EP 33 The Power of Persistence: How Rick Elmore Built the Largest Handwriting Platform in the World

Blake (00:00:01) - Welcome to the G.E.M Series, powered by Rocket level. On this podcast, we empower entrepreneurs to succeed by setting big goals, executing like a pro, and having a fearless mindset. The G Series is all about investing in yourself. We're here to share the path to getting what you want out of life by sharing the stories of entrepreneurs who have done this themselves, providing thorough research from our team on what careers and habits are yielding the best results, and discussing the mindset it takes to overcome the obstacles that all future entrepreneurs will face. Investing in yourself starts with putting in the work every single day, and this podcast is here to help you do exactly that. My name is Blake Chapman. I'm the Vice President of the Ambassador Program here at Rocket Level, and I'm thrilled to be your host for the G.E.M series.


Blake (00:00:48) - Hey everybody, and welcome to series Elmore, simply on the podcast. How are you doing, Rick?


Rick (00:00:59) - I'm doing great. It's great to be here. Thanks for having me.


Blake (00:01:01) - Hey, I'm stoked to have you here, man. And for those who dunno, you, maybe we could just open up a little bit, just tell the audience a little bit about yourself and, you know, your mission right now.


Rick (00:01:10) - Yeah, so, um, like you said, um, my name is Rick Elmore. I'm the owner and founder of Simply Noted. I have a pretty unique background, um, kind of grew up as an athlete. Uh, went to the University of Arizona on an athletic scholarship and played under Mike Stoops in the early two thousand for about five years. I had a good, good career there. And, uh, got to live out my childhood dream. Played in the NFL for three years, and that's a whole story in itself, but it was an absolute fun, crazy wild ride. Um, my, I got drafted to Green Bay, so right after they won the Super Bowl, I was hanging out with Aaron Rogers and Clay Matthews.


Blake (00:01:45) - Wow.


Rick (00:01:45) - And all those guys. So that was fun. But, um, also, uh, I got cut from that team but then was picked up by the 49ers and almost won the Super Bowl my, my rookie year. So crazy. A lot of cool stories about that. But, um, eventually had to hang up the cleats in the shoulder pads as every athlete does. And I got into corporate medical device sales. Um, I have had tons of success there. Everything that made me successful as an athlete, I transferred over to being in the business world. Hard work, passion, desire, perseverance, strength, grit, energy, you know, all the things, you know, the intangibles that you can take with you anywhere. Um, rookie of the year, my first year in the next five years, I was, uh, top 1% or top five sales rep in the company. But in 2017, and this is where the journey gets crazy, um, I had an itch I could not scratch, you know, I knew I didn't wanna be, you know, uh, in a corporate medical sales position my whole life.


Rick (00:02:40) - So I went back and did my MBA, um, and about a year and my marketing class, you know, I had this aha moment. I was listening to my, uh, marketing professor about three hours into a lecture. Our classes were three and a half hours long, two of them a night. And, um, he was saying like, emails like super low, 4% direct mail, super low, you know, knocking doors, cold calling and. He ends the lecture by saying, Hey guys, you know what works better now, if not better than ever, is a good old-fashioned handwritten note. The mailboxes are empty. You know, we live in a digital era, um, nobody's getting them anymore—99.2% open rate. And I was like, man, I'm in sales. If I can get in front of my client 99.2% of the time, no, that's gonna do something for my business. So yeah, I mean, there's so much of this story, but I mean, that's really what started and kicked off what I'm doing now. I'm the founder of probably the largest handwriting platform in the world. We have 400,000, uh, users on our website every single month. Um, we just got done building the world's only handwriting robot. Um, we have six pending patents on it. Um, it's a game-changing product in our niche. Um, you know, multiples and millions of revenue, um, in our business. It's just been a cool, you know, journey, to say the least.


Blake (00:04:03) - No kidding. And thank you for breaking that down cuz there are so many things that I, uh, I wanna, I wanna talk about. I was kind of thinking about it because when I was, I was doing a little research, I was like, is it weird having your physical stats out there on the internet?


Rick (00:04:17) -?


Blake (00:04:18) - Oh yeah. Rick's like six-five, I think. Or I think I.


Rick (00:04:22) - Yeah. Um, you know what, maybe not. Cuz I was always like, growing up, I was playing sports. So like, we always had the roster with our height and our weight. And then, when you get to high school, it's all about your speed and strength. So, you know, when you, when I went to the NFL combine, you wanna talk about weird, um, it gets really weird there. They, they, it's like a fashion show for athletes. Like, they strip you down into your compression shorts, and they walk you down like literally like a, like an aisle in the middle of all these coaches and, and um, uh, what do you call 'em, the people that go out and recruit scouts, all these scouts. And they're like; they make you sit on a scale, they measure you like they measure your arms. We're like Rick Elmores, six four in five eights, 262 pounds, hand size, arm size, you know, torso. I mean, it's literally, I felt like a cow at like a meat auction, you know? So


Blake (00:05:17) - I hope you remind me. I was just like, I saw that, and I was like, man, that, that is kinda interesting. But it sounds like you probably get desensitized to it pretty quickly. Yeah. Cause you're like, hey, it's part of the gig, man.


Rick (00:05:27) - Yeah. You know, and I owe everything, all my success, to being an athlete. I mean, it teaches you how to work as a team, you know, be coached hard, pushed through, and never quit competing—100%. Um, I think the, I mean, the best thing you do for kids, I have a three and a five-year-old, is to get 'em into sports. It teaches 'em to deal with failure, to overcome adversity. So I owe everything to my athletic background, my football background, and the University of Arizona. Um, it's been invaluable to my success as an adult.


Blake (00:05:56) - Of course. Yeah. I mean, you know, working with athletes, especially in the sales field, I'm like, Hey, it's. It's not every athlete, but a lot of athletes do have those; they just have that mindset ingrained into them that they're like, know what it means to like stuck perpetually until I'm like, great, you know,


Rick (00:06:16) -  and Yeah.


Blake (00:06:17) - And to get there, and it doesn't eat away at you because,


Rick (00:06:19) - And that's what Yeah, yeah, like what you just said, like, um, like the great ones don't quit. You know, they, the great ones, don't quit when they're tired or when they're not good at something. Uh, the great ones are obsessed about it, and they'll go through the suck, and they'll stick with it until they get great. And I think, um, that's something like you just said, it's really easy to kind of stand out because some people will, you know, there's, there are stages of success. Like when you're learning something, it's awkward, like you don't know what you're doing. Then you go through the mechanical stage, and when you get mechanical, it's awkward, like, like you're thinking too much. Like, you know, my, my wife played softball, and like if you're mechanical swinging a bat, you're never gonna hit, you're never gonna be successful at doing it. But then now you get out of the, the mechanical stage, you go to the kind of like the confidence stage, and then when you get through the confidence stage, that's where all your success happens. But it takes time. I mean, the ten-a-thousand-hour rules are a real thing. It takes years, and most people can't even get through a couple of weeks. But if you can get through it and stick with it, you know, it comes; it just takes time.


Blake (00:07:17) - No, you're right. You know. Uh, and so growing up, I think I heard you were in California, is that right?


Rick (00:07:24) - Yep. You, I grew.


Blake (00:07:25) - Up. And was that kind the mission, uh, the first mission that you found yourself in when you were young? You're like, I wanna go to the NFL and, and go that road, or, or what? I don't, not that a kid is just completely thinking about like your entire life's journey when you're a kid, but I was, uh, yeah. What, what was, what was life like then?


Rick (00:07:44) - I was very lucky; I had very supportive parents. Um, kind of had a, I mean, everybody as a childhood tragedy, tragedy. But, um, my dad passed away when I was super young. And I think that like lit a fire in me that's just impossible to go out. Yeah. Um, I've always had like a competitive edge. It didn't matter what I was doing; I played every sport growing up. I, I skateboarded, um, surfed. I mean, I wanted to, you know, do everything and be the best at it. I was not the best at it, you know, but it didn't mean that I wasn't gonna try to be the best at it. And of course it, it helped me just, you know, get better over time and, and stand out over time. But, um, yeah, I was very lucky. You know, I, I come from very humble beginnings, you know, I would say lower middle-class family stepdad was a football coach and a contractor. My mom was a medical biller. Um, but I mean, I, I felt like the richest family in the world cuz my parents supported us through everything. Unconditional love always had our backs were always at everything. And I think in life that itself, you know, can be a, a huge, a huge, you know, benefit or a positive force in your life because I always knew no matter what, my parents had my back and Yeah. Well, that's extremely important.


Blake (00:08:54) - It's so crucial because I, you know, you grew up without that, and Yout dunno how to accept support either, you know? Yeah, yeah. Like, you don't ever learn that. And, uh, and it's such a gift. I feel the same way whenever I, too, like beyond blessed to be able to learn how to like, help, uh, you know, accept, accept inspiration, any of that stuff. So yeah, I think that's, uh, that's incredibly powerful. And you know, whenever you're talking about gonna Stryker it kinda, yeah, I was, I was just thinking, and I was like, man, I bet you chilled it over there. Like, I can just imagine you going over there and uh, and, and I have heard some of the stats, but I was like, I can't think of like a better when I think of an athlete, I think of an athlete being able to transition to like a sales role and just absolutely annihilate it. Um, but I wanted to hear from you; where was, yeah? How was your, your head at that time when you were making that transition from the sports world into Yeah. What were you kinda thinking about?


Rick (00:09:51) - I mean, I think it, it wasn't very good because what made me successful in the, in my past life was killing like quarterbacks, you know? Yeah. I was being very physical, hitting and tackling. And I used to get, you know, paid to be violent and physical. And when you get into the business world, you know, you can't, I mean, you have to flip it like completely around. You gotta be successful through strategy, words politics. Like, and that takes a while to learn. I would say my first two years in the corporate world, you know, on paper, they may look successful, but I was struggling. Um, I had the only reason I was being successful because I was just working, you know, instead of a 40-hour week, I would put in 80-hour weeks. You know, if I wasn't, I would be doing stuff every Saturday and Sunday.


Rick (00:10:36) - I'd be hanging out with my manager, and I'd be watching YouTube videos. I would be asking if, like, I can go shadow somebody who's been completely like, you know, ten years in their career, what made some successful, I, nothing was clicking. The only thing that was working was activity. Cuz activity equals results over time. And I, a lot of my success, you know, came from that early on. But, my success didn't start coming really until my second medical sales job. Um, like my years three through 6, 3, 4, 5, and six, um, when I had that confidence. So I got through that awkward mechanical stage. I started being able to connect the dots, started to understand how, how the business world functions, you know? Yeah. It wasn't just about effort; it was about strategy. It was about being likable, building trust, you know, building relationships and having a good product, having a good product market fit, you know, being available.


Rick (00:11:29) - I mean, there are tons of reasons you'll be successful in business. But it took me a while to figure it out. And that's what I've honed o over the years. It's like, you're gonna become successful over time, and over time, you're never gonna stop learning. Like, that's why I went back into my MBA. Like I wanted to learn something new, right now I'm, I'm in a business that I never thought I'd be doing. You know, I'm a sales and sales guy with an athletic background, but I have a robotic software and industrial automation company with zero experience, you know? And I put myself in those situations to grow. You grow through what you go through. So, um, I think, you know, if anybody is listening to this message, you know, you gotta constantly live outside your comfort zone. I know it's, it's cheesy, and you hear it all the time, but it's so true. And if you're going home every single day and your comfort zone, you're just not gonna grow. And your, your ceiling is gonna be so low when it can be so high.


Blake (00:12:15) - No, 100%. Do you know? And I think that, yeah, I, I, I always wonder about that cuz sometimes I'm like, I think that something that can get in the way of people finding their success is being like, yeah, they're, they go from, it's almost like the fear of your hands getting soft or something like that going into this work. Cuz you don't understand that, like, what was like this physical, uh, violence that you had to take out on other people, it turns into something that's like equal or more high-pressure scenarios. But you and, and opportunity to like to win and lose, but in just a different, a different realm, you know? And it can grow you in so many different directions. So you started, I, I think that's, that's, uh, that's something that I always hear too, is like, if you have a good person in your corner to kind of like, shadow and, and follow along, it, it, it makes all the difference in any career that you're going into. So in those three to six years, were you, like, were there people that you've, you latched onto that were mentoring you? And then what was your It sounds, well actually, I don't wanna project anything, but it sounds like maybe usually I find whenever I talk to entrepreneurs, there's a little bit of disenchantment with the corporate experience at a certain phase, you know? Um, so maybe speak.


Rick (00:13:28) - Yeah, it's true. I mean, that's one of the main reasons I got out of corporate America. I mean, I was having tons of success, making good money. You know, you get the golden handcuffs. Um, but I saw where like all the managers and upper like brass, you know, C level, you know, guys were at and, all of 'em were divorced or, you know, estranged from their families or never home. And I wanted to be like a dad that could be around. Um, my parents were around at everything, every practice, every game. And I saw, like me, my success was just gonna go this ladder,r and I always have to travel all the time. I was like, why would I do that? Like, I wanna be with my kids. I wanna be with my wife. You know, I've been with my wife for almost 17 years.


Rick (00:14:09) - Um, you know, it's, I didn't wanna sacrifice that plus, you know, like,e I think entrepreneurs, like, I think they're born, but you can also become an entrepreneur over time. But I wanted to prove that I could do it. I wanted to be successful in life after sports, and I didn't wanna be known as the guy who was a football player. Like, totally that I didn't wanna be known as the guy who could just do what everybody else did. And my success, you know, came off as like a byproduct of somebody else. So taking a chance on entrepreneurship, um, you know, was it back in 2017, like 2018, uh, it was much more than building a business. It was much more than it than making money. Um, I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. I, I thought the idea that we had at the time, um, was amazing cuz there just was nobody doing it.


Rick (00:15:01) - Um, you know, just a cool tangible personal sales engagement tool. Totally. Um, and just wanted to run with it. You know, we didn't have kids at the time. We were, my wife was pregnant, so I was like, if there was a time to start a business, it would be now, you know, I was like 29 years old and, uh, take the risk now versus when we have eight, nine, and ten-year-olds, you know, and we're doing sports and everything, so, yeah. Um, yeah. Corporate America's not for everybody. Not saying I would never go back, um, you know, but right now, I'm so focused on simply noting where we're at, the vision, you know, the direction we're going. Um, I'm excited about what we're doing here.


Blake (00:15:37) - And what was the timeline like for you? You know, like, cause is this something, an idea that had been marinating for a while, like for a couple of years? Or did you just reach a point where you're like, Hey, I think I gold here, and I'm gonna go for it? I'd love to know how you feel.


Rick (00:15:53) - Yeah, well, how you made it happen, you know, that's why I went back into my MBA. I knew I wanted to do something else. Um, and I think to find your passions in life, you gotta put yourself in new situations. Like, I hated school. I just never was a good person at school. I, I don't know if I have a d d I've been tested like five times, and I always, they, they say, I don't, but like, I can't sit in a class for that long. Like, I just wanna be out moving, you know? Yeah. And, um, that's why I mean, I, it took me literally a full year of my MBA and to just be in a class one night at like 10 o'clock and just hear this guy say something, and it resonated with me. I was just like, that makes total sense.


Rick (00:16:33) - Like, I'm in business, I'm in sales, like it's customer service, it's relationships. There has to be somebody out there doing this. So I jump on Google, like, oh, someone's doing this in the wedding industry. But that's the absolute worst industry to be in. Anybody who's been married knows it's bridezillas. They change the guest list all the time. They're stressed out. It's false. Starts nonstop. Plus, their one-time customer's budgets are tight. I was just like, in this company at the time, they got a million dollars to try to break into, the bridal market for wedding invitations. I was just like, hopefully.


Blake (00:17:06) - You're not doing too many of the


Rick (00:17:08) - Yeah, they're a bunch of one-time customers. I was just like; this is a terrible business. Like why not go use this tool? And this is, and I'll tell you where the aha, like on entrepreneurial seizure moment was, but like, why wouldn't you use this tool to like to try to go set more relationships or grow your business or, um, you know, use it as like a booking more appointments, you know, attract new clients, retain current clients. So the aha moment was after we had that idea, or I had that idea. There was another classmate of mine, you know, we talked about doing this, uh, together, but he kind of faded off within a week. Yeah. But, um,


Blake (00:17:42) - Happens,


Rick (00:17:43) - We bought a, yeah, because it's just time. It's so much time and energy. But, uh, got a pen plotter from China. It was like a $200 pen plotter from China, which is just a three-axis machine that uses plugins. And I wanted to test it. I wanted to sit, like, own it. I wanted to send it to clients and see what their, you know, response rate was. So we got this really bad plotter. I had no idea what I was doing. It took me like three or four weeks just to figure out how to turn it on and build it and get it just to even move. But, um, it took, took my family, everybody, my wife, my parents, like friends. Like it was no paper feed, so you had to hand-load it and press a button. Hopefully, it will write.


Rick (00:18:23) - Yeah. Took about a month, and we wrote 500 handwritten notes with this, this, um, pen plotter. And I sent them out to some of the doctors in my territory. I never worked with, you know, I had an Arizona and New Mexico territory, so there were tons; I had like 8,000 potential clients in my, and I had like 400 clients. And the response rate was just amazing. Excuse me. These doctors would get these notes from me, and like, they would call me almost like laughing like, Rick, like this is cool. Like, no rep does this. Like, thanks for sending me this handwritten note. Let's like book a lunch and let's talk about this. Like, and I was knocking on doors like, Hey, excuse me, Dr. Smith, can I book lunch with you? Yeah. And now I have doctors calling me, so I can't


Blake (00:19:07) - Music in my ears,


Rick (00:19:09) - I know in sales, like, this should just be making you so excited. But, um, but yeah, these doctors from the 500-piece mailer, I got like 28 doctors to buy. It was $280,000 new, new client sales on a $50,000 a month. $50,000 a month quota, 28 grand in commission. And that's like when the seizure went off, I was just like, and every entrepreneur has that entrepreneurial seizure moment where, like, adrenaline goes excitement, right? And I was like, this is it. I'm building a company. And then, you know, fast forward five years, lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of sleepless nights and lots of hardships. No, we are where we are today. But, you know, I contest this to having a great product, you know, a product that solves a real problem—a great team. I mean, our team is like a family here. Um, everyone's been here for two or three years or more. Um, so we don't high have high turnover. Um, you know, it's growing every month. You know, there's a lot of, when you're building, when you're working with robots and software, there are tons of problems, of course. But, um, I wouldn't trade it for anything—the, just the personal growth that's come through entrepreneurship in the last five years. I couldn't match it in a 40-year corporate career. Couldn't. Um, so I'm very thankful for this journey so far.


Blake (00:20:23) - I mean, and can I just say, like, I think the creative brain and, and the creativity in my brain is already like, I have so many visuals of this, like, this laboratory of robots writing letters, you know, and, and just sending them off. I, I don't know. I just think it's such an exciting business too, just in, in the concept that like, I, I I think it makes perfect sense and it's, uh, it's incredible that, uh, that you've, you've taken the time to like fine tune things. And I've, I've heard a little bit about, like, you're like, I learned what kerning was.


Rick (00:20:57) - Uh, K kerning, no idea what that Yeah. Nobody has any idea what that is unless you're in this world. My, um, yeah. Ligature styles. Curing, randomization, offset jitter. Yeah. All these font, terminology, metrics, That's so cool. We use, we use machine learning. We don't use fonts, but I mean, that's a whole different conversation. Oh. That's why we're different. Um, that pen plotter uses a font. We use machines. We built our handwriting engine that has machine learning, so it knows what it's writing. So how it connects? Yeah, it's, it's really interesting.


Blake (00:21:31) - That is, that is so interesting. So tell me about, like, cuz obviously when you first tried this out with the pin plotter, and you know, it took a while to put it all together, and you got it from China, that, that had the pitch of trying to, you're like, we'll book a meeting and, you know, and you had another objective. But tell me about when you first started, I guess, going after maybe clients to use this as a service. Like when did you get a little traction and what was that, what was that? Well,


Rick (00:21:59) - We're completely customer funded. So we don't have any loans, no debt, no investors. I was very, very, um, adamant about making sure that happened because you don't; if you have to go into debt to start a business, you shouldn't start a business. You're already starting behind the eight-ball. I mean, like, 70% of businesses fail within five years. Why are you gonna put yourself already, you know, behind, you know, the race? But, you know, with my sales experience, you know, we had to sell every single day to survive. Um, if we didn't, if we didn't sell and collect money, we didn't reinvest the money cuz we just, we wouldn't, I wouldn't take out a loan. I wouldn't, like, I wanted to prove this, that I can do this with, you know, customer-funded. So how, how I started this in the beginning? I got a 10,000 zero, uh, 0% interest credit card from like Chase Bank.


Rick (00:22:44) - Like they'll cut anybody, you know, credit card for that. And I would just put stuff on that and pay it off, put stuff on that and pay it off, you know, and that's how I funded my business. I mean, it's gotten a lot bigger over time and, um, but yeah, I'm, I'm very adamant about building a business, you know, debt free, investor free. Cuz when you go into debt, you start making more desperate decisions. And then when you go into invest like an investor, you know the direction of your company, you know, it is all about making a profit and making money and not what's necessarily best for the long term health for your Yeah. Your business or the product for your clients. So, um, not to say that this business won't need an investor in the future to reach its full potential cuz it is very capital-heavy. Um, I mean, we have multiple millions of dollars just in capital equipment in our warehouse, and that's not, you know, r and d you know, that's not, you know, the website that we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on, you know. So, um, for us to go to our full potential, we may eventually have to bring on a partner, but right now I'm, I'm trying to go as far as possible without bringing, bringing, bringing on some outside help.


Blake (00:23:46) - Yeah. I mean, I align with that completely. Um, you know, being bootstrapped is just, well, you can't help but see the other side of that too, which is like, you know if you take in all this money, it's like, it's not, it's not, it's not a gift.


Rick (00:24:03) - Well, the thing is, when you do that, you start wrong. You just start throwing money at marketing; you start hiring too many people. Like you're operating in the red every single month. Um, you know, versus when you're bootstrapping, you're, you're trying to think about how you can stretch the value of every dollar. So we put tons and tons of effort into our SEO, you know? Mm-hmm. And that's why we drive so many users to our platform every single month. And that's evergreen. It happens every single month. It's not an ad where you're paying for one click, for x amount of dollars, where you're never gonna get that click back. So, you know, we do tons of, you know, podcasts, we do tons of, um, uh, events. You know, we go to trade shows and meet new people. You know, you're making investments with your money that's gonna last for months, if not years.


Rick (00:24:46) - Versus hey, gimme a million dollars, I'm gonna go hire ten sales reps, we're gonna cold call and throw a ton of money at marketing. Right. And cross our fingers and hope it works. Like, yeah. If that's your business plan, I'm telling you, don't even start. Like you're, you're already, you're gonna be a part of that statistic, you know? So start, start low, you know, I call it the bullets and, and Cannonball metric. It's, I think it's Jim Collins or Tim Collins. It's the book Good To Great. Where they talk about, you know, how to mitigate risk over time or mitigate risk when in, like, in making investments, it's like you're on a pirate ship and think you have one cannonball and you're in a fight for your life and you gotta make sure that Cannonball is gonna sink that other ship and you only get one shot. So what are you gonna do? You're gonna make sure that when you fire that cannon, you're gonna do test shot, test shot, test shot. When it's perfect, you're gonna fire that cannonball. And that's what we've been doing with our cash. So when we invest, we test and, and evaluate, test and evaluate, test and evaluate. And then when we feel confident that it's gonna be a good investment, we shoot off that cannonball. And that's what you gotta do as a self-funded bootstrap startup.


Blake (00:25:52) - I'm so glad you brought that, that up. I haven't read that book in a long time, and I, I forgot about that quote, but I, I remember that resonating with me. Cause Yeah, I, I can't tell. I mean, I've, I've done it myself where I, we've been like, alright, let's go all too fast or something like that. Cause I think, you know, whenever you are, it's, it's something to be cautious of as a, like, an entire entrepreneur because there's this natural like quick start, uh, kind of wanna get ready to go, but you kind of, you get burned a couple of times. You end up burning,


Rick (00:26:25) - You know? Yeah. Stop listening to this guru, you know, social media influencers. It's all; it's all a scam. These people like, oh, get rich in six months, or, oh, it only took me one year.


Blake (00:26:36) - No. Have you seen her videos on TikTok where people are like, what do you do? And then they're, uh, and then the guys are like, oh yeah, I make, uh, 3 million a month, um,  doing and, and, and it's like all these people, and then you go, and they're like, check out my course. And I don't know; it's kind of funny how I don't know why that's proliferating so much right now. Yeah.


Rick (00:26:58) - I just think anybody, I mean, I would take, you know, I would take advice or try to learn from anybody. I think, um, the ones that are great at what they're doing, they learn from others. So if, like, you're young in a sport, you pay attention to what the great ones do, but the way you're gonna do it, it's gonna be completely different. You know, just kind of pick pieces that work for you and connect the dots that work best for you. But I wouldn't believe anybody, you know, was an overnight success in most cases. Like 95% of the time, it takes ten years to become an overnight success.


Blake (00:27:29) - It does. I I always tell people I'm like, my greatest superpower is being willing to suck. It doesn't mean I like to, but I'm willing to for as long as I have to to get there. Yeah. You know, if I think it's worthwhile. Um, yeah, because, like, I dunno, you gotta be patient. You have to be patient and have the willpower to be able to do anything. Cause what you're doing is not an easy thing. You know, it's like, it's just not. And uh, there's no, there's no real shortcut to be able to get there. Yeah. I, uh, you know, kinda thinking about that, tell me, like, what's your relationship with failure been over the years, and how do you typically navigate that?


Blake (00:28:09) - So several, you have probably seen the words rocket level thrown around a little bit here and there. And I wanted to take a moment just to explain what that is. So the G.E.M series comes from rocket level. Uh, who is somebody that I work with directly? And Rocket Level is a marketing technology company that specializes in meeting the unique needs of small and medium-sized businesses. So over the years, through strategic collaborations with national brands, franchise groups, and local partners, rocket Level has become a trusted ally for SMBs operating in the market. And right now, rocket level's primary focus is to provide a comprehensive range of marketing solutions for SMBs, including website development, SEO paid ads, email marketing, social media management, and just about anything you can think of by offering a done-for-you approach. Rocket level takes care of all aspects of digital marketing, allowing SMBs to focus on their core business operations.


Blake (00:29:07) - I know that everybody talks about this all the time. It's so hard to focus on the fulfillment side of things, and been an absolute honor getting to partner with rocket level throughout the years and be able to see them provide a solution for people that maybe don't, don't have the talent right now, maybe don't have the time and maybe don't have the playbook or the tools available. It truly is buttoned up in such a way that you can give somebody your high-level objectives and get this stuff knocked out. So if you're curious, you should give us a shout.


Rick (00:29:37) - Well, when I was younger, I hated it. Um, I was afraid of it and didn't want to fail. Um, failure, the possibility of failing, is what kind of like motivated me. But you quickly find out, um, when you're running a business, when you're older, and like the only way that you can get better is to fail off, fail early, and fail often. Don't, you know, push it out five years just cuz you were afraid to fail. Fail. Um, that's going back to what we were talking about earlier is kinda making little small test shots. Make a test, you know, adjust, test, adjust, test, adjust. If you're not constantly doing that, yeah. Um, you're gonna, you're gonna have a catastrophic failure in the end because you weren't willing to make those small little failures in the beginning. So you can adjust to prevent it.


Blake (00:30:18) - 100%. Yeah. And, and I think I quote you threw out there one time, and I might be not, I might be butchering it, but there's something to the effect of do you want, like why wouldn't you at least try to keep failing rather than, you know, do something scarier, which is realizing your full potential. Yeah. And that's me a lot. And I was like, oh, can you imagine waking up one day and being like, well, this is it.


Rick (00:30:43) - Yeah. You know,


Blake (00:30:44) - It's


Rick (00:30:45) - Kindas. Yeah, that's,


Rick (00:30:47) - Yeah. I couldn't do that. Um, I think, you know, I think a lot of entrepreneurs are like that. They're afraid of being stagnant or complacent or just kind of sticking where they're at. Um, I think, you know, we live in a, a pretty phenomenal, like part of the world or time of the world, you know, with all these technical things that are changing so often. There are just so many possibilities or opportunities. So it's never been easier to be successful. You have all these tools that are free within your hands, and it's just, it takes a little bit of creativity, a little bit of hard work, a little bit of persistence, you know, a little bit of grit. And then it happens over time. It's just, you know, a lot of people don't wanna go through the hurt. Cause the hurt does hurt in the early days.


Blake (00:31:31) - It does, man.


Rick (00:31:32) - And yeah,


Blake (00:31:33) - Sometimes it's crazy cause I was like, oh, I kinda, I found my rhythm as somebody that could be an asset to, uh, whatever my job was. You find your rhythm, and things are great, and then they start; what happens is you start realizing you have to lead other people, and that's a whole other thing. So how, how did you kind of adjust to, um, yeah, growing a team, and how do you keep 'em happy? I mean, you said two; they've been there for a while. Your, your turnover rate is like, you know, is super low right now and, uh, what's mm-hmm. Tips on that kinda stuff.


Rick (00:32:04) -I grew up on a team, so I was always used to being on a team. Um, my success was everyone's success, and vice versa. I would never have been successful without having great teammates. They didn't do their job. I couldn't do my job. So Totally. Um, you know, being on a team has just always become very natural to me. I think, you know, what helps teams stick together is being able to be understanding, uh, be patient, be there for each other when people need help, help each other out. It's not always just about hitting the goal, even though you should still be focused on achieving that goal. Um, you gotta be flexible in making sure that, you know, everybody's gonna get across that finish ceiling together, not just one person at a time. So if you go by yourself, you may go faster, but you know, if you want to go a lot further, you have to go together. So, to go together, you have to stay together and take care of each other. Yeah. Help each other grow and help each other, you know, excel. And that may slow you down the journey a little bit, but you're gonna go a lot further together.


Blake (00:33:03) - So does that sports, uh, you know, background sort of, you know, apply to the culture of the company at all? I mean, do you guys refer to Yeah,


Rick (00:33:11) - We're all athletes. , we're all athletes here. Just you, I get it. You get it, or you don't. And, um, in a startup environment, you have to make sure the right people are in the right seats. Um, it's a great book. I forget his name. It's, it's traction. It's the, forget who it is. But that's one of the major things about when you're in a startup like you gotta, you know, you hire, what is it? You gotta hire fast, fire fast. I figure what it is, but you gotta make sure the right people are in the right seats, you know? And for me, I have to be around like-minded, hardworking, committed people, and, um, a lot of those attributes are found in athletes.


Blake (00:33:47) - Yeah. No, it's true. It seems like, uh, I, I've experienced it firsthand. You know, there's just, uh, I I, I've seen, I've seen a lot of athletes come through the team, and I'm, I've always been like,  just super pleased with how everybody's done, and they bring, yeah,


Rick (00:34:01) - It


Blake (00:34:01) - Just, I dunno, it's just, you kinda need, especially, I dunno, it feels like, especially in sales, kinda, you


Rick (00:34:06) - Know. Yeah.


Blake (00:34:07) - It just takes, there's a lot of aspects of the job that I think connect with, you know,


Rick (00:34:13) - This


Blake (00:34:14) - Mentality.


Rick (00:34:14) - Yes. I think sales aren't everything. It doesn't matter if you're in sales or marketing or your relationship. You have to sell, like, you have to sell your wife what you wanna have for dinner or your kids. You gotta sell 'em to go brush your teeth, right? So it's a basic human skill we all have to develop. It's just some people do it for a profession.


Blake (00:34:31) - Have you seen your kids start to sell you


Rick (00:34:34) - ? Yeah, I got, I got me, my son just came to visit me. He's right here looking at me in my window and, yeah, every day. Uh, what's his name? Um, Grant Cardone. He has a book. I, it's, I don't know if it's the 10 x book, but he gives multiple examples of how kids are the greatest salesmen because they're relentless. They won't let you say no; they won't give up. Right. And that's one of the very, like, you know, early on, like, things you have to develop as a salesperson is persistence. Like, you guys gotta do it the right way, right? But kids are persistent. They'll never give up until they get what they want. And, um, yeah.


Blake (00:35:07) - You're a hundred percent right. So now you're, you're here, the company's thriving. Um, what's your mission over there right now? Like what's, what's y'all's focus?


Rick (00:35:19) - Um, I mean, we're still in hyper-growth mode. Um, you know, as you're an entrepreneur, you start your business. Like you, if you have a good way, like you have a really good chance to, to make it as a, it doesn't matter if it's in a business or your job. I've always had a strong why, um, has never been about money. It's always about taking care of my family and making sure all those people who supported me for the last 15 years supported me for a reason. You know, it wasn't somebody who was just gonna give up, but now, you know, it's about, you know, we have a team here, we have W2 employees like it's important for us to grow our business to make sure our employees can take care of their families and live out their dreams as well. So your vision and your dream have to get bigger because your vision and dream have to be big enough to fit everybody else's vision and dream in it. So, um, we're excited. We wanna keep growing, you know, we wanna add more people to the team, but, um, it's about creating a better life for everybody who's involved because, without them, we would be here.


Blake (00:36:12) - Yeah. I can't think of any greater impact than that in the world, you know? Cause I, I've said I, you know, when I was younger, I always would be like, oh, I wanna do something that is related to uh, you know, I wanna, oh, I wanna play music when I'm like 18 or something, or I wanna do this something creative. And I realize whenever you take a few steps back, and you start going down this journey, it always typically comes back to, can I help people, and do I feel like I'm creatively engaged?


Rick (00:36:41) - Yeah.


Blake (00:36:42) - You know, those are two of the big ones, you know, anyways. And am I enabling other people to have a life of their own that's better?


Rick (00:36:48) - Um, yeah. It's like, I think that's what's important as you become more successful. Like, um, giving back is incredibly important cuz there's somebody just like you, just starting on the journey that you started. And if you think about, you know, what happens if somebody like you would've reached out and helped you 15 years ago or 20 years ago? And I was lucky I had some good people in my corner who helped me out. So it's really, I take it extremely personally and not only to help my team and support my family but to be successful. So I can give back in a way just like those people gave to me 20 years ago. So, um, you know, being successful, I feel like it's your, your responsibility because you owe it to the next generation, you know, to help them, just like how people helped you.


Blake (00:37:30) - I couldn't agree more. Something that I was thinking of that I was kinda curious about with, with simply noted. What's the strangest use case you've had for your,


Rick (00:37:40) - Oh, you don't even wanna know. Technology


Blake (00:37:42) - So far,


Rick (00:37:42) - Weird. We have people sending like cards to their, you know, people like, they like their lovers in prison. It is really interesting, like breaking up with them. It's really interesting stuff. , we tell people to say thank you. We think this is a great service for building relationships and maintaining relationships. So either acquiring, you know, new, new clients. So like starting a conversation, booking an appointment, or just saying thank you. You know, build that relationship, increase lifetime value, get more referrals, get better reviews, all that type of stuff. But yeah, there's been some really weird stuff. We have tons of real estate agents who use us more mortgage nonprofits, but just say thank you. I'm telling you, if you just say thank you with no strings attached to your business and your relationships are gonna blossom, you know, for years to come versus looking for that quick win.


Blake (00:38:32) - Yeah. No, I mean I, I've heard of other people doing, like, just talking about the power of the handwritten note too. Dale, have you heard of that guy Dale Dupree? Um, he does, like, he has, I dunno, it was kinda cool, I, I always thought he was kind of cool. He would write it, write it out, and then he would like spill coffee on it or make it look, and he'd be like, yeah, this note went through hell and back just to get to you. Mm-hmm.


Rick (00:38:54) - , , you


Blake (00:38:55) - Know, and I was like, I was like, man, like there's such power in just doing something that makes somebody's, cause also you just know what that entrepreneur or that business owner is going through. They might be, I'm having the worst day ever, and it's just something that breaks up, you know, the mundanity of life for just, just a quick second. Um, and I don't know, I just think there's so much power in that. I also think what you touched on in another episode that some pod; I listened to a bunch of your podcasts before this, um, but you talked about nostalgia and the power of that. So is that something you're kind of, you actively factor?


Rick (00:39:32) - Absolutely. So I, you know, I don't know how old you're, I just turned 35, but I grew up without a cell phone. I didn't get a cell phone until I was like 17. Yeah. And we all wrote handwritten notes, and any anybody in my generation and older understands the power of a pen and a pencil. Like in the nineties, that's what people did. They wrote things down, and then the internet came around. So when you receive something in the mail, it's nostalgic; it brings you back. Right. And you were mentioning earlier it's like, it's like you don't know what that person's going through. I think the best way to build a relationship is face to face or sitting down with somebody and giving them your time. But when you can't give them your time, you know, at least you can give them the perception of your time.


Rick (00:40:11) - You know, a handwritten note. They perceive that you sat down and wrote them something. So, um, yeah. When somebody gets something that's in pen on paper, there's nothing like that today. Everything is tracked and automated. Handwritten notes are the last thing that you can think of that can be automated. And I think, you know, we, it may be more mainstream in the next few years, but we're ahead of it. Um, you know, I'm hoping maybe potentially one of these bigger players will buy us out, and they integrate us into their platform or service. But yeah. Um, yeah, it's just.


Blake (00:40:43) - See that happening cause like this is something that yeah, I, I've, cuz I've researched it before and I've always been pretty underwhelmed with the, you know, the, it almost makes it worse in a way when you can tell that it was printed handwritten note.


Rick (00:40:58) - Exactly. Yeah. This it does. Yeah.


Blake (00:41:00) - I was like, this is so cool. It's a real deal and growing. I mean, I have such a soft spot. I'm 29, and you know, we were we're always, we were still passing notes or whatever it was. We would send literal like my mom would, I don't know if your mom would ever be like, all right, you gotta write out your invitations for your birthday and stuff like that, you know, but, uh, it brings you back. Yeah. It's


Rick (00:41:21) - Pretty, yeah, it does.


Blake (00:41:23) - Cool, man. Um, I'm glad we got to talk. I, I appreciate you taking the time to, to do this and, uh, yeah, I, I, uh, I was excited beforehand and, um, I'm glad we gotta dive into some stuff. Um, usually to kind of wrap up, I like to wonder, uh, about what is the best part of what you, what you do? I, uh, I'm always curious about that question.


Rick (00:41:46) - Well, on the business side, I mean, we are creating something new every day, so it's not boring, you know, from new software on the website to new adaptations or capabilities for our writing robots. So it keeps you on the edge of your seats, but also, you know, this is, you know, a platform and a product that people enjoy using. So, you know, when we're having those bad days or bad weeks, knowing that, you know, I get phone calls or text messages from our clients just talking about how much they love or using our service that helps, um, you know, I push through those hard days. So that appreciation, knowing that we're solving a real problem and that handwritten notes are making a real difference, you know, that helps, you know, push, you know, this forward.


Blake (00:42:27) -Man, it, it, I mean it does, like what I, what I heard. Yeah. I'm sure you've been getting an overwhelming response similar to mine, and, uh, I'm just happy for your success. I, uh, thank you. I'll see where simply noted goes. Um, the other thing I wanted, I guess, to follow up with, too, is where people can keep up with you. You told me earlier you've done 160 podcasts over the last year.


Rick (00:42:50) - Yeah.


Blake (00:42:51) - How can people? Yeah. Keep, keep up to


Rick (00:42:53) - Date on? Yeah. Up to, yeah, just go to simply noted do com. Um, you can; anybody can request a free sample kit. Just go to simply noted.com, and on the homepage, top right-hand corner, you can get a free sample. But on LinkedIn, very, um, very active on LinkedIn. It's the only social media that I use, and just connect with me there. Send me a message if you have any questions. I usually respond within one or two hours. Um, just really depends on my day, but I'd be happy to connect with anybody on LinkedIn.


Blake (00:43:17) - Right on. Well, thanks, Rick.


Rick (00:43:18) - Thank you so much, Blake. It's great to be here. Yeah,


Blake (00:43:21) - Great to, great to get the chat, everybody. This was the G.E.M series. Have a great day.


Blake (00:43:25) - Thank you for listening to today's episode of the G.E.M Series, where we're always here to share the goals, execution, and mindset of thought leaders around the world. If you're listening to this, I'm sure that you have some pretty big goals for yourself, and I would absolutely love to hear them. Actually, here at Rocket level, we just launched our newest partnership program where the goal is to, uh, well, build a relationship with you guys. I wanna talk with all of you, coaches, consultants, and entrepreneurs. This program is gonna be providing free sales and marketing training, giving you access to a massive network of small businesses, and even paying you to allow us to handle the fulfillment side of things. Over the last 20 years, uh, we've been able to learn a lot about how to handle digital marketing for a, you know, small business. And frankly, we wanna pass that along. After working with business coaches and consultants all over the world, we decided, let's make it formal. Let's make this thing happen. So if you're at all curious, check out the links attached, and please reach out directly. I would love to meet you all. Remember, I'm always an email, text, phone call, or DM away. Everybody remember to be awesome and do awesome things, a whole lot more coming soon. Take care.