401 Ken Rusk On The Deep Wealth Podcast

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Jeffrey Feldberg: Ken Rusk is a best selling author, successful entrepreneur, and a passionate advocate for blue collar careers. Starting his journey digging ditches at just 15, Ken built a large and successful construction business and has since dedicated his life to helping others achieve comfort, peace, and freedom without a traditional college degree. Through his book Bluee Collar Cash, Ken inspires people to take control of their futures with practical goal setting, life visualization, and strategies for financial freedom.

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Deep Wealth Nation, welcome to another episode of the Deep Wealth Podcast. Well, in the house of Deep Wealth, we have a fellow entrepreneur, a best selling author, a thought leader, someone who can bring some clarity and some conviction to what you're doing. If you have questions, if you're not getting quite the joy or fulfillment that you want, you've come to the right place.

So with that said, Ken, welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast. An absolute pleasure to have you with us. And Ken, I'm curious because [00:03:00] there's always a story behind the story. So what's your story? What got you from where you were to where you are today?

Ken Rusk: Well, you know, real quick, I was always the guy that had part time jobs when I was very young, you know, 12, 13, 14 years old, , the typical ones, you know, delivering newspapers, working at a bowling alley, working at a bakery, that kind of thing, when I was 15, my high school shared a fence with an industrial park, and we used to cut through a hole in the fence in that industrial park to go to the carry out after school, which is what a lot of kids did, and they had this Array of businesses in there, a lot of hustling, bustling things, a lot of adult tonka toy things, you know, dump trucks and tow motors and, you know, earth movers, all those kinds of things.

So one day figured it was my time. I needed to get my first new used car, take my girlfriend out for pizza or whatever. So I literally walked in and said, what do you guys do here? I knew someone that had worked there. They said, we dig ditches. And so that's what I started doing. I started digging ditches at 15 in the.

Summertime and in the winter, I worked in the office and, Jeffrey, the best part [00:04:00] about that was, I got to learn the front and the back of the office pretty well. So, When it came time for me to turn 18, am I going to college, am I not? They came to me and they said, if you don't go to college, you can help us open franchises around the country, literally from scratch.

So So, I spent the next five or six years living out of a suitcase all around the Midwest, Chicago, Columbus, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, opening up franchises from scratch, which is where I learned, you know, how to get these things done on other people's money. And so, it was an interesting experience for me.

I learned a ton. And then in 1986, I moved out to the Northwest Ohio area and started with six people and opened my own company. Got tired of living out of that suitcase, as they say, and I think we're at nearly 200 employees today, so it's been a heck of a ride.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Well, congratulations with that and quite the story there. Let me ask you this. When you're out there, I mean, at such a young age, firstly, and you're helping get offices set up and you're with franchises, I mean, you're doing all kinds of things out there. Did you [00:05:00] begin to see different patterns? Because my take, people are people, change the location, maybe change the industry.

At the core of it, we're one and the same. Did anything jump out at you as you were in the early days getting the offices set up and learning as you launched your career?

Ken Rusk: Well, I learned that the people that had visions for what they wanted their future to look like were the ones that were always successful. They always seemed to stay later, they always seemed to work harder, they were very focused, they knew why they were doing it. Jeffrey, that's the biggest thing. They knew exactly why they were working and I think any entrepreneur, or any intrapreneur for that matter, you need to know why it is you're working and what exactly you want your life to look like going forward because as an entrepreneur you can't afford to let life happen to you.

You have to happen to life on a constant basis and I think that's the biggest difference. It's, you know, if you take the word entrepreneur, And give somebody a piece of paper and some crayons and say, draw entrepreneur, you can't because it's just kind of a, classification. But [00:06:00] things like persistence, resilience, faith, courage, you know, initiative vision humility, generosity, these are all characteristics that entrepreneurs have, but it starts with why are they doing it, having a clear path for what they want their life to look like, and that's what makes it all happen.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah. So interesting with that. And so when you started there and lessons learned, you're seeing the human condition, what did you take away? What stood out for you as you grew your business? And again, having 200 employees today, that's It's no small feat. What takeaways helped you get to where you are today?

Ken Rusk: Well, this is a statement that I make that drives people crazy, because they either agree with it or they vehemently deny what I'm saying, and that is this. If you really want to be a good entrepreneur, you have to make yourself as irrelevant to your business as possible, as quickly as possible. And people look at that and they go, oh whoa, I can't do that, I mean, I'm the boss, I'm the one who started this, do everything, I work 70 hours a week.

pound my chest [00:07:00] because I'm the guy or the gal. I go home, I don't know my kids names, I have early onset diabetes and high blood pressure, but, you know, I'm doing it all because that's what entrepreneurs do. Wrong. Entrepreneurs are people that put themselves and others in position to win on a constant basis.

And they do that by being very measured, and they do that by also offloading all of the work, or at least work that they need offloaded so they can stay in that visionary role. And I think that's where people, are so afraid to let go that they are their own self limiter. They are their own ceiling.

And once they get out of that way and get out of that mindset, some, you know, good things start to happen.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, it's so interesting as you're sharing that because so many entrepreneurs really as a badge of valor, Oh, look at me, I'm working a hundred hours a week and the business can't exist without me. And the irony is, it's actually not where you want to be. You have the golden handcuffs. And I know in our mastery program, Deep Wealth Mastery, One of the first questions that we ask, does the business run without [00:08:00] you?

Even if you have a management team, a leadership team, and we ask as a subtext, please, no hemming or hawing. It's just a yes or no, nothing else in between. And can I got to tell you more times than not. They do the hem and the haw, but it's really, no, it doesn't. Yeah, I have a leadership team, but all the big decisions still have to come through me, and they begin to realize that they're the bottleneck.

Can you explain to the listener, because I know sometimes you're never a profit in your hometown, as the saying goes, why being the bottleneck? Why being this centrality to the business is actually, not to put a judgment on it, but it's actually holding them back from profits, from growth, from a lifestyle, from their health.

Ken Rusk: well, I can tell you a quick story. You know, first off, only one of you, okay? You can't divide yourself in half and work 80 hour, 90 hour, 100 hour weeks. There's only one of you. Here's the thing. I actually did this once in my own company because level of sales had gotten into the millions and then into the tens of plateaued for a year or [00:09:00] two.

it was one of those things where I, grabbed all of the people that had intrapreneurial characteristics. I grabbed them all and I surrounded myself with them. There's about ten of them in a room. I gave them all a piece of paper and a pencil and I said, I want you to write down how high you think this company can go in revenue in the next one or two years.

And just so you know, if we do hit those numbers, I'm going to share some of that revenue with you. Okay, it was revenue I didn't have, so it's not like it was coming out of pocket. It was newfound money. Once you know it, Jeffrey, that every one of their pieces of paper that they wrote those numbers on were a million or two million dollars higher than mine was.

I didn't even have a number other than in my head. It's a good thing I didn't write one down, because I would have been embarrassed to show that to them. But, you know, point I'm making here is started this business for a reason. You took the risk, the financial risk, the time, the headaches, the stress, the frustration.

You did that for a reason, and that reason was to build a better life for yourself. Well, I want to know [00:10:00] what that life looks like, because if you don't have a clear idea what that is, you're going to be that person with high blood pressure. You're going to be that person that's all stressed out. miss your kids sports games, okay?

And much less work on yourself, you know, physically and health wise. You really need to do some soul searching here and say to yourself, Am I the one that's stopping this place from growing because I can tell you this, you get a bunch of people with entrepreneurial spirit around you who say, wait a minute, Ken, so what you're saying is, if we get to this next level, we're going to get a piece of that?

And you say, yeah. I mean, instantly, it's like, hey, Ken, thanks for the training. Get the heck out of our way and let us go do this. Because they all have personal goals. They all have the way that they want to live going forward. And if you don't know what that looks like, you're missing a major driving force within your company.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah. So much there to share and unpack. And firstly, Deep Wealth Nation, please go to the show [00:11:00] notes, click on the links, and I want you to pick up Ken's book, Blue Collar Cash, love your work, secure your future, and find happiness for life. And at the same time, Deep Wealth Nation, don't let the blue collar tag throw you off, because I love how you say it, no one should really have to have a degree when they want to be happy in their life and they want to enjoy the way that we're supposed to live and love how you're tackling that and approaching that.

And so again, for someone who's listening, they're hearing entrepreneur, they may not have heard of intrapreneur. So when you say intrapreneur, how would you define that?

Ken Rusk: Well, you know, there's this thing called risk that some people are willing to take on and others just aren't. But they both have A reason for working, okay? You know, maybe someone doesn't want to buy 42 vehicles like I've had to do and insure them and go through all that process. Maybe someone doesn't want to have, you know, the workers comp that they have to worry about and all these kinds of things.

You know, the lease payments and the financial commitments that you have to make, but [00:12:00] yet they still have an excitement and they still feel like they can run something. So they work within your company as an entrepreneur within an entrepreneur circle. So it's kind of like an intrapreneurial scenario.

These people, they can run a division. They're responsible for the input, the output, the quality of the output. They're responsible for the schedules, their day, their time, their financial gain. They're responsible for the budgets and the financials of the particular division. So they feel like they have ownership.

They feel like they're running their own company, but they're really running their own company within your company's framework. I call those entrepreneurs and I think it's very important because they're, again, they have a vision to follow your vision. Okay, so they might do things a little more mechanically than you would, but that's okay, because you're supposed to be rising above your company, looking back down on it, and kind of, you know, charting a path for the future, right?

Having these folks work within your company, [00:13:00] feeling like they own their efforts, and therefore they own their financial gain, Builds these independent, goal crushing, self managing figures, who then pass that down to their particular teams. It's the most powerful way to grow a company, without you, you know, going crazy, losing your mind, and thinking, how am I going to do this all?

The answer is, by doing none of it, and just overseeing everybody else they move along.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. And what you're really calling entrepreneurs, I know in my businesses, I always encourage the team. I don't like the word employee. I use the word team. Hey, I want you to think like an owner and truth be told, we can't have a world full of a hundred percent entrepreneurs. There'd be no one who wanted to do anything.

So to your point, We want people who they have so much to give. They have a different risk profile and that's okay. We want to celebrate that. We want to welcome that because also to your point, and I'm right there with you. We can't be doing everything and we shouldn't be doing anything. We should be finding people who are smarter than us, better than [00:14:00] us.

Firing ourselves, putting them in the place so we can scale. I know one question I get, Ken, and would love to get your thoughts on this. When we're working with entrepreneurs as they're looking to scale their business, they're working towards perhaps a raising capital, perhaps down the road they're going to have some kind of a full exit, partial exit, something in between, but they got to get themselves out and not be that bottleneck.

And I often hear, well, Jeffrey, no one is as good as I am. I do it 110%. And if I bring someone else in, they're never going to be as good as me. They're not going to be as quick and on and on they go with that. And we say at Deep Wealth, you know what, if someone is even 70 percent as good as you. Run with it, take that, because they're on it 24 7, you're not.

Your thoughts on that?

Ken Rusk: to me, that's a real simple fix, and that is this. I think somebody's effort, whether it's 70, percent, is directly related to how much control they have over their future and the development of that future, okay? these people's future as like a [00:15:00] puzzle. If I dumped a thousand piece puzzle on your table, and I took the box away.

You would have a really difficult time building that puzzle. You might get the square edges and whatever, but you can't fill in the center without the puzzle box because it has the cover. It has the picture. It has the subject in all of its clarity and color and concise way, and you're staring at that picture, Thousands of times in order to build a 1, 000 piece puzzle.

So, I need to know what that puzzle box looks like for all of the entrepreneurs that work in my company. Because if they're not chasing something that is beautiful and wonderful and inspiring for their own personal lives, okay, then yeah, you're gonna get a 60, 70, 80 percenter. But if these people all have a really awesome reason for doing what they're doing, And you know what that is because you asked the question, then you're going to get that 100 percent or you're going to get people doing things better than you could do it yourself.[00:16:00]

And that's the beauty in the whole thing because you're asking yourself, well, how did that person do that better than I would have done it? Because they're driven. They know what house they want. They know what car would they want. They know what they want their vacations to look like. They know what kind of pet they want, a dog or a cat, what color, what would you name it?

They know what their spiritual moment looks like, they know what their exercise moment looks like, they know what their give back, their donation moment looks like. They know these things because you asked the question and you gave them an environment in which they were safe to say, wow, I can make my life work within his organization.

This is really cool. That's where you get the 100 percent efforts from.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Ken, you have the privilege and you're very fortunate to work with some terrific people in what you're doing in your company, in the construction side, and I have to share with you, I've been in the boardroom and the white collars, but I've also been in the construction fields and the blue collars, and when I've been there and doing projects there, I'm always walking away saying, you know, the corporate world has a lot to learn from what I'm seeing [00:17:00] is everything.

Your word is your bond, salt of the earth people, who don't necessarily have the letters after their name from some kind of fancy degree or diploma that others have gotten, but what they bring to the table is so much more. And so, In the corporate world, I find, corporate America, we tend to kind of put our noses up when we don't see some degrees after people's names.

I've had the benefit of working with people, you've had the benefit of working with people. What would you want the listener in Deep Wealth Nation to know? They're looking to expand the team, they're bringing on new team members, and someone's coming on board that, It doesn't have the quote unquote, and I'm using the air quotes here, pedigree that other applicants may have.

Why they shouldn't toss that resume or that applicant off to the side and actually take a good hard look at them.

Ken Rusk: Well, first off, it's in the numbers. I when I wrote the book Blue Collar Cash at the time of my research, Apple Computer had hired 50 percent of their staff that year without college degrees. What do they know that we don't know? What they know is, [00:18:00] I don't necessarily need to unwind all of what you got at your degree at your university in order to customize what I want you to know.

I want you to know a couple things. in the interview I could get this done. Why are you here? What exactly do you want your future to look like one year from now, three years from now, five years from now, ten years from now, twenty years from now? And are you in control of that now? Can you solve problems?

 What does your future look like? Can you see pathways, whether they're timed pathways or is there specific pathways to get to the things that you want in your lifetime? If I get answers positive to those questions, I don't care what kind of degree they have. And by the way when I did research for the book, 40 percent of people go to college without knowing why they're going.

25 percent of those people change their degree. Holy inefficient and wasteful. the worst one, Jeff, is only 33 percent of degrees ever get used, [00:19:00] ever. I mean, that whole scenario, eliminates a whole amazing group of people out there that grew up solving problems and were self sufficient and know how to make life for themselves better.

Yeah, open your mind up, open your opportunities up. Lose those, restrictive regulations and you're going to find some amazing people out there, I guarantee it.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. And what's interesting, you referenced Apple computer, and it's interesting with Apple because they're asked, well, why are you not just accidentally, deliberately looking for people without a college degree? And their answer is very simple. We don't want to spend the time and money on training them. people that have learned useless information, bad habits, and it takes us a long time and it's expensive to untrain them. We want a clean slate, we know how we want things done, and that's why we're looking for people without a college degree. And as of late, coming from the education industry myself, I had an e learning company, it's interesting to see how the tides are changing.

We have all these graduates. A lot of debt, nothing really to show for it, and that's really a whole other episode that we could speak about.

Ken Rusk: episode, for sure.[00:20:00]

Jeffrey Feldberg: But Deep Wealth Nation, again, just a nice, gentle, maybe not so gentle reminder, forget the letters after a person's name or whatever, designate or not, that they have.

Look at the person. Who are they? What do they bring to the table? And Ken, I love what you're saying. What's their vision? Do they have a purpose in life? What do they want us to be? And I'll be the first one to tell you, as terrific as my nine figure exit was, it's I didn't do that on my own, it took an entire team.

In fact, despite me, despite myself and my best efforts, we did get the nine figure exit because of an amazing team of very talented people who made that happen and who got the company places that I could never have done on my own. So I'm hearing you loud and clear on that, and Deep Wealth Nation, there's a lot for you to walk away with.

Now, in addition to the book, I know you do some terrific things in terms of coaching and programs that you have. So if we go behind the curtain on that, I'm coming up now for your course, I'm saying, okay, Ken, I'm here regardless, blue collar, white collar, anything else in between. Yeah, I want my happiness.

I want my freedom. What's part of your formula? What [00:21:00] would I expect to see when I begin one of your programs?

Ken Rusk: Well, you know, first off, when I wrote this book, I never intended to become an author. It was something that happened and um, I got really lucky. I mean, I ended up going from just writing, you know, ten legal pads full of notes to having a bidding war from seven different publishers trying to get this book.

it was a whirlwind. it blew my mind, Jeffrey, when this happened. the interesting thing is when most people read a book, I think they read it, they put it up on the shelf, and they're proud of the fact that they finished the book, but weeks or three months later, they don't remember how, I mean, ask them, how did that book change your life?

Well, I don't know, I mean, I read it, it was good, but I didn't really was like, that's not going to happen in my world. So I built this course, which is, it's eight sessions, each session is 45 minutes, you can do it in a week or two. In a month, whatever you want to do, whatever pace you want, it's all online.

But the cool thing is, it forces you to start changing your life. Because so few people are willing to do it on their own, or they don't [00:22:00] even know how. So it actually forces you to start thinking in new and different ways. I'm actually going to ask you, I'm to grab a poster board. I'm going to ask you to get some crayons out and become a kid again.

I'm going to ask you to sit in a quiet place and say, okay, I don't care what society wants from me. I don't care what the social norms want from me. I'm going to do and focus on what I want for me, okay, in those categories that I just named earlier, whole life a puzzle box.

I'm going to ask you to gather those thoughts, organize them, a great time doing it, you know, laugh and dream and scheme and hope and wish and goal and timed pathways. And you will come out of that knowing, wow, you know what? I really am in control of my input. I really am in control of the output and the quality of that output.

I am in control of my day, my time, my schedule, future, and I'm in control of what that looks like. Why wouldn't I want to live [00:23:00] a life of anticipation in all aspects of my life? Why would I just You know, leave that for planning vacations. I mean, there's so much more to life than that, so I'm going to ask you to become a very anticipatory person, looking forward to the future in several different ways at the same time, and you're going to love it.

I've had great reviews on it. I've had 90 percent approvals on it, and I hope people take advantage of it, and the nice thing is, when you do help yourself I tend to take that money and donate it to you. People that are less fortunate and sons and daughters of the fallen, first responders, that kind of thing, to kind of coach them for free into their future.

Just know that if you're helping yourself, you're helping somebody else at the same time.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Ken, what you've shared both subtly and not so subtly, which is really important and a big distinction to make, If we want to get the most out of our team, for the entrepreneurs, for the people that we want, our team, we want them to think like an owner. Well, to your point, we're only going to get the best from them if our vision is crystal clear.

[00:24:00] It's motivating. It's exciting to them. And so with that in mind, here's what I want to ask you. I know you do a lot of mentoring. When it comes to goal setting and life visualization, where are we typically getting it wrong? And what would you be advising us to do that we're coming out of your process?

With the goal setting, with the life visualization that I'm now, not just for myself It's clear for the team. It's motivating me, the team, and we're getting even better results.

Ken Rusk: That, you know, that, I've been on a lot of podcasts. That's, great question. Thank you for asking it. Here's the difference. I've seen people put goal boards up on their walls, and they have their employees or their team members come up and write down a goal, okay? And I see the goals, and the goals are, I'd like to play golf in Europe someday.

Okay? They walk away, okay, cool, I did my job, my team member has a goal, and I'm good. The difference between that goal And a, what I call a timed pathway goal is, this is how we have our people do it at our organization. It's [00:25:00] January 1st, 2025. I am saving 50 a week for a period of two years. I'm taking that money to buy trip tickets and golf tee time fees in Scotland in September of 2026.

Thanks. I sign it, I date it, and everyone there sees it. There's a big difference between a hope, a wish, and a prayer, or I have a timed pathway to doing this. So I think that's the biggest difference is people don't get specific enough, and those goals, you know, they all pat each other on the back because, alright, I've got a goal, a board full of goals, I'm doing great as a manager, my team's motivated.

But none of it ever happens, Jeffrey. None of it ever gets done. And it's because they lack these really specific stepping stones or, you know, progression checks. And that's what gets people really excited is because, a year flies by like a weekend anymore. You know how that goes. [00:26:00] For people to put these steps out there and have other people see it, it's wholly motivating because now they're chasing it, they're anticipating it, six months goes by like a dream, and then other people are like, wow, you're halfway to Scotland, that's really cool, I can't wait for you to go.

And so now you not only have yourself, but a whole team of other people who are as excited about your goal as you are. So I would say the biggest mistake people make is just that complete lack of specificity when it comes to getting these things done.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So true, Ken. It's that specificity and also what you're alluding to is the emotion that goes along with it. If it's so general, well, it doesn't register with us. Okay, I'm going to be golfing one day. So what? Big deal. But to your point, we are incredibly, we're meticulous, we're detailed, we're visualizing that.

And it's amazing because the scientific studies have now confirmed really what the ancients have known for a long time, and many in psychology, in the self help industry, the mind, the brain, it doesn't differentiate between what's actually happening and what we're imagining. And it goes [00:27:00] on to emotion. So when I'm excited about being in Scotland, and I'm having the golf game.

My brain thinks, well, this is actually happening. And we, the reticular activation system, all kinds of things behind the scenes. You don't have to understand them. Just like, I don't understand my car. I put the key in the car, I drive and off I go. No idea how the engine works, but I don't need to. The same thing with the mind.

It does some incredible things and we will find ourselves a whole lot closer. Ken, I don't think I've shared this before on the podcast when I just got going. So we're talking negative revenue, not even a dollar of revenue. What I did was I took a check. Made it out to myself, put all these zeros behind it, signed it, and I kept it in my wallet.

And when the company was failing, and I'm living in the parent's attic, and when I'm writing checks, forget me getting checks, I'm writing checks to keep the business afloat, get things out there, just about every day I would see this, and it was a motivator to me. And if you fast forward all those years later, when I had the exit was a game changer in terms of helping you to visualize, okay, yeah, Jeffrey, today's a tough day, but look at where you're [00:28:00] heading, look where you want to be and look at what you're doing to be able to get there.

So to your point, it's huge in terms of being able to see it, being able to feel it and to get ourselves there. So when you're dealing with people who are stuck, Yeah, Ken, I've tried that before, did it, been there, done that, didn't get results for me. What are some of the mistakes that we're either making and we're not seeing, or we're just not even doing?

Ken Rusk: Well, I can tell you this, as a manager, you can get hoodwinked by people who you think have a specific goal, but they don't really own it. Like, they don't wake up thinking about it, like you did with your check. I did that with cars. I'm a car guy. I collect cars. So, For me, I was always chasing either another car or a better golf game, a lower handicap.

I was always, literally, focusing on, that and making my business grow. But the thing within it, which I think is really important is, sometimes you'll have somebody on your team that writes down a specific goal, but yet, [00:29:00] you don't see the action behind it, you don't see the money being saved, you don't see them talking about it, you don't hear them getting excited about it.

I've actually gone to the goal board, which is in our office, in the hallway, It's this huge black glass board where people write down their goals. I've actually gone up to these goals and just literally taken an eraser and wiped them off. And people look at me and they say, what are you doing? And I say, well, you don't own this goal.

no activity behind it. There's no action behind it. There's no progression. There's no conversation. This isn't something you really own. I think you did this for the exercise. Now let's sit down and go, Okay, let's be real and honest with ourselves and say, what is really going to trip this? And a lot of times it's something that is in the way of actually getting that goal that they might have wanted, but they don't know how to get over that first hurdle.

So I'll clarify that first. Maybe they need to eliminate a debt so that they can move forward in something they want. And so as a manager, you get tricked sometimes. So when somebody puts that [00:30:00] goal on the board, I will always say this, listen, if you're You got me and 199 other people hawking this goal every single day.

So that better be real and it better be honest and it better be, you know, something that you really want. And that's helped prevent a lot of that, but early on you'll get people that'll just do it to do it. And I think that's where the, one of the issues lies.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, I love that. The placators, the ones who are just, okay, I'm going to put this out there, I'm going to keep Ken quiet, I've done it, but yeah, I'm not really buying into that. So I'm glad you mentioned that, that we can identify that. What about another scenario where someone, they really are sincere, they do have the intentions, But fear or self doubt is now kicking in, they have to go outside their comfort zone, or they're not so sure they can do it.

In reality, they are, they just don't know they can. How as a leader, how are you dealing with that in terms of number one, spotting that, and then two, helping that individual, that team member work through that?

Ken Rusk: Another perfect question, and I have another great story. So I had this gal named Kiara, and she walked down the hallway one time as I was writing a goal up [00:31:00] with another one of my team. And she looked at me and she said, you know what, that's really cool that you do that. Someday I'm going to put a goal up there.

my team member said, you did not just say that out loud, did you? And she said, oh yeah, I I guess I did. So I said, well, here's, what we're going to do. On Monday, I want you to come in with a goal, and I want you to come in with something small, okay? Something easy.

Because, for the people who fear it, it's because they haven't seen success because they try to take on something maybe too big. She literally had a 2, 500 debt that she wanted to pay her father off because she borrowed money for a car, he gave it to her, she never paid it back and she always felt really bad about it.

So I said, listen, Kiera, can you afford 48 a week? And she said, yeah, I can do that. I said, good. In one year, you're going to have your dad paid off. And Jeffrey, she looked at me like I just invented penicillin. it was amazing. But, starting small, because that same gal now has not only bought her first house, she's bought her [00:32:00] second house, she's gotten married, she has kids, and she has two new cars and she gives back.

something that once you start small, man, you gain this amazing confidence because you just mentioned it earlier, and I had a conversation with Tony Robbins son, Robbins, about that very thing. The reticular activating system is so powerful, and none of us use it. It's free, and you don't have to train it for anything, you don't have to go to school to get this.

It's something that we all possess already, and what she did is she used that side of her brain. For a 2, 500 debt, and then it just launched her into the stratosphere of being this goal crushing person. I would say start small, gain confidence, and then get out of their way, because they're going to do amazing things.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Ken, what I love about that story, there's so much in there. Because for starters, we may look at that situation, and as entrepreneurs, we're signing big checks all the time, and 2, 500 to us, perhaps is rounding error, but not to Kiara. That was huge. So not only [00:33:00] was, in her personal life, dragging her down, I suspect in the company, in her professional life, that was a weight That skeleton in the closet that was holding her back, having her doubt herself of becoming the superstar, that A player that she's always been destined to become because of that.

So whoever said business isn't personal has never been in business because here is a terrific example. As a leader, you helped her through that. And I would imagine after she paid back that debt, she had that confidence in herself. She's rocking it in her personal life, but also as a team member in your company now, I would suspect your company is the better for it.

Ken Rusk: Well, I can tell you this that's the other side of of this golden coin. Because when you have a lot of people that are highly motivated to do things for themselves, They miss less work, they work harder, they're more positive people, they share positivity with other people, they become those A players that you so desperately want, and also, they're the people you don't have to look over their shoulder anymore.

you don't have to be, you know, micromanaging these people anymore. You now [00:34:00] have that one other piece. In your entrepreneurial puzzle, okay, and her name's Kiara, you surround yourself with as many of those people as you can, and now you're going to go, you know what, I'm working less, my golf game, I have time to watch daughter in her sports I have a better relationship at home have friends, I have social, and you're like, this is why I started this business to begin with, to gain these things.

And if I wasn't careful, I would have been locked inside that business and again, prematurely aging, trying to make it work, when all along, the answer wasn't to hug it or squeeze it tighter, the answer was to let it go. it's a hard pill for people to swallow, but I promise you, it's the most powerful fuel you'll ever have as an entrepreneur going forward.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Well, absolutely. And what doesn't show up on the balance sheet, per se, or the profit and loss, you've changed the life for the better. And what's interesting, Ken, when team members, otherwise known as [00:35:00] employees, when they're surveyed of why they're staying at a company, or why they leave a company to go to another company.

It's not the amount of money. Many times a team member will turn down a higher paying job if they love the culture, if they're in love with the vision, the leadership. And money oftentimes is at the bottom of the list, not at the top of the list, whereas culture, leadership is at the top of the list of what you're doing for the company to get people excited.

Hey, it's not same old, different day. I'm going in. I'm making a difference. I'm contributing. I'm part of a winning team. But Ken, let me ask you this before we go into wrap up mode, when we're helping people and you've given them some strategies, you've given them some new skill sets, what should we be doing as leaders?

What should we be thinking about in terms of the strategies to help not just ourselves, but our team to create a clear roadmap from where they are right now to where they want to be in a way that's gentle, that if there's going to be some. Perhaps some letdowns or some so [00:36:00] called setbacks, which to me are always a set up for future success, but that they stay on it, that they're not just giving up.

Ken Rusk: Every one of my entrepreneurs has they not only have to be chasing something themselves, but they have to prove to me that they're highly aware of the people that work for them that are also chasing something, they also have a vision for themselves. But additionally in that, you know, one of the things I talked about earlier was I'm going to share some of that newfound revenue with you.

We have a monthly bonus plan, we have a quarterly bonus plan. We also have an annual bonus plan, and that bonus plan typically gets earned around December, and then we plan a corporate getaway, where all these checks are handed out in early January, and we celebrate the success of the year, and then we look forward to what's going to happen in the upcoming year.

Well, I can tell you, people kill themselves to get on this trip, because it's normally a very nice place, it's something that they probably wouldn't go out and do themselves, But as a group, they would [00:37:00] do it, just something that keeps them focused all year long. weekly, monthly, quarterly, and then annually.

If you design programs where you can keep people engaged in those ever lengthening pieces and parts of time, which is, as you know, is our most valuable asset, then they can stay focused throughout that entire year. As they start to hit some of their own personal goals, especially the short term ones, they become so laser focused on the fact that, wow, I don't have to wait till the boss walks up to me and says, hey, you're a good person, here's some money, or here's a better opportunity, or whatever. I can control my own destiny within this organization. Regardless of what those conversations, whether they come or not. I just think it's so important to get people that are willing to share with you and with others how they want their life to live. And again, we're not all going to chase 15 cars, you know, McMansions and Megayachts.

People live [00:38:00] really great in a lot of different ways, and that's the one thing I've learned from this. Some people want to live small but have freedom. Some people want to live this way but have that. So many different ways that people live well for themselves and you get to respect and own and share and personify and trumpet every one of those ways.

And it's just a really beautiful thing. So much so that the people that have read Blue Collar Cash, which is a book for the end user I've been asked now to write another book for the end user. The boss, the owner, the manager and I'm halfway through it now. It's called Cool Boss, How to Be One, How to Find One or Change the One You Have.

And we're halfway through that now and that's solely focusing on the culture side of things where the, business owner, manager says, well, how do I create an environment that attracts those kind of people? So you've got two bookends. One is Blue Collar Cash, the other one is Cool Boss, and hopefully [00:39:00] they'll combine to feed the middle and make some really awesome things happen in the corporate world.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely love that. And when that book comes out, we're going to have to get you back on the podcast so we can walk through that. We'd be delighted to do that. What's interesting though in Deep Wealth Nation, I hope you're paying attention because, Ken, I love how what you're taking is We call it step five winning mindset in our nine step road map.

And you're saying, okay, what's really important to Kiera or to Jim or to Sue? What's their currency? Because it's not money for everyone. For others, it might be time off. For others, not in a negative way, it might be ego or pride. Hey, look at me. I won. The company contest, five years running, and I'm going to make it a six year now.

Whatever it is, you're finding out what that is. And that really moves the dial. And then you're making it interesting. You're making it a bit of a challenge and you're gamifying it for the better. And so it's not, again, the same blank, different day. It's something interesting. It's tapping into what people really want.

Yeah. I'm going to hit the school or the park because time's really important to me. I don't care about the money. I want to be with my [00:40:00] friends, my family, and I'm going to get some extra time off work if I can do this, or when I do this, or hey, you know what, money is important for me. I'm going to hit the side of the park, I'm going to get that big bonus, and life is great.

So I love how you're differentiating and recognizing all of what's there. And I know I keep saying we're going to wrap them up, but before we do that, the one question I want to ask, because it's so overlooked, and there are some winds of change going right now in the country, I think for the better, in terms of what's there.

And so often, because we're in the thick of it It's so easy to overlook or just take for granted. So in the book, chapter four specifically, you talk about America, land of the free, home of the skilled. And I would add to that, best country on the planet, best place to be. What should we be reminded of from your perspective, Ken, that perhaps we're taking for granted?

Ken Rusk: So many times, especially with the advent of social media and all the digitizing of our lives, think tend to stay in this comparison mode. How am I compared to him, or how is she compared to her, or these [00:41:00] grandiose things that you see. And we give up Our own chosen, our own best known identity to the world and say, well, I guess I need to compare myself to that.

No. You and only you know what your favorite color is. You and only you know what your favorite car might be. You and only you know what your favorite vacation might look like. You and only you know what your favorite house might be, your most beautiful, comfortable place to live. pets, spiritual world, you and only you know the best way that you would want to exercise and keep yourself healthy.

know these things, if only you know, no one can come up to you on the street and say, I bet your favorite color is orange. No, you can't. Why are you giving so much power to the rest of the world to determine who you are? Why aren't you staying within yourself and saying, well, wait a minute, I do know all these things, nobody else but me knows these things, why can't I sit down and put those things on paper, because only 1 percent of the population is willing to do [00:42:00] that, I have no idea why.

But why are you giving so much of your choice, your decision, your comparison, your identity to the world? You know what all these things are, so focus on yourself and make you the best version And successful. Sure,

Jeffrey Feldberg: do that other than to say, when we're looking at these things, we are seeing literally a snapshot, one snapshot. It's been curated. There are probably a thousand, ten thousand, a gazillion other snapshots that were deliberately left out of it because it wasn't good.

It was real life, just like everyone else. And you have your ups, you have your downs. And so always keep that in mind. Ken, let me ask you this. I know there's many questions I did not have a chance to ask, but is there one question I didn't ask that perhaps pops to mind, or is there a topic that we didn't discuss, or even a theme or a message that you'd like to put out there to the Deep Wealth Nation?

Ken Rusk: I would just say this, real quick study, they took a hundred people at the Virginia Tech, they took a hundred people in this [00:43:00] university, this research they did. They asked them, they said, how many of you have real clear crystal goals, only 20 people raised their hand. They dismissed the 80, they kept the 20.

And they said, how many of you 20? Have those goals written down somewhere. Only four people raised their hand. They dismissed the 16. Of the four, they said, How many of you have those goals? Written on the wall somewhere, where you will allow your brain and the attraction, the reticular activating systems, whatever you want to call it, where you will allow that power to work for you every single day.

Only one person raised their hand. They followed that one person for the next ten years, and he earned nine times more money than the other people in that control group. Shocker there, I know. All I can tell you is, please allow the free, no cost, beautiful, powerful side of your brain to work for you called vision.

Please allow that to work for you because if not, you're going to be at the effect of everybody [00:44:00] else, you're going to have life just happen to you instead of you happening to your life. I'd encourage everyone to sit down and figure that out and again, you can use my course or whatever to help you with that, but please use that side of your brain.

You'll be so happy you did.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And to your point, number one, it's free. Everyone has access to that. We all have that within us. And if the time is going to pass anyways, why not leverage that to make the most of it will be the benefactor of it. And it's not just us. It's everyone around us that we're enriching as well. So that said, Ken, it's actually a perfect segue for the official wrap up here.

And it's a tradition here on the Deep Wealth Podcast. I have both the privilege and the honor to ask the same question to every one of our guests. And it's a really fun question. Let me set this up for you. When you think of the movie Back to the Future, you have that magical DeLorean car that can take you to any point in time.

So imagine now it's tomorrow morning and here's the fun part, Ken. You look outside your window. Not only is the DeLorean car curbside, the door is open and you're going to hop on in and you're going to go back to any point in your life. Ken, as [00:45:00] a teenager, a young child, whatever point in time it would be, what would you tell your younger self in terms of life lessons or life wisdom?

Or, hey, Ken, do this, do that. But don't do that. What would that sound like?

Ken Rusk: Well, it's a piece of advice I give to all of my people when I coach them. You know, it's a simple math process, okay? It's called the power of young money and I have this written in the book. From the time that you're 21 years old to the time you're 63 is 42 years. That is seven times six, okay? So, You basically have six periods of time that your money can double.

You have a seven year, they say your money doubles every seven years, right? You have six portions of that, six attempts. If the last one is going to be where your money goes from 500, 000 to a million, but you missed that because you started when you were 35, like most people start saving for retirement, you've missed the [00:46:00] most powerful double.

In the history of and financial world for individuals, so I would say, and I was lucky because I out earned all of that and I was very successful and I got, I'm very blessed and grateful for that. But I would tell my younger self, put everything that I can away at 21 because that first seven year period is going to be the most.

Powerful financial device you've ever used in the history of the world, and if you wait till you're 30 or 35, you've blown 50 percent of your potential wealth at end of your career there, so.

Jeffrey Feldberg: ken, I love that. And actually, as you're saying that, you remind me of a story that we share in Deep Wealth Mastery, and it's the magic penny story. And a bit of a spoiler alert, if you don't want to hear the end of this, then tune out now. Hopefully you won't. But the story goes something like this. You're walking along and you see a shiny object on the sidewalk.

You pick it up. It happens to be a penny. When you pick up the penny, a genie appears and says, okay, Ken, You can do one of two things. I can give you a million dollars right now, or you keep this penny, which doubles in [00:47:00] value every 30 days. So today, it's worth one cent. Tomorrow, day two, it's two cents. Day three, it's four cents, and on it goes.

What do you want? And you can see where it's leaning towards in this one. So hopefully you say, you know what, I'm gonna have it double every And so here's the kicker. From one penny on the first day to day 30, here's the math, 10, 737, 418. 24. But here's the thing. Let's just suppose you said, well, let me think about it for a day or two.

The only way we get to the 10 million is check this out. On day 26, it's 671, 000. You would have been better off taking the million dollars. On day 27, because it's doubling, it gets up to 1. 3 million. On day 28, it's 2. 6 million, on day 29, it's 5. 3 million. So even if you waited a day, you lost a little under half that value.

So from almost 11 million to a little over [00:48:00] 5 million because you waited a day. So to your point, don't wait, start putting your money aside. I love that. Well, Ken, it's official, congratulations. This episode is a wrap. And before we do that, one last question, actually. If somebody has a question and they want to speak with you, they want to go through the program, they want to become part of what you're doing, where's the best place online someone can reach you?

I

Ken Rusk: So I would have them go to KenRusk. com that's Ken, K E N R U S K dot com. They can see the book there, they can see the podcast there, they can see the course there, they can see what we're up to now and what we're doing in the future. And everything's available there. Again, I hope people take advantage of it.

Not only are you helping yourself, but you're helping somebody else from a donation standpoint. I appreciate your time, Jeffrey. Thanks a lot for having me today. Great discussion. I'd be happy to come back. This has been a lot of fun.

Jeffrey Feldberg: absolutely love it. Thank you so much. And as we love to say here at Deep Wealth, Ken, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. Thank you so much. So there you have it, Deep Wealth Nation. What did you think? 

So with all that said and as we wrap [00:49:00] 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.

Are you ready for it? 

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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.

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God bless.