Noob School - Episode 75: Catching Up with Bobby Dhillon

Episode Date: June 9, 2023

Today on Noob School, John catches up with Bobby Dhillon of MDK Hospitality. Topics include how Bobby got his foot in the door to the world of sales, the challenges of finding what you're passionate about sales-wise, how John impacted Bobby's career, and much more. Check out what Noob School has to offer here: https://www.schoolfornoobs.com/ I'm going to be sharing my secrets on all my social channels, but if you want them all at your fingertips, start with my book, Sales for Noobs: https://amzn.to/3tiaxsL Subscribe to our newsletter today: https://bit.ly/3Ned5kL #noobschool #salestraining #sales #training #entrepreneur #salestips #salesadvice

New School. All right, welcome back to Noob School. Today I've got a friend going back over 20 years. Bobby Dylan. Welcome aboard, Bobby. Thanks, John. Appreciate it. Yeah, man. So happy to be here.

Yeah, and you came down from Charlotte, right? I did. Good, good. Bobby's one of the most successful people that we've worked with over the years, both while he was at Datastream and then beyond with the multiple different things you've done. different things you've done. So let's, as usual, let's start kind of where you are now,

then we'll back up at the beginning and work through it. So now I know your BPSLs for one of the Workday companies or a Workday consulting company. That's right. That's right. We implement Workday. You implement Workday. And Workday is a web-based ERP company? That's correct. Yeah. Yeah. Who started that? It was Anil Bouchery. And, yep, and, and, uh, It's going to kill me. I can't believe Dave Duffield. Dave Duffield, right. It was the PeopleSoft. That's exactly right.

Okay. Yeah. It's just amazing when you think about the software business, you know, when PeopleSoft came out, you thought there's no room for another ERP company. And then PeopleSoft comes out and kill it. And you think, well, that's got to be it. And the same guy comes out with Workday. It does the same thing, but it's on the web.

Yeah. And it's SaaS. Mm-hmm. It kills it again. John, it's such a cool story. You know, I think people know with PeopleSoft, with Larry Ellison, it was more of a hostile takeover of PeopleSoft, and Duffield didn't have the 51% ownership in it, right? So the shareholders were like, okay, we want to sell because the number was so high.

And so they didn't want to sell, but they had to. And then many years later, Dave Duffield and Neil Boucher were sitting at a cafe, and they're looking at each other and saying, hey, listen, you know, Sass. out you know we've got an opportunity we have a blank piece of paper should we go for it again and kick oracle's tail you know essentially I'm sure there were different your word used and so they started it yeah and literally the first sales that were made I was there when I think workday had about 220 customers saw was really early and our story wasn't about the product it was really about

Dave Duffield and people saw yeah so I mean that's how we sold initially yeah really cool yeah so it's it's easier to use less expensive web-based accounting ERP package? Yeah, I don't know if it's less expensive, but yeah, it's certainly an easier to use solution because of SaaS, yeah. Yeah, and web-based. Yeah. What do you think the next, you know, we've gone from mainframes to many computers to, you know, PCs, to client server, and then with the web, it's the latest thing, the web and the SaaS. everyone's just rewriting the old packages and making them web.

What do you think the next thing is? Man, John, that's hard because even in the workday environment right now, I mean, it just continues to improve in the SaaS environment, right? And so the big difference between like, you know, the on-premise solutions to the SaaS is that everything's configurable versus customizable, right? So business users can get in there and actually use the solution versus IT, like back in the day when we had to talk. to the IT folks.

Right. It's hard to tell, man. I don't have that kind of vision. Oh, either. I don't know. Again, Web 3O or AI something. We'll just sell whatever they give us.

That's exactly right. So you're doing that now out of Charlotte. And you're tied at the hip with Workday, which is a great company. But let's go back to, let's go all the way to high school. Where did you grow up and where did you go to high school? I grew up in Greenville, South Carolina,

on Paris Mountain. On Paris Mountain. Yeah, okay. I went to Wade Hampton. Wade Hampton. What's happening? How long did it take to get to White Hampton from Paris Mountain? Oh, man.

So, John, we literally, it was a three-mile drive down from Paris Mountain, which we drove in the dark and in the snow and scary, scary evenings, you know, with buddies. I'd say probably about 20 minutes. 20 minutes. That's not too bad. No, it was just more about the mountain coming up and down. Yeah. How was Wade Hampton?

Fun. It was fun? It was fun. It was fun. I don't know if it was a good, defined good school. It was fun. It was a fun school. No, it was, it was good.

I mean, had a lot of friends that carried over and I still keep in touch with. So it was a fun school. So what year did you graduate from Whitehampton? 90. 90, okay. And then where did you go to school? Citadel. You went to Citadel.

Like your brother went there. Your brother. Yeah. So you went to Citadel. I did too. Both went there. I wasn't there the same time you were. I just missed you.

No, but I saw your poster, Duncan, or Jordan was involved. He was involved, that's right. That's close enough. That's close enough. And why did you pick the Citadel? Gosh, you know what? Look, my parents were major influences in our life. And my brother went there.

So my brother got a Citadel Scholar Award when he was at Wade Hampton, and so he ended up going there. and I was kind of a clown in high school so, you know, as we was progressing towards the time when I was only a year behind him, John, so as we were moving towards the time of making decisions to go to college, I was like, you know what, I'll just get to the Citadel.

I mean, that's literally how it went down. You're like, all right. And John, honestly, I remember getting, you know, the letter and my father saying, hey, Bobby, the letter's here from Citadel, and that's the only place I applied. I remember my buddies were waiting for me outside in the driveway, going to the lake,

and I opened that piece of paper and I just looked at my parents said, okay, I got in and then I put it down and I went with my friends I wasn't necessarily excited to be able to the Citadel but it was good.

It's strange. Different people have different, you know, some people are like gung-ho about going and they're doing their push-ups and running and stuff. I was kind of in denial.

Even though I decided to go there, I still was like, I was kind of... Basketball scholarship. I was, but I was in denial and I was going there until the very day.

Yeah. And there was that book, The Guidon. Remember that? So they sent me the Guideon in the mail. And, of course, I didn't read it. Right. Okay. I didn't even, you're supposed to memorize the whole thing.

I didn't even open it up. So I'm there, you know, the first week, and they're screaming at me, and they're asking me if I know some such and such rule. I'm like, no, sir, I don't know the rule. I said, well, didn't you read the Guidon? And I'm like, what, sir? You know that book, the Guidon. I swear I said, do you mean the Gideon? I didn't even know how to pronounce it, Bobby.

Oh, my God. I got a little trouble for that one. Got a little trouble for that one. John, you even went at a time. I would say, like, I was, when I graduated, that was the year Shannon Faulkner was starting to pray to go into sales. So she got into 95. I graduated 94.

So, I mean, I think there's been levels of, like, just, you know, probably getting a little easier as you go up to the point when I was probably there. So I can't imagine, you know. Well, you know, the old guys always had it harder. Yeah, yeah, that's what we say. Now, I think this is true, but what's your brother's name? Ricky. Ricky.

Now, didn't I meet him, like, in a class one time? Like, I was teaching an entrepreneurial class or something. No, you met my brother-in-law. Oh. He's a dentist? Ricky's a dentist here, but you met my brother-in-law years later. 15 years younger than me, John. So this was not.

Okay. Did I meet him down there? Yeah. Okay. He didn't. He told me. He told me about it. That's super cool.

He ended up going there just to keep the legacy going. That's good. But I did have a meeting with your brother, and he'll remember this. I was teaching a class or, you know, a guest teacher at a class, and it was a class on business or something. And, of course, I went around the room and just said, okay, what's your name and what's your plan? You know, and they would say, well, you know, I'm Joe Brown, and I'm not sure yet. I mean, that was most people. But your brother, he's like, he says, you know, I'm Ricky Dillon,

and I'm already accepted to med school, and I'm going to be a dentist, and I'm going to live in Greenville, and I'm like, you can, your excuse, sir. You know, he had a plan. That's the problem. That's what I had to grow up with right there, John. He was always prepared. He was so prepared, and I was like, just like that kid that was like, I don't know, I just want to run around a little.

Yeah. But he got accepted to dental school. he didn't even have to go to the last semester at the Citadel and still got his degree and diploma and everything and he was parting in Columbia for the last semester. He did it right. Well, I'll say something, Bobby, the, you know, people are different, right? No one's better than another, but some people are just like,

I would say out of 100 people, maybe 10, maybe 15 are like that, but maybe it's 10 where they really, they're like, oh, I'm going to do this and I'm going to Marine Corps, I'm going to be in for 20 years, I'm going to get out and move home to Omaha. I mean, they got some kind of plan like that. Yeah. But most of us don't. Yeah.

And this book helps people figure it out between like psychological profiling and teaching them how to do shadowing jobs and figuring out, you know, what they like and trying to match all that up to figure out, oh, maybe, maybe this might be good for me. If you don't already know you want to be a dentist, you know, we help them figure that out. I wish I had someone helping me do that what I was getting out. because I didn't know. Yeah, you know what's really cool, John, and I don't want to divert, you know,

the questions here that you may have, but when I decided that I didn't want to go to dental school, because I was a biology major, you know, and I told you my parents were big influences, you know, and everything that we did. And the push was really, you know, go be a doctor. So I was a biology major. So I went through all the pain as a biology major

through the four years of the center. And I actually got into dental school. I don't know if I told you that. And I had to go tell my dad, I remember days I would sit in Charleston. I went to a movie by myself one night, and I saw some friends who were like, what are you doing? I was literally trying to figure out how I was going to tell my father more than my mother,

you know, that, hey, I don't want to do it. You know, and so that's when, you know, after I went through that iteration with my father, and he handled it pretty well, he said, what do you want to do? And I said, I don't know, I want to do something more on the business side. So we met with Brent Stewart over at the Citadel, who was the career development for everyone else. and he said, listen, he goes, there's this startup company in Greenville, South Carolina. Yeah.

It's called Data Stream, and the VP of Sales there is a Citadel guy. And he goes, I think you may fit in well there. And my dad knew Larry Blackwell, which was crazy. Just happened to be all these pieces. And I remember coming, I was like, I'd like to try it, you know, go to all to him. So I met with you, and I took the Kobe test, you know, and all this things. And that's how it transpired. That's wild.

That's wild. How did your dad know Larry? Because my dad was a plant manager, you know, for Herk Selenese. Okay. Yeah, Larry, yeah. Larry's previous company would have sold them like environmental consulting or that kind of stuff. That's it. Yeah.

And so I did not know that. And so you graduated 95? 94. 94. That was really the beginning of the Citadel pipeline, wasn't it? I mean, there was... John, you... I'll tell the story because I have to.

I mean, we have to tell some data stream stories because, I mean, I learned so much. But my first year there, you know, after getting my father to agree, you know, and I had a really good year. Yeah. You know, my first good year, you know, there. And you helped me and you built the foundation, got me started. And I remember my dad saying, wow, okay, you don't have to go to school. I remember this whole conversation very clearly, you know, but, yeah,

I tell you, like, you know, from the couple things, and I want to say this because it's so important, how many people are you mentored, you know, to get to where they are and actually enjoy their careers based on foundation is impressive. There are a couple things that you've said to me in my life that still ring in my ears. What's this here? This is good. Yeah, yeah, man. So, you know, the way I sell, you know, even now and what you taught me then and how I could really digest what you were. were telling me was I'm a very macro seller. I'm not a devil and I'm not the details, you know, kind of guy. And so, you know, for me it's always about, okay, I've got to get macro and start

building strategy. So when we get micro, I can bring in the right people and that trust is already built. Right. Right. And so you had questions on these scripts and I've got a lot of stories on these scripts, specifically about one individual, but I can't bring it up on this. But, you know, what's the main reason stuff? You know, those were, those were super critical as far as as far as just trying to get people to start thinking and pinpointing, you know, you in a conversation. But, you know, I would tell you that, you know, just, you know, just on the level of listening. Yeah. You know, the things that you would do in our calls, you know, like I sat with someone else and I saw you beat down some people, you know, for not following the script.

And I used to tell the person that I'm referring to here, follow the script, man. All he wants you to do is just read it, even if it's awkward. Yeah. But people ask me, you know, what, you know, where I feel like are the strengths and sellers and patience is the strength, right? You know, listening, digesting, and prescribing. Yeah, yeah. I learned that from you, man. Well, that's good.

That's good. I think what you just said about the patience is something that I've learned over the years. Because when we were working together and starting out, we were selling a lower end product, and it was a faster sell cycle. So we would just kind of roll through. And now, of course, you know, it's a strategic advantage to go slow, you know, and, you know, not trying to get the customer to bite off too much of a conversation at once. Just inch your way forward. I'm sure you're very depth at that.

Well, John, I'm saying there's so much more competition. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Everything looks the same. Everyone's good. Yeah, that's true. Salespeople are good these days and the SCs are good, you know, so.

So you, let's think about the career now. So you crushed your first year. And then you kept doing it for a little while. And then what happened? I don't remember. I came to you. And I said, John, I'm bored. You're bored.

I do remember. I know you've had so many conversations with other sales, you know, individuals. But I came to you and I told you I was bored. And you said, well, go start your own thing. You said, go start your own thing. And, I mean, literally, that was like a freaking confidence, you know, just surging, you know, through me. And but then I told you, listen, John, I got a biology degree. Eli Lilly offered me a job.

And through a friend, you know, and I said, I want to go try it out. He said, go try it, but you'll be back to me. And I came back to you in nine months. Nine months. Nine months. I did well in the farm. It was just slow. Just didn't like it.

It was slow. Yeah. Very slow. It would make sense. I mean, for you to be selling in the medical field with a biology degree. I mean, that makes sense. Yeah, it was just boring. Yeah.

Even more boring, you know. I think I was just looking for something to, you know, inject excitement. So I don't know if you remember, but started a company in Charlotte, North Carolina, called With Varian Technologies. And then we created a e-procurement solution called I procure. No, we did that at Datastream. Yeah. We called it procure it. Procure it.

A variant technology. I've been with so many different, you know, products. but and so we did that. I was able to, I was dialing for dollars, literally. I was turning a phone book, just dialing. And so we started making sales. I went very specific in a physician organizations, and I was able to make a few sales.

And you and I talked again, and you said, Bobby, how are y'all doing? And I told you, I said, we're making sales. And you asked, should I invest in you? And I didn't have that much confidence for you to take money out of your pocket to invest in us. based on the fact that we were still trying to get money on, from the bigger, and you told me, look, Bobby, forget that, come over to data stream and we'll start the same thing.

In DataStream, right, you sold me back into coming to Data Stream. And so I came back to Data Stream for, you know, I procure. Yeah. And then from there, I just kind of. From there, that was, that was, when you, you obviously, I think when you took the Colby test, the psychological profile, you tested very entrepreneurial. So it was no surprise to me that you wanted to try some different things, some startups to your own thing, whatever.

Going to medical made sense from your major perspective, but not from an entrepreneurial perspective. Exactly. Right? It was like slowed things down even more. And so you came back to us to help us with the Internet revolution. Or other people might call it the dot-com, you know, crash or whatever. But we all went hard at that. And obviously when the thing blew up, the thing crashed kind of globally, we did some different things.

And you at that time, as I recall, didn't that we got into the real estate? Yeah, John. You know, I mean, it all came from the data stream and Citadel world, right? You know, John Hillman. Hillman was already doing it? Yeah, he was in Hawaii. We talked one time. And he was like, Bobby, I'm about to go try this thing out.

And it seems surreal. you know, and if it works, I'm going to call you, and you're going to come do this with me. And so, and it just panned out where, you know, it was surreal, John. I mean, what I was doing was we were hired by REITs to come, you know, sell pre-construction, ultra-luxury projects to Forbes-type individuals, right? You know, I mean, people that you could look up. Yeah. First project I did was in Dallas, you know, building a Ritz Carlton residence.

Yeah. It had 65 residences, and we were pre-selling them for like $500 per square foot. So let me back up there because I know I came and saw you out there because Todd Lorbach was out there. And there was a Ritz Carlton on the bottom and the condos on the top, right? That's right. So if you had a condo, you had all the amenities of the Ritz. That's right. The room service, the spy.

That's right. That's pretty nice. John, I got to tell you, I recruited Todd. I called him into York. That's a whole different story. And I was like, please come. but he so so your macro to micro you know conversation that I was referring to I applied it directly to you know those sales because we're selling dirt but we're

selling a dream yeah right and so we had to talk about the investment aspect of it the neighborhood versus the condos themselves and proved out pretty you know I mean we're successful it's a successful project many yes several of them we did even with that so yeah and so how long were you selling that project before it was complete? Oh, well, we were, so we were selling for about a year? A year. A year.

While it's getting built and all? Before. So we had to sell a certain percentage before the, the land would be. Right. So you had to sell soap like 20%, and then they break around, and then they're not going to finish it until you're at 70% or whatever. That's right. That's so wild. That's right.

What they do is they make sure that they've got the loan piece for the downstroke squared away. And the second tower, so we had so much success in the first. They built a second tower out there. In which we had to sell 65%. Oh, wow. Of it. So we're able to do it. There's two towers up.

$500 a foot? Well, that's what they, we averaged $644 per square foot in the first tower, which was the most in Dallas. At that time, like, by $300 per square foot. Second tower was about $750. and now they're doing it for $1,000 per square foot in Dallas. Wow. That's crazy. So you transitioned from software to, let's call it, a web-based internet procurement

to high-end real estate, a condo, kind of high-end condo real estate for high-net worth individuals. So now, what did you learn about how? dealing with, like, people who have $50 million, $100 million, a billion, what do they like? Yeah, John, you know, it was probably the most fun I've had selling, you know, because you're, in the technology world, we're looking to get to those individuals so we can get the decisions made. Yeah.

And so forth. And here we are. We're dealing with those decision makers with spouses. Yeah. You know, vice versa. You're right there we need to be. Yeah. Yeah.

That's right. And, you know, we had to, we had to, one thing that you do learn is that, you know, they're people, right? Yeah. That have had a journey in life, and they're wanting to share those journeys if you're willing to listen. Yeah. And you're willing to ask them the questions.

Right. You learned that they got to their positions because they worked their butts off. It's just not something that was given to them and what we see on TV or in the paper about them. Yeah. You learn that there are certain things that they're looking. They're great business people, number one. And you see what they focus on.

That's probably not as important to you and I. That's important to them because of what they've done in their day-to-day. But you also learn that, hey, listen, they focus on investment, you know, the individuals that are actually writing the check. And then you've got the emotional side with the spouse. And how do you bring those two together? and if you can learn that piece and you can get them to start saying, hey, let's take you out to dinner and tell our story to you,

then you feel like you're in good position. Interesting. Interesting, yeah. I mean, I haven't had that much exposure as you have, but I've had some, and it seems like the vast majority of the people with that kind of money, you know, they're business owners. Yeah.

You know, generally they're not surgeons or something. Those people are rich, but that kind of, you know, 50 million, 100 million, they own business. and they've run them for a long time and compounded that over 15, 20, 30 years and now they got serious jack. There's a lot of oil.

Oil money. Dallas anyway. Yeah, Dallas. And then I'll give you two different perspectives like the business owners would come in and you'd see a certain type of personality with the business owners right, in a certain levity towards them and the wanting to share.

And then I have like an Exxon executive come in. And then I have like an Exxon executive come in, that's, you know, went through the corporate structure and the stresses associated with it, multiple bypasses, you know, things like that. They'll share the, you know, so you see a lot of that as well. Yeah. Did you ever work with Mike Thacker on one of these jobs?

I know he was in the same. No, I didn't. I know. I think he was with IMI. He was. Okay. We were with a spinoff called Traditions Management. Well, he used to tell me, in fact, I saw this happen.

We were at a party one time. And this guy walked up that he didn't know. I knew who it was. He was from Atlanta. He looks at me and he goes, money. And I'm like, what are you talking about? He goes, that guy's loaded. I'm like, as a matter of fact, he is.

But how do you know? And he's like, just look, you know, the jeans, the, just a few things that got the kind of brands he was wearing. He was wearing jeans. Yeah. But Thacker could tell. Just like that. You know, John, one of the cool things about that job, was you, when I say you get to know them, you really get to know them and you become friends,

sort of, or they become mentors in a way, you know, younger for the most part. And, you know, I still have the relationships with some of them where they're investing in my in-laws hotel business. You know, so we keep the strings there. You know, that's pretty cool to be able to say that we're friends that way where people know them. literally I'll go to breakfast with one of them and, you know, in Dallas, and he'll introduce me as an entrepreneur. Uh-huh. And everyone's trying to get his money, you know,

because they're trying to get him to invest and think. It's really cool. But look, John, I mean, you're there and, you know, obviously Larry, so I think you guys, you know, all sit from the same cuff. Well, well, we're always trying to learn, you know. I'm always trying to learn. And so after Dallas, what was your next area? Was it Atlanta?

No, I stayed in Dallas. I did the real estate for eight years, and then I was working weekends. We were having kids. You know, my wife and I, we have three now. But at that point, two little ones are, and I was just tired, you know. I mean, just the weekend run, and then the weekdays, because you're always on in real estate. You have to be there when they want to see you traditionally. It's weekend.

Can we go see it Sunday morning around nine? Yeah, and we want to see it at a certain time when the sun's coming out, yada, yada. And so at that same time where I was considering a change, a real thing. recruiter from technology. It just happened. My recruiter called me that I'd worked with for a long time. David Aiken, you may know the name. He reached out and he was like, hey Bobby, what are you doing? He goes, there's this really cool company I need to introduce you to. And I said, man, I've been out of the game for eight years. And he goes, they're only taking Oracle and SAP people. He goes, but I can maybe get you in the door. And it was work day. You know, and they were in, they were still

private organization so there was an opportunity to get stock and you know I learned that from you man I got that bug early and so I got in I was lucky I was fortunate enough to get in with the organization and be able to take advantage of them going public and ran hard with them for three years years and then you flip that to a workday consulting company yeah they deliver so they consult and we deliver workday so we're all part of the workday ecosystem still family right I knew the CEO and he's like, hey, come over here and let's start this. Yeah, so you've been, I mean, you've really been either in software or the high-end real estate. And a lot of, you know, not a lot, but quite a few of our people jump into that high in real estate when it was just remarkably hot.

There was a moment there where it was really, you know, you could move to Hawaii and triple your income. It's like, well, no one asked me to go. I might do that. So you've had a really strong career and very consistent, consistent results anyway. Yeah. Been fortunate. So let's talk about interviewing for a second. What kind of things have you noticed as someone who's interviewed people and sometimes you have to interview or have had to interview?

What are some like do's and don'ts, things that will help people get hired, things they shouldn't do that can help people that are listening today? You know, John, I think it goes back to how we sell, right? I mean, I think it takes someone, they have to ask the right questions. Yeah. Right. I mean, that's absolutely critical. They have to listen. They have to digest and they have to come back with something that, you know,

make sense. Yeah. Right. Prescribe, you know, how they would manage to a situation, et cetera. I think storytelling is extremely important. Yeah. You know, just in general, I feel like if you have something that you can share that's relevant and concise.

I think that's important as well. You know, when I interview at different, you know, opportunities, you know, for startups with CEOs and founders, et cetera, you know, I wait for the question to take place and I have to take my time and maybe ask a question back, right?

If I don't necessarily know what I'm going to say. Right? So just be patient through the process, have stories of your success, be relevant. Don't talk too much. Don't talk too much. Yeah, I mean, I

You know, there's There's the mute and there's the person who talks way too much And there's somewhere in the middle I think you want to you want to lean toward the mute You know And agree And just calmly be cool about it When people start talking to you much

It's a red flag You say you ring in my head When you talk when you're talking too much You're effing up You said, I mean, you said it. While you're talking, all of a sudden, your brain's going, you're talking too much. Yeah. You're messing up, man. Just stop.

Yeah. I find myself still doing it every now and then. I feel like I am. Maybe I'm not. But in the middle of a sentence, I'll just pause. Yeah. And to be honest, people just want to hear themselves. I know.

I know. Tell me more. You can go to an interview maybe and say five, ten words. Yeah. And that person's taught the entire time. And you've got the job. Because you listen to them. Yeah. Well, you've always been a good listener, that's for sure. Let's see. What's your favorite word, Bobby?

Perseverance. Yeah, yeah. You remember, John, when we had to write, we got to write on the back. Citadel ring, I've lost two of them, by the way. I need to get another one but gold so high price right now. What's that? My Citadel ring. I've lost two. You've lost another one? and I've called them to see because gold's so high in price right now. I'm like, okay, I can't.

How did you lose it? I lost one in the ocean and the Bahamas and another one at a gym. I left it in my bag and someone went in my. Someone took it out of the bag? Yeah, I didn't like it. The sore subject, but my wife reminds me of it all the time. Oh, man. But you remember we could write on the back of a ring, you know.

Would you write on the bag? It was horrible. It's one of my most, I'm going to get it redone. Would you write? It's like my major. I mean, like political science. That's what she wrote on the back? Yeah, and then my name.

It's like, that's the lamest thing ever. I'm going to change that. As smooth as you are, that's what you. I know. I wasn't thinking that day. I was like, I don't, what am I, okay, put something down. I'm going to change it. I'm going to change it.

Absolutely, it's going to be my word. I know absolutely would be your, I could see that for sure. I put desire to prevail. There you go. In the ring. In the ring. Very nice. Yeah, yeah.

So perseverance. Yeah. Just keep going, man. And what are they charging for a new ring these days? It's like $1,600. $1,600? They used to be like $400. $4.60.

When I bought my second one, it was like $6.70. Now it's $1,600. And what about getting one, like, used? Can you buy used one? Pond shop? Mine's probably in two. You can resize it or something, you know? And they don't look the same, so that's part of it.

So this, here's the deal, though. That looks kind of shiny, doesn't it? Yeah. I've cheated a little bit. What did? I have a jewelry. friend. Of course.

Put it in the Tumblr. Because I want that, you know, that, that, that shine on it. Well, it looks good. Yeah, I think so, too. Don't tell anyone. That's funny. I'm using the jeweler and the tumbler. That is fantastic.

That is fantastic. This is like the shine. I never had shiny brass, so that shiny ring. And then, is there anything you want to promote today? No. I mean, the only thing I would say is that for, you know, whoever wants who's listening, you I mean, I can leave an email address or put it on your online. I mean, I'd be happy to talk about just different things and transitions in life.

You know, even now, John, I'm going through probably the most unique transition I've ever been through. Yeah. As a VP of Sales right now, over the past eight, nine months, I've been doing a ton of soul searching. Yeah. You know, and you and I chat about this a little bit. Yeah. But, you know, I'm in a position of really demoting myself to promote myself in life. Yeah. I miss just selling.

Right. You go through all these things and iterations about where do I do? I think the beauty of sales, just generally speaking, you know, for new people that are coming into it, you're the CEO of your own world. Exactly. That's it. You've got your own business. That's it, man. Yeah.

So, yeah, Bobby's talking about, and we've talked about this a little bit before on the new school, is salespeople have three paths they can take. They can kind of go, I'm going to be a sales manager one day, they can say I'm going to be a business owner one day. both of which comes with tremendous baggage and headaches and payroll and people quitting and all that stuff you've got to deal with or they can say I'm going to be a professional salesperson is my own business I can make as much money as I want I can take off any afternoon I want to and what Bobby's saying is he's probably going to do that at his company and just see what like what his life is like without the responsibility of EPS sales John I'm already doing it you're doing it's effective beginning of the year I've got to tell you, man, my shoulders are... Feel better?

I'm just so relaxed. That's awesome. You can come see us more often. I will. Absolutely. All right. Well, that's good. Well, we appreciate you being here, man.

I can't tell you how happy I am to see you. And now that I know where you are, we've got to get you here more often for some golf. Not you got all this free time. Play some golf or something. I can sell a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. But thank you very much.

We appreciate you and appreciate your friendship. Man, I appreciate everything you've done for me. All right, man. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks, John.