357 Rick Yvanovich

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:00:00] Rick Yvanovich has traveled the world and has left indelible marks across industries, from supermarkets to tech and from breweries to property development. Rick is a quintessential British techie and a beacon for baby boomers everywhere who proves that passion doesn't wane with age. With over four decades of experience in the UK, China, Singapore, Switzerland, and Vietnam, Rick brings a treasure trove of insights into the business world.

First landing in China as a finance manager for BP and later making waves in Vietnam since 1990, Rick stands as possibly the longest standing Brit and one of the most seasoned expats in Vietnam. Not just a serial entrepreneur, Rick is a fellow of the Chartered Institute Management Accountants, CPA Australia, a Chartered Global Management Accountant, and holds an MSC in Strategic Business Management.

But Rick's contributions don't end there. He's a pillar in the business community as treasurer and board member of BridgeCharm [00:01:00] Vietnam, Vice Chair of the AMCHAM HCMCICT Group, and a guiding force in various other prestigious roles.

An avid supporter of CIMA and a vocal advocate for digital transformation and project management, Rick is on a mission to foster growth, knowledge, and innovation wherever he goes. 

And before we start the episode, a quick word from our sponsor, Deep Wealth and the Deep Wealth Mastery Program. Here's Bill, a graduate, who says, the Deep Wealth Mastery Program has transformed the KPIs we're using to accelerate growth and profits.

Or how about Emry, who says, and I love this, and I quote, the Deep Wealth Mastery Program helped me create the right mindset for both growing my business and later my future exit. I now know what questions to ask, what to do and what not to do, which is priceless. The team and I have found dangerous skeletons and gaps that we're now addressing due to the Deep Wealth program. Today, our actions have a massive ROI. 

Absolutely love that. 

And now, speaking of growth and [00:02:00] adding value, check out what Bruce says, and I quote, As a business owner, I'm always looking for new programs, systems, CEO peer groups, and strategies to improve my business. Hands down, the Deep Wealth Mastery program is the absolute best. I'm both growing my business and preparing for a future exit at the same time. It doesn't get any better. 

And I gotta tell you, as I hear these testimonials, this is exactly why I do what I do. My mission, the team's mission here at Deep Wealth, is to literally change the social fabric of society, one business owner at a time and one liquidity event at a time.

The Deep Wealth Mastery program, it's the only one based on a nine figure deal. And that deal, that was my deal. You know my story. I said no to a seven figure offer. I created a system that we now call Deep Wealth Mastery and that's exactly what helped myself and my business partners welcome from a different buyer, a different offer, a nine figure deal.

So if you're interested in growing your profits, preparing for a future liquidity event, [00:03:00] Whether that's three years away or 33 years away, and if you want to optimize your post exit life, Deep Wealth Mastery is for you. 

Please email success at deepwealth. com. Again, that's success, S U C C E S S at deepwealth. com. 

We'll send you all the information about the Deep Wealth Mastery Program, otherwise known as the Scale for Ultimate Sales System. Better yet, why not hop on a complimentary strategy call? We'll see where you are at your business and what's standing between you and your financial independence and your dreams.

So that's where you want to be. You want to be with other successful business owners, entrepreneurs, and founders, just like you, who are looking to create market disruptions, whether you're a startup, whether you've been in business for three or four decades, whether you're manufacturing, whether you're a high tech, SaaS, low tech, whatever the case may be.

Come on in and network with other business owners, with other businesses, just like you, because they all want to lock in their financial freedom and enjoy both success and fulfillment. Again, the 90 day Deep Wealth Mastery Program, [00:04:00] it has your name on it. All you need to do is take the next step. Please send an email to success at deepwealth. com. 

Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast. While you heard it in the official introduction, we have a fellow entrepreneur, a thought leader, an author. And today it's all about extracting your personal and business deep wealth. And let me ask you something. I know the pandemic is way behind in the rear view mirror as it should be, but are you thriving or are you still surviving?

Are you questioning how can I get to a better place even better before the pandemic, maybe the pandemics had you down a little bit while today, it's all about having you not just survive, but let's put the survive out the window. Let's thrive in your own pun intended. You'll know what I mean when we get a little further into the interview here, but in your own castle, so we're talking about castles and towers and dungeons and all those other things that go along with that.

So Rick, Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast. An absolute pleasure to have you with us. And there's always a story behind the story. So Rick, I'm curious, [00:05:00] what's your story in terms of what got you from where you were to where you are right now today?

Rick Yvanovich: Thanks for having me, Geoffrey. Now, before we start, and before I answer your question, I'd first like to share a core belief that I hold pretty dear to me. And that is we all have the potential to be architects of change. In this era that we're all apparently living in, it's defined by constant transformation.

And our task isn't. Not just to keep up, but it's to actively shape the path forward. So from stacking shelves and the learning the ropes of people management as a trainee in a supermarket, to then immersing myself in the precise world of accounting, I'm a bean counter, and later navigating that constantly evolving landscape of technology and humans, my [00:06:00] story.

My experience demonstrates the power of transformation and continuous learning and the significant impact that each one of us can make. And every day, Our actions, whether they be big or small, they actually shape our future. And as we dive into our discussion today, Jeffrey, I want everybody listening in to remember this.

You are your brand, and every single decision that you make is part of the unique story that you are crafting for yourself. How you react, how you adapt, and how you innovate in the face of all of this change. will define your story and your legacy. Now, this belief inspiring each of us to aim for consistently higher fulfillment is the cornerstone of my work.

It's actually my life purpose. [00:07:00] So, as we dive into our conversation today, Jeffrey, let's not just think about adapting to change, but about how we can define it. After all, when we embrace the unique qualities that we all have and we strive for personal growth, we're not just participants, but we're catalysts in our ever changing business as unusual world.

Okay, so let's get started, Jeffrey. Now you ask me, what's the story behind the story? I gave you a bit of a story there. The story, where did I really start off? I started off failing to get into university and I ended up working a supermarket stacking shelves. I then moved on into that world of accounting really, it was a long time ago, I can't even remember why I suddenly decided one day I want to be an accountant.

I don't even know if that happens, but I obviously did. And I just worked my way up the accounting [00:08:00] ladder. And then at a point in time, I put my hand up and took a redundancy package and retired. That was about 30 years ago. And started up my own company which we celebrate 30 years this month.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Congratulations, 30 years. That is quite something. You have really been out there for a while. Rick, let me go back for a moment, because it's interesting with your journey, from what you were doing, what you wanted to do, couldn't do it, to where you got today, growing up, Rick, I'm curious, growing up as a child, were there any experiences or family background or just outlooks on life that were imparted to you?

That have you look at the world the way that you do today, because lots of people talk about what you talk about. Very few write a book about it, take action about that, go out there to make an act of change, but you're doing that. So I'm curious, what's behind that?

Rick Yvanovich: Oh, great question. Really great question. what I learned growing [00:09:00] up was that you have to work hard. It's the mantra. So, I'm giving a TED talk in a few months. And that's part of my hook is this mantra of working hard, because I've always believed, and I've always, it's been schooled into me, learned into me, beaten into me, working hard is the solution, right?

So, if you get a C in a test, well, you obviously didn't work hard enough, work harder and you get an A. If you didn't get into university, well, obviously I didn't work hard enough, so I need to work harder. when I plunged into my accounting exams, well, I've got to really work super hard.

So it literally took me five years, every night, every weekend, no holidays, five years. Yeah, I got it. No problem. So wherever I see a problem is yeah, I'll outwork everyone else and I will get through it. that's why the company has been around for 30 years.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So I'm

Rick Yvanovich: It ain't going to die on me.

Jeffrey Feldberg: your [00:10:00] grit, your passion. I can certainly relate to that. And so Rick, with that in mind, okay, work hard, know what you want, have your eye on the prize. Don't let setbacks get in the way. I've very much followed that playbook and putting myself under the microscope, Rick, there were times where that grit and passion, as an example, with my e learning company, Embanet, the one that went on to have a nine figure exit, that's exactly what was required when things looked dismal.

Depressing, actually, very dark. Everyone around me saying, Jeffrey, just quit this thing and get the J O B, like your MBA friends and go work for a company. You're a smart guy. You'll be better off that way. You'll be happier. I just had this burning desire to go and make that happen. At the same time, Rick, when I've been in other situations and that grit and that passion has been applied, I keep on moving forward when in actuality, I should have quit because it just was the wrong path.

I didn't pick up on the signs. I would just brainwash myself with Jeffrey. You're always got to be [00:11:00] victorious. You've always got to be out there burning it at both ends, getting that done. And it's always a balance because quitting too early, you miss out on what's rightfully yours that you've worked so hard.

You never realize sometimes though, not quitting early enough can hold you back from getting to where you want to get to. So sounds like we're very similar. We're cut from the same cloth. How do you deal with that? Or how would you respond to that? When is the time to quit in a way that we don't feel like losers or quitters?

It's actually the winner thing to do because we're quitting at the right time, at the right place, doing the right thing.

Rick Yvanovich: That's a great question. I'm going to pick up on that last point is, when we feel like quitters or losers. There's another way of categorizing myself. And my coach, I've obviously have several coaches, coach had to tell me this and said, Rick you're a hyperachiever, you're an overachiever.

And I go, no, I'm not, I haven't achieved very much. Because really, know, really are. [00:12:00] I said no, no, no, no, no, I haven't. go and tell your family, okay and see what their reaction is. So, next day, when we're sitting around the dinner table, I said, oh yeah, I was speaking to my coach Sid and he said I, I'm an overachiever but, you know, a hyper achiever, you know, what a load of rubbish, right?

And they literally sort of fell over on the floor laughing. It's well, I've achieved stuff, really? And they go, well, Rick, company's 30 years old, it's got hundreds of people, you've got thousands of clients, you know. all these things that are there and going back to that quitting thing is if you have that mindset, you just don't give up.

Giving up is not an option, and if I have that mantra, yeah, obviously if things are not going well, that business is going, down the toilet or that new initiative is going down the toilet. Sometimes you just don't want to let it go. I'm going to work myself to death and try even harder and come up with even more brilliant ideas to make the damn thing work.

as you said is, for me, it's not necessarily feeling a [00:13:00] failure. It's more like. Not achieving what I set out to achieve.

Okay. So, it's not even admitting it's a failure. It's a bit like sort of saying I'm not always right. But I'm never wrong, it's the same type of thing, right?

Okay, and had a lot of those sayings thrown at me in my childhood. And it just sort of makes me overly driven, not really knowing it. it's been manifesting itself over 30 or the 40 years that I've been working. I didn't, it's taken me 40 years to realize that. And somebody had to tell me, how stupid that was.

How stupid is that? Okay. So when it goes back to you mentioned I wrote a book and one of the key words in the book is balance,

Not work life balance. Okay. All life work balance that in itself is a big discussion. But it's just, it's Balance, okay? What is your balance in life? coach [00:14:00] people, I coach achievers, high achievers, hyper achievers and apart from the achievement element that is common amongst all of them, is the fact of what some of them feel,

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yes. It's all

Rick Yvanovich: and it's usually not a lot. It's not a lot. It's not a lot. So, hey, you just closed another deal and, it's another however many digits it is. It's a big one. And it's whatever, what's the next one? It's okay, I climbed that mountain. What's the next one? It's not failing to pause and even look at how far you've come or how high you've climbed or what you've achieved, or even give yourself or somebody a pat on the back.

It's no, just move on. We've got to press harder. Can't stop. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: So, Rick, let me ask you this. As you're talking about that. What's going through my mind. Let me go back to a word that's really near and dear to us here at Deep Wealth. You use, we have a few F words here at Deep Wealth. One F word is fun. The other F [00:15:00] word is fulfillment. And so you mentioned fulfillment and at Deep Wealth, we have this saying, all the success, all the accolades, all the zeros in the bank mean absolutely nothing if you're not having a sense of fulfillment.

So in other words, success without fulfillment is failure. And I talk from experience about that, after my nine figure exit, I had all the zeros in the bank. I had a huge success. I had some time on my hands. I didn't plan for the post exit life. That's why we've now built that into the 90 day Deep Wealth Mastery System to help you find your happily ever after.

I was miserable. When I shouldn't have been and I didn't have that fulfillment. But that's Jeffrey's version of fulfillment. What's Rick's version of fulfillment for you, for your community, and for the listener? 

Rick Yvanovich: My tipping point, turning point. Epiphany, slap in the face, kick in the gut, whatever you want to call it came during COVID.

 I have long COVID and I've had that now for two years. it took that event to change my outlook, [00:16:00] right? I went from getting up, going for a five or 10 K run to, out of breath, walking up the one flight of stairs, even today doctors say there's absolutely nothing wrong with me.

So why can't I walk up, without losing, getting out of breath, this is ridiculous. So mentally it does not compute and it still doesn't compute brain fog and all of that. Trans, you know, long story short, what does that translate to? You can't work hard anymore. hard doesn't work because you can't. You can't think, you can't decide, you just want to roll over and carry on sleeping. Forget those. Yeah, I can survive on three, four, five hours and whatever, being complete workaholism, 80, 100 hour weeks, which I've been doing in my entire life.

Like, why am I doing that? I can't even physically do it anymore. So who am I? worth am I if the work hard mantra has just been thrown away? I can't do it. And it doesn't, it's not a matter of willpower. The body's just not going to [00:17:00] do it anymore. And then if I can't do that, who am I? So when it goes back to the fulfillment.

Is my life has a limited meaning. So I said my life purpose was to inspire and transform each of us for consistently higher fulfillment. I only changed that last word within the last month.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Interesting.

Rick Yvanovich: used to be achievement. Okay. I've known it's the wrong word for a year or so, but it's still only just dawned that I need to change that word and it's the fulfillment.

And I've, I found it. I'm very lucky. I found it. Okay. And I can tell you it is not being a workaholic. It is not being a workaholic. So what gives me fulfillment? I feel fulfilled when I can help others reach fulfillment. That's for sure. That's a huge feel good factor and feels that, I have meaning in what I do and what I can do, I'm not putting these [00:18:00] 40 years of work in whatever to waste I've learned stuff, so I want to pass that on.

And if it can help other people. Wonderful, lovely. But so apart from that, is that it? No I, I learned that my career isn't everything.

Okay. It used to be, but it isn't. There, there are other things the price that I paid Is was silly. So it's all about relationships.

It's actually about family. I have a wife, I have two kids. They should be priority number one. Okay. Spending time with them. I love nature. I worked out, I actually love nature. That, the lockdown, because here in Vietnam, we are physically locked down, couldn't leave the apartment type of thing, need a permit to go to the damn supermarket.

It's literally when I eventually could get out, I want to go and hug a tree, 

Jeffrey Feldberg: Sure.

Rick Yvanovich: In a two year period, I don't think I, I went further than 10 kilometers from where I'm standing [00:19:00] now,

And prior to the pandemic, I'd be on a plane every month.

I didn't fly for two years. It's crazy stuff. So re evaluated, rethought everything. And then when, I got through that two years and then I got COVID go figure and that floored me. And I realized, in, building myself back to health it was walking in the mountains, walking in fresh air jumping on a e mountain bike and going up an Alp or something just being away from people and just being in nature.

It's just so, you'd call it forest bathing, the Japanese one. And it's it's, oh, I've missed this. I've missed this. And it doesn't help that I live in a city of 10 million people. But yeah, so fulfillment to me. is being able to help people, help them find their fulfillment help them out of the malaise or the maze that they are stuck in.

If I can help them get clarity on where to go and [00:20:00] what their purpose is, that gives me a that's just type of legacy that I want to leave behind. And there's some formulas in the book as well but for myself, apart from that seeing other people become successful, help them be successful maybe in a more balanced way.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so, Rick, let me ask you, as you're going through this, it's actually a perfect segue. And I love how you've taken your mission. Fulfillment for you is helping other people. And when you think about it, at least for me, that's the heart of what being an entrepreneur is. How can we find a really painful problem affecting a large number of people?

It's so painful that they're only too happy to have us take that pain away and even pay us to do that and help enough people get what they want. Eventually we get what we want. Now, for our listeners in the show notes, there is a link. To Rick's book, Business as Unusual, How to Thrive in the New Renaissance.

And so Rick, in coming about with this book, and it sounds like a lot of it was looking at what COVID did post pandemic, [00:21:00] not pre pandemic or during the pandemic, that there's still some issues going on out there. So what was it, that burning desire to write a book, which is not an easy thing to do? Why'd you do that?

What's the problem you're looking to address that you found more people than really should are going through some of these issues? Huh. 

Rick Yvanovich: it was during Covid and as 

Jeffrey Feldberg: Huh. Huh.

Rick Yvanovich: things were locked down tighter and tighter and tighter, and people got more and more restricted. And as I said, business slowed down and then businesses physically closed and then went bankrupt and people started losing their jobs.

With all the groups that I was in, other business leaders and things, a lot of people were lost. Okay, there's no playbook for this. There definitely was no playbook for this. Corporate couldn't help. And people say, oh, we'll get over this. This will be over soon. We'll get back to normal.

We'll get back to business as usual. We'll You know, and it's it's as if this was just gonna be a period of time, and then everything will go back to the way it [00:22:00] was. And this, I found so annoying, I said, it can't go back to the way it was, no way. And it's just going to continue being unusual, that's where the business as unusual came from.

And what I could see was denial in a lot of people. Businesses were just going under. And they thought no, no, it'll be okay next month type of thing, as they're having to let go more and more people and the problems were getting worse and worse. And I was seeing, I was just really concerned.

More than anything else that people are running away from all this unusual stuff, sticking their head in the sand and just hoping it's all going to go away. And like where was the help? Where was the help? So that really triggered the, going to write about this. Cause I think I can fix this, I think I can provide a a bit of a roadmap to help people get clarity.

And during that time, you know, I was being approached, I was coaching some people as well who they'd lost [00:23:00] their job, they'd been in the, whatever, hospitality industry. Okay. And they'd been let go and they'd been there for, you However many decades, and they weren't going to go back because there weren't any hotels open.

They're all more and more going out of business what am I going to do? I what can I do? And so they're really questioning their identity and what they can do and their worth. So, it's like their self confidence, self efficacy, their self worth, it's all gone down the toilet. that's horrible. It really is horrible. So how can we build those people up? How can we get them to believe in themselves again? They're not a failure. It's just, life happens and it's, hasn't been very favorable to us, hasn't been favorable to the world, but, we've got to get up, and get on with it.

And if we have to find a new path, if that way is blocked, we've got to find a new path. So it's really trying to help. I wanted to help people find that new path. They have value, I believe in them.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Sure. And so Rick, I'm curious when [00:24:00] you're out there giving your TED talks, you're doing your coaching, you're speaking to successful executives and entrepreneurs. As we record this podcast today. What have you seen post COVID that is just standing out to you of, Hey, you know what? This really isn't a business as usual.

It's business as unusual because of A, B, C, and D.

Rick Yvanovich: I did a poll. And one of the polls I did is I thought, I know I'm going to do a poll around sustainability. Which a lot of people, you know, will tie, you know, ESG is, very much interchangeable with sustainability.

Okay. I see it slightly differently. And I was just trying to find out what's the most important to them around this,

What people do people need to do. And it came out overwhelmingly, people expect their companies to look after their health and wellness. Okay. So, before it was okay, you know, you work for a company, you get a salary and you want a career path and all of that.

So when it came to sustainability, it wasn't [00:25:00] anything green. It wasn't being carbon neutral or plant a tree. It was no look after me cause you need to look after me now. I think this is one of the pressures that I think companies are being faced with. So when we look at business as usual, I think the way companies Need to be run is changed.

And I'll go into that more in a minute. But the meaning of the company, the purpose, the company has to change because the cultures have to change and the cultures have to look after the people. They really do. It's whether the business owner wants it or not, or likes it or not, that's what the people want.

And, most companies are run by people. So it is business as unusual, but the other thing that's changed, there are two other aspects of change that business as unusual is that, that leadership Ownership, business owner perspective. There are two other perspectives because this is the first of a trilogy.

The other thing that's changed is work. It's work as unusual. Work is now forever hybrid. [00:26:00] Okay. We've seen the flip flop should be in the office, shouldn't be in the office or whatever, the end result is we're hybrid, whether you like it or not. Okay. And for those people who want hybrid and are in a only work from office environment, well, say bye bye to them soon.

Cause they're going to walk it's going to happen. So the way the whole way of work has changed. So as employees. You want to work differently? Well, guess what? If you're managing those people, and you're an employee yourself, you're managing, the way you manage has to change, because managing a hybrid team or a completely remote team is very different from having them in the same building.

That's a whole load of other learning to do. And then the, third part is life has changed. It's life is unusual. You use right at the beginning, you frame things, it's a matter of balance. This is more important now, I think, to to most people than anything else. They've experienced being locked down.

They've experienced having things taken [00:27:00] away. And so they've missed certain things, but they've also learned other things that they like. So, when things go back to as they are now, which is unusual, it's not business as usual what they want is different. So what people want in their life is different and if they've had time to reflect on what is their purpose, what is their meaning, what do they really want to do, they've job hopped a bit to try and find what they want, they're still maybe trying to find themselves or they found what they want.

So the whole approach to business is now unusual, work is unusual, and life is unusual. The goalposts really have moved or they've been thrown away somewhere. It's very Very different. And so trends that I've seen is how companies are dealing with this. Okay what perspective they coming from how fast are they really embracing this, are some in still denial and what's that, that doing to their workforce?

What's it doing to their culture? Because the cultures are changing. these are the trends that [00:28:00] I'm seeing of what's changing. It's still happening. It's not over yet because I think it's a constantly evolving, constantly transformational.

And then on top of that, just to throw a real curve ball in, we have this thing called generative AI, which is just a bit more of digital transformation. That's going to. Push things, nudge things a little bit more.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And as you're painting all of this, Rick, you're asking some terrific questions for us as a listeners, those in the Deep Wealth Nation to consider. I want to take you and the listener back to a quote in your book, right at the very beginning, actually. And you say every big castle was once started with a single block.

Despite no small beginnings, a little step taken every day builds up the hope of greater accomplishments, do something every day, and you gave the attribution of where that came from.

Rick Yvanovich: Yeah.

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's interesting when you think about that, because I'm wondering, and again, you can say, Jeffrey, on base, off base, with what you're talking about now, and people are expecting their companies to look after their health and look after their well being, just as [00:29:00] once upon a time, people looked to the government or the country to do the same thing.

And particularly post COVID, not to go down all these conspiracy theories and that whole rabbit hole. What has come out though is that it's fair to say, generally speaking, the public health was not being looked after by many of the authorities. In fact, it could have been the opposite. And so with that in mind, I like the castle metaphor that you're giving, because when you look at a castle in its totality, it's huge.

This thing is massive and it's everywhere. But it had to start somewhere and much like you talk about in your book and you give very definable strategies to follow day over day, week over week, month over month, do something different every day to begin to get that fulfillment in your life. So at the risk of asking what may be seen as an unfair question, because you can say, well, Jeffrey, look, every person is different.

Every journey is unique, but generally speaking, and maybe it's like asking you to pick your favorite child. [00:30:00] If you look to the different chapters, to the different strategies that you put out there, is there one that you find resonates more than the others for more people? Is there one that jumps out for you?

That's been really helpful. And if it is, what would that be for our listeners?

Rick Yvanovich: The tower of the mind.

And there are a couple of aspects of that. One of them is this concept of Kaizen. Okay. Which is constant improvement, but my reframing of it, it's constant improvement of yourself. So it's lifelong learning, learn something new every day.

And it's also see if we can make processes better. I'm a bean counter. I'm a systems person. I like SOPs. I like, standard operating procedures. I like that process and the process is there is to make it easy for everyone else. I'm not looking for perfection, it's just some processes need updating, okay?

AI has [00:31:00] come in now, so maybe we need to update some processes because we can use AI to automate them, okay? That would be just a logical improvement. so that's something that's very important to me. There's so much knowledge in the world. We can't know all of it, which means that we don't know very much.

to me, yeah, just learning more, finding out more about people. Being on this podcast with you, you know, with your listeners, seeing different perspectives. it's different to other podcasts I've been on whose focus is different. And that's very enriching.

So it's being very open minded and opening ourselves up to really experiencing things. So it goes back to the fulfillment. You know, We need to live our life, we need to live it, feel it, enjoy it, try to enjoy it. Get moments of joy cause you can't have. Permanent joy, permanent happiness, life is tough, there are ups and downs and sometimes it needs some of the downs, [00:32:00] like COVID, to appreciate what you really missed.

Okay? I mean, I'm sure there are millions of people on this planet who during COVID, because of lockdowns, restrictions can't fly in or out to certain countries, you might be separated from your family.

All right. So, for example, during COVID, I was separated from my wife for nine months.

Jeffrey Feldberg: My goodness. Wow.

Rick Yvanovich: Now, maybe some of this is going, yes, but no, it wasn't a choice.

That was tough, and then, so I think, absence makes the heart grow fonder, all these things, all these restrictions really make you aware of what you missed. But then on top of that, since there's so much out there in this, big blue planet that we're on there's so much that we don't know, we haven't experienced.

Let's go out there and experience it,

Jeffrey Feldberg: Sure. And so as we're talking about that and the tower of the mind, and you mentioned the Kaizen and I know in chapter three, the tower of the mind, you talk about habits and how you show up. [00:33:00] And I want to circle back to the mindset because as you're talking about that, and really one of my takeaways and you can say, Jeffrey, you're on base, Jeff, you're off base.

When it comes to fulfillment, it's not so much about getting the goal. Like you said, as soon as I get one goal, the entrepreneurial mind, I'm already fixated. I got to the top of this mountain, I'm going to the top of the next one. And I know for myself, as an example, when I started at Embanet, I fell into that.

I don't want to call it a trap, but that way of thinking, well, if I could only get to a thousand enrollments on the system and we're nearing a thousand, oh, did I say a thousand? I really meant 5, 000. Did I say 5, 000? I really should have said 10, 000, a hundred thousand into the millions. And it just, it's never ending with that as opposed to really understanding.

And I picked up on this right towards the end, thankfully. That is not the attainment of the goal itself. It's the journey, accepting the challenging times, what some people would call a so called failure as much as [00:34:00] a success. And it's really taking all of that in knowing that oftentimes. Our success, our future success, it's there, it's waiting, we're just not ready for it.

And we have to go through these trials, these tribulations to refine ourselves, much like a diamond only comes after many years of pressure on it, very similar to us to get there. And so when you think of the tower of the mind, improving every day, how we're thinking about things, our mindset, our habits.

What are your thoughts about what I'm saying? And particularly for the listener who, Rick, perhaps it's a new way of them to think, or they're hearing this for the first time and hearing about you and what you're doing. What would you say to that listener?

Rick Yvanovich: My advice would be I like being, the dumbest person in the room.

Because. I can learn so much from the other people in the room. It's just me I'm curious, I really am curious. And I think as humans, we are all curious.

Got schooled out of us. For those of us who have [00:35:00] had kids. They start talking and then they ask us why is this, why is that why, and, can fall into a bad habit of having that agitate us and trying to shut it down.

Okay. And then we learn, not to ask why, and then we learn. In school to, not interrupt. And, we have these artificial barriers put around us, but that natural human curiosity was there in the first place. And stupidly, well, I know, intelligently, you could say is that, as you go into your career and you have a big company and you might even have the money to hire some consultants, highly paid consultants, and then they introduced this brand new technique to you called the five whys.

Wow.

Rick Yvanovich: And you go why? It's like, God, they were really smart, but we knew that as kids.

And they sell that? Brilliant. Anyway. So no that curiosity, going out if you're not feeling uncomfortable, [00:36:00] then you're not growing and you might not know what you're missing, okay?

And there's a lot of stuff out there. It's good stuff. It's nice. And if you don't read widely, how do you know whether you like it or you don't like it? It's a bit like saying, I'm not going to try that food, but you've never tried it. Go try it, you might actually like it, so, travel maybe I'm spoiled, we have customers in 80 countries, I've traveled to about 40 of them.

I've lived in countries across the world, right now I'm speaking from Vietnam but I've lived in Singapore, I've lived in the UK, that's where I was brought up, I've lived in Switzerland, I've lived Around the place. So maybe my outlook is a little bit different because each time I've had to move it's a different environment.

It's a different culture and adapt to it. I adjust to it and I see it, through their eyes, I experience it. And I find this very enriching. It's very enrich. Well, it is for me.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Sure.

Rick Yvanovich: is for me.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Eric, let me ask you, [00:37:00] from the UK, you're currently living in Vietnam. You travel the world. You're working with all different types of people, different backgrounds, cultures, countries. When it comes to the entrepreneurial world, the leader, the founder, the business owner, are there certain, I'll call them similar kinds of challenges or similar kinds of strategies that can catapult us from where we are to even the next level or things that keep us up at night?

I know I'm all over the map here, but what would be some of the similarities that you're seeing regardless of the country or the culture or where the person was born?

Rick Yvanovich: The similarity is there's no single entrepreneur who has all the answers.

Okay. And, the smarter ones, I'd say, are the ones who go out and say I don't know how to do this. And they're smart enough to find people who do know how to do it. They get themselves into the right type of circles.

I'm a strong believer of [00:38:00] coaching. I'm a strong believer of masterminds. I'm a strong believer of very safe communities, I belong to lots of different business groups, which are very safe. We've all signed an NDA, we can say whatever we want and it doesn't go further than the room that's very helpful.

So owners, business owners don't know all the answers. That's number one. Too few of them seek help. Okay. And literally all of them can feel how lonely it really is at the top because there's no one up there, in a normal hierarchy, you go speak to your boss, but you're the owner of the company.

You can't go any higher. The buck stops with you. So who do you go to? Whose shoulder can you, well, not necessarily cry on, but who can you let out on? And share all these frustrations and have someone else actually understand them. Okay, so if you can find yourself a nice business [00:39:00] group where people can do that share those confidentialities and they resonate with you.

They have this, similar frustrations. And so the frustrations are common, we all get frustrated. There are challenges and it doesn't matter what the challenge is. It could be a people challenge, could be a succession challenge, could be a product challenge, market challenge, you know, get enough a variety of entrepreneurs together and they covered most of it.

And there is so much to learn, what are their stories? How do they deal with it? Sharing those issues and having these different insights from people who with different experiences and from different industries that really is invaluable. Okay. And Maybe when I started out 30 years ago, I didn't quite get that.

I thought I could do it all myself. I'll just outwork everybody. And if I didn't know it, just go and get a couple of books and let you read about it. Yeah. Don't ask for help.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Rick, what's interesting about that [00:40:00] as you talk about that, and perhaps it's more from the male perspective, I think women, generally speaking, are a lot better than this. I know myself growing up as a young male and into a man, it was ingrained in me, men don't ask for help. You've got to have the answers and asking for help saying, Hey, I don't get this.

I don't know how to do this. I actually need some help. It's viewed as a sign of weakness. And the irony with that, and again, you can say Jeffrey on base or off base, I found when I began to ask for help, when I began to open up and say, you know what, I don't feel comfortable. It's actually feels scary to me, this next step.

I don't know what to do. Can you help? That's really where number one, we get to see who are the true friends in our circles. Not the ones that say they are because they're there for the ride or what we bring to it, but the ones that are there for the good times and the challenging times. But when we open ourselves up, we become more relatable to people.

Oh, Rick is feeling that way. Wow. That guy is so successful. I never in a million years would have thought he felt the way I can relate to him. Actually, I like him now [00:41:00] because I see he's not perfect and he has some challenges.

The human condition for better, for worse. It is what it is. And I like how you're saying, be vulnerable, ask for help, get other people's input along the way.

And the other thing that you shared, which really resonates here for myself and in Deep Wealth, you don't want to be the smartest person in the room. And I would add to that, Rick, many sayings, the birds of a feather flock together, or you're the average of the five people that you spend the most amount of time with.

If we're in a group of people where they don't have the same values, I'm even going to say they have values that go against the grain, get them into trouble. Negative thinking, holding people back from achieving the true levels of success is probably not a group. Actually take out the probably, it is not a group you want to be in and you want to change up friends.

You don't have to be rude about it, but you want to change up friends, change up your social circles to be around success and positive thinking. What are your thoughts about that?

Rick Yvanovich: I think the the lesson, the, that we need to learn [00:42:00] quicker Is to let go of things. You were talking about that earlier on, not giving up, not willing to admit it failed or were a failure. And so we get out too late or, we'll stop something too late.

That's a it's a matter of letting go or not being able to let go. So just like we need to let go of that business. Or that startup or whatever it is that we started, that really doesn't make any sense. Financially, it makes no sense and it's draining us. Okay? Keep yours up at night. So we've gotta let go of that. We've also gotta let go of some people around us. So as you said before, is, yeah, you find out who your real friends are,

But at the end of the day, as an entrepreneur, if you want business advice, do you really wanna ask your friends?

Okay. So what I learned when, when I got long COVID and I realized I couldn't actually run my company or companies anymore, I put my hand up and I said I really need help.

And it's like the first [00:43:00] time in my life that I actually did that. And as you said, boy, that was scary.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yes. what I did find is despite, I have been coaching for a while. Got myself a bunch of coaches and they really helped, my transform, I used to transformation. They didn't fix me.

Rick Yvanovich: It is Rick, you were stupid if you went to a coach and expected to be fixed, you're going to fix yourself, which means you're going to change yourself, you're going to change your outlook, you're going to let stuff go that is not serving you properly, so it's old thoughts, old habits, old beliefs.

You've got to let them go, all right, workaholism, I believe you've got to work. 80, a hundred hours a week. I've got to be working seven days a week, every hour that is available. I've got to let that go, it doesn't serve me anymore. Okay. If those people are negatives, naysayers, and they're really not, they're energy vampires, they're draining, I'm feeling drained when I'm [00:44:00] around them, distance yourself.

Walk away from them, because it's not a matter of, I don't want to upset them. It's like, why are you beating yourself up? You're the one suffering, right? And so the thing that we have to learn as an entrepreneur is we have to look after ourselves first. Okay. And that balance word comes back in again.

Now in, in my book, I call it the tower of life force. It's like that spark in you, the spark of life. But I translate it into what I call the herbs. You look after the H, your health, your energy. Your rest, your balance, and your stress, because we need all of them. Okay. We need our health.

So I've always been super healthy, but never a sick day in my life type of thing. And then all of a sudden I'm as sick as a dog and I can't do anything. Ooh, I've never looked at that before. I better do something about that. And unless I can deal with that, I can't do anything else. If you [00:45:00] haven't got the health, you really can't do anything.

Okay. Energy is the other one. Burning the candles at both ends and all of that, what a lot of people and some of my doctors have told me is well, Rick, you spent 40 years working like an, a maniac it's payback time. Your body's saying I want payback, so, you only have a certain amount of energy and.

When I started the company, I was young, 30 years younger. We had lots of young people in the company. Well, guess what? We're a bit older now. I'm a baby boomer. I have some other baby boomers in the organization and hey, they're looking at retirement.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely.

Rick Yvanovich: Their energy is not the same.

Okay, the bat, that, the rest, it's not just sleep, which is something that many entrepreneurs maybe starve themselves off,

you know, It's crazy. Don't do that. It's you're chopping years off your life. And if you're not well rested, how can you make good decisions?

That, so it's that balance. It's not work, Life balance or [00:46:00] life work balance is balance any way that you look at it, so it's maybe balancing, achieving things, running your company or companies,

As well as, well, where's the fulfillment, is the fulfillment really in running successful company or is it quality time with your wife or your partner or your kids or your parents or your friends?

Or whatever your hobby is, going for a walk, it's, what gives you that joy, what puts that smile on your face, is it really signing another deal or doing another 12 hour day? Or is it, yeah, going for a walk with someone close to you, whoever it is, and just capturing those moments, that

Jeffrey Feldberg: That's interesting. Yeah. Rick, as we're talking, it seems we're all over the map, but we're really not. There is a method to the madness from the tower of life force [00:47:00] with the herbs and you're talking about the health, energy, rest, balance, and stress. The Tower of the Mind, we spoke about habits and really mindset from the Tower of the Self, the Dungeon, the Great Hall.

We're talking about community, the people we're surrounding ourselves with, what we're feeding ourselves emotionally, mentally, all those kinds of things. It's really what I like with what you're doing. You're tackling something head on As a system, if I could use the word holistic system, as opposed to so many times out there, it's really in silos.

Well, do this. Okay. If I do this one silo, what about the other nine silos that are interconnected? And I like how you're taking it. It really is one entire system with fulfillment, big picture wise, what we're going to get at. And if we can get that right, our health is right. And as we should know, but often forget, our health is our first wealth.

Everything else is a very distant second. And how many times have I spoken to people who have many zeros in the bank account, what they would give? To get back to health, [00:48:00] all the money, all the zeros they would give, but can't be done, not possible, that door sadly has closed for them. So I really like how you're bringing all that together.

Many rabbit holes we can go down. We're starting to bump up again sometime. Let me ask you this before we go into wrap up mode, is there a question I haven't asked or a topic we haven't discussed, or even a message that you'd like to get out to Deep Wealth Nation of what you want them to walk away with from this episode?

Rick Yvanovich: I think I want everybody to remember, just leave this passing thought, okay? We're not just a participant. In this world that we live in, we need to be an architect, that, that's why it's a castle. I've, in the book, I have buildings in the castle, but it's your castle.

You're the architect. It can be any shape or form that you want, laying that brick each day. You can lay the brick, in your tower of mind or your life [00:49:00] purpose, or your life force or. anywhere. It's your castle. You can do what you want with it. Okay. And you don't have to do it in a certain way.

You do it the way that you want. It is your castle. So you need to be that architect shaping, your castle, which is the course of your life, your career and also the world around you, because we each impact the people around us. So I really encourage everyone to. Embrace change, okay, but define it, don't just adapt and react to it, shape it, okay, shape that castle, architect it the way that you want, be the catalyst in this unusual world that we live in, and the transformation it starts with you, with each one of us, okay and I'm open, so if people want to reach out to me, reach out to me.

Thanks.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. We'll have all that

Rick Yvanovich: And, I [00:50:00] want to hear about their journeys. I want to hear about their journeys. Really?

Jeffrey Feldberg: Because you're talking about that building the castle and really what we should be thinking about coming out of this episode is actually a perfect segue way into the wrap up mode. And it's a tradition here on the Deep Wealth Podcast.

It's my privilege. It's an honor for each guest. I have the privilege and honor of asking the same question, which I'm going to do right now. It's a fun question. I'm going to set this up for you. So when you think of the movie Back to the Future, you have that incredible DeLorean car that can take you to any point in time.

So Rick, the fun part is tomorrow morning, you open your window, lo and behold, not only is the DeLorean car curbside, the door is open, it's waiting for you to hop on in what you do. And you're now going to go to any point in your life, Rick, as a young child, a teenager, whatever point in time it would be.

Rick, what are you telling your younger self in terms of life lesson or life wisdom, or hey, Rick, do this, but don't do that? What would that sound like?

Rick Yvanovich: Ooh. That is a good question. [00:51:00] Ooh. Wow. To be honest, I don't think I would want to go to the past because I am who I am. And all that past, all the good, all the bad, all the right things, all the wrong things have made me who I am. And it's given me clarity of what I need to do from now until the end of my days. Okay. I don't think if I went back in time and I said, all right, don't do that.

Cause that's a mistake. I don't know. I wouldn't be here today doing what I'm doing. And I wouldn't necessarily be any better or worse off. So, I'm grateful for. Where I've been, where I've come from, what I've learned, what I've succeeded in, what I failed in, the people I've helped, the people I've failed. It is as it [00:52:00] is.

I can't change any of that. If so, if anything, I could do anything in the car. I would like to fast forward to the end of my days. Okay. So I could see. Whether I have really led a fulfilling life because at the end of the day, one of the exercises one, one, one, one does apparently I do is write your own eulogy of how you want people to talk about you, what are they saying? What are they feeling?

All right. And if you pass today, what were they saying? What would they be feeling about you? And if there's anything on there that you do not like and you want to change, you still have time, go change it. So this is all linked to life purpose your life goals and where do you want to end to be?

So again, it's a bit like my castle, where I want it to be. It's not that at the moment, I'm still building it brick by brick. There's a way to go, but at least [00:53:00] I have an intent of where I want to go. Okay. And that's the clarity that I have. So, there's some relationships that I know I need to work on, there may be some regrets that I know I need to fix.

There are some bridges that I might've broken or burnt that I'm rebuilding. Okay. They are important to me and yes, I know I'm that achiever, but I'm not going to kill myself doing it, but my intent is to fix those things because it's a giving to help the other person. Okay. And that's important to me.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Interesting. It's really what I'm hearing, you can say, Jeff, you're on base, off base, enjoy the journey for starters. And while you're enjoying the journey, live your life in a way that brings you fulfillment, not just for today, but for years to come. 

Rick Yvanovich: Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, you're on point there. It is, there is no destination. Is a journey. It's like a roller coaster, right? It's like a never [00:54:00] ending roller coaster. Whether you like them or not, it is. There are ups and there are downs. Enjoy it. stop from time to time and smell the roses, take it all in, grab those moments of quiet.

Or however you like to grab them,

What are those little things that give you those moments of joy or pleasure, for the coffee drinkers out there, maybe it's that aroma of that first cup of coffee and that first sip in the quiet of your quiet space before you go into the mad rush of the real world.

Yeah. It doesn't really matter what it is. Okay. But I think we all know what it is. We want more of those. So, embrace them. Life is short. It can be cut short as well. So don't put off, don't put off things because you think there's time.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah. Great parting words. Great advice. And Rick, we'll have all this in the [00:55:00] show notes for our listeners. It'll be a point and click. If someone does have a question, perhaps they want to have you as their coach, or they want to bring you in to talk to their organization, or just ask a question.

Where's the best place online? Someone can find you.

Rick Yvanovich: The best place to find me online is on LinkedIn. All right. And my LinkedIn is my name, Rick Ivanovich. And as long as you know how to spell it, if you Googled it, there is only one on the planet, and that's me. It's unique, which is a bit unusual, really.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Fair enough. So we'll have all that in the show notes. It'll be a point and click. Well, Rick, it's official. This is a wrap. Congratulations. And as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. Thank you so much.

Rick Yvanovich: Thank you, Geoffrey. Yeah, I'd like to express my gratitude for you for having me on your podcast today. And, Allowing me to say stuff that your listeners are listening to. It's been a fun conversation. It really has. It's been fascinating. It's been fun. So you really have [00:56:00] put that F in there, which is great.

I hope your listeners has enjoyed it as much as I have. I really appreciate. All your listeners for your time and attention. I look forward to you, to hearing from some of you, learning from your stories, your journeys, and perhaps sharing more in depth future discussions.

So thank you again, Jeffrey, and to all listeners for this wonderful exchange. Until next time, continue building your castles.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So there you have it, Deep Wealth Nation. What did you think? So with all that said and as we wrap it up, I have another question for you.

Actually, it's more of a personal favor. Did you find this episode helpful? Have you found other episodes of the Deep Wealth Podcast empowering and a game changer for your journey? And if you said yes, and I really hope you did, I have a small but really meaningful way that you can actually help us out and keep these episodes coming to you.

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So all that said. Thank you so much for listening. And remember your wealth isn't just about the money in the bank. It's about the depth of your journey and the impact that you're creating. So let's continue this journey together. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for listening to this episode.

And as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. Thank you so much. God bless.