Rey Ybarra Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Rey Ybarra
Today’s guest, joining us today on the Join Up Dots entrepreneur podcast interview is a man who has dived deep into the world of sharks.
He is the owner of The Sharks & Stripes Conference & Expo which is for military entrepreneurs, veteran owned businesses and private sector entrepreneurs/small business owners.
This is a conference that features the powerful entrepreneur panel presentation featuring some of the most successful Shark Tank entrepreneurs and focuses on helping those in our Armed Forces who have the entrepreneurial spirit.
He aims to help those leaving the military transition into a new world of entrepreneurial ventures.
However behind the scenes our guest has been battling a very different kind of challenge.
How The Dots Joined Up For Rey
Back in 2005 our guest was very ill indeed, after being diagnosed with a disease which there is NO CURE!
As he says “I have a great story of how I did this on the brink of bankruptcy and through immense pain and sickness from the powerful drugs and therapy I was enduring when diagnosed.
But thanks to the hustle I have self published my “Conversations With Shark Tank Winners multimedia book,” partnered with some of the biggest organizations for entrepreneurs and small business owners, toured the US with these organizations, have partnered with some of the most successful shark tank entrepreneurs, all the while diagnosed with a major illness.”
So what was his life like before this rude awakening…floating through like most of us or as focused and determined as he is now?
Well let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Rey Ybarra
Show Highlights
During the entrepreneur podcast show we had deep hitting conversations with Rey Ybarra around subjects such as:
We discuss why it is such a powerful method to tap into a business that already has an audience interested in that subject. You can shave years of your progress.
Why Americans love to show the success and in fact celebrate success in a far greater degree than the Europeans.
Rey talks about the dark times in his life, when his illness took hold of him and why this is so similar to the entrepreneurial journey.
And lastly
Rey shares why it is so important to delay gratification to truly be able to understand and accept the reward for what it is.
Connect With Rey Ybarra
Return To The Top of Rey Ybarra Interview
If you enjoyed this episode with Rey Ybarra why not check out other inspirational chat with Clayton Morris, Roz Savage, Tosca Reno and the amazing Jason Lewis
You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy
Audio Transcription Of Rey Ybarra Interview
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling join up dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK David Ralph
David Ralph [0:24]
Yes. Hello. Good morning, everybody. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, and welcome to join up dots Yes, it’s another episode of the motivational, conversational inspirational show, which is taking the world by storm. And in today’s episode, we’ve got a man who has dive deep into the world of sharks. Yes, he’s the owner of the sharks and stripes conference and Expo, which is for military entrepreneurs, veteran owned businesses, and private sector entrepreneurs and small business owners. Now, this is a conference that features the powerful entrepreneur panel presentation featuring some of the most successful Shark Tank entrepreneurs, and focuses on helping those in our armed forces or America’s armed forces have the entrepreneurial spirit and take it to where they want to go. Now, he aims to help those leaving the military transition into a new world of entrepreneurial ventures. But it hasn’t always been so motivational and inspirational for himself. Now, behind the scenes, our guest has been battling a very different kind of challenge. And back in 2005, he was very ill indeed, after being diagnosed with a disease, which there is no cure. As he says, I have a great story of how I did this on the brink of bankruptcy and through immense pain and sickness from the powerful drugs and therapy I was enjoying when diagnose. But thanks to the hustle, I have self published my conversations with Shark Tank winners multimedia book, partnered with some of the biggest organizations for entrepreneurs and small business owners, toward the US with these organizations and have partnered with some of the most successful Shark Tank entrepreneurs, all the while diagnosed with a major illness. So what was life like before this Rude Awakening? Was he floating through life most of us or as focused and determined as he is now? Well, let’s find out as we bring on to the show to start joining up with the one and only Rey Ybarra, Good morning, Rey. How are you sir?
Rey Ybarra [2:19]
I’m doing fantastic, David. And Wow, what an introduction. Man, thank you so much for that that was outstanding.
David Ralph [2:26]
This is one of those stories where you look at it anything? Where should we start? Where should we start? Now I’m going to start with the Shark Tank entrepreneurs. Because over here, we had the Dragons Den, where but anyone who hasn’t seen it is basically a load of rich people getting richer, based on the entrepreneurial spirit of people that just need a little bit of help. Do you see that the same way radio sort of opposite, I would go in there, I would stand up and do my pitch. And when they go, yeah, I’ll give you 50,000 for 30%? I’d go. I’m going to keep it Thank you very much. You’ve just proved it so good. No idea. And I would run away. Do you see differently?
Rey Ybarra [3:05]
Well, you know David working with the entrepreneurs and getting to know them, many of them have become my very good friends. And it’s a very different story. You know, what you see that the interesting thing David about about the show and about the entrepreneurs is that you see a very, you only see about 10 minutes of the entrepreneurs in on TV, it’s a very different story, when it everything leads up to that, because a lot of these entrepreneurs are in the tank, anywhere from an hour to two hours and possibly more. So it’s a very grueling process. And you only see because of, you know, time restrictions on TV, about 10 minutes of them pitching and, but there’s so much more that goes into it, a lot of the times when they make a deal, you know, with the process of going through all of the papers work in their financials, and that a lot of the deals actually fall through. And they don’t, they don’t get the funding and so, but you only see, as I said, about 10 minutes of it. So it is a very different story. Some of them go on to do some great things. And even those that don’t get a deal with a deal falls through. There’s a lot of celebrities and a lot of investors that watch the show that contact them that they do make deals with them. So it is a fascinating process. And that’s how I got involved with this whole project. I wanted to get the story behind the story.
David Ralph [4:35]
And so is it one of those things, but actually, when you come out with a deal or not, your life will never be the same again. But does it just give you natural competence that people were probably a bit nervous, more than a bit nervous, I imagine can get through that and coming to find themselves in the process?
Rey Ybarra [4:54]
Oh, yes, definitely. They do. You know, it’s one of those things, I always say that it’s the Shark Tank effect David the info when you go on that show. There’s it’s a grueling, grueling process, you never you don’t come up the same, that’s for sure. Because of what you have to go through just to get on the show. Through the producers, there’s two elements of the show, you know, there’s the, there’s the producers, you got to get through the gatekeepers, you have to be entertaining, I think you would be fantastic on that show, because of your personality, and that that you just shine through. And they’re looking for that because you know, it’s it’s TV, it’s reality TV, there’s a reality TV aspect of it, you have to be entertaining, and you have to have a lot of energy. But then there’s the there’s the business aspect of it, which is very real. You know, these are some of the most successful business entrepreneurs and business people in the world. And you have to go up there and you have to really bring it and you have to know your numbers. And you have to be confident, because it is a grueling process, as I said that they’re asking you all sorts of questions, and they’re really grilling you. So either way, I always say David Hey, man, you know, anybody who goes on that show is a winner, even if you don’t get a deal, because there’s millions and millions of people that are watching you. And then the reruns are the number one show on msnbc. That’s how great this show is. So even if you don’t get a deal, which the majority of people don’t, you are still a winner because you come out there and you can you have the confidence to go and pitch in front of other sharks, because you’ve already been through that intense process.
David Ralph [6:36]
Now one of the things that people say to me a lot, Ray, they come to me and I say David baby, do you have a podcast? I’d like to start a podcast. What should I podcast on? And more often than not, I say, if you can find somebody that’s already got an audience, then go for it. That’s why podcast based event, Shark Tank and round TV programs are really good, because people are interested in that. So they want to find out the backstory. Did that make it easier for you to get your book sort of into the publication world? Or did it make it more difficult? having that kind of audience waiting for you, I would think was a green light for great idea. Let’s go with this book.
Rey Ybarra [7:18]
Wow, that’s a great question. Wonderful insight, I can understand why you have 5 million downloads on your podcast and plus, because that’s, that’s an interesting question. I’ve never been asked that before. But it? No, it didn’t make it easy to David because the content was so powerful. And you already had, you know, like 6 million people, 7 million people who tuned into the show, you know, every week. So when when organizations found out that I was producing this book, even before I had it completed, when people found out and organizations, they were calling me saying hey, can you come and can you speak to our organization will sponsor you about you know, the Shark Tank entrepreneurs and and so, ya know, it made it it once once one organization found out and another organization and it just grew from there and and that content and that subject matter made it made it easier to get through the door and and to partner with these great organizations. You know, I toured the US with the Small Business Expo, the network after work group, the largest group of business professionals online to hold monthly events in the US to the US, they got about a million and a half members across the US. Small Business Expo is huge. I was center stage with them and the neat oversee Phoenix School of Business, different campuses, and here in Los Angeles in Florida. But the content, you know, everybody loves the show. And these entrepreneurs are they become celebrities in their own right, because, you know, people love to see the program because they see some of themselves or a lot of themselves in these entrepreneurs. So the content is very, and the subject matter is very relatable, we all want success. We all want to be you know, we want one on one to be seen as successful. And we see some of ourselves are a lot like I said through these entrepreneurs that are pitching. So it made it once one door open, then it’s snow balled and other organizations wanted it beard and so that’s when I produce my entrepreneur panel presentations to where I assembled different Shark Tank entrepreneurs in different cities across the US and it was a big hit a matter of fact, the college just contacted me I I had I want to be moving into the college realm now. Because a lot of the colleges have entrepreneur departments and they love Shark Tank. So I’m starting to repeat the process now with colleges and I’m very excited. I’m right in the middle of doing that project right now. It would
David Ralph [10:04]
be interesting to see you do one on a UK version Dragon’s Den because the the UK market operates in a very different way. Now Business is business. But we over here we celebrate the underdogs we celebrate failure more than Americans do. Americans love success. It’s the American dream, they go for it. It’d be interesting to see with your perspective on the US version, whether the English version sort of holds the same values somehow.
Rey Ybarra [10:36]
Dragon’s Den now that’s Yes. And I agree with you and that that would be really interesting David because Dragons Den, I have seen a few episodes of Dragons Den, which of course, was in existence long before shark tank was. Many people don’t know that. And I have mentioned that a few times to people and they don’t know what it is and, and definitely, it you know, failure is a necessary as you will know better than most failure is a necessary component of being successful. Yeah, you know, you’re you heard it, uh, I’m sure of this phrase you have to fail, are a lot of people have failed their way to the top fail their way to success. And that is an is necessary. Part of the journey toward being successful. And taking that angle of it is, I think, a very healthy angle. Because it you know, being successful, you know, we all like those stories of success, but it’s the it’s the struggle, you know, one of the things that I always say is in in that I always love is are the documentaries, the Olympic documentaries, because when the athletes are ready to participate in their race, they go to a little segment a couple of minutes long, and they tell about the struggles of or the sacrifices or something that happened to them while they were training for the Olympics. And then they cut back to the athletes as they’re about to prepare about to participate in their event. And you see that athletes very different than you did a few minutes ago. And you have you just hold them in on respect, even editing at an even higher level. And I think with Dragons Den with the failure that is so important because we tend to forget those failures and and the and the painful things that teach us valuable valuable lessons David and I think Americans, we here in this country, we kind of sugarcoat things a lot more. And I think failure. And this is one of the things that I love about what I do is that I always ask the entrepreneurs about their journey about their failures in a live setting. And people are very surprised at what they go through, you know, they only see the 10 minutes on Shark Tank. And a lot of times they don’t get the deal. But all the work and all the sacrifice and all the challenges that they go through. Those are the things like in Dragon’s Den that are most valuable.
David Ralph [13:10]
What I find fascinating to all miss ray is the fact that at our core, every single person out there must know that they’re going to fail more than they’re going to achieve. In every book. If you look at the Beatles, The Beatles legends, they struggled Oprah struggled. Richard Branson struggled Steve Jobs struggle, if all these absolute legends struggle, why do you think that so many people go into business and then stop as soon as they get a couple of failures, I just think that it’s, it’s obvious you are going to struggle, and I had some terrible times through this show. Now it’s a dream, I loved every second of it. But moving through, it was crap beyond crap, we’ve crap piled on top of that crap, it was just terrible. Why don’t you think we don’t sort of accept that part of the failure is part of the process?
Rey Ybarra [14:05]
Well, I think there’s a few reasons david i think it’s a, you know, instant gratification is one of those things, you know, we, we just especially this, especially the millennials, and this time, in our, in our, in our world here, the push of a button, you know, I mean, we we carry around our smartphones, and we have access to anything that we want. Now with just a push of a button. Everything is instant, it’s instant, it’s in, you know, in my day growing up, we called it the instant gratification, and it was important to delay gratification, to get to where you want to get meaning you have to sacrifice things you have to you have to let go of things, you can’t buy the latest, you know, fashions or you can’t drive the most expensive car or even the latest model, you have to go with without you have to sacrifice those things and put them into your business and, and, you know, and so we live in an instant gratification and even more so now with these youngsters, these millennials that think that you know, struggling for six months, is is a lifetime to them. Because they live in what I call digital time, they live in that world where, you know, one day is equivalent to almost a year of of time when I was growing up way back in the you know, the 80s and that type of, you know, when when I was growing up, so it’s instant gratification, it’s and it’s very difficult. But, you know, the struggle is is it’s real. And I think a lot of people don’t like to deal with that, because we see so many symbols of success all around us, you know, and which exemplifies even more so that if you don’t achieve your goal you know you’re getting dream within six months or a year or you know, a couple of months and you are somehow a failure but failure and it teaches you a lot of things It teaches you resolve it makes you stronger builds character. And plus you learn valuable skills of and the end you have learned you put that in your knowledge bank and your knowledge base. And that’s what we call experience. You know the younger guy younger people are really great at technology and and smartphones and social media. But you know as you will know it takes a networking and connections it takes connections and networking to do your get your guests for your wonderful show. And that’s that human element that I always say that I made the best progress in my business when I was out speaking to people one on one not on social media but one on one that she human interaction. So yes, i i agree with you on on on this, you know, your your show, I think is one of the best shows out there. It’s It’s so much fun to listen to David it’s so it’s fun to see you on your just to see you on your website. Like I said, Man, this guy’s having a lot of fun at what he’s doing. But But and you can’t buy that, you know, that’s something that you learn along the way through all your failures, you appreciate it more, it’s ingrained in you. And that’s what comes out in your podcast and, and in your in your interview. And what makes you so great.
David Ralph [17:32]
There was a quote the other day, and I’m going to paraphrase this if I can remember this when I become Rain Man overnight. But I don’t think I’m going to do this. And basically, it was something along lines about the universe doesn’t make mistakes, everything is happening just as it should in nature, everything is happening just as it should. It doesn’t rush, it doesn’t move to where it should do, it doesn’t go where it thinks it should be going. It just allows me flow is only our perception of difficulties that caused us the distress and the difficulties we experience. Not only that, but when we label events as bad, we fail to perceive the benefit that is waiting for us. It’s it’s half right and half, I’ve added extra bits to it. But it’s true, isn’t it, if you look at the world as a whole, things just naturally occur at their own time, we grow up, we get older we gain experience, everything is in a kind of non almost a way. But then when we actually add ourselves into the mix, we think that we can out hustle, we can outperform we can outwork everything is out out out. But in my experience, the real successes come when you just allow things to occur, and don’t try to ram it into a hole that is not just going to go to right.
Rey Ybarra [18:51]
Absolutely, you know, success is the journey, even more so than the destination because of who you become. And what one of the things and you’re so right, David, because one of the things that I’ve learned throughout this whole process is, is patience. And, you know, consistency, I always think I always say is one of the most difficult things to achieve. Because more often than not, you know this better than most here is, you know, along the way, you you have those setbacks, you have the obstacles, and you have the challenges. And you don’t get there as fast as you want to get there. Because of you know, life gets in the way and things happen to you. And so what I’ve had to learn in my own journey is patience. And that’s a very difficult thing to master. Because when you can see the finish line in sight, something comes up to get in your way. And all sorts of distractions and obstacles, whether they be with your health, or finances, or professional, or relationships or whatever it is. They prevent you from getting there, when you feel you should get there. But there’s a reason for that what I’ve learned now, and at this time in my life, David is, you know, just to go with the flow. You know, and I’ve learned so much from that, and I’m getting better at that that’s one thing that I wasn’t very good at was I would get impatient, and I would get mad, and I would get angry when things wouldn’t, you know, come to fruition when I thought they should. Yeah, you know, I would write down my goal list and say, okay, six months from now, a year from now, this is where I’m going to be. And even though I was on my way, most of the time, it didn’t happen that way. And then I finally came to realize that, okay, just, you know, you have your vision, you have your plans, but just go with the flow, because you don’t know what each day is going to happen. Now, you know, the great Tony Robbins says just do the best you can with what you have where you’re at. And ultimately, that’s all we can do, we can have these plans, we can, you know, we can make these plans and set these goals and the time table. But I always say this is that even if you can only move David you know, a foot at a time in front of you, as long as you’re not going backwards is that if that’s the best you can do, then that’s the best you can do for that time. And, and but you’re moving forward, you’re not moving backward. Now, if you keep making the same mistakes, and you keep doing the same thing. You know, insanity is when you do the same things over and over again. And of course expect to get a different result, then you have to sit down and have to reevaluate things. But patience for me has been I’ve learned how to be patient. And I guess it just comes with age and experience too. But I’ve learned how to become much more patient and just accept the things that come in my way and handle them. And I feel a lot better because of that.
David Ralph [21:52]
But let’s play some words. Now then let’s delve back into that patience and spin it on its head slightly.
Unknown Speaker [21:58]
He’s Oprah the way through move, the challenge is to get still and ask yourself, what is the next right move? not think about, Oh, I got all of this. What is the next right move? And then from that space, make the next right move, and the next right move and not to be overwhelmed by it. Because you know, your life is bigger than that one moment. You know, you’re not defined by what somebody says, is a failure for you. Because failure is just there to point you in a different direction.
David Ralph [22:30]
Well, I’ll tell you, right, so yes, you’ve learned how to be patient, which, if it wasn’t for your backstory, I would have just accepted that. But when you get diagnosed with a major illness, a non curable illness, were no doubt when you first told it you think oh my god, this is the end. You know, I gotta get myself in order. How do you remain focused on patients or developing patients when you probably feel like you’re running out of time?
Rey Ybarra [23:01]
Yeah, thank you. Thank you for that David. That’s a very thoughtful and insightful question from you. I appreciate that. Because this is a story a you know, a shark tank friend of mine, Dr. Edna Ma. Brilliant mompreneur. She’s just incredible. She’s become a good friend of mine, a dear friend of mine. And she always told me, she said, Ray, you need to tell your story. You need to open up and you need to tell your story because you have an incredible story that that needs to be told. And you know, when I was diagnosed with rheumatoid, I call it rheumatoid disease. Because it’s a lot of people know it is rheumatoid arthritis. But a lot of there’s a movement to rename it to rheumatoid disease. Because when people hear about arthritis, they think it’s just a normal wear and tear of age in everyday life. And, but rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatoid disease is an autoimmune disease, it’s, it’s very different that it’s when the body just attacks itself and it goes to the joints. And anywhere you have bones in your body, it goes there and it starts to destroy your joints and cause horrendous pain and inflammation, and there’s no cure for it, you can only hope to slow it down. And the crazy thing about this disease is you don’t know when it’s going to hit you, you can be fine one minute and you know, you can be doing normal things and all of a sudden it hits you, it flares up you and just doing the normal things and just getting trying to get out of bed causes excruciating, agonizing pain,
brushing your teeth, or trying to open up
a bottle of a jar lid or trying to put your clothes on just or even walking, just doing the normal things because it can become almost impossible. It runs very high my mom’s side of the family, I inherited it. And I tested extremely high in my era factor to where it is just off the charts David they, they gave me all sorts of, you know, RA patients like myself, we have to take the same drugs as cancer patients do. And, and so it just turned my whole world upside down. As matter of fact, I just to the last two weeks, I’ve just getting over a major flare up, I had to be rushed to emergency in the last month and a half a couple of times, and they had to pump me full of powerful steroids, which are just awful for your body to get the swelling down. But I lost about a quarter about a third of this year. For months, I had an unbelievable flare up that just wouldn’t let me go and my life was turned upside down just four months of this year. And I’m just getting over it. So those are the challenges. So you know, I’m right in the middle of these projects, and you know, it, it just, it turns your world upside down. But I always told my wife as long as it doesn’t get me between my years and take over my mind that I can no longer do anything. Because this disease, whoever has it in Dell understand is that it wants to just devour your body, it wants to take your mobility and your energy away. And but as long as it doesn’t do that between my ears and take my attitude and my mind away, I know I have a shot at being successful. But you just you need to be adaptable. Like in business, you as an entrepreneur, as you well know, you have to learn how to be adaptable. And also, you know, you have to you have limitations now, you know, I was athletic I was in the martial arts, boxing, running, weightlifting everything. And I lost about 11 years of my life fo in my diagnosis in and out of the hospital with powerful drugs. And, and I’m starting I’m trying to catch up now, but I do know what my limitations are. I learned what my body the triggers that when the stain is coming on. And the only thing you can do is rest Be patient. And when when the flares subside, or you prevent one, because you know what’s coming on and you you read your body. And this is why I learned how to help patients to learn patience to an unbelievable degree David because at one time, I thought more than one time more more than a few times I told my wife I said I don’t think I’m going to make it this. This pain is just horrendous. And I just think I’m dying. I can’t deal with this anymore. It’s just horrendous. But I thank the good Lord that somehow I got through this, he gave me the strength and you know, your faith comes in. That’s an important factor. Because when you’re diagnosed with this major illness, you see the world very different than before you were diagnosed everything in time. And relationships means so much more and are much more different for me now than we were before.
David Ralph [27:53]
I know what you’re going through, which I’ve shared on the show, but I suffer with gout, which is this all alone as similar kind of thing which occurs in men and women as well in their sort of 40s and stuff. And I had a few doubles with it nothing major limping around for a couple of weekends and stuff. And Ben, I had one that he wouldn’t let me go. And it went on for about 10 weeks and I was on tablets, I was on steroids. I was on everything I possibly could. And I basically just sat with my foot in a bucket of water, but hour upon hour upon hour trying to call the swelling down and the inflammation is there. And what upset me most I realized was not the pain. It was the change in my personality, where I basically was getting snappy. I was I was becoming a different person. And I was aware of that. Because normally I’m not like that I’m I’m more likely to annoy people from being bouncy and happy more than I am annoy them by being the opposite way. How did you spin that on its head to make it a positive because it does become a positive when you look at it in a different way. I see it totally different now from when I went into that 10 weeks. How have you done the same right?
Unknown Speaker [29:07]
Well, you know David You know,
Rey Ybarra [29:10]
I’m kind of like yourself, you know, when when people get to know me, I’m really goofy and and I tend to see things through laughter. You know, one of my favorite shows back in the 80s was Benny Hill. You know, I love Benny Hill, and I still watch the reruns here, there. They’re just so goofy that you know that slapstick stuff like Laurel and Hardy and The Three Stooges and Benny Hill and I just love Crazy things like that. I love to laugh and crack. Like my wife says, you know, you crack really corny jokes, you know, I you know, just your jokes are really bad. But that kind of humor that I hope that’s always kind of been inherent with with me. So even through the pain and through those really tough and difficult situations, I totally understand what you’re talking about, though, by the way to David when when you snap and you don’t feel good. Because, you know, your body’s in so much pain, that it changes your personality. I’ve been on that in so many times I you know, I I snapped at my wife here about, you know, six weeks ago really bad. And I apologize to her because she went to give me a hug from behind me. And I told her, you know, just to get away get away from me, I’m you know, and I snapped because I was in so much pain from head to toe, you know, and and that’s happened so many times through this illness here. But, you know, you know, there’s always YouTube and I go on there. And I watch Laurel and Hardy and I watch The Three Stooges and my wife will be saying, Well, what are you laughing that up? I’ll be watching an episode of The Three Stooges laughing and you know, they’re falling through roofs and blowing things up and just acting crazy. And so that’s how I kind of look at the world. You know, everything’s kind of goofy. And I keep it really light hearted. And I love to laugh and watch crazy things. And, and so and that’s that, how
David Ralph [31:03]
does that hold you back? did do people? Because I know for my whole career, I’ve always been like that I’ve always been Goofy, wanting to find the fun element. And I know that in corporate land that held me back from a lot of promotions because people think I wasn’t serious enough, I wasn’t focused enough. Has that sort of Outlook helped you in entrepreneur land? Or has it held you back do do people want you to be walking around really been focused and tacking on the the imaginary beard and really sort of looking like you’ve got all Rick hairs on your shoulders. You know,
Rey Ybarra [31:38]
this is a that’s interesting that you say that because I’ve learned to read people through through my associations and and going out and networking and meeting a lot of different people working a lot with the Shark Tank entrepreneurs. Some of them are very serious, and others are kind of happy go lucky. So I’ve learned how to read people and adjust the situation accordingly. You know, the corporate people tend to be very, very serious about things and, you know, they’re, they’re kind of in this box, but as an entrepreneur and and how I deal with the, especially in this project with the Shark Tank entrepreneurs, I had a lot of fun doing what I was dealing in, it came through in my segments and in my stories that I recorded with the entrepreneurs. So I’ve learned how to be really adaptable to the situation, when I was out with a with a small business Expo, that was a lot of fun. And it was kind of a relaxed atmosphere. But other organizations, you know, the network after work group and and the University of Phoenix a little more serious, because I was on stage with a lot of their big people in their Corporation. So I had to kind of tone it back sometimes, you know, sometimes it has held me back because, you know, I, I kind of came in with the same attitude toward every situation, then I had to learn how to adjust. And that just comes with time that just comes with experience. But in terms of me, networking and building my network, you know, I jumped from being a networker to a connector to I know a lot of wonderful people now and I connect them at higher levels. But basically, I always think that you know, you have to have fun in what you do if you’re gonna you know, because if you’re not going to have fun in what you do, why do it? You know, why do it if you just all serious all the time. So that’s become a good balance. For me. I’ve learned how to be really balanced,
David Ralph [33:33]
I think, yeah, absolutely brilliant. I want to have as much fun as I make money. Basically, we’re all in it to make money and I don’t care. You know, I Well, there are people that do sort of charity events and stuff, and good, good luck to them. But for me, I’m in it to have as much fun as I can, but to make my business as profitable as I can. And it’s taken me a while. But I’ve started to find value. There is a marketplace out there about wanting that. They want that as well. And I think I in the early days, I went the wrong route. And I always try to force it into people. Once again, we get back to that, where it was kind of like now you can do this, you can do this, you know, really enjoy yourself get up every morning, just because I thought that’s what everybody wanted. But now I realized that that’s not what everybody wants. And a lot of people like routine and a lot of people like the alarm clock to go off at the same same time. And a lot of people bizarrely, like not laughing and enjoying themselves and, and putting themselves out there. Do you see that your life will never be the same again, right? Because of your backstory that’s led you to here are you more celebrate three of the fun in life, because there’s times when that finally is taken away from you, and you’ve just got to enjoy it.
Rey Ybarra [34:52]
Yeah, my life definitely changed in my most importantly David my worldview really changed. You know, because of the day to day circumstances that I and many, many others with this disease and those with with any kind of disease, I don’t want to minimize anybody else’s experience. But I always told my sister that, you know, I see the world very different now than I did before I had this illness, it’s changed my perspective. So each day I cherish each day I value. You know, and so yes, it you know, I I’m just a very different person, I actually think I’m a, the irony of this is that I actually believe that I’m a much better person, through this whole experience than I was before. I was always driven, I was always motivated. But something changed in me, something really changed, I became more compassionate, I guess I’m trying to say I became more compassionate that I wasn’t before. But because is the experience of living with this. This disease, you know, it’s called the invisible illness because only your spouse or you know, only your significant other sees you when you’re going through these major flare ups at home and what you go through just struggle to just do the ordinary things, you know, walking, you know, the pain that just, you know, just doing trying to survive and exist with this. And then when people see you out and about doing your your business, you’re still in pain, but it’s manageable. And they and they see that they that you look fine. But it’s a different story behind closed doors. And, and so it’s often called the invisible illness. And so when i when i when i was laid up in bed, and I was taking these powerful drugs, and I thought that I wasn’t going to make it because my body was in just horrendous pain from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet daily. And I wouldn’t sleep for three days, two and three days at a time, even though I took these powerful drugs that were supposed to relax me the pain was just so horrible and intense. It changed my whole view of everything. And so I become a much more understanding, much more patient person that comes with time to you know, at this time in my life. So it’s a combination of things. But I’ve actually think I’d become a better person because of it more understanding more empathetic. When I see somebody who’s older, when I see somebody who’s walking with a cane or somebody who’s moving slow. I feel I feel what they’re feeling. The empathy in me has really grown and and has made me a better person.
David Ralph [37:43]
It’s funny, as you were talking, I was thinking, I was reflecting on your words and thinking about the entrepreneurial journey that we started the conversation on. And in many ways, the entrepreneurial journey is the invisible illness as well. Nobody sees the crappy times, we all try to hide that from everyone. So we can only show the success. We show the highlight reels. And it’s only when people go into it by by look at you knowingly after two or three years and go I know what you mean. I know what you mean, it’s the best thing ever because I’ve come out the other side. But it’s it is the invisible illness, its work in its own way, isn’t it?
Rey Ybarra [38:20]
Absolutely. I’m and I’m glad that you emphasize that. Because we the struggles, that we go through the challenges that we go through on a daily basis. It’s a very up I guess I could say this I and I think it’s true, that it’s a very lonely existence at times because, you know, we could be get up and we can, you know, we can the words I’m trying to trying to find here are eluding me for the but I guess what I’m saying is this is that challenges exist every day for us. Because we stop for any reason. There’s not a board, or we you know, it’s a solitary journey here. And when we stop, most of the things are going to stop. Some of us are fortunate enough to have a staff we’re at that point now, to do those things, to carry out the business, the tasks that need to be done. But some of us like myself, we’re still growing our business, and we’re not at that level where we want to be at we’re still working toward that we’re solo printers. And so kind of like the same here the buck stops with with with me. So yeah, it is a very solitary journey. You know, my wife has seen a lot of my struggles. She’s seen the setbacks, the deals that were supposed to go through that at the last minute, fell through, for whatever reason, and having to start up and and start all over again. Nobody sees that. It’s it. A lot of entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, it’s that the latest setback for them that puts them over the top and they leave their journey sadly, I wish everybody success. But I always say this, you know, it’s kind of like entrepreneurial, natural selection, that it tests you a test your resolve when these challenges and things outside of our control, infringe upon our dream and about our and our daily existence. And it’s kind of like what rude yard, Kipling said in that wonderful poem. If if you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch, and toss and lose, and start again at your beginning and never breathe one word about your loss. And that sums it up for me.
David Ralph [40:52]
Well, let’s listen to the words of a man who had more successes and failures. Or maybe he had more failures than successes. is Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs [41:00]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards. 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leaves you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [41:35]
You are a man now but I would say is following his heart. It’s an emotional decision more than a brain financial decision, would you say?
Rey Ybarra [41:45]
Absolutely. Absolutely. It’s a vocation. It’s a it’s a following that I heard that little voice inside of myself always telling me you know, to keep going to keep moving forward. Follow your heart, you know, a friend of mine is to produce a broadcast radio show he years ago here in Los Angeles, and one of my guests is a good friend of mine, great musician, very successful musician. And he, he told me, so we’re getting towards the end of our show. You know, I said what advice would you give Freddie to listeners and he said, Follow your heart, you know, follow your heart. And that’s so important. You know, we all know the very successful people just kept kept moving forward. They they have a tremendous focus and drive. And they keep moving forward, no matter what happens. And they follow their heart. You know, along the way, there’s been so much negativity of people telling me that some people in high places that just what you know, they want to tear you down they they’re they’re successful, but they use that success to or to make them look better than what you are because they have this certain level of success. And I’ve hearing loss Angeles it’s it’s it’s brutal at times here in LA because you get so much that the pretentiousness, the people driving the Lamborghinis, you know that I live about 20 minutes from downtown Los Angeles. And there’s the staple center with the Lakers play. And, you know, there’s all this, you know, there’s Hollywood, so there’s a la is a very unforgiving city at times, and it can tear down dreams, but you’ve just got to have that resolve and, and, and not pay attention to it and just keep moving forward and listen to that voice inside you and never, ever quit. Never ever give up.
David Ralph [43:40]
Right advice, great advice. And I suppose it’s nicely leading us to the end of the show that we’ve been building up to, which is the Sermon on the mic, when probably we will hear almost the same advice again, because this is the part of the show, where we’re going to send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self. And if you could go back in time and speak to the young Ray, what age would you choose? And what advice would you give him? Well, we’re gonna find out because I’m gonna play the theme. And when it fades you up, this is the Sermon on the mic.
Rey Ybarra [44:33]
I would say to myself, my younger self hears Rey Ybarra, don’t ever quit, don’t ever give up. Follow your heart, follow your dreams, listen to that, especially living, listen to that voice inside of yourself, as you’re on this journey, you’re going to need to follow that that voice that’s telling you and listen closely to it to yourself. Even if it means that you have to leave some people behind that you thought were going to be on this journey with you, then you need to do that you need to have especially Rey Ybarra, the courage to make those tough decisions that are going to lead you in a different direction than what you thought you initially were going to be taking that you were going to be following that path.
So it’s very important that you
follow that that dream, follow it follow that listen to that voice inside of you. And as I said, if you need to leave some people that you thought were going to be on your journey, you’ve outgrown them, you have to have the courage, it’s necessary to have that courage to move on alone, if necessary, to do so. So listen to that voice inside of you. Don’t ever discount it, discard it, have the courage to keep moving forward to listening to that voice inside of you. That says to keep going. And eventually you’re going to the doors are going to open to where you need to be in it could be and it will be a very different end result in what you probably thought. But the most important thing is that you’re taking that first step to do so. And don’t ever ever look back. And always, always follow that dream Ray.
David Ralph [46:31]
Ray, what’s the number one best way that our audience who’ve been listening can connect with you, sir?
Rey Ybarra [46:39]
Well, the best way they can connect with me as I’ve sent you a link to if I may say this here to some really great videos that I produced, featuring a lot of my wonderful Shark Tank entrepreneur friends, their video series tips that I produced, you know, for this for years. So they’re, you know, short videos. And if you just click on that link, it has all of my contact information on there, but you just sign up for them. And you can get a hold of me through that. And there’s some fantastic tips with some great great Shark Tank entrepreneurs that I toured the country with, I taken these video tips from my from my tour. And if you don’t want to do that, then you can certainly just email me at info at Shark Tank effect. That’s e f f EC ti info at Shark Tank effect calm. But I highly encourage you to sign up for those Video Tips series. Because that will give you a visual and and those chips are very, very, very, very powerful from some of my wonderful Shark Tank entrepreneur friends, we will have
David Ralph [47:48]
all the links in the show notes to make it as easy as possible to get those those goodies. Well, Rey Ybarra, thank you so much for spending time with us today. joining up those dots. And please come back again when you got even more dots to join. Because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures. right thank you so much David
Rey Ybarra [48:09]
it’s been a pleasure. Much continued success. This has been one of the best shows that I have been on. You are doing incredible work. And I wish you great, great success, more success to come dispel Thank you.
David Ralph [48:25]
Rey Ybarra, it was nice, really he was a nice friendly guy from Los Angeles. And he’s he’s developed something as I said in the show, I’m really passionate about people, developing businesses where there’s already an audience, it just seems to be a given that to me, but that’s going to be the way of success. And nowadays, we have the ability to tap into Amazon and other sort of marketing, you can bring some quite sexy products together and market it and whatever, you know, you could start a shark tank business, you could start Dragon’s Den business, you could start wherever you want, but tapping into an audience that’s already there and is passionate about that thing. It’s a real fast way to success. Hopefully you enjoyed that episode as much as I did. I’m looking forward to bringing some good ones, we got some good ones coming up soon. And I will be here hosting it because that’s what I do. I’ve got nothing else I can do really now. I think that’s about it. Until next time, I will see you again. Thank you so much. Cheers. Bye bye. So you’ve listened to the episode of join up dots and you’ve got some ideas going through your head. But you don’t know where to turn the more often than not people try to do it on their own. And I go round and round in circles for many years until they give up where you don’t need to. Because at join up dots we have got a business coaching platform, where we will teach you in a very short period of time, how to get your own business up and running, how to do the right market research and basically how to win the game before you even start. If that is of interest to you, too. Come across the join up dots and you can check out our coaching platforms connect with us. And we will drop you a line and tell you a little bit more about the kind of things that we operate and how it can help you I look forward to seeing you online and if you get a podcast or come on your show or be a guest
