yesterday for forty eight dollars.
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah. Ha ha ha.
Richard Walsh: Okay. Like if you think about it, you know, like dang. So I I said that's what I'm gonna do. I just started shoveling rock and becoming a landscaper, you know, which I had little experience in growing up, but ⁓ and that just kind of blossomed, it just kind of turned into custom water features. And so I'm making these world class water features all over the place, huge high end stuff, and added the sculpture to it. That was really cool. And I'm I'm driving almost twenty years on that. Get married, all of a sudden I've got six kids, four years and younger. We had three adopted siblings and then we had three biological, it was insane. So we had all that and then yeah, then ⁓ eight ⁓ nine hits and the economy crashes. I get a phone call. Why the start the first phone call was on November fifth, two thousand and eight. And ⁓ it's just someone bailing out of the contract 'cause man, every no one was gonna spend a dime. If you remember two thousand and eight, people were terrified, you know, and they definitely didn't need a sculpture or a water feature. Okay.
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah, it is insane. Mm. No. I do. Mm-hmm.
Richard Walsh: They could wait on those two things. And the phone kept ringing. I lost a half million that day. And I hung up the phone the other day. I looked at my office manager and I go, ⁓ I think it's over. I don't know how we're gonna you know, so we limped through part of ⁓ nine and it it just was getting worse. Okay. So I'm like, dang, this is this is horrible. So one morning I wake up and I start thinking about my kids. So I got six kids and I'm like, Okay, now what do they care about? Well, they kinda care about me. They don't care what kind of truck I drive, they don't care what kind of house we live in. Doesn't care how many trucks I have. Okay, they just love me to be around, which I kinda wasn't a lot at that time because I'm working trying to save this business from turning into ashes, right? ⁓ and I'm like, man, if I the epiphany was if I stay on this path of like my business is everything, it's first, it's who I am. I said, I'm gonna ruin my kids' lives.
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Totally.
Richard Walsh: Their futures are gonna have broken relationships, failed marriages, they're gonna do all this stuff because more is caught than taught with kids. They're only gonna see what I do. I can say all the right things. And I've learned this over times. Saying is it's as they say, talk is cheap. Okay? It's what you do. Okay. It has to be what you do. It has to be the walk, right? So I got out of bed, went into the office, told my office manager, we're done today. Went to my construction yard, literally had my last cup of coffee with my guys who've been with me
Kait Dinunzio: Yes. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Richard Walsh: Same guys over 10 years. They're the best. They're like family. I love them. I'm like, guys, we can't do this anymore. And we're shutting down. It's like a Wednesday. I go, Friday, we're finished. We're gonna wrap our stuff up and everything else. We're done. And I and I, to this day, you know, I'm like, I I just couldn't continue. Because here's the thing, Kate, just real quick, is when your identity becomes what you do, which is what mine was. It was Rick Rock, right? I'm that guy. I'm always in the shirt, always in the hat, always in the, you know, I'm always working.
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm.
Richard Walsh: Right? I'm always that person. I'm the artist, right? I'm the guy. Now I got teams and I got all the stuff. But I'm like, it makes you make a lot of bad decisions. Okay. So you want to keep the business going for what? Ego. Because I built it. This thing's about me. So whatever I have to do to keep it going, it just sped me to the end. Okay. So created more debt, did all kinds of stuff. So anyway, so I I said, Well, I'm never gonna do that again. You know, so
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah. Wow.
Richard Walsh: I'm like, I'm never gonna be what I do. So I literally started a little bonfire area in the back, big fire pit. I burned all my uniforms, all my so I got a video, like burned everything. I'm like, I'm never gonna do this again. I and to this day, that was 2009, I haven't built a water feature or made a sculpture since. Like just never doing this again. Sold everything, got out of everything, and I just I gotta do something else. You know, because that that identity thing was I I realized kind of how
Kait Dinunzio: Hmm.
Richard Walsh: How it just completely drives me to do a lot of wrong things, you know, to support my ego. So I've tried to, you know, ego's an issue. We can get into that part too. That was that was a you know, it i i i it goes it goes together, right? So yeah. So and so then, you know, real quick, just had to figure out what I was gonna do next because I didn't know. But we had to move, I lost my home, I lost my business, right? Everything just crashed. So we relocated and everything else, and I'm like, well, I don't what am I gonna do?
Kait Dinunzio: ⁓ always.
Richard Walsh: I I told myself I'm not gonna do that. Okay. So I'm gonna say, Well, I work out, I'm a trainer, I'm a boxer, I do all this go, well, I'll go be a trainer. I've done that. I was got a personal trainer certification like ninety-three or something, you know. So I'm like, I I've been doing this forever. So I go to like an anytime fitness and I become a trainer. Okay. So I'm training people and guess what happens? I become trainer of the year. Okay. So it's like it's like I'm like, ⁓ well, I better go open the gym.
Kait Dinunzio: Ha ha ha
Richard Walsh: Okay, I'm not gonna stay here doing this. So I opened a boot camp style training gym. I do all that and I scale that up and then and then like, okay, well, I I gotta do more. Like that was fun. Then I did a construction business. So I'm doing roofing, siding windows. I did that, general contracting that. Then then I started working with other businesses. They kept asking me, like, how'd you go from nothing to this? Like you lost everything. And then how'd you like how did you even keep going? So I started and my my return question was, Well, what are you doing? You know, and I get into what they're doing.
Kait Dinunzio: Of course. Mm-hmm.
Richard Walsh: And with every business I talk to, Kate, I'm like, I'm a pattern guy. I see patterns. Right. And I'm like, well, well, this is kind of cool. You're all doing the same wrong things. I go, I can fix this. So I started fixing these guys' business, become the coach. And then I write a best selling book called Escape the Owner Prison. You know, the contractors, new way to scale, regain control, and fast track growth by loving life. I go, ⁓ that's cool. So I built an academy around that. So now I'm coaching contractors and doing all this kind of stuff and helping these people work. And I'm like, that's fun.
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Same wrong things.
Richard Walsh: You know, so years going by and I'll raise my kids at the same time. So I'm fold that in. ⁓ so I got a couple of kids who are athletes, a couple kids are just great kids, and it's just there's six of them, right? All within four years of each other, three and a half years. So it's like a little gang moving along. ⁓ yeah, one of my sons was a good runner, all right. So also in like twenty nineteen, twenty eighteen is like, What? Let's I wanna go to the junior Olympics 'cause we homeschooled our kids. Okay. So we I let me toss that in there. It's just another thing. So we homeschooled them all the way through.
Kait Dinunzio: Okay, that is insane. Gang. Mm-hmm.
Richard Walsh: So we're on this homeschool cross country team. I'm coaching that. And I said, Well, we can get to the junior Olympics, no problem. He's running the eight hundred, so ⁓ and doing discus. So we start training. I start training and I can I can train people, you know, again partners. So guess what? We qualify for the junior Olympics. Go to North Carolina for the big thing, you know, sixteen thousand people, really cool. He runs all this, so it's good. ⁓ so that was fun, right? My book comes out at the same time. We're doing all this, that stuff's hitting. ⁓ just keep moving. Just keep moving the business coaching, helping all these different businesses and moving in that realm. And then ⁓ say, well, let's write another book, right? So I'm and now I'm in and now I'm I'm working with a lot of manufacturing clients, right? So I'm on these floors and I'm looking at this stuff again, patterns. I'm seeing these same things. All the same wrong things are happening. So how I twist, I go, Well, this is great. You're doing all the right wrong things. I go, it's just it's it just makes it easy for me. I just go and I I just see the same thing every time. I go, it's not it's not not a big deal. You know, what I can see in one minute, you've been standing in for 10 years.
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Such an optimist, such an optimist.
Richard Walsh: And you haven't seen it. That's the outside eye thing, right? So I I I learned how to how to really utilize that. ⁓ and then and just kept growing and scaling that, writing two books. So I got a new book called The Invisible Layer, The Hidden Structural Failure, Undermining Manufacturing, ⁓ which is really cool. So we're really focused on bringing that to the world, to the industry. ⁓ now I'm a ⁓ operating partner for a a company called Black Ocean Capital, or a private equity firm. So we're a little different than
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm.
Richard Walsh: Private equity can have a little bit of a black eye on some of the operational procedures, the way they operate. But we really are about growing these companies, whether they're roll ups or whatever it is. I go in and do the operational end ⁓ and really making them successful, really scaling them up, you know, because we I've been there, right? So we're able to do it. So ⁓ it's just been a lot of fun doing this. So sharpened impact is my current business, my business model, right? Plus the operating partner. ⁓ again, we're helping the manufacturing industry really
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Richard Walsh: Frontline execution. That's our whole thing. It's called frontline command mastery, right? It's a methodology that I've created and we take ⁓ through that whole thing. So we could get into all that later. But ⁓ yeah, and this I think that brings us up to speed. Then I met Kate and then that that's it. And then there there it is. Just put a cap on it. That's right.
Kait Dinunzio: I know, well, the game over. Great. Life is good. Life is good when you've got Denuncio in your life. So, you know, when you think about like it had to have been like, what were the moments around the time when, you know, things in 2008, like a lot of people went through a lot of stuff at that point. I remember I had ⁓ I had left a job and I had 36 job interviews in six weeks.
Richard Walsh: That's right.
Kait Dinunzio: One, I I I I got offered a shoulder massage in one. I know. I just I just I'm an I'm just a talker, Richard. It's what I do. But you know, I I mean I the the benefits of that I learned a lot. ⁓ I was offered a shoulder massage by one of the guys, which was disgusting and awful. I was asked why I wasn't gonna be having more babies and all of the all of the things like peop people were behaving so badly during that time frame. And
Richard Walsh: That sounds just like you, Kate. That sounds just like you. Mm. Mm. Mm-hmm.
Kait Dinunzio: You know, so I remember where I was. I ended up I ended up we're to the point where I was like, Well, you know what, nobody's hiring me because they were either re restructuring and putting other people putting extra work on other people to keep costs low. They were eliminating the role after they'd done interviews, maybe buyer's remorse, things like that. ⁓ and I ended up just going out to the local the local golf course and driving a beer cart for the summer. Because I was like, you know what, you gotta put milk on the table. And that was what mattered to me. So, so much like you, for me, it was very much like, okay, what do I do in order to make sure that I'm taking care of my family? And so, but that that is resilience, right? That is the problem-solving perspective, right? So when you think about the fact that you saw the writing on the wall and you made the conscious decision before somebody made that decision for you, what was it? What were the foundations that you stood on that allowed you to make those decisions with confidence? Knowing that you and your wife and those six little chickens would be okay.
Richard Walsh: Yeah, you know, it's it's it's kind of a it's kind of a double edged sword, you know. ⁓ sometimes I like to lean out. I was just too stupid to know any different. Okay, like it's it's kind of my only option kind of thing. But I also I am I am I I'm like really kind of fiercely independent in the sense that I love the self made person that I am. Okay, I don't I I I just
Kait Dinunzio: Ha ha ha. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Richard Walsh: People ask so how long are you in Marine Corps? I go four years. ⁓ that's it. Yeah, I don't take direction well. Okay. ⁓ So like you ⁓ know the the f ⁓ Yeah, well it's yeah, it's it's it's
Kait Dinunzio: Also it was the Marine Corps, let's be honest. Like that's not an easy job.
Richard Walsh: No, no, I learned a lot. It was it was awesome, right? I mean, I'm in that brotherhood. Now my son, one son has been in about two and a half years, now almost three years. ⁓ yeah, another son going in in a couple months, ⁓ September in the Marine Corps. So I you know, I don't know. They it's amazing to see, you know, that they followed my footsteps. Now I always tell people, Kate, I'm like, no, I try to get ⁓ to do other things. Okay. I didn't say, Yeah, you're gonna be a Marine like your old man. I'm like, Well, if you want like the training, we can get training anyway. We can shoot, we shoot now, we shoot off the back porch. I can shoot wherever we want. We got courses, we do all this stuff. And ⁓ yeah, yeah, but it's a good time. Yeah. P off the front, shoot off the back. It's good. So but it's like, no, I I want that. Which it which to me was really encouraging because the thing about a thing like the Marine Corps, any branch really in the military, but the Marine Corps specifically, 'cause that's what I know, but that is a brotherhood. Okay. That is a system that is is
Kait Dinunzio: Okay, Wisconsin. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Richard Walsh: s things you have to go through that no one else goes through. Okay. So when you meet another Marine, it's Semper Fi. Right? That's that that's what it is. We have that. Now, no one's saying I'm an army, okay, after the but I'm a Marine. Right? So there's just a difference there. It's an identity thing. Now I know I've had my identity issues, but ⁓ but it's something that never leaves you. You know, it just doesn't leave you. I mean it really it's it's a forming thing. And ⁓ watch my son go through he's a he's a top performer. I mean he's just
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah.
Richard Walsh: Crushing in there. He's doing so well. ⁓ and my other son would be great too. But it's just great to see. So, like, you know, again, I try to discourage him. And then when that doesn't work, okay. You're gonna make the and then they do it, and then it's great. Okay, because then it's a hundred percent them. I don't want them going in because I was in. Okay. Wrong motivation because it's stinking hard. Okay. And it's like it can be miserable, and it's not, it looks cool on the TV commercials.
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Mm-hmm.
Richard Walsh: But when you get in the day-to-day, yeah, hello. Okay. You have a whole different set of stories. Okay, because you're dealing
Kait Dinunzio: Well even even the even well and even the attrition the attrition, yeah. Like even the attrition courses that you guys have, like in in your basic training. Like your basic training is intense and it is, let's let's call it mentally and emotionally expensive in that space.
Richard Walsh: Yeah, my my son's in boot camp, his platoon, they twenty guys dropped out. Now that's unusual. Like I when I was in, we had fifty-five guys. one guy wanted the wanted the drop. Okay. His mother had like a senator call, like the DI and stuff like the I'm like, ⁓ that was received really well, you can imagine. But we talked him into staying. He's like, dude, you can make it man, you can get through and stuff, but twenty people. So he graduated with thirty-five.
Kait Dinunzio: But
Richard Walsh: Then he gets to SOI School of Infantry. That's a three-month thing. Go through all that. More guys drop it. 50 guys, 60 guys. They don't want to hump the hill. They don't want to do this, right? Because it's hard. And then then he gets to MSG School. He's an embassy guard and all that kind of stuff. It's real high and stuff. So you got tops top security clearances, but you got all this training. I mean, you're dealing with people and everything from how to handcuff properly to take OC spray in your eyes. I mean, the whole patent, 60 guys drop out of that. Okay. And it's one of the coolest gigs in the Marine Corps. So it's like
Kait Dinunzio: Really? ⁓ wow.
Richard Walsh: And and we were on a podcast together with my son and I, and then the woman asked, goes, Well, well, why why didn't you like quit? Like all these guys are dropping, why didn't you? And and my son, he just goes, Well, well, that's not who I am. That was his response. He goes, I'm that's not who I am. And I'm like, That's right. He's not. He's just ⁓ the quitting is something that we're not into. We're okay with failure, we're not okay with quitting. You know, so I've I've kind of drilled that in. My kids know the distinction.
Kait Dinunzio: Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So then so then talk about your girls. What are they up to? Where are they going? What's their direction?
Richard Walsh: Yeah, so I've got two girls and ⁓ I got eighteen and a twenty. ⁓ my twenty year old is yeah, she's the twenty year old's about to go to California, ⁓ looking to be doing the airline stewardess, what do they call ⁓ Flight attendants. I I don't wanna say the wrong thing, you know, they get all offended. Fly waitress. She's gonna be a fly waitress. But she's but she's like she wants
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. Flight attendants, yeah. Richard You're being such a dad right now.
Richard Walsh: I know, I know. I love her. She's she's ⁓ she's awesome. So, ⁓ yeah, she's kinda gone through some really good really good things. She's really solid. We she had like ten years of you know, she plays piano, sings, we took a lot of lessons, really, really good at that kind of stuff. So she's got she's got everything ahead of her, you know. She's dating a really great guy who's an actual he's sh I better not go down this road. He's a good man, okay? And ⁓ I approve. Okay. ⁓ he happens to be my
Kait Dinunzio: Stamp of approval.
Richard Walsh: Son was in the Marine Corps. He happens to be his one of his best friends. You know, so it's it kinda yeah, it's it's kinda cool. But ⁓ so she's ⁓ my younger one, eighteen, ⁓ she's just she she is like the hair, the nails, the eyes. Like she's into that. She wants to be cosmetology. You know, like go the go that I mean she's got this thick, just beautiful black hair. You know what I mean? She can do everything. I mean the eyelashes get a little out of control, in my in my dad's opinion.
Kait Dinunzio: That's that's wonderful. Okay. Mm-hmm.
Richard Walsh: Being a father, I'm like that I'm like Yeah, that that's that that's light work compared to her. She comes down, I'm like, they're caterpillars. I go, You got caterpillars on your eyes. What are you doing? Okay. Where are you going? You know? Right. Yeah. She'll float. Yes, exactly. Doing the butterfly. But ⁓ but I mean, braiding hair, she's so she's really talented that and she really loves it. So she's pursuing that. That's gonna be her thing. So that's
Kait Dinunzio: Hey, my I mean, not come on now. ⁓ Lord. If you if you jump from the top stair, would you would if you jump from the top stair there, would you just be able to fly? Yeah. I love that. That's amazing. That's great.
Richard Walsh: ⁓ and and you know, it's it's for us, it's never tell them what to do. It's support them, but also guide them. Right. So the big thing is not, ⁓ my kid, can you do whatever you want? Well, you you know, no, you can't. You can't do whatever you want. Okay. So let's let's be real. Let's let's let's talk about ability. Okay. Let's talk about direction, everything else. You kind of put these pieces together, like, okay, you wanted to do this, now let's reverse engineer. I'm a big fan of that.
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. That's true. Yeah.
Richard Walsh: I go, okay, you want to be there, okay, but you're here now. So if you're there, how'd you get there? And then we walk it backwards. I do it for businesses too. I do it for exit strategy. You go to the end, how long, how much? 10 years, 10 million? Great. Okay, you want 10 years, 10 million. Now, now let's reverse engineer that whole thing. Now you know when to hire the first person, the second person, where you're going, what you're doing, and you stay totally focused on the exit.
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep. Mm-hmm. How are you getting there? Yep. Bingo.
Richard Walsh: So you're so you're laser focused, you can create a business that really doesn't get distracted and you get there very, very quickly. And if you get an opportunity that dangles in front of you, just like with my kids, I said, Okay, look at the look at the exit strategy, right? You're gonna go do this. Does that get you there faster? Does it get you there closer? Or does it slow you down dis distract? If it distracts, it's a hard no. We're on mission here. Okay. So we so it's a business filter too, you know?
Kait Dinunzio: Mm. Yeah.
Richard Walsh: So when you gotta get that life direction, you gotta be careful because you're gonna get all these distractions. You're gonna get the shiny objects and the little butterflies that you're gonna wanna chase. And that's what derails so many people.
Kait Dinunzio: Absolutely. Well, and even when you think of like a business strategy, from a from a business strategy perspective, I think a lot of people set goals at the beginning of the year and then they do their, you know, mid-year reviews and all of those different things. But the it it really all starts with the leadership structure, right? And it all I I always tell people, you know, the fish rots from the head down. And so ⁓ particularly in an operation, is we can set a journey book and we can do those things, or we can say we want to do those things. But what are the distractions that come in that actually pull you away, especially when you have something that's like a a you know a five or 10 year strategy, right? So as an operating partner, I think you have such a critical role to play because you're not there to run the day to day. You're there to make sure the day to day stays in the rails to get to that end goal. Right. And and
Richard Walsh: Yeah. Yep. That's right. That's right. That
Kait Dinunzio: You know, I think it's it's it's critically important because what what does happen is you know, you get the flavor of the week, you get the AI boom, you have all of these different things that compete and contend with what the end goal was that weren't on the table five years ago when the acquisition or the divestiture took place.
Richard Walsh: You know, I think what's interesting about that too though, Kate, is things accelerate so fast now. Technology, all these things, you like AI boom, everything. What what it was it was tech boom in the nineties and two thousands and all that was gonna no one there's gonna be no more stores. Everyone's gonna get everything online. Okay. There's still stores. Yes, it there's still stores and you know, whatever. Yeah. So but the point being is like you still have to reckon with that.
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you're not gonna print anything either. Yeah. And people still print a lot of paper.
Richard Walsh: Is it applicable? It just comes back to the goal. Like, where are you going? How does this listen? If it's early, and I want to be an early adopter and everything, that that's cool, but it can be really dangerous for your goals. You know, being an early adopter usually isn't going to jump you ahead in your mission. Okay, and something like that. It's going to pull you away because the learning curve is going to be high. You're going to be testing all that. It's going to slow you down by six months, a year, two years. So
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep.
Richard Walsh: I always just, you know, when I when I help clients, I was always like, okay, let's do the scenarios, let's run what this really is. Let me really let me be the outside eyes. Let me look at this as a practical application. And a most of it gets put on hold. Come back when they developed it.
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah. Do you think that absolutely. Do you do you think though that people want to be early adopters because they want to create economy in their business? Or do you think they want to be early adopters so that they can put a badge on their website and say that they were an early adopter?
Richard Walsh: Yeah, I think it's it it comes down to the person, you know. Are they standing in the line for the iPhone? Are they that person? 'Cause I'm not that person. I don't stand lines for anything. I stand in lines for nothing. Okay. Food, no. Okay. I'm gonna go s I don't care. Okay, I don't do lines. Okay, I just I'm I'll just go there's another place to eat. Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna go. So I'm just again, that's kinda I'm a little odd, but I just so I
Kait Dinunzio: Mm. ⁓ I'm not that person either. No. I'm go I'm going hungry. ⁓ Ha ha ha
Richard Walsh: I'm not that person because it doesn't matter. Okay. Those people like and I get it. Totally cool. They want to do it. They're in it. You know when I need some, I'll ask them a question. And they'll solve my problem in eight seconds and I can move on. And I didn't spend any time in line. Okay. So I'm I'm making things happen. Okay. I'm a doer, right? So I gotta get things done. So so I think it is, I think some of it is flash. Like, look how cool I am, but it always comes down to this. What have you produced?
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm.
Richard Walsh: I don't care what you have. What have you produced? Show me, show me the goods, man. Show me the numbers. Show me the product. Show me, show me the market share you've gained. Show me that stuff. Don't show me your little bells and whistles. I don't care. Okay, I'm an outcome guy. That's what it's about.
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. ⁓ this is awesome. Okay. So on the podcast we always do these things called debatables and our listeners love them. And I know how much you love games, Richard.
Richard Walsh: She's being sarcastic if you haven't if you didn't catch that tone. She's subtle.
Kait Dinunzio: But I appreciate you humoring me. So I'm gonna ask a question and ⁓ or give an opinion and we get to kind of debate it. And I think you and I are probably gonna be pretty aligned on some of these. Okay. Should video games be considered a sport? Yes or no?
Richard Walsh: Yes. Yeah,
Kait Dinunzio: I would agree. ⁓ this one I picked very specifically for you. Who would win in a fight? West Side story sharks or a gang of real sharks?
Richard Walsh: No discussion. No discussion. Okay. Go with the gang of real sharks. Cause they don't just have a rocket in their pocket. Okay. They got big teeth.
Kait Dinunzio: No, this is true. Big teeth. I'm terrified of sharks. I do not like deep water anything. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I did.
Richard Walsh: You you did get the West Side story and You did get there, right? The rock in the pocket. Okay, I just you know. So I before your listeners, I did that for your listeners. They don't know, but yes, go look it up. You'll see how witty I really am. Or old.
Kait Dinunzio: Okay. You're very witty. Or old. Storied, let's just say storied, not old. Okay. Paying all of your bills with auto pay versus making sure they don't steal your money.
Richard Walsh: ⁓ yeah, I'm I'm not a fan of OP.
Kait Dinunzio: Me neither. I'm a I'm a I'm gonna pay you down to the cent.
Richard Walsh: I just Yes, and if I could walk in and give you cash I'd prefer that. Because I see it leaving my hand. And then there's a different sense of like, Am I truly getting value from this transaction?
Kait Dinunzio: Bingo. That's exactly it, right? As opposed to the tap tap tap. Okay, the next one. I got two more. I got two more. ⁓ and I think I kind of have you pegged for both of these. buying cool secondhand shoes versus avoiding rare foot fungi.
Richard Walsh: Yes. I'd I'd I'd have say I guess avoid the foot fun 'cause I don't care about shoes and it's it's to my detriment. Okay. Let me just say my wife bought me a cool pair. I didn't know they were cool and they were they weren't new. They were these Jordans or whatever they are, and it's like this green and orange or whatever kinda I and I and I wore ⁓ like, okay, and people are like, Man, you got the game, man, those shoes and people are talking about my shoes. I'm like, What the Okay. Well
Kait Dinunzio: Okay. I I don't Mind your business. It's
Richard Walsh: They like wreck my back. Okay. They they like wreck my back. I wore them for like two or three weeks and and I'm like, Cribble, these things are the worst things ever. I throw ⁓ the garbage. Okay. Yeah, I think that yeah, I it yeah, it was yeah, it was something. 'Cause I'm I'm good about that stuff, you know. I trained a lot, I do all this stuff, but I know the things that really can throw you off in bad shoes is one of them. So now I could up my shoe game just I'm gonna I'm gonna be blatantly transparent, okay.
Kait Dinunzio: Is that what is that what caused you with your back issue the other ⁓ no. ⁓ she owes you a nice ⁓ man, that that monkeyed you off.
Richard Walsh: I am no and this could be shocking. I am no slave to fashion. Okay. So like I yeah, I I know, I I I know, I know, but you know, like you know, I spent twenty years in work boots. Okay, like this. It's just I'm like I you know, so I don't care, but you should care. People notice and I get it, but you know, so yeah.
Kait Dinunzio: Really? You're not? I I would have really struggled to believe I mean the shock that I feel. Yeah, you're not flashy. Okay, last one. Pretty sure I I know where you are on this one. Getting gasoline. Fill it up often or coast on fumes?
Richard Walsh: ⁓ fill it up. It don't anyone driving on fumes, it it's they they they can't be in my world. Okay. I think if like my daughter I'll get in her car, I'm like, We don't the we're Walshes, we don't do this. Okay, if it get below a half a tank, you go fill it up. You know, you fill it up if it gets below half a tank. You know, but yeah. Yes.
Kait Dinunzio: W wh why are you Yep, Erin would agree with you. Erin would agree with you. She's got a gas phobia of running out. And a friend of mine actually just had that experience where she ran out of fuel and she was like, ⁓ I don't know how this happened. You didn't fill the car up. Yeah. ⁓ gosh. ⁓ gosh. Okay. So let's shift gears. I want to take some of this wisdom of yours, whether it's the dad wisdom or the business wisdom, ⁓ logic, human logic,
Richard Walsh: Ask Google. Okay. You know, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Kait Dinunzio: You know, and we've got some listener questions that I think you would really enjoy. And I think that our listeners would really appreciate hearing from from you on these. So ⁓ let me go in and ⁓ here's a really good one. I really like this one. So I recently got a promotion and my wife and I bought a house. So we have a great house and I have a lot of money. I should be happy, but I'm not. Why? That's a why would they not be happy with the house and a new job and all the money?
Richard Walsh: Yeah, you know, I mean, you know, ⁓ money solves problems, but the only problem it really solves is not having money. Okay, that's that's the problem it really solves. ⁓ I I mean, it d people have heard it, but like th th things don't bring fulfillment. They don't. This this is it's totally on you. It's you and your wife. I mean, yeah, you got the big house, you got you got the dough, you're driving a nice car, you've got all that stuff, just like me, right? I'm sitting there, what what mattered?
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Richard Walsh: My kids. When my four year old was chasing my truck down the driveway crying 'cause I was leaving and I'm watching him in the rearview mirror and I just kept driving cause I had to go to work. I'm got a business to save. Okay. Like, did he give a crap? If I was saving the business? He's like, I'm leaving again. Like you have you have that little, you'll find out what's important. It's not the house, it's not the money, it's not any of that stuff. It it's
Kait Dinunzio: ⁓ my god. Mm. Mm. Yeah. Yeah.
Richard Walsh: And when I say personal fulfillment, it'sn't some little guru-y fluffy. I mean like what I mean, what what truly satisfies you? I mean, I always tell people, Kate, the easiest thing to do in business, you know what it is? Make money. It's the easiest thing to do. It's everything else in business that's hard. Right? So, and if you got a job and you're making great money, I like I'm I'm happy for you. That's a good thing. That's security, that's good. But
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. Mm. Yeah. Absolutely.
Richard Walsh: But you have to find what really drives you. Right? That's where happiness comes from, is that the what what do you have an affinity for? Like, like when you see it, when you see something happen, like like you and I, I guarantee we're like the same. When we see broken operations, we still we we like lose our minds. Okay, it's like we're like, what I guess yeah, but we also like, you what are you doing that for?
Kait Dinunzio: What do you wake up for? Yeah. The opportunity is endless. Why?
Richard Walsh: Okay, like you kidding me? You know, so like so there's a lot of fulfillment there. You know, we get some joy from that because that like really gets us going, you know. And again, it's not just work things, it could be anything. You know, people see a a kid being abused, and it's like this I mean, I I don't like that either, but I mean there's people who are like they change their lives to go protect children, right? And they're fulfilled, they're putting themselves in dangerous situations, traveling around the world, they know people like that, right?
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
Richard Walsh: And I'm like, dang, but like they're fulfilled. Or the average is not gonna do that. So I think what what they have to do really is look, look inside like the external stuff isn't gonna do it ever. You're trying to fill a void.
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. Do you think though, with this particular question, and I I I I I agree with you, I think that there is another actor at play in this situation, and that is social media. Because social media creates the space for people to compare themselves to others. And so could it be, and I mean, I don't have enough, you know, information here in this question to suggest that, but I mean, I would suggest that if you've achieved the things that you set out to do, then
Richard Walsh: Mm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Amen.
Kait Dinunzio: Perhaps it's because you're comparing yourself to somebody else. And and this is where the glance into the rear view mirror can be really, really powerful, I think.
Richard Walsh: Yeah. ⁓ yeah, in two thousand and nine, someone recommended I was a big talk radio listener, you know, ten hours a day. I spent tons of money on talk radio to advertise because I liked it so much. Didn't make me a penny. But I ⁓ I ha I have an eighty thousand dollar coffee cup. I have an eighty thousand dollar coffee cup. That's what I have from the radio station. I spent eighty grand, I got a coffee cup. So there you go. And then it broke ten years later. But the the thing is it
Kait Dinunzio: Mm. Mm. But you heard your s you heard your Ha ha. Dang.
Richard Walsh: It the phone, the whole this whole thing is is it a tool or a toy? The comparison aspect. So I took this media fast. They said, just do ninety days. No media. Cut it all out. And this is before like smartphones. Okay. So we were talking this was this was two thousand well, they were just starting, right? Maybe. Whatever. It was two thousand and nine. So I didn't have one. I didn't have a smartphone like they had a flip phone. So I went I shut it all off for ninety days. And I have not been back since.
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. Wow. Mm. Interesting.
Richard Walsh: So I don't do any, you know, like I don't do anything, you know. My office manager signed me up for Facebook in 08 or whenever it was, and LinkedIn, all that stuff. Now I do a little bit on LinkedIn now because it's business. I only do business on there. But but I don't do any, I don't watch any news. And here's the here's the cool news. The world's doing fine without me.
Kait Dinunzio: That's hilarious. Isn't that crazy? Nobody misses you No well and it's
Richard Walsh: It doesn't need my opinions. It does need my opinions. I found out I think I thought for sure it needed my opinions.
Kait Dinunzio: ⁓ So what about what about your kids? Are your kids into social media, your wife? Like w when you think about cause your kids are like Gen Zs and alphas, right? Like so, like cause
Richard Walsh: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we took a while to give them phones. Okay, again, we can homeschool ⁓ do all that stuff too, you know, so we kinda limited that. But they get ⁓ and they're in it. ⁓ I'd say maybe one of my sons were working on the way too much phone stuff, you know, but ⁓ he's nineteen, you know, but like to him his girlfriend, I'm like, dude, you gotta get this under control. Because he he has a daughter. And I'm just being real here. This on this when this thing
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. Of course. Mm. Yeah. Mm.
Richard Walsh: And you're on it all the time, and you have a two and a half year old. Do you know what you're telling your daughter? You are second. You are second to this. And I'm telling guys, when I see it, I tell them, I said, You're making her second, and you know what that means? You know who she's gonna look for? Anybody who's gonna pay is gonna be the wrong guy. Okay, because she has she's misconstrued what being first is.
Kait Dinunzio: You're not very important. Yep. Mm-hmm. With who
Richard Walsh: You know, I've known my o one of my other daughters, the one I was talking about before I just it's I'll keep this high level, but she had this boyfriend for like five years. Okay, friends and did this whole thing. Like we were just kinda, you know, we were monitoring it's all this and like, hey, you're talking about getting married. And a number of years ago I'm like, This dude does not put her first for anything. Everything but her. Now, I'm gonna just be straight up. My daughter's beautiful. I mean like Like, you know, that. Like, well be like, so and I'm looking at this guy, he's like baseball player, all this stuff, you know, good kid, whatever, I guess. And I'm like, if that was me, and she was like, my, dude, I'd be climbing up trees, I'd be trying to get in the windows. I'd be, and there's like no effort going on here. I go, dude, you're not, there's no effort. So I gotta go wear out the guys. I'm gonna go do this, I'm gonna do that. And I'm like, and now my my wife talking about it's like she goes, Don't, I'm like, I'm not gonna say anything because I I don't want her breaking up because I said so.
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Mm-hmm.
Richard Walsh: It's kinda like thing with the Marine Corps, you know? So it's going. I'm like, ⁓ now things are like, mm, and now he's getting out of the second year of college, junior college. And then all of a sudden, one day I'm like, I'm blissed to her. She goes, Well, yeah, we well, we broke up. And I go, Really? I go, You he broke up? You know, no, I broke up with him. And I'm going, I'm like, ⁓ And and I'm just cheering inside. Okay, I'm just like
Kait Dinunzio: Wow. Managing your try to have a sad face.
Richard Walsh: I'm just trying to have the sad face and I'm just the happiest dad on the planet. And I've and she knows this, so it's not like, you if she've heard this, but but I'm like, Well, why? He goes, Well, he really wasn't, you know, putting me first and this and and and and then she finds out after that happens, everybody's saying, ⁓ I'm so glad. I'm so glad. Like he never put you first. Like she d you know, we we get in things it's the outside eye is saying when you don't have ⁓ you don't see it. So super proud of her. And I tell her all the time, I go I go, You had I've I've been silently hoping for this for years. And you made the right choice. And now the guy she's with is like the real man. I'm talking get the car door, teaching her how to shoot. Okay, like who knows? But he knows they're doing he it he's legit. Okay. Like love the kid. You know, he's good. So it so again those those, you know, close that door and this this great door open because yeah, all that. So I don't know where we're going with all that, but I took that down a rabbit hole.
Kait Dinunzio: ⁓ that's amazing. Wow. That's great. Learning lessons. Yeah. Yeah. That's okay. No, that was I mean, I think that's really powerful. So okay, so now I think this is a really interesting one. ⁓ and this one is ⁓ this one is from a Gen X female. And I think that this could be ⁓ so yeah. So she sends in a a message and a peer, a peer of yours, a peer of yours. And so she says, Hey Kate.
Richard Walsh: A peer, a peer. She's a peer. Yes, yes.
Kait Dinunzio: I feel like I don't even recognize myself anymore. My kids don't need me. My work isn't exciting. And nothing has really changed, but I just don't know who I am these days.
Richard Walsh: So let me start with one thing. Your kids don't need you. Congratulations. You did a great job. You did, I'm I I mean, people, they they don't get this. The goal, when you know if you want to know if you've done parenting right, your children just leave. They don't have the apron string. They don't yeah, yeah, but they just they go and they they continue their life and they get an apartment, they get a job, and they go be successful and then they
Kait Dinunzio: Mm. Good job. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they like you, right? Yeah. Yeah.
Richard Walsh: Come by for a criminal, whatever. I mean, whate whatever they do in the communication has what I'm s what I mean is they're not afraid to go out and do stuff and make things happen. So you like embrace that. Okay. I know it can make moms feel like a bummer. And was there a part she's with work she's not satisfied?
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, she said she's just not loving work. So she's not her work isn't exciting to her anymore. I you know, I tend to think that like when we get to that age, like, you know, the dynamics of life are well, it's it's it's a coming of age. The coming of age, sorry. But it's you know, when when the children become more independent, if you've been a stay-at-home mom, like I mean, for your wife, for example, she homeschooled six kids and then they start to go away.
Richard Walsh: Yes. Yes. Yeah, it's okay. It's okay. It's hard. It's hard for her.
Kait Dinunzio: I mean, like that's a really big change. So like her her life purpose was let's get these chickens raised, let's get them educated, let's get them on the right path. But then when you layer in the things that used to excite you about work, they don't excite you any longer. Like I just, is it is it because technology is moving fast? Is it because there's so many more sexy, exciting opportunities out there? Are you comparing yourself on social media? Like there's all of these questions.
Richard Walsh: Yeah, I I that that's that's a good direction. I think what you need to do, so I'll use me as an example. Okay. I'm doing the biggest, most difficult thing of my life right now. Kids are grown, married, I I'm you know, but whatever. All all the stuff I'm doing the most difficult thing right now I've ever done in my life. It's the biggest and most difficult thing what I'm doing. I'm on the I'm on what I call the ten year sprint.
Kait Dinunzio: Hmm.
Richard Walsh: Okay, that's what I'm doing, right? But this is massive. I've and I've done some really cool stuff. Again, world class exhibits, I've done stuff everywhere where I've done all this cool stuff. And this is the biggest thing. And I'm well, I'm 60. And I'm like just getting going on this, right? So I think for her, it's like you need you're in control. Like aga go go back go back to the affinity thing. Like what what really stokes you up? What really energizes you?
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah, you have. ⁓ yes.
Richard Walsh: Okay. If something drains you, you stay away from it. Like you can do things, but then it's like, man, you get the end of the day, like, like you and I, okay, we'll talk, we'll work business, we'll we'll do it. Like we're like more energized. Okay, like what we do, like it energizes us. That's why we can do it and be we can sustain it and do it because it there's it's just something different that's driving us. She needs to look for that. You know, you have ability, you have an infin affinity for something, you have a little bit of ability.
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. Mm.
Richard Walsh: You know, then w where's the drive for that? Don't be afraid to start like over almost, right? Like do something completely new. You've got to work, you've done that. If it's lackluster and you're kind of ⁓ it's like, what's next? What is the next thing? Maybe you gotta straddle for a little while, right? Stay in one while you get the other going. And then but no matter what, you're gonna have to step away from that and then launch, right? And usually it people don't do it soon enough.
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. Und yes. Mm-hmm.
Richard Walsh: You know, because there's a little bit of faith involved there and everything else. You just gotta it's the burn the ships thing, you know? It's like, here we go, Cortez. I'm gonna just go, I'm gonna burn these. I got no options. I'm just gonna make it happen. That's how I live. I'm an all or nothing guy. Shocking, I know. But I I don't I don't I can't do something halfway. It's I I ⁓ when I tell people when I listen to a podcast, I sit and I look straight ahead and I listen.
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah. Very shocking. No mediocrity.
Richard Walsh: Okay, so if it's an hour long, it's an hour I give that podcast. I'm not doing dishes, I'm not working on the car, I'm not nothing. Okay, like I don't have that capability. Okay. Cause I'll miss something, right? So I I I have to be really, really singularly focused. But I've realized that that's my that's one of my superpowers. Because I can stay so focused, I can achieve what others can't achieve faster. I come up with more things I can adjust.
Kait Dinunzio: Mm.
Richard Walsh: I can adapt, I can pivot, because I can see things clearer because I don't have these distractions. Now, my son, like one of the Marine Corps, now my oldest, he can compartmental compartmentalize things. He's telling me how he can listen to a podcast and do this and do this. And he's and he like does it all well. I'm like, okay, that's insane. But he's like mastered how to do it. He can just, I'm like, he writes, he reads like 700-page books every week, you know, and then he's.
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah.
Richard Walsh: I'm like, okay, dude, you're like a super high performer. You know? And ⁓ it's it's yeah, it's but but like I'm I'm a high performer in one thing. You know, so I just focus. So maybe that that yeah, that might help her too. You know, like you too many options is always bad, right? You go to you go to a restaurant that has a hundred and fifty options, well what are you gonna choose? You know? Yeah. Chicken is just a vehicle for sauce, just for the record.
Kait Dinunzio: Wow. Yeah, totally. Totally. Yeah. You like to stay focused. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I think so. You know they're Mmm Terrible. Chicken. Chicken and rice. So what
Richard Walsh: So it's
Kait Dinunzio: That's hilarious. It's a w ⁓ we had a actually one of our debatables this week in our team meeting was which is the better syrup delivery device, waffles or pancakes? And it was unanimous waffles.
Richard Walsh: Well yeah, 'cause it holds so much. You got all the craters, man. But was it grade A or grade B? Was it grade B syrup? 'Cause if it wasn't then you're just cheating yourself. It's gotta be grade B.
Kait Dinunzio: Bingo. It was maple syrup too though, right? So I mean like, you know. Okay. So No no No no it's like real Canadian maple syrup like ⁓ just like
Richard Walsh: Grade B. Grade B's the real deal. People don't think so, but it's the real
Kait Dinunzio: ⁓ Okay, let's hit one more question here. Maybe two more. Let's see if we can. I've got a couple of that I think are ⁓ really, really interesting here. ⁓ this one is somebody who sent it in through my personal Instagram. And basically the gist of this is it's sorry, it's not written very well, but ⁓ the gist of it is. I feel like people only call me when they need something. How do I know if people actually love me or if they just love what I'm doing in order to like am I buying my friendships is basically what it is. And you know, you're r okay.
Richard Walsh: Yeah. I I I can fix that really easy. Tell ⁓ no.
Kait Dinunzio: The single most powerful sentence, nope.
Richard Walsh: Just tell ⁓ no and then if they don't ever talk to you again, you know they were just using you.
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah. Yeah.
Richard Walsh: When people only call you for something you need, they're not friends.
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. That's yeah.
Richard Walsh: Okay, they're takers. They're drains. You're a fountain. You're you're a fountain, right? You give. They're drains, they take. Okay. So you already know who they are wh where they stand. If they only call on you 'cause they want something, cut ⁓ out of your life.
Kait Dinunzio: Vampires. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree. That was you know, that was go ahead.
Richard Walsh: Yeah. I always tell I've my I've I was gonna say I my my standing joke with my kids, 'cause they kinda make fun of me about my friends or the lack thereof. ⁓ I I always tell but well listen, if I had all my friends on one hand and I lost three fingers, I'd still have all my friends.
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah. Well there you go. I mean there's there's the optimist in you. You know, but but you know, I I there's a whole section about this in Unbreakable of people that I just let fall away because I was giving them a lot of time and a lot of attention and they would just suck that energy, suck the time. You would spend hours texting, listening to their problems, their marital problems. I can't find a partner, I can't do this, I can't do that. And so you feel this affinity to it it's nice to be needed. It it is nice to be needed in this day and age when we're contending with
Richard Walsh: That's right. Mm.
Kait Dinunzio: ⁓ you know, loneliness at a high, high level. People are lonely when they're surrounded by people. They're, you know, loneliness is something that we talk about on the podcast quite a bit. ⁓ but I think that, you know, for me, what it was was when I would say the same thing more than once. Like I get it, okay. So maybe, you we have the same conversation and they're lamenting and they're, you know, they come back, but then I'm saying it again and again and again. And then people start like it's just it's such a waste of time. Time is the only thing we can't get back.
Richard Walsh: Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah, it's it it they're they're they're just there to hear themselves talk. They're there to commiserate. They don't want to solve their problem. They just want someone to come down the ditch and sit with ⁓ Okay. If I come down in the ditch, you're coming out with me. Okay. I'm not hanging out in the ditch. Okay, telling you, ⁓ you poor little thing. I'm dragging you up the hill and taking care of ya. We're gonna and then we're gonna get on with things, okay?
Kait Dinunzio: Right? You know. Ha ha ha.
Richard Walsh: I mean, you you know the story of the Good Samaritan in the Bible, right? So the guy comes along, everyone's like walking on the other side of the street, 'cause he's a Samaritan. They're not gonna talk to him and everything else. He's a dirty Samaritan and everything else. So the the rabbis are on the other side of the street, everyone's going down. So the Good Samaritan comes by, he says, ⁓ gets down there, takes him out, bandages him, takes him to a hotel, pays the manager, said, Here's money you should cover for him for days. If you need anything else, when I come back, yeah, I'll pay you. But he like prepaid for that that and then he went to work. Okay. Okay, I helped him, I did my thing, and I'm I'm out of here. Okay. That's that's what it is. He didn't sit in there and console the guy. Let's get you out of here, let's get your bandages up, let's get you back to back to health. So I I got to go to work. Okay. So I just you know you know what I mean? So yeah, I just you know, stay away from the drains. Yeah.
Kait Dinunzio: Well and Well, in partnership, partnership. Yeah, partnerships and friendships and relationships are a two way street, right? Like I'm not always gonna be the person who texts or calls first. I mean, and nor are you. I mean, you and I we get we're back and forth every day and sometimes you'll message me in the morning, you won't hear from me until the end of the day. And but but but but it is because we don't ⁓ I know, y who else do you text? Like, I mean really, it's just just just Kate Denuncio. But but you know, it's
Richard Walsh: Mm. And that's totally okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Kait Dinunzio: It it is one of those things where ⁓ it doesn't mean that I don't think about people. It's just that where are the priorities and what are other people doing to lift themselves up? Like I did a a a podcast a couple of weeks ago that we released and it was it was just me answering questions. So it was a solo QA. And one of the things that was in there that ⁓ kept that kind of come came up was how how people are, you know, they rely on others. to always fill their cup and and and seek that validation. You know me and my one-liners. Validation? Yeah, right? It is for parking, right? ⁓ look at. Who said you can't teek teach an old dog new tricks?
Richard Walsh: Yeah, that's yeah, I I like that one too. So yeah, yeah. It's for parking. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Yes. No. That's right. It's no, you you're exactly right. It's just I mean, people this is the priority setting, right? This is what it's about. And I'm telling you fr my my best friend, okay, like if I call him or I leave a message, because he never answers the phone, so I either text him or a voicemail, I I he has a three day response time.
Kait Dinunzio: Neither do I. My goodness.
Richard Walsh: I give him up to three days. If he doesn't respond, I do a wellness check. Okay. So I'm like, I'm like, dude, just just send me a text that's telling me you're alive. Okay. So I need to know. But but that's us. Okay. Now we've climbed mountains together. We've we've rode together. We've we've done tons of my best friend. We've suffered together in so many different ways. It's been awesome. But like I I I I know who he is. Okay. He's not in a hurry to answer his phone.
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Richard Walsh: He's not in hurry to respond. Unless there's something, you know. So I just, yeah, get back to me, man. You know, then he'll I'll c he'll call me he calls me Rock. Rock. Yeah, what's going on? You know, you hear that like three days later. You know, you get this call from when but I always pick up 'cause that's my window. It's my only time when I get to talk to him. Otherwise it's gonna be three more days. So yeah.
Kait Dinunzio: That is so funny. Yeah. Yeah. That's funny. Yeah. Yeah. Well my My producer's that way. She honestly sometimes she'll be Yeah, three to five business days for me to get back. And I mean, she doesn't do that with me, but she knows. Like, and and it it is putting those norms in place. It's just because I don't send you a text doesn't mean I'm not thinking about you. It's that, you know, when I look at the fulfilling lives that we lead, we're out, we're doing the things, we're having the conversations. And listen, the thing is is when I'm with you, I'm not gonna be doing this to respond to a text message to have casual banter chat with somebody because small talk, small talk doesn't serve.
Richard Walsh: Right. Right. Right. Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing, Kate. If you're responding to everyone, w when are you doing the cool stuff to talk about? That's the small talk crap. You don't I don't want to talk about I don't talk about the weather. I don't care to if you went to the store and got a deal on I don't care. Talk about big things. You know what I mean? Let's talk about like things that are moving and shaking and doing doing what they do and and and moving the the business needle forward or whatever that whatever that needle is in your life.
Kait Dinunzio: Right. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Revolutionizing, right? Yeah. Yeah.
Richard Walsh: Yeah, but it's like let's let's do that. So I need I can't be texting when I'm trying to accomplish things. I'm again I'm making you know, I'm one one lane. You know, yeah.
Kait Dinunzio: I'm I'm busy. I got the things. Yeah. Okay. So let's do, let's, let's hammer it one more. you know, we've actually had a conversation. ⁓ no, I don't want to do that one with you. You'll hate it. I I know who you are. ⁓ okay, so here's a really good one. This is one we've talked about. ⁓
Richard Walsh: Maybe we need some controversy on the podcast. I don't know.
Kait Dinunzio: No, this one's gonna be controversial. This is, this is, you're gonna be able to put every hat on. And this one is this one's really interesting because it really taps, I think, on somebody's trigger. So I swear, Kate, I don't care about what people think about me until somebody criticizes me. Then I let it ruin my whole day. How do I stop this?
Richard Walsh: ⁓ wow, stop saying you don't care. I'd start right there. Stop saying you don't care. Okay, because you're lying every time you say that. You're you're a liar. Okay. You lie to yourself. Your best friend is you. Stop lying to that person. Okay, that's that's where I would start. ⁓ here's the thing, there's I think it was Jim Rohn who said, Listen, people shouldn't judge, but they do. Okay. He's the point is like they're all gonna everyone's a critic. Everyone's a critic.
Kait Dinunzio: ⁓ yeah, 'cause you could ⁓ HA Yeah.
Richard Walsh: You know, go write some books and see what happens. You you know, Kate, I know, right? I'm on my third one and you know, go do that. Go go build things. See what people say. I got I don't I don't here here's why it can it cannot matter, okay? Who are you doing it for?
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah, that's exactly it. Mm-hmm.
Richard Walsh: That's that's the question you have to answer. If you know I I do this 'cause I do it. Cause I want to do it. I build this when I do a sculpture. So let's say I'll give you an example. I got a commission for this really cool sign for this boutique in downtown Chicago. And I do these steel signs, look like trees and whatever, right? So got the Logan, I'm building this thing. Now the woman commissions me and goes, Okay, I'm gonna do it, it's gonna kinda look like that or whatever. And I don't draw either. I'm not even good with crayons. I'm like a two-year-old.
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah.
Richard Walsh: Drawing. So I don't draw, but I I make beautiful things. And then she calls me and she goes, I wanna, I wanna come out when you're halfway finished and take a look at it. And I'm like, ⁓ yeah, I'm not really into that. Okay. She goes, Well, I want I gotta come out. I'm like, okay. So I call, well, it'll be there on Saturday. You know, you can come out and take a look. It's half finished. So it was like a it was about a a four foot, fourteen inch in diameter steel pipe. Okay. And I took a twenty foot solid one inch round bar. I had bent it and I welded it to the side of it. And I left it laying there in the dirt in my big construction yard where I do my stuff, and she came out. I go, Yeah, it's there in the it's laying on the ground. So so I get this voicemail. Okay, this was in like 2000 or something. I don't know, 2001. She's like, I am so disappointed. I thought blah, she's going on about how terrible it is and everything else. I'm like, ⁓ okay. So the next Sunday, it's finished. Okay. I like do things in And and I had it took me all day to install it. Okay, so she's not at the boutique and this. So I'm installing it cantilevers over the sidewalk and it moves when the wind blows. It looks like a tree wrapped holding her oval logo. It's spectacular. Okay. So here's the next voicemail I got from her. You're the master. I've never seen anything so beautiful in my whole life. I'm like, yeah, I want to can I play the other voicemail for you from last week? You know, when you're telling me how disappointed you are in me. I'm like, I don't give a crap. You don't come look underneath the, you know, the the canvas.
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah.
Richard Walsh: You know what I mean? For the painting, you don't see it halfway done. I'm an artist. I don't even know what I'm doing. It literally like it only it only avo I Shed Aquarium gave me a Shed Aquarium in Chicago, right? John G. Shed Aquarium commissioned me to this huge sculpture. Let's be on Michigan Avenue, right in Chicago. They're doing this new exhibit. And so like they wanted me to do a drawing, though. I'm like, ⁓ I I don't draw. Well, it's okay. You know, the design head designer for the shit. It's like, okay, go ahead. I'm like,
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It happens. It unfolds.
Richard Walsh: All right. So I submitted this drawing that it looked like a three-year-old did this thing. Actually, I've seen better three-year-olds do work better than me. And and and I got the commission and it's on Michigan Avenue and I got sold to whatever town, Beaufort, North Carolina, or something like that. Huge thing, right? Massive thing I did. And then I run into him and he's like, ⁓ I forgot to tell you, no, when we have the meeting where we're selecting the artists, he's like, I handed your drawing around, and everyone's looking at this and they're looking back up at him and they start laughing like You gotta be kidding me. You're gonna pay this guy? You're gonna pay him to do this? He goes, you know, you gotta see his work. Like you gotta see his work. You can't I'm like, you know, so and then they did, of course, I'm like the number one whatever, right? But I just can't draw, you know, but I don't I know I have a concept, but that's it. So wow, that that went off the trail. But yeah, she has to do it for her. She has to do it. It you can't care about it. You know you you're gonna say you're it goes back to your comparison thing too, you know.
Kait Dinunzio: Yeah. Yeah, it's not your thing. Don't care. Just let it go. No, but it's it but it yeah. Yeah. The thief of joy. Yeah.
Richard Walsh: There's a really cool song by a band called Citizen Soldier and it's called comparison. Ever look it up and listen to it? It's it's spectacular on comparison. It's pretty cool. But ⁓ I like it.
Kait Dinunzio: Mm-hmm. Mm. I love it. Okay, so that brings us kind of to the end of time here. No, this was such a great podcast, so much energy. I know. How does an hour just whip by so quickly when we're together? So, Richard, ⁓ what we'll do is we're gonna take your website and ⁓ you know, come maybe some of your Amazon books and drop them into the the show notes here. We'll let people be able to connect with you because I think that this is fabulous. I can't see this being the only time that you're on the Unbreakable podcast. ⁓ I think we've got much more.
Richard Walsh: Already? Already? Yes. Super cool. It's so much to say. Right.
Kait Dinunzio: So much more to talk about, but thank you so much. If you were to I I I I do have to jump to a meeting here, but if you were to leave our listeners with one piece of advice to either put their life in the direction that they want to go to to become the person that they want to be, what would it be?
Richard Walsh: It's not original, but it works. Do hard things. If whatever you're gonna do to change, you wanna do something different and it's gonna be easy, stop. It's not gonna be worth it. It will not be worth it. Just like the guy with the money and the house, all that, the other question. Go go do something hard, my man. It sounds like that came pretty easy to you. And that's why you're disappointed. Do something that just, you know, just. It's not original, but it works. Do hard things. If whatever you're gonna do to change, you wanna do something different and it's gonna be easy, stop. It's not gonna be worth it. It will not be worth it. Just like the guy with the money and the house, all that, the other question. Go go do something hard, my man. It sounds like that came pretty easy to you. And that's why you're disappointed. Do something that just, you know, just.
Kait Dinunzio: ⁓ yes. ⁓ yes. I love it. Never. I love it. Never. Yep, yep. Yep, yep. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Makes you scared. Makes you scared.
Richard Walsh: Yes, and hurt. Suffer, you know? Yep. Yeah, baby. Yes, and hurt. Suffer, you know? Yep. Yeah, baby.
Kait Dinunzio: ⁓ trust me. You know, you know me. That's leg day. That's leg day. ⁓ trust me. You know, you know me. That's leg day. That's leg day. ⁓ wonderful Richard. Thank you so much for joining. I am so excited ⁓ for this one to come out live. It'll come out next week. ⁓ remember, listeners, protect your peace, chase your dreams, and stay unbreakable.
Richard Walsh: Get some. Kate, thank you for having me.