Right About Now with Ryan Alford - Harder Than Life with Kelly Siegel

Starting point is 00:00:00 You're listening to The Radcast, a top 25 worldwide business podcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of The Radcast. They say if it's radical, we cover it. It's definitely radical today, folks. We're in studio with my friend Kelly Siegel, CEO of National Technology Management, author of Harder Than Life.

Starting point is 00:00:33 Kelly, brother, it's great to have you, man. It's been an honor enjoying every minute of being here. You got a heck of a staff, amazing operation here. You're brilliant. So thank you for, I felt very welcome. Thank you brilliant. So thank you for, I felt very welcome. Thank you. I'm glad you're here, man. It's been good.

Starting point is 00:00:49 I know we connected. I've been on your show. I didn't want to do on our show. We've been collaborating and I don't know. I think we only come up with 12 business ideas today. I'm sure a dinner will come up with 30 more. I just said, I think we were opening a pizza place now.

Starting point is 00:01:05 We're going to take over Amway. Yeah. We're going to franchise social house in Detroit. Yes. I'm surprised there hasn't been any bad stuff like strippers or anything like that. No, no. Hey, it's early. It's early. It's all good.

Starting point is 00:01:16 No, man. I'm really thankful that you're here. Glad that our audience can be able to hear your story. I've got your book here. Looking forward to digging more than just into the CliffsNotes. I appreciate it. I got to hear your story. I've got your book here. Looking forward to digging more than just into the CliffsNotes. I appreciate it. I got to get your autograph, your John Hancock on this baby before it's all said and done. Holding this up for anybody watching so you know what you're looking for when you go to Amazon. We'll talk more about that harder than life. Kelly,

Starting point is 00:01:39 let's start where we always start at the beginning or as far back as you want to take us. But let's give everybody a little taste of Kelly Siegel. You already put me on the spot. But I tell you, I've been a salesman my whole life. So you're a marketing genius. I'm a sales genius. I started a paper route. I went door-to-door sales selling candy a long, long time ago. And I was good at it.

Starting point is 00:02:01 I could sell candy to people that couldn't have sweets. It's a good thing of the world. Iced Eskimos, diabetes candy. I can remember what I did. I'd say to them, you could put these out for your guests. It's kind of like me with alcohol. I just supply everything for everybody. And everything I've touched, I've grown. And as we're trying to build the Heart of Life brand for charity, we're growing leaps and bounds. And you said it best on the ride from the airport is you be your authentic and genuine self and it's going to sell and it's going to do well. And I don't know any other way. Honesty Integrity is National Technology Management, which is paying the bills. It's the IT company that I've owned

Starting point is 00:02:38 for years. That's one of our core values. It's actually a personal core value of mine. I am going to say what I mean, if it's kind, and I'm not going to pull any punches. Just out to make a dent in the world. I've lived a very tumultuous childhood, which I was telling you about, which I got to hear about your childhood and your family being amazing and makes me very envious. My mother and my stepfather, you can read about in the Heart and Life book, were very physically and emotionally abusive. That's why I've built this physique to protect myself and that you so quickly make me look small. But I'm going to get you in the gym tomorrow. I know.

Starting point is 00:03:15 I'm already sore. I'm figuratively sore in my head and I'll be real sore in the morning. You know what's great about life? There are no coincidences. And I said that too. It's, I just found you on social media. We've connected, we've made it, we've got a brotherhood. We're going to do business together. I've already sent you some business and that's what the world is all about. So you make your own weather in this world. I could sit back and be a victim and say,

Starting point is 00:03:39 woe is me. Why didn't my parents love me? And I'm not enough and all these things and drink and do drugs and just waste my life away. But instead I use it as a chip on my shoulder and making something of it. And then now I've done so much therapy. I don't have that chip anymore. And I was telling you this morning on my plane ride here, it's like the first time in my life, I really feel like I am where I'm supposed to be. And it's, I walk in this building and I feel like family, you've been wonderful. And it's just the start of a very long, good business friendship and relationship. Yeah, man. I loved it.

Starting point is 00:04:13 And I do want people though to read your book to really understand. We've talked about it in depth today. And obviously we could talk for three hours on a show about it, but I don't think people, some people take for granted things that they have. Me talking to you even today,

Starting point is 00:04:32 talking about my parents, my childhood and all that. And I didn't grow up with money either, but I did grow up with loving family. And that in a way is greater than money and having that support. And so it's, we can't take for granted the loved ones and the support that they give, whether it's, even if you don't talk to them every day, but knowing that they're there, because that's, it's kind of, if you live in a warm area, but it gets cold sometimes,

Starting point is 00:04:54 you got a blanket in the closet. You can get out and put it on when it gets cold. There's comfort in that, even when you're not using it. There's comfort. I know that I can call my dad about anything and you didn't have that. And I think, I don't know, it's eye-opening for me while also being appreciative of what I have. But I think, but it's also molded you into who you are. You wouldn't be Kelly that you are today without that. You know what I'm saying? So there's a blessing behind every negative in a way.

Starting point is 00:05:25 If you take it that way, yes, everything happens for you, not to you. But most people don't realize that. And yeah, I have it in the book and it's going to be gross. I'm sorry, Grace, but one of my first jobs was I had to empty a jar of piss. Literally. My stepdad would go hide from my crazy mother because they were drunk. And he had to hide from her because she stabbed him once and tried to kill him several times, lit the house on fire. This is all in the book. So my job was to make his bed, clean his room, and make sure he had work clothes and empty this jar of piss. And if I didn't do it, he would take it and throw it on my bed. So it created more work for me.

Starting point is 00:06:06 So what am I? Sick and twisted mind? Didn't think that I think it was gross. But I think if I didn't do my job right the first time, it made it harder because then I had to clean my bed. Disgusting, I know. But hey, to this day, I do things right the first time, every time. So I want to go back to what you said about your parents.

Starting point is 00:06:26 I would trade every dollar I have for a loving, supporting mother. I just, and I can feel how much you love your mother. And it's just, I've had thousands and thousands of dollars in therapy and hours in therapy that when, and I'm real close. I just coming out of EMDR therapy, I'm grinding on myself and I'm harder than life. And it's not easy. I make it look easy, but it's not.

Starting point is 00:06:54 There's certain, I was in therapy this week doing it and I was crying my eyes out for 30 minutes. But afterwards it was like a good workout. So I feel good. I'm grinding through it. It just took a little later than most people, but I'm also very fortunate that I'm not like some of my high school friends that are in jail. So I leveraged it and I've only just begun. My life may be half over, but it's just beginning. It's not halfway. I'm not halfway through with what I'm going to accomplish. That's why I'm here with you. Like you said.

Starting point is 00:07:26 Everything happens for a reason. And I think, but what fascinates me, the more I'm getting to know you, you're so damn successful though. Like most people can't make that transition. Yeah, they may be, or they're the victim or whatever, or they're not smart enough or they're not, but there's a drive in you that got you to this point, even through some of the trials and tribulations and addictions, everything that you're transparent about in the book. What, where did that come from? I always joke, Ryan, and I haven't said it to you yet that I'm the chosen one. I'm Jewish. Jesus was a Jew. I just think that there's certain times that I should be dead. And I've been shot at. I've been stabbed. I've been run over by

Starting point is 00:08:12 cars. I'm still here. There's got to be a reason for it. So now I've figured it out that I'm going to do good and we're going to donate to charity. I do a lot of work on my mind and I read a lot, just constantly trying to make a bigger shadow to help more people. So I can't really explain it. That's also why I'm probably not a good coach. Those, I just, I can't explain to you that desire to succeed. I wake up in the morning and my eyes pop open and I want to win. I want to win. And winning is more fun than fun is fun to succeed. I wake up in the morning and my eyes pop open and I want to win. I want to win. And winning is more fun than fun is fun to me. And I just, whatever I have to do, that's honest

Starting point is 00:08:54 integrity within moral reason, I'm going to do. So I'm an unstoppable force. I'm going to get to where we want to get. And there's no reason why anything's going to stop me. So talk about national technology management or maybe even leading up to that, like as far as your career goes. So you've been driven, bad childhood, overcame your upbringing, always driven though, made the most of your opportunities, worked hard for those opportunities. But what's been that business journey? That's a great question. And it just perfect because it came right off of saying, man, you're so successful and you're so driven. There are no coincidences. These things just keep lining up. I put a reel up that talked about how

Starting point is 00:09:39 I started the national technology management. It was just dumb luck. I was on a golf course one day and my partner's phone just kept ringing and ringing and ringing. And I, what do you do? And he said, he was a consultant in the technology business. And I was like, how much do you make? And he tells me, I was like, if you make that, I could double that. And I was right. So I just, and I started the business on a credit card and a dream.

Starting point is 00:10:05 Literally, I was making six figures as a number one salesman at a company. And I quit cold turkey at 22 or 23 and started what now is called National Technology Management. At that time, it was called Kelly Communications. And the logo was a bulldog. That doesn't surprise you. And I used to go door to door. K squared. I used to go door to door beating on doors and selling phone systems, phone service. And just my big mantra was I wouldn't take no for an answer.

Starting point is 00:10:36 It was just the consistency and the discipline. And people like that story. And I just, no matter what I felt like, I got up every day and I made a hundred touches of people, whether it was a phone call, whether it was knocking on doors, whether it was an email. And you got to remember, I sold the internet to people. This is, I'm going to date myself. I've sold the internet to people, their first ever internet connection. So when I started selling internet, we were doing dial up at AOL. I would tell people that you're going to need this more than air one day. And here we are. Can you hear me now, baby?

Starting point is 00:11:10 Now I'll use myself. That's right. That's the Sprint one. Verizon. Verizon. That was my first campaign that worked on. I remember BlackBerrys. We had to integrate BlackBerrys to the network. That word, Don. I remember BlackBerrys. We had to integrate BlackBerrys to the network. Yeah. And it was just crazy. How crazy does things just overnight gone?

Starting point is 00:11:36 So you asked me how it's consistency, discipline, doing the right thing day in and day out over and over, despite how you feel, what the world is against you, and whatever's going on in life. And what's interesting, though, is, and again, I keep referencing the book, but you can read deeper into these stories. You did all of this and built a multimillion dollar company through a lot of addictions and demons and everything else, right? It was like- Heart of life, baby, heart of life.

Starting point is 00:12:00 So you think it's hard to do these things. Anyway, folks, it's a lot harder to do them when you're lining up obstacles for yourself and you still did it. Right. That's a great metaphor. We are our own worst enemies. We do things that are counterproductive, that sabotage our own self. And sometimes we do it because of limiting beliefs. Sometimes we do it just because we're just young.

Starting point is 00:12:25 because of limiting beliefs. Sometimes we do it just because we're just young. That was a badge of honor for me to go out partying with my customers until wee hours of the morning, get up, go hit the gym, and then get to the office. And as long as I hit the gym and showed up to work every day, I rationalized and justified my own BS to party all night. And then what happened is just kept going and kept going and it never really got out of hand or maybe it did. I don't know. I don't know where you're standing, but it got boring and it got old real fast. And then life began when I said, I'm just, I'm going to take, I didn't hit rock bottom. I just said, I'm done with the naughty water. And now life got really good. And again, I'm sitting here at the Radcast with you having a blast, living a dream, man.

Starting point is 00:13:02 man, I'm sitting here at the Radcast with you having a blast. Living a dream, man. So yeah, for young people, I got a lot of young followers. Don't fight against yourself. Don't work against yourself. It's silly. So if you just do certain disciplines day in and day out, and you can pick up any book.

Starting point is 00:13:23 Nobody has any kind of a, it's workout, physically move your body. Even if it's just to walk around outside in nature, do some sort of meditation, read, take some, do some journaling, just these things, winning habits day in and day out, and then go forward with something that makes you passionate. It can make you some money. You are brilliant at marketing. When you went off into the car business, money. You are brilliant at marketing and you went off into the car business. Who knows? That's working against yourself. That's right. There are no freaking tricks to success. There's no tips. There's no elevator to success. There's no escalator. Work works. The harder you work, the luckier you get. You know that. Yeah, it's true. Talking with Kelly Siegel, You know that.

Starting point is 00:14:01 Yeah, it's true. Talking with Kelly Siegel, author of Harder Than Life. Kelly, I've always said there's like these parallels with work and life and the gym. And obviously, physical fitness is important to you. I'm sitting here in studio looking in jealousy at Kelly's biceps. I don't know if I need to hit those harder. I'm going to go to the gym later for the second time today. But it's obviously important.

Starting point is 00:14:33 You've always obviously prioritized it. But maybe talk about how in good, bad, and now at a great point in your life, how the gym's been so important in that evolution. I just realized, you saw me, the epiphany, the smoke just came out of my ears, that I didn't prioritize it as much as I necessitized it, if that's a word. I needed it.

Starting point is 00:15:00 It was protection against the beatings from my stepfather. He was a big boy, 250, 260, 62. I was five foot nothing. As you just showed, we just took a picture together. I'm vertically challenged, but not horizontally challenged. I'm a tree trunk. You dwarf me. But at the end of the day, you just asked me how I did it. It was survival, man. Everything I've done is to not die and working out. So my stepdad wouldn't kick my behind parts because there was a couple of times where I put that in the book where he drowned me. I almost died. I've had a couple of near death experiences from my parents. Yeah. Working out is just, it's a necessity like breathing for me. So I would say I prioritize it,

Starting point is 00:15:42 It's a necessity like breathing for me. So I would say I prioritize it, but if I don't do it, I wouldn't be here calm and cool and collected. But you obviously transitioned from, at a certain point, you crossed over from he's scared of you and you weren't scared of him probably. So obviously that passed. So in your 20s, 30s, now 40s like me, like it's obviously stuck with you. The passion, the desire to look good, feel good, all those things. Don't you think that people ask me, like I'm all, I have my, I always work out.

Starting point is 00:16:16 It's like you said, it's a necessity. It's my oxygen. So I don't have to like motivate myself, but certainly some days I'm more motivated than others. have to like motivate myself but certainly some days i'm more motivated than others but what is it all the same drive like everything else you're like you're driven to do good in in business you're driven to work hard is the gym once you got out of okay your stepdad wasn't longer behind your back what What kept the motivation there? You're just making me think today, how you do anything is how you do everything.

Starting point is 00:16:50 And if you've, in the little time that we know each other, I do everything the right way. I don't get cheated. I'm coming in with all the evil intent you can do. So when I go to the gym, you're going to see it tomorrow, bro. So sleep tonight, my friend.

Starting point is 00:17:04 We're going to lift some heavy weights and we're going to move, we're going to shake the building up. And when I, when national technology management comes to assist you with your IT needs, we'd shake the building up. When I wrote the book, we shake the building up. So if we're going to do something, we're going to do it right. And my four agreements book I just gave you was always do your best. It's my best. I'm going to bring it every single time. To give you the dad story, I don't think it's in the book as a matter of fact. So what finally got me thrown out of the house and I didn't realize that this was this easy as I called my stepfather out. I started lifting heavy. To get confidence. And you're like, okay, I can handle it.

Starting point is 00:17:39 I was like five foot nothing. He's six foot two, 260. And I came home five minutes late and I had a full-time job and was an A student. I was a good kid and they treated me like dirt. And yeah, you just see me just get angry. And I was five minutes late for my curfew and he's, I'm going to keep you up. And I had to work at 7am and he's, I'm going to keep you up and teach you a lesson. And I think I've got to about two o'clock in the morning. I looked down and I said, okay, you got two choices. Option A, you let me go to sleep. Option B, I make you. And he goes, get out of my house. I go, come on, let's go outside. You and me. And he's always challenged me like that. And I called him out and he wouldn't, cause he had to be, he had to be my

Starting point is 00:18:18 spotter. He was spotting me with the weight and part of me would like to go back and pop him one, but he's an old man now. And yeah, the violence doesn't solve anything. It sounds fun though. What's been your biggest challenging challenge building your business? I would guess, let me guess. And then you tell me what it is. You're going to nail it.

Starting point is 00:18:39 So it's usually a control thing. It starts there, but then it's also the expectations that everyone's like you are driven like you are gonna do it maybe not exactly that you're worried about them doing it exactly like you but they have that exact firecracker fire inside them growing up with a an abusive family i didn't trust anybody. Didn't trust myself. I was scared. I was nervous. So you always feel like the rug's going to be pulled out from underneath you.

Starting point is 00:19:11 So it was as much of a motivator as it was a detractor. How I started a full-blown IT company was the same way. I was a consultant for the telecom business, and I was sitting on my boat in the middle of the lake and I said, who can beat me? And I said, it's a, it's going to be somebody that can do the integration. So I set out and did that. So a lot of what I did was out of fear. And so you take those two things that you just said, and you add in fear that you don't know that exists because you think that you're tougher. Yeah. And you start thinking things are personal when they're not. So if an employee or a customer takes a shot at you, that isn't a shot at you,

Starting point is 00:19:55 it feels like a shot. That was when I said to you today at lunch about vulnerability, realizing that, Hey, that felt like it was a shot. And they, and to realizing that, hey, that felt like it was a shot and having an uncomfortable conversation because I wasn't taught emotional intelligence. We weren't taught anything. I was taught survival. How to not get your ass kicked was my survival and sneak around so you didn't get beat. So I hope that answers your question. It was long, but those two things,

Starting point is 00:20:25 plus there was a lot of fear. And then when you give up that fear and you lose that chip on your head, you think that you've lost your edge. So that, so being comfortable, it's being comfortable, being comfortable, Ryan. Yeah. Not being uncomfortable

Starting point is 00:20:41 because my whole life has been uncomfortable. Kelly, that, I wanted, just to maybe think this other really interesting. I think we're both having these epiphanies that we're talking about, just the beauty of the podcasting. But like I hear you say that. I'm starting to be enlightened that like you've been looking behind and over your shoulder so long and having no support that like when it's actually there, you don't know how to handle it. Like,

Starting point is 00:21:13 you know what I'm saying? And like the, and so it's kind of like the boogeyman that's in the room that's no longer in the room, but you still think he's there, but he's not. Do you know how uncomfortable it is sitting in there with you helping me? Did you see how I kept pivoting back to going, what can I do for you?

Starting point is 00:21:29 What can I do for you? You pick that up right away. It's just, it's gotta be even Steven. I'm a big win guy. It has to be a win for the customer, win for you, win for me, but it's very uncomfortable to this day. I'm always looking over my shoulder. It flew here first class. And like, what am I supposed to do? I just told you in my neighborhood in Michigan, I walk around, I'm not supposed to be here.

Starting point is 00:21:51 Being comfortable, being comfortable. We didn't have any food in the house. It's when I get hungry, look out. I start looking around like survival. So even though you went to Whole Foods the day before and spent $400 probably. You're like, who am I going to fight for these bananas? Wait, it's just me.

Starting point is 00:22:07 We were pegging me good. And that's why we're brothers, man. And it's, you know, there's going to be times where you're going to see me get really squirmy. But I'm going to sit in my shit. And I'm going to freaking go right through it. Because I may be afraid, but I know on the other side of that fear is our dreams. But I do think that's for like people listening. I think a lot of people have had trauma.

Starting point is 00:22:31 Everybody's some were some, but there's no comparison of trauma. It's been trauma and it's difficult. And I've had trauma, but not the level of trauma that we're talking about. But when actually it gets the way it's supposed to be, not, it's not being thankful, but it's not about being thankful, but it's about dropping your guard and like that vulnerability and like the

Starting point is 00:22:58 things that allow you to enjoy the moment I would imagine. And I think people listening, like probably relate to that a lot. Enjoying the moment. That's where I said the being comfortable, being comfortable because I've never enjoyed a moment. I've done some crazy things. I've done some fabulous things.

Starting point is 00:23:16 I've never been present because I always feeling like the rugs and we pulled out from underneath you. And some of that drives you and some of that makes you who you are and it's great, but then it's- But there's this thing called, it's a Latin name, momento mori. We're all going to die, Ryan.

Starting point is 00:23:32 And I don't mean to be gruesome, but we got to, there's so many people that never live, never live a day in their life. I'm going to tell you right now, I'm going to live and I'm living today. Today's been great and we get to go to dinner and we're going to open 30 more businesses and I'm excited

Starting point is 00:23:47 and I'm glad to be here. Isn't it? That sees the day. Is that what that is? I don't know. What do they say? You only live once. And I say, that's crazy. We only die once we live every day. So why, why wake up and be miserable? You make your own weather. Just life is so good. If you just get out of your own way and let it happen. Now, listen, I can be mad at my parents all I want. They did the best they could. They did. And they weren't capable of doing any better.

Starting point is 00:24:16 I've forgiven them. Do I have them in my life? No, they never will be. I'll see them at their funeral. Some people say that that's harsh. This is how I cope. It's all good. I'm not perfect.

Starting point is 00:24:25 I'm just getting better and better every day. When did the social media light bulb go off for you? I like asking people this. That I now know have, it's gone off because, and we'll give Kelly's, all his plugs on Instagram and all this stuff so you can go follow him. But it's obviously that light bulb went off at some point, but what was the light bulb moment for you of the power of social media? I have not, probably right now I'm sitting on the rad cast from social media. I think some parts of social media, I have a 14 year old daughter are bad. I think a lot of people, I think it's one of the toxins of the world with alcohol and drugs. If it's, you say everything in moderation, including moderation is good. There's people that scroll all day.

Starting point is 00:25:10 If you can't sit alone with your thoughts and feelings, you got a problem and address that. And on the other side, that's good. So when did it, I've never been asked that question. But you embraced it at some point. And it was before us sitting here because you've got to, unless you've got 90,000 followers, 100,000, whatever you've got in a day, which I know you haven't. But at some point you went, I got to get in on that because you knew that it could help your business. And we're going to talk about the podcast and all that. But at some point, the light bulb went off. Yeah, I would say in the last couple of weeks, we just we added 20,000 followers in the last few weeks from releasing good, solid,

Starting point is 00:25:49 consistent content that people want to consume. It doesn't come without a lot of detractors. And that's why I'm here talking with you because this is what you guys do at Radicals. Where it went off in the last month or so. And you know what, when it really, I had two reels go hit a million. That's when you're like, whoa, maybe I do know what I'm talking about. Now, growing up again, my, and I'm not trying to make excuses, but growing up the way that I did, it's hard to have confidence. Even though you look at me, oh, he's confident. He's cocky. He's arrogant or whatever I am. There's still some limiting beliefs. And I would have fought you up until I did the EMDR this week. And so I think I broke loose so many things that I just went back and was like, man, I am enough. So in the last month, Ryan.

Starting point is 00:26:37 Because you got, somebody encouraged you to do it. You started doing it. Then you're like, oh shit, this actually has, you're making me think, you know what happened? I started these videos, these morning videos, Siegel sayings that were motivational during the pandemic. And I was getting brutalized by my friends. They're like,

Starting point is 00:27:01 that is stupid. You're, you don't know what you're talking about you know what and i knew i was out of something yeah you're bothering somebody and then you're doing something right i'm that kind of agitator so that when when i what do you say that all right i want you said a word you said a buzzword so i got to stop you for anyone listening agitational content breaks through grace my assistants over here nodding because that's one of my buzzwords, but agitation. You're striking a nerve.

Starting point is 00:27:30 You're doing it right. I haven't even started to agitate yet. Because I will tell you, I just put a post up that I feel this last week I broke something loose in therapy that I'm my most, when I'm agitating and having a smile on my face doing it, that's when you know I'm my true authentic self. So if I'm thinking, that means I'm trying to be politically correct. And I'm trying to spin it nice. But when I just rip it, which is most of the reels that are coming out right now, we're just throwing at each other and something. Oh, I'm happy. And I'm really happy. And I like to

Starting point is 00:28:06 stir the pot a little bit. You know what? Stirring the pot is so simple to do right now because they say 1% of the people control everything. If you're a 1%-er, that means you're going to upset 99% of the people. And it's pretty easy by just saying what I do. I just post that I work out every day and that agitates people. Really? Oh, wow. You prioritize that. Wow. There you go. Heaven forbid. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:28:28 And I post every day and I do these videos with my shirt off and I'm stupid. And hey, that I will tell you that the more people tell you not to do something because the road less traveled is pretty lonely. If it were easy, everybody be doing it. So if somebody starts knocking you, I call it crabs in the bucket, man. They want to pull you down to them. They don't want to see you achieve.

Starting point is 00:28:52 And that's sad because I do. Together we rise. So we're sitting on the podcast. We're going to get meta here for a moment. I had the blessing of going on the Harder Than Life podcast. So at a certain point, the social media light came on. Someone told you, hey, Kelly, you got a great personality. You need to have your own podcast. Two checks of the boxes there. Talk about the podcast. How's that been going? What's been that evolution? The podcast, I wrote the book during the pandemic. And then

Starting point is 00:29:21 when we wrote, when the publisher was doing the edits, what else are you going to do on here? And I said, nothing. I'm just going to hand this to my customers at National Technology Management. He said, you got to do something else. This is too powerful. It's very strong. So I highly recommend it. It starts off the first chapter, self-awareness. It's a memoir slash business book, because I talk about how we built National Technology Management into a multimillion dollar company. And then how everything that you would think that was happening bad to you was happening for me. And I put it all that all of the habits and everything I do, and I bared it all. And I put, I put some stuff in there that when I wrote it, when I read it the first time after it was a real book, I had, it took hours for me to read. I had to stop and go work out because it activated,

Starting point is 00:30:03 triggered me dearly. And the podcast is where I feel at home, right? And to read. I had to stop and go work out because it activated, triggered me dearly. And the podcast is where I feel at home, right? And it works. I've gotten customers for national technology management on it. You got a customer from being on it. This works and it's fun. I'd rather listen to a podcast than listen to music or watch TV all day long because you're going to learn something.

Starting point is 00:30:22 Somebody's watching this right now is going to call you up and get content from you or call you up for marketing or call us up for IT or reach out to me for supplements. They want that pill you take. They make sure it pecks hard. Yeah, or my workout routines.

Starting point is 00:30:41 And you know what? We're going to give it to them. We're just going to keep pouring back into things. So the podcast is called Harder Than Life. I'm a brilliant marketer. So everything's called Harder Than Life. Keeping it going.

Starting point is 00:30:54 That's better than some people. We've had some fun guests. It's better than softer than. A noodle? A noodle. Yeah. How do you know I had to go there? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:31:11 So I get behind that mic and it's just fun i love rapping with people like this and just learning i love people i'm curious as can be and i'm gonna learn it all and you can learn from everybody especially people that aren't exactly like you yeah i learned more from you in this afternoon i feel bad because I heard you say you charged somebody for it. I'm like, oh boy, I stole his afternoon. There I go. There's my limiting belief kicking in again. I feel bad because you're helping me out. Take care of me, baby. I'm good. It's all good. So the podcast comes out every week on Tuesdays. We're going to double them up in July and do them on Thursdays too, because we've got a heck of a demand and we're going to, we're getting bigger and bigger guests that are coming on and it's, we we've got a heck of a demand and we're going to, we're getting bigger

Starting point is 00:31:45 and bigger guests that are coming on. And it's, we're four months into this thing and it's, it feels like it's been forever. And I love it. I love it. It's fun. It's just like us sitting here talking when you really get into it and you have natural conversations. It's funny, like we've done here, like when I'm having a really good one, like it opened, like I'll take notes or Grace now taking them for me. Like I'll go back and go, I have an idea or something sparks from it. Because when you're having like an authentic conversation, you really like just having a purposeful, because think about how crazy this is. Now I'm going to get real meta. How, now you and I have done this today, because I think

Starting point is 00:32:20 you can vouch for me here. How many times have i pulled my phone out in the entire day once maybe my wife texted me so like we've been in in conversation but think of how rare it is today to have unabated uninterrupted listening and talking to one another it's pretty fucking rare like it doesn't happen as much as it should. As my phone's going off in my pocket. I know, but I'm saying like, it doesn't happen that often anymore. We're all distracted and all doing these things. And that's the great thing because it brings out these kinds of dialogues and these conversations. And that's what I love about it. It's like it forced, not forces me, but it schedules for me those interactions. I think phones are necessary evil, but they are evil. So I've been at dinners with friends where we've taken our phones and put them in the

Starting point is 00:33:10 center. And the first person to grab their phone has to pay for dinner. It's, I like that. As a matter of fact, this is how likely I just realized I, when I did, I had my phone out and I was making notes. I was like, I'm making notes. Because I think that I want to be present, right? You've taken the day out to spend with me. I've flown here. Why

Starting point is 00:33:32 would I spend it on my phone? And I appreciate it. And I really, if there was a way to do what we need to do for work without having a phone, I would. I can't stand this thing sometimes. I was walking through the airport and every single person's on their phone. You look over at dinner and a whole family's on their phone. I have a rule with my daughter, no phone at the dinner table. And we do, we're old school since I didn't have food. We have breakfast together, sit down. We have dinner together, sit down. That's why I like to go to the lake because my kids, I don't have to tell them to put it down. They don't want it. We have dinner together, sit down. That's why I like to go to the lake because my kids, I don't have to tell them to put it down.

Starting point is 00:34:07 They don't want it. We're fishing. We're riding the boat. We're swimming. Daddy's having some beers. But we don't, I look at my device as long as,

Starting point is 00:34:16 especially if it's the weekend and I know there's not something major going on with work. I don't even, I look at it at least there. And the kids do too because it's just getting away from it a little bit. I just said that

Starting point is 00:34:24 because I'm going to start doing device holidays more often. Because when I find with the less I look at my phone, the happier I am. Because you're just, where do I got to be for this email? What do I got to do for that? And I try to sometimes to shut it off for a day at a time. And it's running several companies.

Starting point is 00:34:42 You can. And it enables us to do things. I make a great business out of people using their phones for marketing otherwise, but I do think there's like this balance. And I think we've long since gone over it. So it's just, let me be a little cheesy for just a second. And I'm going to, I'm going to throw out on you for a second. I'm going to tell you that I think it's because of our relationship already. And there's mutual respect. It was an engaging, vulnerable conversation. It was very interesting.

Starting point is 00:35:08 It was pretty easy not to grab your phone. Exactly. Thank you for having me and keep being interesting or else I'm going to start opening my phone. That's all you're going to do. I'll be like, Ryan, you're boring me. Where do you want to, where do you, what's, when you set your sights on two years from now with the podcast? So I know that's a big goal for you. Company's doing great.

Starting point is 00:35:30 You're still growing that. But the podcast vision, like where do you see it going? I can see myself with by the end of the year, only doing the podcast. I'll still own national technology management, but I have an amazing team and you can read about it, how we use an operating system that allows me to be away from it a lot. So by 2024, I could see me doing nothing but the podcast and it being self-sufficient, paying for itself, and then donating high six figures to charity. That's what this is for. I'm going to be geeky again for a second or a bro-in. I hope to be half as successful as the Radcast in half as much time. I do things, how I've built most companies and most things, I do it in record

Starting point is 00:36:19 breakneck speed. And if you ask my team, they always say he wants it done in half the time. And I think if you work twice as hard and you're half as smart, you got to work twice as hard. So I just tell people success, low speed, success, low speed. I like that.

Starting point is 00:36:37 And it, if you want to be successful, even because some people get lost in the sauce of it takes iteration to be successful because it doesn't happen the first time. So thus, you're better to fail quickly so that you can pick your ass up and iterate again because you're not going to get it. I'm sorry. You're not going to get right the first time anyway. So this is my second one. You know, we had it released and then we pulled it back the night before. So this is my second one quickly you know we had it released and then we pulled it back the night before so this is our second one all right you know it's funny because

Starting point is 00:37:08 what does most people say slow and steady wins the race i think there's a few things where that still applies but i think in general though it's and don't mistake that great things come over time. Like the impact of our relationship, the greatness of those outputs and things that we could do together will only grow over time. That's a different statement than the 20 things we talked about today. Let's start them now and go fast.

Starting point is 00:37:40 You know what I mean? Yeah. There's a difference. So moving quicker with action. What do they say? Some people can be busy at life doing nothing. Yeah. I know a lot of those people.

Starting point is 00:37:54 So do I. Yeah. But I have to make progress. I just have to be moving forward. And that's part of feeling like if I stand still, I'm going to die. So I'm going to move forward. And when you got great people like you and we're making great contacts, maybe that's just something to do with just being authentic and genuine and just very loyal too.

Starting point is 00:38:19 You've got a friend in me and you call me in the middle of the night, you need me to come hide the bodies. I hope I don't have to do that. I don't know if Grace is going to pick up for that one. We'll keep Grace out of this. Just bring the bleach and the chloroform. No, I'm just kidding. What's the future hold for Kelly as a whole?

Starting point is 00:38:42 Like, like you got boats in Florida and Detroit. You're on the water all the time. Go look. Go ahead and tell them now, where are we going to follow Kelly Siegel on Instagram? Because that's where you're always at. What's the handle there? It's kelly.siegel and it's spelled K-E-L-Y dot S-I-E-G-E-L dot 71.

Starting point is 00:39:01 Some guy just reached out to me the other day and says, hey, I got the kelly.siegel one. And I was like, good, enjoy it. Did he want to sell it to you? Yeah. It was like 300 bucks. I'm like, uh-huh. Sure. I'll just give you my login. I'll just give you Kelly. Oh yeah. Yeah. How are you going to pay for it? You know what? Yeah, exactly. But the, but, but all seriousness, if you go follow Kelly, you'll see the boats and everything. I thought you were in Florida last night. You're in, I guess up in Michigan Michigan. I was in Lake St. Clair on a boat up there having fun. I like to have my hair blowing in the wind. That's when I'm relaxed. A lot of times when I'm at the gym now,

Starting point is 00:39:35 I'm listening to a podcast and I'm growing my muscles and growing my mind. So when I'm on a boat, I've been a captain of a boat for years and I just want to make sure that everyone's safe. My crew's safe. We're safe. I don't drink. So I'm always a designated driver and I like to go fast. I go fast on my Harley. I go fast on my boat and it just, it relaxes me. Years and years ago when I was in therapy, the guy said, when do you ever relax? I said, when I'm on my boat. He said, go there. You know what it is. You crack a beer on the boat. I crack a non-alcoholic beer. It's just the same. And it's just heaven. All the work, hard work that you did, you put to get that boat. It's just, it's relaxing. And I'm finally able to be present and enjoy it. Where we're headed, we're going to continue to grow. And we're going to continue to grow. And then we're going to try to, I'm going to use the Ricky Bobby quote. I want to live to 130, 140 with advanced aid, medical and stuff. Maybe we can, no, I want

Starting point is 00:40:32 to live to a hundred. And, but to do that, I'm going to be healthy. I'm going to align with some brands to keep myself healthy, good mind and body continue to work. And inevitably the body is going to start to give out. So we're going to try to fight that as hard as we can, harder than life. And we're going to keep putting out vulnerable, truthful content, and we're going to make an impact. Hopefully in the next several years, we'll be able to say we're at the seven figures for donations per year. And hopefully we'll help some kids not go through what I went through. And then we'll just see where the universe takes us. I'm watching a lot of my daughter's 14, your kid's 14, 12. I'm noticing a lot of the kids gravitating to me. Maybe I can catch them

Starting point is 00:41:17 a little sooner and get them with real good habits of what I do. And then also I said this to somebody that asked me about this is, I want them to know that there's people out there that care. If you're in a situation where I, like I was, where it's abusive, it's not okay. And you won't get in trouble. So I want to make sure there's awareness of that. I lied to the social worker that showed up and said, everything's fine. Even though it wasn't because I thought I would get in trouble. You're not going to get in trouble. So if there are kids listening to this and I'm getting involved in a lot of charities and this podcast is allowing me access to areas

Starting point is 00:41:54 where I couldn't previously do who we're going to continue to take this up and go higher and higher and the sky's the limit. So maybe, Hey, maybe we'll go on Rogan's podcast. That's the Don Mecca of the thing. I love it, man. Where can everybody keep up with everything? Where can they find the book? Where do you give them all the plugs? We have harderthanlife.com is the easiest one.

Starting point is 00:42:19 IT services, we keep IT simple. We make it simple and easy to do business with us. And you just gave us an idea to make it even more simple, which I can't believe I didn't think of. But it's trust. NTM is the nationaltechnologymanagement.com. We are available anywhere in the country. And it's predictable, repeatable, simple, and easy.

Starting point is 00:42:38 And it comes with cybersecurity, which we're all worried about. We don't know what even that means, but NTM will show you, I will show you. And our standard package includes all of the insurance compliance that you need for cybersecurity. So this isn't someone that's doing it out of the trunk of their car or I got a guy, we do it right. We do it the same way every single time. And it's compliant all the time. So trustntm.com, heartofthelife.com, kelly.segal at 71 at Instagram, kellysegal at Facebook. I don't even know what my,

Starting point is 00:43:13 what's the one that you're checking? TikTok. I don't even know what TikTok is. My daughter follows all that stuff, but we're on that. I'm sure it's just kellysegal. Yeah. But come give us a shout. And I answer all my DMs right now. I try. It's hard. A lot of people get really deep and I try. And especially sobriety is very important to me because it was such a big influence in my life. So if somebody reaches out to me, like I need help not drinking or not drugging, or I need help with some toxic behavior. I stop what I'm doing and try to help. Now, I'm not a doctor and I'm not a therapist and you're probably gonna get some tough love. And if you're suicidal, which happens, please go to the emergency room,

Starting point is 00:43:58 but you matter. And if you're in that situation, your life means something. You're in that situation. Your life means something. And I have talked a few people off the ledge via DMs. Stopped. I did one on New Year's Eve. Someone reached out to me. And I checked on him.

Starting point is 00:44:17 I was sitting in Birmingham, Michigan, smoking a cigar. And a guy walked by me and stopped. And he goes, are you Kelly Siegel? I said, yes. I was a little nervous. I don't know what he's coming. And while I was in Florida, I had, I'd helped him stop drinking and he invited me to his house and he's so embedded and that feels good. So that's what we're going to keep giving back to the universe and doing

Starting point is 00:44:39 good things. And I know good things will keep happening for you. Appreciate you coming on, good things. And I know good things will keep happening for you. Appreciate you coming on, brother. Man, I love you. I thank you. It's been fun. Hey, guys.

Starting point is 00:44:51 You can find us at theradcast.com. Search for Harder Than Life. You'll find all the highlight clips from today. Search for Kelly Siegel. You'll find him on Instagram. You'll see his physique on the boat, looking good, and giving lots of practical advice.

Starting point is 00:45:04 You can find me at Ryan Alford on all the platforms. We'll see you next time on the Radcast. To listen or watch full episodes, visit us on the web at theradcast.com or follow us on social media at our Instagram account, the.rad.cast or at Ryan Alford. Stay radical.

Right About Now with Ryan Alford - Harder Than Life with Kelly Siegel

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