990: Choosing YOU (despite adversity!) while serving others through tech + entrepreneurship w/ Tony Chong

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Hey, what is up?

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Welcome to this episode of the Entrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.

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As always, I'm your host, brian LoFermento, and today's entrepreneur.

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Even before we hit record here today, his energy has me all sorts of fired up, because this is someone who not only has such an amazing skillset and some really cool businesses that I'm excited to talk about on the air, but I can already tell this guy loves entrepreneurship.

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He believes that entrepreneurship is the vehicle not only to freedom but, in so many ways, security.

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It's funny societally we always talk about how entrepreneurship doesn't give you job security and all of that.

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But today's guest is incredible at diversifying his business portfolio and making a positive impact in the world.

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So let me tell you all about him.

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His name is Tony Chong.

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Tony is a multi-CEO of several businesses that, although are very different in scope, are both designed to help others.

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Not following a traditional career path, tony went from fixing cars and delivering pizza to helping two startups secure successful exits and then securing funding as a co-founder for his own startup.

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Currently, tony runs a cloud computing consultancy business.

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We're definitely going to talk about the tech background that has helped him create that business, but what I think is really cool and I'm totally biased here, so we're probably going to focus on this is he also runs the mobile app Biograph.

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That is doing really incredible things.

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Yes, it leverages technology, but what I think is most incredible about what Tony is doing is that it also serves humanity's problems in a really human way by leveraging technology.

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So we're not only going to learn a lot from Tony today, but I know he's going to change our perspectives in so many ways, so I'm not going to say anything else.

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Let's dive straight into my interview with Tony Chong.

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All right, tony, I am so very excited that you're here with us today.

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First things first.

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Welcome to the show.

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Hey Brian, what's up?

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Thanks for having me.

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Yes.

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Tony, you already heard in my intro to this episode.

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I'm hyped for you to be here.

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I think there's so many incredible aspects of your journey, so let's not waste any time.

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You got to take us beyond the bio.

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Who's Tony?

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How'd you start doing all these cool things?

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Yeah, you know, um, I'm a builder.

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Right After a long stint in tech and the startup world, I picked up some skills and hit a few milestones, and I hit a point where I was like, well, why am I limiting myself to just one company and maybe someone else's dream?

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I should be.

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You know, I have enough skills and experience where I should maybe build my own thing, but I think, like a lot of people that are trying to start their own business, the question is like, well, what do you want?

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You know, what do you build?

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You know, what do you?

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What's your business?

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And so, as a builder, you know, I wanted to make sure that the next thing that I built was something that was worth my time.

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But, you know, as you know, we got to eat right.

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And so I was like, well, since I know how to build and since I'm trying to figure out what I want to build, why don't I build a business that helps other people become successful?

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And so, leveraging my background in tech, I opened a consultancy help people in the cloud.

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Right now, that's something that I startup world, as well as the various different cloud technologies, and at night, I moonlight as CEO of Biograph, which is an app that is designed to share our stories and our memories with our loved ones.

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Yeah, gosh.

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I love that overview, Tony, especially because you started it out right there.

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You are a builder, and I think it's so true for so many of us entrepreneurs.

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My word of the year for 2024 is building, and I mean that both as the noun and the verb, because I think it's important for us builders to recognize we're building these structures with a foundation and with all the things that come along with it that are going to outlast us, and obviously that's so.

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At the core of what Biograph stands for is creating memories and telling stories that outlast us.

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So we're definitely going to get there, but right on the surface.

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I want to ask you this because I think part of what I resonate the most with your journey and your attitude towards building is I want to be involved in multiple things.

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We all, as entrepreneurs, we have so many different skill sets, tony, and I feel like when we tune into entrepreneurial podcasts or we watch YouTube videos or we read business books, they always tell us just focus on one thing, just focus on one thing.

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And, tony, I find that in my portfolio of businesses, what I learned from being on the air with this podcast and interacting with guests like you, they translate into all my other businesses and give me unique perspectives, and vice versa.

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Talk to us about that diversification and the fact that you are wearing two hats.

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Yeah, you know it's funny, like, yeah, you should be maniacal about one thing in your business, but in order for you to do that, you need to have a bunch of experience in other areas so you can excel in solving that one single problem.

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And so, for example, I'll give you a good example of that Like I'm, I'm a tech person.

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I can build any technology, I can build an app for pretty much anything.

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Having two different businesses, like I'm learning a bunch of different stuff and as CEO of a company, you need to be, you need to know sales, you need some marketing, you need to know BD, you need to know sales, you need to know marketing, you need to know BD, you need to know some level of tech.

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And so, having two different businesses at the same time, I'm picking up all of these different skills and, like you just said that I could transfer to either business or maybe even a third or fourth business sometime in the future.

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Yeah, Tony, again along those same lines, I want to piggyback because you went over in your overview about your career arc and I think it's so brilliant and probably you take it for granted as well I know that I did for a long time that you had a very successful career in the startup world, obviously in the Bay Area in California.

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You then realized you have skills, you have knowledge.

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You turn that into a consultancy.

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I think that's such a smart career path because, coming out of a nine to five job, we can always just sell our services.

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We don't need to have a product, we don't need to develop things.

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Talk to us about that, because I love that.

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You went consultancy and then layered on an incredible AI product that you're building and that you're launching into the world.

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Yeah, I'm a person who loves to learn and so I thought, well, if I'm able to help one company achieve their goals and I still have bandwidth, like why wouldn't I diversify and go to a second or a third or fourth?

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But having that diverse portfolio, you know, not only am I learning at the same time, but I'm also gaining experience, kind of like twice, you know, twice the rate.

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That's how I feel, like it Right, and so just trying to be efficient.

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And you know, not every, no two shops are the same.

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If you're in a consult, if you've been a consultant, you know that there are similarities across many organizations, but no two shops are the same, no two teams are the same, and a part of the journey, too, is understanding, like a human experience, a team bonding experience and understanding the different personalities.

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So I think diversifying your portfolio helps not just your hard technical skills, your core competencies, but also along the soft skills as well too, which is like super important when you're in some kind of service industry, like you know what I'm doing now.

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Yeah, along those lines, tony.

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We keep saying that word tech.

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Technology is obviously at the core of so many of your experiences.

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But what you're doing with Biograph?

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It uses tech, but it goes far beyond that into some humanity things and there's a lot of positive implications for society with what you're doing there.

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Give us the origin story, because somewhere along the way you're sitting there with a technology backed skill set and said you know what I want?

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To enter the human marketplace and solve real human problems.

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What's the story behind that?

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Oh, that's, it's deep is deep, brian.

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So you know, post COVID, a lot of people I know were getting sick, like really sick.

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I lost some folks, almost lost my dad, and at the same time I had my first kid.

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And so it hit me that, hey, if my dad something happens to my dad, I really don't know the guy that well.

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And so how do I capture information from my dad so that if something does happen to him, like, my daughter will know all about him?

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Because I never knew either of my grandfathers same for my wife, right and so I didn't want that happening to my daughter.

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And so what I did was I took my phone out and I just hit record and started asking a bunch of questions.

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You know what was it like when you were born?

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Where did you grow up?

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You know all the typical stuff Turns out.

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You know my dad was born in what is now known as North Korea, right, and so he's got this whole story about how, when he was six, he took a trick down from, like one of the northernmost mountain ranges in North Korea and how he walked down to a certain point and then how his cousin or uncle he's not quite sure he doesn't remember, was part of some freedom army thing and drove them in a van to the border.

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All this stuff happened and I was just blown away and thought if he was like just blown away and thought, you know, if he was gone like I, that story was would have been, you know, it would have been just gone right, never, never to be heard of again.

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And I thought we have all this technology, we have all of this stuff and the best thing that we're doing is like what we sell, we're trying to sell each other stuff.

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And I was like that's ridiculous.

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So it's like you know what I'm going to build.

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So I was like you know I'm going to build this problem, so I don't, for me, I'm going to solve my own problem.

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And it turns out that a lot of people in my community like I'm a second gen, you know Korean American a lot of my friends, my peers, they don't know their, they don't know their parents really well either, and so I started telling them and then they started getting their family involved and it's just been a wild ride ever since.

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Yeah, tony, I so appreciate that backstory.

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As the son of an immigrant mom who my mom's family actually escaped communist Albania back in the 1960s, my grandmother lived until 102.

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Such a blessing to have her as such a big part of my life growing up and the stories that she told.

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It's actually giving me chills hearing you talk about your own family's history, because all of our families are loaded with these stories that unless we extract them you're right they don't live on.

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Fortunately, if we're told them, then we can carry those on.

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But I think what you're doing with Biograph is incredible.

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I want to ask you this question from a business model perspective as well as a messaging and positioning, because when I go to Biographai which gosh, we're going to talk about those links at the end of today's episode I'm excited for listeners to check it out.

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To me, I wonder do you view it as a social media solution?

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Do you view it as obviously it's ai powered and and there's so many cool ways that it invites you?

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Tell us a story about this.

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It prompts us.

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Well, how's your view of what biograph is?

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yeah, I guess, you know, from a a generic standpoint, it would be social media right, social networking app right.

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You can share your stories with others.

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But I I tend to think that stories make more sense when there's context and then when you can relate.

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So it's their gear.

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So it's geared more towards private, like your own private communities.

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So think of it as you know, it's your choice.

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If you could share your stories, either you could just have them for yourself, you could share them with you know one of a number of private groups, or you could share publicly.

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Yeah, and even just thinking about that, it is a uniquely personal experience of using something like this.

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We're talking about the most personal things, which are our stories.

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What's what's been some of the feedback that you've gotten from users who dive into it?

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Because I'll tell you this I want to interject.

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This actually, tony, is that when I go to your website, it looks like the finished product and in huge kudos to you because obviously you're incredibly talented, from the branding to the ui, to the mock-ups, to the website, to every single step of the way.

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It's so intentional and strategic, tony.

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What's been the user feedback with regards to that?

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And then, more importantly, because I think it's going to be so valuable for all of us listening to you here today how the heck did you think about all of these things from start to finish?

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Is that your strategic mindset?

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Where's that come from?

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Yeah, yeah.

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So the first question, which was the user feedback, has been super touching, right, like I think some of the most common things I've heard are things like, um, I wish this app were around x years ago or three months ago, because people have are experiencing, um, you know, stuff in their life story, worthy things in their life that they wish they had captured, or people that they have lost, that they had wish had used the app.

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So that's the first thing and so, like I, I don't want people to think that.

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So that's been kind of like the first feedback.

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It's been hard to hear that, and so I'm glad that the app serves utility for people.

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Right, so there's some validation there.

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So I'm glad of that.

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But in terms of like the way it looks and stuff, I thought, look, I could spend time building a prototype and mocking things up and this and that, and I know what that looks like.

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Or I could just, um, you know, work with the designer.

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Uh, you know an indie, an indie person like me, um, who has great value, and work together to build the designs of, like what could be, you know, close to, like you said, a final product and it just cut through, uh, what traditional people say like, oh, you need an mvp, you need to do this and this, and that you know, I just I wanted to release production, so I did what it takes to release production as quick as possible and all the features and stuff.

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The follow-up question about features and how do I come up with this?

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It's like, well, how would I use the app?

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Right, I'm a user of the app.

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You know how would I want to use it?

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What am I expecting to see?

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How would I expect things to work in the most simplest way possible?

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I've read a few books about very, you know, simplifying workflows and there's a hundred different ways to implement.

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You know one feature and I try to find the most simplest solution.

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And you know, and I think the icing on the cake for me is I have my mom use the app, and if she can use it and my dad actually too, right, so my dad can use the app, um then I'm pretty satisfied that I think anyone, uh, that knows how to like manipulate the app interface you know a mobile device interface can use my app and so, yeah, hopefully that answers all your questions yeah, it does.

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Because I'm glad that you called out mvps, because me, looking at biograph, I'm like did you guys just skip the MVP phase altogether?

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And it does seem like you did, because you were committed to having something that's usable, and you said it.

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I think that's such a core strategy, is something that's usable for you personally, and having different generations tested and getting it in the hands of real life people.

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That's ultimately the only way that we refine these things and optimize them.

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So huge kudos to you and your team, tony.

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It looks like you have been around for 10 years, so I'm very impressed with all of that which we keep talking about stories.

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Tony, we've got you here on the podcast.

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I want to talk about your story because I so appreciate your background.

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Obviously, growing up in a rough neighborhood, it seemed like this type of life and entrepreneurial dreams were a million miles away from you.

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Give us your personal backstory, because I want to hear more about that.

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Yeah.

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How I got into tech.

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I mean, that's a story in itself, but put it this way I came out of high school and the internet just came out.

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Right, you could go buy a modem.

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So I went to Fry's and bought this modem and was like wow, and was just blown away by the Internet.

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And so during that time I was working for my dad at his mechanic shop in South LA during the day, and then at night I would go home and deliver pizzas.

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And then I thought you know what am I going to do?

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You know what am I going to do?

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You know, I don't want to stay in school, I can't deliver pizzas.

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What am I going to do?

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You know what am I going to do?

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You know I don't want to stay in school and I can't deliver pizzas.

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I guess I'll just be a mechanic.

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Right, I'll just be a mechanic.

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And then, next thing, you know, pc started taking off.

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The internet came out, gaming happened, you know, the PC rooms were all over.

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And then I was like 98, you know, bill Gates is like I'm going to put a PC in everyone's home.

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So I'm like well, you know what, instead of like fixing cars, I'm going to fix computers.

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So I'm going to like open this like PC repair shop, right, and so, like, these PC stores open up like all over where I was living.

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So I was like, oh you know, maybe I'll compete with them or whatnot.

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And then, once I finally got that tech job, you know my career path just changed completely.

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Right, I stayed there.

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I went from you know IT, you know data centers, and then the cloud DevOps tech startups Like I just, you know, I just kept following.

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I was lucky enough to be a part of companies and projects where you know they might have used cutting edge stuff.

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And if you are dabbling in tech and you're new, you know that every season in tech, anyone can just jump right in, because when the new stuff happens, you know everyone's scrambling, you know, to learn it.

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Ai is a perfect example of this recent new season to learn it.

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And AI is a perfect example of this recent new season.

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And so you know, if you're early in and you, you know you can get in on, you know, you know in early stages and and be a part of, be a part of it, right, and you know, hopefully make a living out of it.

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And so you know, once I got that tech job.

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You know, like I said, my, my career changed, the trajectory changed, and then just every job is just a culmination of all the jobs from the past.

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Right, life experiences, job experiences again, interacting with people, the various personalities If you're in tech software engineers and product managers and salespeople tend to have it's very common that there's a riff in personalities and so understanding humans at that level and figuring out how to work with everyone, you know, at the end of the day, it made sense for me to be a consultant because it's like, hey, I know how to work with these people, try to be down to earth.

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I don't talk super techie and you know I can help people.

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So you know, yeah, yeah, it's a long story, bro, there's just so many details.

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I don't even know where to just like what to leave in and what to leave out.

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No, I think it's perfect, because it is a launching point that I'd love to explore with you, because you and I, I mean, we definitely are a lucky generation in the fact that, when we were young, you say Windows 95, you take me right back to childhood and you talk about getting a modem at Fry, and I still remember my parents yelling at me when I'm in the basement.

00:18:55.096 --> 00:18:59.633
They're just like get off the internet, we can't use the phone, and that's the way that things were when we were young.

00:18:59.633 --> 00:19:04.406
So a lot of people hear this, though, tony, and I want to talk about it directly in today's episode.

00:19:04.406 --> 00:19:06.534
If they think, well, you guys were lucky.

00:19:06.664 --> 00:19:09.213
So, for me personally, my first business was a blog.

00:19:09.213 --> 00:19:18.277
It was a blog about soccer, and back in 2008, seo you could just keyword stuff and you would rank first on Google, and that's how I grew my organic traffic to millions of people a month.

00:19:18.277 --> 00:19:29.659
You can't necessarily do that today, and so I think you have a unique perspective, tony, in the fact that not only were you early with regards to the tech world, but it sounds to me like you continue to be early.

00:19:29.659 --> 00:19:35.654
You identify these trends, whether we're talking about AI or cloud computing, across all the different things that you do.

00:19:35.654 --> 00:19:44.712
So what's your advice, what's your direct response to people who are thinking I'm late to the game, I'm too late, I can't enter it, what's going to be the next thing?

00:19:44.712 --> 00:19:45.915
How do you respond to that?

00:19:45.915 --> 00:19:48.329
Because it seems to me like you see opportunities everywhere.

00:19:49.051 --> 00:19:50.536
I mean it's never too late, right?

00:19:50.536 --> 00:19:51.666
Tech is lucrative.

00:19:51.666 --> 00:19:59.433
When people say tech, there's like a 100 subfields in tech, right, and so it's never too late.

00:19:59.433 --> 00:20:01.672
Things are constantly evolving.

00:20:01.672 --> 00:20:04.792
It used to be once every 10 years.

00:20:04.792 --> 00:20:06.096
There was some crazy change.

00:20:06.096 --> 00:20:09.916
Now I feel like it's once every six months, maybe even.

00:20:09.916 --> 00:20:12.311
Right, the game is constantly changing.

00:20:15.288 --> 00:20:21.487
I think saying those types of things are just it's self-doubt, right, it's BS, right?

00:20:21.506 --> 00:20:24.773
You don't need to tell yourself that it's never too late, right?

00:20:24.773 --> 00:20:31.616
I see articles of like really, really, what's the word I'm looking for?

00:20:31.616 --> 00:20:51.193
Really, really disadvantaged folks finally finishing, you know their dreams, right, even though they're, you know, at the final stages of you know of their life, right, 95, graduating college, things like that, right, and so sorry, I don't mean to offend anybody trying to use the right words and so you know it's never too late, right?

00:20:51.193 --> 00:21:00.290
And so I think the big thing is never give up on your dreams, and just, you got to find path, you've got to be realistic about your capabilities, where you're at, and you've got to grind it out.

00:21:00.290 --> 00:21:09.532
You've got to do the grunt work, and I think that's the part that and it has taken me 20-plus years, and I think that's the part no one really talks about.

00:21:09.532 --> 00:21:14.231
Everyone talks about the success stories, but no one talks about hey, you have to grind it out.

00:21:14.231 --> 00:21:23.497
Talks about, hey, like you have to grind it out, like I'm nobody special, like I'm not an underdog, right, I didn't come out of stanford or berkeley, I don't have the pedigree, or you know, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth and so you have to, like, make these waves.

00:21:23.597 --> 00:21:31.403
And if you want to make waves in an ocean, like you gotta, you know, you gotta right, you gotta like, you gotta, make some moves.

00:21:31.403 --> 00:21:32.326
You know what I mean.

00:21:32.326 --> 00:21:38.199
Like so and I think that's, and I think that I think that takes some planning.

00:21:38.199 --> 00:21:43.172
It's not going to happen overnight and it takes trial and error and no one's going to have the formula on day one.

00:21:43.172 --> 00:21:47.094
And so my advice to the folks along the way is just keep trying, get in now.

00:21:47.094 --> 00:21:48.356
It's never too late.

00:21:48.356 --> 00:21:53.936
It's just an excuse to tell yourself, because you're hesitant, you're scared I know I was.

00:21:53.936 --> 00:21:55.811
You're scared for whatever reason.

00:21:55.811 --> 00:22:02.087
Maybe you have kids to feed, maybe you know, like you hate your job but it pays well and you know you're used.

00:22:02.087 --> 00:22:04.314
There's all kinds of whatever your situation is.

00:22:04.314 --> 00:22:12.594
Fear comes in many forms, and I think you know, once you squash that and get started, it's never too late, right?

00:22:12.594 --> 00:22:16.979
Because by the time you think back like it's too late, you could have made that many, that much more progress already.

00:22:16.979 --> 00:22:20.008
You know what I mean, so it's so true.

00:22:20.067 --> 00:22:26.470
Tony, it's funny, throughout my career of being an entrepreneur, I've been an entrepreneur for 16 years now, so I obviously started very young.

00:22:26.470 --> 00:22:27.594
I started when I was 19.

00:22:27.594 --> 00:22:31.355
And I find so many of these types of stories.

00:22:31.355 --> 00:22:41.247
Tony, it comes from our generation of Americans, where we come from these immigrant families where hard work is just the way of life that our parents and our grandparents generations experience.

00:22:41.247 --> 00:22:49.171
I'm curious what some of your mindset shifts had to be along the way, because I remember as a kid my mom always told me anything is possible.

00:22:49.171 --> 00:22:53.551
It's the very reason why they came to the United States was because it's the land of opportunity.

00:22:53.551 --> 00:22:55.307
What are some of those real life things you say?

00:22:55.307 --> 00:22:58.250
You don't want to offend any of our listeners, but, tony, this is the real stuff.

00:22:58.250 --> 00:23:00.473
We appreciate that on this podcast.

00:23:01.045 --> 00:23:02.409
Yeah, I equate.

00:23:02.409 --> 00:23:06.430
I knew that I was starting at zero, like, okay, let's take it back.

00:23:06.430 --> 00:23:13.054
I don't think when actually matters, right, because you know you have to start at some point.

00:23:13.054 --> 00:23:14.866
So let's go back to the 90s.

00:23:14.866 --> 00:23:23.257
Here's me Dotcom I think it was either about to bust or was busting.

00:23:23.257 --> 00:23:29.828
And here's me trying to jump into that Talk about latent timing.

00:23:30.069 --> 00:23:33.056
If anyone had the worst timing in the world, I'd be a top contender.

00:23:33.056 --> 00:23:38.547
And so I'm like, well, am I gonna do right?

00:23:38.547 --> 00:23:43.976
And so, um, you have to figure out like it's gonna be hard, right?

00:23:43.976 --> 00:23:45.878
I came in not knowing that.

00:23:45.878 --> 00:23:54.884
I equate it to working in the mailroom, right From the mailroom to the boardroom, right and so coming in with zero skills.

00:23:54.884 --> 00:23:57.351
I remember I had this tech, my first tech job.

00:23:57.351 --> 00:23:57.992
I got laid off.

00:23:57.992 --> 00:24:18.387
I got there five months and I went to this job fair and this guy looked at I had this resume with 20 point font because I didn't really have any experience and he looked at it and he threw it back in my face and he basically called me you know, basically called me a joke, and like he made me really mad, right, and I told myself that was never going to happen to me again.

00:24:18.460 --> 00:24:20.969
And so what did I do?

00:24:20.969 --> 00:24:23.127
I just started hitting the books, right.

00:24:23.127 --> 00:24:27.111
I went to like a bookstore and I couldn't afford those $60 or $70 computer books.

00:24:27.111 --> 00:24:29.528
I just started reading and reading, and reading.

00:24:29.528 --> 00:24:32.632
I would buy a coffee and just stay there and read and read and read.

00:24:32.632 --> 00:24:36.375
And when my friends were going to the club and the party, I was like you know what?

00:24:36.375 --> 00:24:42.830
I'm good, I'm just going to read and read and read, because I knew that I had to play catch up, and I've been doing that ever in my whole career.

00:24:42.871 --> 00:24:52.402
That's what's like it drives me right, like I have to play catch up because, no, I didn't come out of MIT, or I didn't come out of you know, one of these big schools with a lot of smart people.

00:24:52.402 --> 00:24:53.103
No, I didn't.

00:24:53.103 --> 00:24:59.125
Right, I came out of you know, san Gabriel Valley in LA, right, and I was just, you know, I should be a blue collar dude, right.

00:24:59.125 --> 00:25:08.153
And so I had to figure out how I can be a part of this club that I wanted to be in, which is like these tech people.

00:25:08.153 --> 00:25:18.065
And so, you know, I had to do what I did to get my foot in the door.

00:25:18.065 --> 00:25:18.948
And then, once you get your foot in the door.

00:25:18.948 --> 00:25:21.016
Um, you know, that's just, that's just step one right, and then, once you're in the door, there's a whole.

00:25:21.016 --> 00:25:22.119
You know, now you're just starting your journey.

00:25:22.119 --> 00:25:23.307
And then you just got to keep going.

00:25:23.326 --> 00:25:30.609
And I told myself early on in my career because I remember having a hard time once I got in, none of the seniors wanted to help me.

00:25:30.609 --> 00:25:36.971
I was just some punk kid, they didn't give me any mind, pay me any mind.

00:25:36.971 --> 00:25:38.807
And so what did I do?

00:25:38.807 --> 00:25:43.650
When the new stuff came out, I started learning it.

00:25:43.650 --> 00:25:50.228
And then I told myself, when I become a senior, I'm never going to get pigeonholed, I'm never just going to be complacent with technology.

00:25:50.228 --> 00:26:05.170
I'm never just going to like, be complacent with technology, I'm going to constantly learn and constantly be on top of it, because if I miss one, you know thing, I can jump on the next wave right.

00:26:05.170 --> 00:26:07.969
And so I've just been following that philosophy ever since.

00:26:07.969 --> 00:26:21.086
Or just like being an underdog, having this rules, and just like believing in that rule and keeping it simple and just keeping at it right and failing and failing, and the next you know, 28 years later.

00:26:21.086 --> 00:26:22.851
You know, here, here you are.

00:26:24.619 --> 00:26:30.082
Tony, I'll tell you what you're getting me all sorts of fired up here in today's episode because this is the real stuff.

00:26:30.102 --> 00:26:36.820
Honestly, honestly, your attitude and your mentality shines through in not only the things you say but the way that you say them.

00:26:36.820 --> 00:26:49.765
And and the two things that are really clear to me about you is one when all the cards are stacked against you, you pick you, and I think that is such a powerful message is that you continue to pick you time and time again.

00:26:49.765 --> 00:26:54.948
And then the thing you gave that analogy of walking through the door To you just getting in the door is not enough.

00:26:54.948 --> 00:27:04.910
You keep that pedal to the floor and you keep on pushing, and I think that that persistence it shows so much in all of your accomplishments as an entrepreneur, as a successful business owner.

00:27:04.910 --> 00:27:06.625
So huge kudos to you.

00:27:06.625 --> 00:27:09.382
And really, I mean I know that you're inspiring so many listeners.

00:27:09.382 --> 00:27:13.606
You're personally very much inspiring me, so I really appreciate these insights.

00:27:13.606 --> 00:27:18.311
I do want to ask you because we're always enjoying these conversations, talking entrepreneur to entrepreneur.

00:27:18.311 --> 00:27:19.032
You're one of us.

00:27:19.173 --> 00:27:24.842
For all of the listeners who are tuning in, they can relate to that part of your journey what's your day to day look like?

00:27:24.842 --> 00:27:33.945
Obviously, you have two awesome businesses Airwave Tech, which is the cloud consultancy business, as well as Biograph, the AI powered storytelling solution that we've talked about.

00:27:33.945 --> 00:27:34.969
What does that look like?

00:27:34.969 --> 00:27:36.051
Do you batch your week?

00:27:36.051 --> 00:27:38.346
Do you have certain days focusing on certain businesses?

00:27:38.346 --> 00:27:39.250
How do you structure it?

00:27:40.119 --> 00:27:40.601
All right.

00:27:40.601 --> 00:27:48.800
So I wake up super early, wake up super early, get my exercise in, walk, lift weights.

00:27:48.800 --> 00:27:49.502
While I'm walking.

00:27:49.502 --> 00:27:52.749
I try to organize my day through business.

00:27:52.749 --> 00:27:54.111
You know regular business hours.

00:27:54.111 --> 00:27:55.894
I do my consultancy.

00:27:55.894 --> 00:28:02.548
My clients are East Coast, west Coast, so the timing makes sense.

00:28:02.548 --> 00:28:14.066
I also have two small children, right, two kids under three, and then so, like during the early afternoon, I'll spend time with them and then I put them, you know, after bedtime.

00:28:14.066 --> 00:28:36.786
I'll jump back in the afternoon, work a little bit there on my consultancy, you know, spend the rest of the, you know, the afternoon evening with my kids, my wife, and then at night I'll, you know, switch computers and work on Biograph, right, and so that might be an anti-pattern for what you know, the anti-work movement these days.

00:28:36.786 --> 00:28:37.807
But I don't.

00:28:37.807 --> 00:28:43.650
I've never really slept a lot, and so you know I use that time to be productive.

00:28:44.681 --> 00:28:45.623
Yeah, I love that.

00:28:45.623 --> 00:28:53.049
And you're preaching to the choir again because, as someone who I love everything that I do, it's just like that quote if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.

00:28:53.130 --> 00:29:01.042
So, Tony, it's so cool to see how much you personally get fulfillment from doing the things that you do, but also you jump straight to the fact that you're a dad.

00:29:01.042 --> 00:29:03.570
You've got two kids and that's crazy Two kids under three.

00:29:03.570 --> 00:29:05.804
I can only imagine how much your hands are full.

00:29:05.804 --> 00:29:07.226
So kudos to you.

00:29:07.226 --> 00:29:09.450
It takes a team to make that stuff happen.

00:29:09.450 --> 00:29:12.642
So I do want to ask you about time horizon as builders.

00:29:12.642 --> 00:29:20.164
Having you on the air, it's such a treat because I find that all entrepreneurs, all builders, look forward in different ways.

00:29:20.164 --> 00:29:23.852
For me, I'm a big fan of 30, 60, 90 day strategies.

00:29:23.852 --> 00:29:29.497
I'm a big fan of those actionable windows that I can make some serious moves within 90 days.

00:29:29.497 --> 00:29:31.502
You obviously being in the tech world.

00:29:31.502 --> 00:29:35.372
I mean AI is changing the way the world is on a very macro level.

00:29:35.372 --> 00:29:37.487
What's your time horizon look like?

00:29:37.487 --> 00:29:41.326
Do you imagine what the world's going to look like one, three, five plus years from now?

00:29:42.589 --> 00:29:44.032
No, I don't Right.

00:29:44.032 --> 00:29:48.808
I don't Right Because I think it's just.

00:29:48.808 --> 00:29:51.782
You know, anything can happen, right, anything can happen.

00:29:51.782 --> 00:29:56.827
If anything, the pandemic has showed us that.

00:29:56.827 --> 00:30:01.741
And so my time horizon is like you know, I have long-term goals, obviously I have.

00:30:01.741 --> 00:30:06.200
You know, I think financial freedom is probably at the top of that list, right?

00:30:06.220 --> 00:30:10.143
I think a lot of us get into entrepreneurship because of, you know, that reason alone.

00:30:10.143 --> 00:30:15.631
I think for me there's more to it than that, but that is a strong, compelling reason for why I'm in entrepreneurship.

00:30:15.631 --> 00:30:25.795
And so once you achieve that, I think at the end of the day, for me it's just a week.

00:30:25.795 --> 00:30:34.612
I had these long-term goals and I had these steps to get there, and I break that down into weekly chunks.

00:30:34.612 --> 00:30:37.549
I think that's as much as I can take on, because, you know, I have two kids.

00:30:37.549 --> 00:30:42.145
We're in an election year in the States, there's always something.

00:30:42.145 --> 00:30:48.012
You know what I mean, and so you know, yes, I have long-term goals, but I don't dwell too much on that.

00:30:48.012 --> 00:30:50.990
I have them and those don't change really.

00:30:50.990 --> 00:30:55.590
But I do plan out, you know, just week to week, because you know life is dynamic.

00:30:56.233 --> 00:30:58.622
Yeah, no, I totally appreciate that it's.

00:30:58.622 --> 00:31:04.731
It was something that was discouraging to me when I started my first business is it sounded like everybody had a 10 year plan.

00:31:04.731 --> 00:31:10.246
I remember sitting in the college classroom and hearing professors talk about that and, tony, to your point, I couldn't imagine.

00:31:10.246 --> 00:31:11.426
I mean, I'm 35 now.

00:31:11.426 --> 00:31:13.691
I don't know what life is going to look like when I'm 45.

00:31:13.770 --> 00:31:21.799
That's so far away, and so the fact that you turn it again it's just such a theme here with our amazing guests is actionable time periods.

00:31:21.799 --> 00:31:25.349
You can take action in a week, and I love the fact that you narrow in on that.

00:31:25.349 --> 00:31:30.007
So, tony, my biggest challenge to you today is it's the question I ask at the end of every episode.

00:31:30.007 --> 00:31:32.270
Biggest challenge to you today is it's the question I ask at the end of every episode.

00:31:32.270 --> 00:31:34.895
I never know which direction guests will take it in, because it's super broad.

00:31:34.895 --> 00:31:45.063
And that is what's your best advice for listeners, knowing that our listeners are entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs at all different stages of their business growth, what's that one thing that you want to impart on them at the end of today's episode?

00:31:46.486 --> 00:31:51.153
Yeah, you know what I'd have to say never forget why you're on this journey.

00:31:51.153 --> 00:31:54.807
I think there's going to be a lot of ups and downs.

00:31:54.807 --> 00:31:59.306
There's going to be a lot more downs than there are ups, but when you get the ups they'll probably be big.

00:31:59.306 --> 00:32:09.503
And so during those down times it's hard to just think like, oh, if I just hang on a little longer, especially if there's like a financial constraint involved.

00:32:09.503 --> 00:32:13.122
But don't forget why, right, don't forget why.

00:32:13.122 --> 00:32:16.550
Don't forget the reasons why you got into it in the first place.

00:32:16.672 --> 00:32:18.244
And I think it's very easy to forget.

00:32:18.244 --> 00:32:27.961
You know, keep a reminder for yourself, whether it's a sticky note or a mantra you say every morning when you wake up, or something you say before you go to sleep every night.

00:32:27.961 --> 00:32:29.324
But just like, don't forget why.

00:32:29.324 --> 00:32:33.573
And if it's not working, like, switch it up, right, switch it up.

00:32:33.573 --> 00:32:36.486
You know, see what everyone's doing.

00:32:36.486 --> 00:32:44.609
You know I want to say fake it till you make it, but you know you can mimic others, others and sex.

00:32:44.609 --> 00:32:48.549
You know, successful behavior until something works for you.

00:32:48.549 --> 00:32:50.001
Right, for the time being.

00:32:50.001 --> 00:32:51.888
So you know, never forget why, never forget why.

00:32:51.888 --> 00:32:54.162
Because it's very, it's hard, right, like Biograph.

00:32:54.162 --> 00:32:57.528
It's just me by myself, right, I'm the fool, I'm everything right.

00:32:57.528 --> 00:32:59.960
I'm the developer, I'm the tester, I'm the.

00:32:59.960 --> 00:33:02.922
You know, I try to get new people to sign up every day.

00:33:02.922 --> 00:33:05.343
It's just you know, and so.

00:33:05.343 --> 00:33:11.186
But if you really want it like, you'll figure it out, but don't ever forget why, right?

00:33:11.186 --> 00:33:11.946
Don't ever forget why.

00:33:12.807 --> 00:33:20.011
Yeah, really well said and really powerful advice Because, as you pointed out, the ups, the downs, they're all inevitable.

00:33:20.011 --> 00:33:24.994
We cannot ever just have the ups along a journey, and that's the stuff that gets us through those.

00:33:24.994 --> 00:33:29.718
So, tony, you're doing such great work that I always ask guests to share the links at the end of the episode.

00:33:29.718 --> 00:33:36.781
But I am very excited To your point.

00:33:36.781 --> 00:33:38.246
Success leaves clues if people want to see what's working.

00:33:38.246 --> 00:33:50.894
I mean, I think, as far as tech products go, you have set such a high bar for what you're doing with Biograph, so I'm excited for listeners to check it out, not only as an end user, but also just from a business and entrepreneurial perspective and, of course, just from a human utility perspective.

00:33:50.894 --> 00:33:57.240
So, tony, all the great stuff that you're up to in the world, that you're putting out there in service of others, drop those links on us.

00:33:57.240 --> 00:33:58.741
Where should listeners go from here?

00:33:59.863 --> 00:34:16.215
Yeah, so for Airwave it's airwavetechio V-E-T-E-C-H, dot I-O, and for Biograph it's B-I-O-G-R-A-F excuse me, g-r-a-f, dot A-I.

00:34:16.215 --> 00:34:17.755
So Biograph, dot A-I.

00:34:18.396 --> 00:34:20.378
Yes, and listeners, you already know the drill.

00:34:20.378 --> 00:34:28.384
We are making it as easy as possible for you to find those links to Tony's two businesses down below in the show notes, no matter where it is that you're tuning into today's episode.

00:34:28.384 --> 00:34:29.686
So definitely check those out.

00:34:29.686 --> 00:34:43.592
Honestly, it's incredible the quality of work that Tony is putting into the world, and you're going to see when you land on his websites how much his messaging and his focus is on the people that he's serving and for all of us making moves in our own businesses.

00:34:43.592 --> 00:34:44.958
That's the barometer.

00:34:44.958 --> 00:34:47.543
Tony really sets a high standard of success there.

00:34:47.543 --> 00:34:59.730
So definitely go check his businesses out and if you want to get involved with AI powered storytelling so that those stories for yourself or for your family or those you care about are never forgotten, definitely check the show notes, click right on through those links.

00:34:59.730 --> 00:35:25.554
Otherwise, tony, on behalf of myself and all the listeners worldwide, thanks so much for coming on the show today.

00:35:25.554 --> 00:35:26.436
Thanks for having me, brian.

00:35:26.456 --> 00:35:27.456
Amazing guests.

00:35:27.456 --> 00:35:36.230
There's a reason why we are ad free and have produced so many incredible episodes five days a week for you, and it's because our guests step up to the plate.

00:35:36.230 --> 00:35:38.262
These are not sponsored episodes.

00:35:38.262 --> 00:35:39.867
These are not infomercials.

00:35:39.867 --> 00:35:43.360
Our guests help us cover the costs of our productions.

00:35:43.360 --> 00:35:54.327
They so deeply believe in the power of getting their message out in front of you, awesome entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, that they contribute to help us make these productions possible.

00:35:54.327 --> 00:36:02.800
So thank you to not only today's guests, but all of our guests in general, and I just want to invite you check out our website because you can send us a voicemail there.

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We also have live chat.

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If you want to interact directly with me, go to thewantrepreneurshowcom.

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Initiate a live chat.

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It's for real me, and I'm excited because I'll see you, as always every Monday, wednesday, friday, saturday and Sunday here on the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast.