The Free To Lead Podcast by Will Steel. A career decision to major in Spanish with Richard Blank..pdf

The Free To Lead Podcast by Will Steel. A career decision to major in Spanish with Richard Blank. In this episode of Free To Lead: Journeys of Leaders Driven by Passion, Inspired by Purpose, Will Steel interviews the CEO, President, and Bilingual Telemarketer Trainer of Costa Rica's Call Center, Richard Blank. Richard recounts his unconventional decision to major in Spanish, his transformative experience teaching English in Costa Rica, and his eventual success in the call center industry. Embracing Failure: Turning Setbacks into Success. He emphasizes perseverance, learning from setbacks, and the importance of building relationships. Richard also offers practical advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and discusses his future aspirations of writing children's books. Richard concludes with reflections on the joy and fulfillment found in both personal and professional life. https://youtu.be/AbjVlr7xiok https://youtu.be/JVz9J4MbV6g Finding Satisfaction Beyond Wealth Golden jewels lose its luster. I've made enough money where I'm comfortable and how many dinners can I eat? And I'm not really into the sort of things to compare myself to others like Rolexes and Lamborghinis. That's not my style. I collect pinball machines. My main thing is self-improvement. If I can get up every day and make my bed, be happily married for 24 years still, hit the gym, which I love, walk the rows and try to pay it forward to the freshmen as I, a senior, it's a great life. It's a fun life. And then I have a luxury trade. I get to write. I get to listen to phone calls. I'm not bored. I still have fidelity. I still feel young. And so you can't crack that glass. You have to be very delicate with your life and your time. And so fortunately for me, my really good friend, I chose something that gives me severe satisfaction. And the market speaks. If people have been with me for 15 years, if people come back to work, especially in the call center, And they say, good morning, jefe. Man, I've done something right. Anyone can have a dollar, any loser and any player. It doesn't mean anything. Breaking the Mold: Following Your Passion I think we've all grown up in families where there's some serious expectations, scholastic, cultural tradition. I wanted to break that mold. Don't call me a black sheep. I'm the one that shines. I didn't want to study finance or law or go into medicine, like what my friends and family did. I gravitated towards languages, especially when you guys speak Queens English. Oh, NVSMI. but it was the easier class. I tell you what, Will, whenever you do something above and beyond dedicated practice, like the gym or arts and languages, I knew that I had something. So when it came to that really responsible decision, where you go to school and what you study, I didn't want to feel like a rainy Sunday night cramming session. That would have broken me. I didn't want that sort of pressure. I didn't want to live in that box. So I said, listen, let me be a Spanish major. It might make me marketable. I could get a job. Put seabla espanol on a business card. My parents thought I was crazy. I said, hold on. My great grandparents came to the United States at the turn of the 20th century. Great grandpa Louie couldn't speak English, moved to New York. Look what he did during the depression. The True Essence of Leadership When you have a luxury of a track record and they've seen you during your best and your worst times and they judge your character during that, that's when the people come to you and say, listen, you didn't realize it, but that day when you said ABC, that got me out of this thing. And I was able, you have no idea that you even said it. But you made that impression. And so my leadership to me, my man, is not how many tickets I sell at a concert or where I am on a billboard chart or in the top 500 richest people somewhere. It's that thing when the cameras aren't there or someone introduces me to their mother and says, this is the best boss I've ever had. Man, you're going to make me cry. Passion Over Profit: The True Driver I enjoy watching people in their moments, but my mind is always about them getting up early and training to get to that moment. If you see it that way, what's behind the curtain, what's in the kitchen? Seriously, the ones that are the long-term players. Yeah, I can hear if it was a football team that you're invested in those people getting better. Yes, there's the money. But that can't be what has you be as good at what you do. It's not just the money. Money is fine to have the money. If you do a good job and you provide a good service, fine.