Does attention to detail matter when it comes to success? With Dr. Agi Keramidas

Jordan Mendoza (00:01.615)
Hello everyone and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. My name is Jordan Mendoza, I'm your host and I've got a very special guest today. His name is Agui Keremides and I'm gonna have him tell you a little bit about who he is and what he does today.

Agi Keramidas (00:18.906)
Jordan, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. And well, I'm Greek originally, you might have guessed by my name or the accent. I live in the UK for 15 years. My background is a dentist. I'm a dentist by profession. However, the last few years I have shifted and pivoted toward my passion, which is personal development and podcasting. I'm a podcast host like you, Jordan.

I have over 400 episodes by now, so I've been doing it for a while. So that is, you know, in a nutshell, my description.

Jordan Mendoza (00:55.599)
Awesome. Yeah. Yeah, no, that's great. I appreciate you being here and I'm very excited to have the audience learn about you and your about your story and your journey. And, you know, my favorite part of the show is really taking a rewind and getting some context into little Augie. Right. Let's like dive into some stories. So you were born in Greece. And so can you share where you were born and raised? You know, what kind of kid were you like?

What things did you get into? What types of activities? And did you enjoy school? Did you not enjoy it? I'd love just some context there.

Agi Keramidas (01:31.338)
Yeah, thank you for taking me back there now. It's an interesting time. So I was, yes, I grew up in Greece in a very small place. My hometown was a small town. As a child, I think that's really what is interesting. I was very closed up. I was not very much into sports or things like that that children are. I was mostly...

you know, spent a lot of time on a computer. I had discovered the computers from a very young age in primary school. So that took over, it would take a lot of my, you know, as a hobby. So I was more of a closed up person. I didn't have many friends or things like that as a kid. So that followed me. I will give a little bit of info and then you can come back to that.

But that followed me all my life until I was about seven years ago. That being, I mean, closed up into myself and not, you know, very comfortable with people I didn't know and things like that. So, but I'm sure we will come to that point of transition a bit later on.

Jordan Mendoza (02:39.183)
Wow.

Jordan Mendoza (02:51.887)
Yeah, yeah, definitely going to get into that. And so basically, you spent most of your life, most of your child, from child to adolescence to adult life as a introvert, a very high introvert, where being around people would take so much energy that you just kind of would stay in. So yeah, I'd love to dive into that a little deeper. And so talk about getting into computers at an early age. And so how did that?

Agi Keramidas (03:04.09)
Yeah.

Jordan Mendoza (03:17.455)
How did that evolve into you becoming a dentist? Because those two things are not, those are not like one and the same or they don't really connect to each other. So I'd love to just see like, what did your love of computers do for you in your early years, you know, through your high school and maybe you went to college and you used them there. I'm not sure, but I'd love to just give us some insights into that time of your life.

Agi Keramidas (03:23.034)
Hehehehehe

Agi Keramidas (03:33.882)
Mm -hmm.

Agi Keramidas (03:43.866)
Thank you. It's a very valid question. So in my teen years specifically, it gave me a lot of creativity. I learned how to program the programming language. At that time, it was called BASIC. So anyone listening around my age will remember a language called BASIC that I had gotten quite good at it. So it gave me many things.

Enjoyment, I used to play games also, which was always good fun. Those in today's standards, they look a bit ancient, but still it was video games. To answer your question, how that transitioned into dentistry, it didn't. There was nothing that connected one with the other. The key factor in my decision, in my career decision was my mom.

who was a dentist herself. So she was, shall we say, very influential. I will just put it like that. So, you know, I was 16. Pardon me?

Jordan Mendoza (04:48.719)
Okay, very vocal, I would guess. I guess vocal, and you becoming a dentist. Okay, vocal. She was vocal about wanting you to do it.

Agi Keramidas (04:57.402)
Yeah, you know, maybe not vocal as such, but generally it was quite, let's say persuasive in her own way. And I did not really at that time, you know, I was 16 and a half, not even 17 when that time had come to make choices for, you know, university and things like that. So I thought, okay, makes sense. She's been a dentist, she's been successful and so on. Let me do that. So I...

Jordan Mendoza (05:05.103)
Okay.

Agi Keramidas (05:27.482)
I didn't really, it was not a conscious decision. I thought, okay, yeah, let's give it a go. You know, at that age, there isn't much maturity to take, you know, to see the depth of decisions. But anyway, to come back to your question about the computers, computers from that time onwards remained as a great passion and hobby of mine.

It was not part of my job as a dentist, but I would still spend time and keep up to things and enjoy it.

Jordan Mendoza (06:03.727)
Yep. Yeah. And so did you end up having a dental practice? First question. Okay. And if the answer is yes, I'm pretty confident your computer skills added a ton of value in that practice because systems go down, there's technology, there's software, and you have an ability to understand those different languages. I'm going to guess...

probably added value and you're not having to outsource some of that stuff.

Agi Keramidas (06:35.674)
You're right. And yes, I did have a dental practice. I started in Greece and I was there at practice for about eight years before I moved to England. With the computer, yes, I actually, no, I didn't outsource anything. I did everything myself. I had even made a spreadsheet or a database, not a spreadsheet, a database that would contain my patients and things like that. So...

Jordan Mendoza (06:46.127)
That's great.

Jordan Mendoza (07:00.335)
Your own CRM, you built your own CRM.

Agi Keramidas (07:01.818)
Yeah, I built my own CRM. I didn't know at that time it was called like that, but yes, you are right Jordan. Yeah, that was in the early 2000s, somewhere there.

Jordan Mendoza (07:13.151)
Okay, that's great. So yeah, I mean, you think about that for the audience, this is a great point to kind of document that when you have a skill set, even though sometimes when we're transitioning into a new career field or a new direction, we sometimes say, you know what, why did I invest time in learning this stuff? This is kind of useless. Well, in Augie's case, it was not useless at all. It was actually super helpful in the fact that

that he didn't have a monthly recurring cost for IT services because he was in fact the IT services, you know, and so he was able to leverage a skill set that he developed over time and that added value to the business and it actually increased the revenue and the amount that he was able to bring in. So it's pretty cool if you are listening to this episode, what strengths do you have?

that you developed earlier that are maybe there and you wish you could use them more. And what can you do to extract some of those things into your current role or into a future role? Or maybe you even are able to say, you know what? I'm pretty confident in my ability to deliver on this. Maybe that turns into a thing for you, a side hustle or a business or something like that. But no, really great insights. And so.

You did the dentist thing for eight years, pretty awesome. And eight years of IT savings, that had to feel pretty good as well. Because if we added that up, that'd probably be a significant cost.

Agi Keramidas (08:51.386)
I had never thought of it before today to be honest Jordan.

Jordan Mendoza (08:56.335)
No problem. So what'd you do next? Why did you decide to kind of hang up the curtain, so to speak? it didn't. it didn't hang him up.

Agi Keramidas (09:02.778)
I didn't, not at that time, not at that time. No, I was still in Greece and what I did was, and I'll give a little bit of backstory for that time because I was, I had my dental practice, it was going well, you know, I didn't have maybe tremendous passion about it, but it was all right. So I had a life that on the outside it seemed to be...

very admirable, you know, a good job, I was engaged, I had friends, family, you know, supportive people, it was nice. But inside of me, I was not feeling that great at all. I actually felt that something was not right, that I didn't want to live this kind of life. Things, you know, didn't feel like I belonged there. So that...

After a long period of, you know, deliberation and thinking what is the right thing for me to do, eventually I made a decision to leave the life that I knew in Greece behind me and move to the UK, to England, following a dream really that I have a calling that I felt to go to that country. And so I left behind...

Everything I knew, really my job, my dental practice, my fiancé, my friends, family, et cetera. And I moved to the UK on my own with two suitcases and the one -way ticket because I wanted to experience something different that was calling me there. That was about 15 years ago, Jordan, and that was probably the most important pivotal point in my life.

Jordan Mendoza (10:47.823)
Yeah.

Agi Keramidas (10:58.746)
I continued being a dentist. I was recruited as a dentist at that time and that make my, you know, move to another country much easier because I already had a job waiting there. So I kept on practicing dentistry for quite a few years after that.

Jordan Mendoza (11:10.191)
Yeah.

Jordan Mendoza (11:15.119)
Okay. And so what was the difference though? Because you obviously you moved to a new place, new environment, you know, left behind every one that you love, everything that you love, everything that you built. And now you're going to a new place, working in the same field, but something I had to imagine shifted here or change that got you into kind of some of the stuff you've been doing for the last seven years now. So I'd love to find out.

you know, when did it happen when you were there or what shift was it that had you kind of saying, you know what, there might be another route for me to go.

Agi Keramidas (11:54.97)
Yeah, that happened a few years down the line after I had moved. I actually went and did a master's degree in aesthetic dentistry and I had just graduated. And I found myself, instead of being super motivated to pursue this, I had this incredible high -end knowledge that I could apply with my treatments and things like that.

And I had spent two years and a considerable amount of money to, you know, for that master's degree. And I found myself really confused and not wanting to do any of that. I had just turned 40 at that time. So, you know, things started feeling like there's something not right. Similar to, you know, when I left from Greece to the UK, something is not right. So that, I didn't know what it was.

It led me to look for answers and look for answers inside me basically because the answers in the end, anything on the outside can help you elicit the answer from within yourself. The answers are within us, these kinds of answers I mean. So this led me to a journey of personal development, a journey of self -exploration, a journey of...

knowing who I am, what I want to do. And a very significant point in my journey then on was in 2017 when I went to a Tony Robbins event and that I will refer back to what I said as I was a child, very closed up and introverted. It happened, it carried on until that time when I was at that event.

When something clicked, I had an epiphany at that time. And from then on, I started doing so many different things in my life, basically because I was opening up to people and speaking out what my thoughts and my opinion was, which I was very, very hesitant to do all my life until then. Yeah, I think I went in a different direction.

Jordan Mendoza (14:12.207)
That's great. Yeah, that's great. No, I mean, it kind of shows, you know, what gave you the courage to right step, start kind of coming out of your shell and being more open, more vulnerable and, you know, ultimately starting a podcast and, you know, doing some other stuff that we're going to get into here shortly. So outside of, you know, the Tony Robbins event in that...

you know, encouraging you and motivate you and inspire you and unlocking something in you, which are all really great things. What are some other tools or resources that you dove into that helped you take a more introspective look at yourself that helped you understand, become more self -aware of your strengths, your gifts, your abilities?

Agi Keramidas (14:43.354)
Yeah.

Agi Keramidas (14:59.578)
This is such a great question, also such a broad one. There are so many things that come to my mind. One thing that I established at that time and I still have is a morning routine, which I never had before. And I mean an intentional morning routine that it doesn't have to be a very strict and rigid one, but there is a frame of some...

elements which I follow either fully or as much as I can in that day but that gives me a structure it gives me a grounding for the day and also the you know setting the intention of how your day wants to be and what you have to do and so on so that is a very important tool if you want that I use.

that I've learned since that time. Meditation is another thing that comes to my mind, which again, in a way it is part of my morning routine, but still it is an element that I think it deserves a special mention because I was not new to meditation when I started my personal development journey. I had meditated on and off, you know, for many years or decades.

But it was never consistent. You know, it would might be for a few, a couple of weeks and then for months it would never happen again and so on. So at that time I realized the importance of doing it consistently. And even though I was doing for periods of time only 10 minutes a day, I never missed those 10 minutes a day. And I think...

One important element apart from you know the benefits of meditation and the tranquility of mind etc and so on. Another thing that I think is very important that I gained from doing the practice consistently was discipline. You know because when you never miss a day for years you develop a discipline at least for that particular practice that you know no matter what even if.

Agi Keramidas (17:20.282)
The day has gone. I would not let the day end without doing my 10 minutes because I would not want to break that streak of, you know, 500 days or whatever I had. So, you know, you were saying earlier about leveraging the skill set and, you know, using it for other things. And I think what it gave me this kind of discipline for a small thing because...

Jordan Mendoza (17:42.319)
Yeah.

Agi Keramidas (17:48.154)
It's only 10 minutes, all right? It's not a big thing, but still. There were times that I really didn't want to do those 10 minutes, but I still did. And that, you know, it spills over, I think, to other areas of life, which I became more disciplined as a result of that. So, you know, these are just two examples. Jordan, I could be telling you for hours. Yeah.

Jordan Mendoza (18:09.679)
Yeah, those are great. Yeah, no, those are great examples. No, for sure. And one thing that really helped me along my journey is becoming certified in Myers -Briggs. So it was actually, we were getting ready to teach a brand new leadership program at the company I worked for for 15 years. And in order to be able to teach it, we had to take the MBTI assessment, learn about our personalities.

go through the program ourselves as a participant and then go to get certified. So spending a week, you know, learning about MBTI and learning about all the different steps that are available for people and then being able to go facilitate and administer that. But that really opened my eyes up to my own personality and some of the things that I had that maybe I didn't place value on and really it.

clarified some things in areas that I thought I was in and it confirmed it for me and it said, okay, yeah, this is definitely who you are, you know, and it's so powerful when you can take that kind of deep dive into you and understand about how you're wired because that enables you to understand how other people are wired and also give other people grace in certain situations where maybe your reaction is to respond a little bit differently than that. So,

I'd love to find out your thoughts on tools like whether it's MBTI or whether it's taking an emotional intelligence assessment or understanding your strengths through like a CliftonStrengths. What value do you place on assessments like that? And of course, one thing I always tell everyone is these are just tools. They're not the end all be all of who we are as humans, but they are great tools and they can help give us a baseline.

Agi Keramidas (19:53.178)
Hmm.

Jordan Mendoza (20:00.431)
that I think is sustainable for us to be able to move forward.

Agi Keramidas (20:05.786)
I agree that they are important in giving you a different perspective of who you are. I mean, there have been so many times that I read the results of a test and I thought, my God, it's like this was written for me, like they know me personally. And, you know, when you have this kind of realization.

I think it's important for me, it gives me the, it makes me understand that, you know, there's nothing wrong with me or some things that I perceive or I have perceived in the past as let's say drawbacks or disadvantages of my personality, shall we say. They are not at all. And when you understand that this is not something that personally you have as a minus, but there is, you know,

There is a whole group of people just like you and this test proves it. So that really takes a lot of.

you know, burden or any negative feeling towards elements of yourself that you say, I wish I wasn't like that. But no, you are like that because you are like that. And actually, you were saying about the strengths, you can all these things that are part of you, you can use them to your advantage if you see them in a different way and stop seeing them as...

you know, disadvantages or and see them as powers really. For example, I'll give you an example about me. I'm very detailed as a person. I mean, I'm meticulous. For some people, this is annoying. They say, why are you, I mean, you don't have to look at this detail and it takes a long time. So when I grew up, I realized that I had people around me that didn't appreciate this kind of level of detail. So I felt like...

Agi Keramidas (22:07.802)
I shouldn't be as detailed. I mean, I'm really going for the fire. But it's been only the last few years when I realized that my attention to this level of detail is a superpower actually, because many people don't have any attention to detail and they will do sloppy things. So, you know, it's a shift that happens when you realize things about yourself. And tests is a great way of doing it or going to events.

Jordan Mendoza (22:24.975)
100%.

Agi Keramidas (22:38.17)
of personal development, I think that also is very powerful because it introduced or it includes the additional element of emotional heightening at that time. So, whereas another personality test, you can do it at home and you won't be in that state. So, it's just personally, I have gotten a lot from these kinds of tests when that...

around other people.

Jordan Mendoza (23:09.583)
Yes, having the element doing it in workshop format for sure. You're going to get a ton of value and there's also different activities that get baked into situations like that. So, yeah, so I definitely recommend to everybody, you know, find out what tools that you want to try, you know, whether it's MBTI or emotional intelligence, you know, figure out what areas you want to learn about yourself and dive into that. And, you know, don't be afraid to...

Agi Keramidas (23:13.913)
Exactly. Yes.

Jordan Mendoza (23:36.623)
find somebody that can help you debrief it. Because sometimes if we just go in it alone, we can get the results and then we just don't understand how to interpret them. They can actually have less meaning in our own mind, although the value might be there. So definitely reach out to an expert and find somebody that can help you decipher it and also give you a game plan of like, hey, what is it that you should do next? I think that's important. And everybody has a next step in some area. So.

I'd love for you to share now, you know, you started getting into professional development. This was sparking some, you know, new things with you, your networking, your building relationships. So when did it occur to you that, hey, you know what, I want to start, you know, sharing my knowledge and info through a podcast. You know, when did that thought come to be? And share with the audience just some of the things that you've learned over the years that have attributed to...

your success and I already know one of them is definitely attention to detail. You don't get to 400 something episodes without attention to detail. So, but I'd love just to hear your thoughts there.

Agi Keramidas (24:46.138)
Yes, sure. I started my first podcast in 2018 and that was merely curiosity that drove me to start it. At that time, you know, it was because I had started changing from a closed up introverted person, I had started doing public speaking, you know, the opposite thing. And then I realized, okay, might as well also speak.

on a podcast which drew me. So it started us exploring something that felt that it was calling me. I still remember it was an August afternoon that I had recorded my first episode and I was with a co -host. So we had recorded our first episode and then I was buzzing for hours after that I was on a high.

And I thought, wow, this is, there is something here for me to keep on exploring. So here we are now six years later. To answer your question, what I have, I mean, there are so many things I have gained, you know, over the years and what I will say, and maybe I will, maybe we can tie it into that was.

I said that I started as curiosity. And then a very interesting thing happened when I started my second podcast, Personal Development Mastery. I started it in February, 2020, one episode a week. And then a few weeks after I started, the lockdowns happened. So I had more free time, as most people did at that time. I went to two episodes a week. And...

I remained to two episodes a week since that time. But what I quickly found out was that two episodes a week was a lot of work and it needed some inner desire to keep on doing it, to maintain it, which I did had and made me realize that, okay, this is not, this is a passion. It's not a hobby anymore. I'm really passionate about it.

Jordan Mendoza (27:02.511)
It's not a game, right? It's not a game anymore.

Agi Keramidas (27:05.882)
Not when you're, you know, having producing two episodes a week. It's, yeah, it takes a lot of time and effort and, you know, but it evolved, you know, from a hobby or curiosity to passion and then eventually to a mission because I realized that this is really where I enjoy doing, that I am good at doing it. I, and...

I feel called to carry on doing it. Yeah.

Jordan Mendoza (27:41.711)
That's great. And so outside of the podcast, have you been able to, you know, monetize personal development mastery? You know, is it tied to a business like coaching or consulting or a book? Like, are you helping people in other areas?

Agi Keramidas (27:57.914)
Personal development is one area that I help with mentoring, yes. Helping people that want to start a podcast. I enjoy very much consulting this kind of situations and allow to bring, to help to bring that out of them because many have ideas.

Jordan Mendoza (28:14.959)
Great.

Agi Keramidas (28:24.314)
but they don't have either the clarity of how to express them or the confidence of who would listen to me. So these are things that I have experienced myself also and I like guiding people towards that.

Jordan Mendoza (28:31.855)
Yeah.

Jordan Mendoza (28:38.671)
That's great. And so you help from basically like ideation to execution to is that kind of the process? OK.

Agi Keramidas (28:47.418)
Yeah, pretty much, or even other more comprehensive services if people want. But yeah, that particular thing you said is the one that I enjoy.

Jordan Mendoza (28:53.615)
That's great.

Jordan Mendoza (28:58.447)
Okay, that's great. That's great. So I love your story. I love your journey. You definitely have done a lot of different things. And it's interesting that I think in whatever lens you look through, your attention to detail has attributed to your success in all of the different areas. You know, because if you think about being a dentist, I mean, you have to have very, very good attention to detail. I mean, there's a lot of moving parts and components and you have teams and you have...

you know, the operating and you're running a running a full fledged business and continuing education. I mean, you go down the gamut, right. And then you go into personal development. You know, you got to have attention to detail podcasting. I mean, think about all the components and all the time. I know I've had my show for four and a half years. There's a lot that goes into just getting one episode out and marketing it and getting it to your newsletter and doing the social posts and all of it. Right. So kudos to you for putting in the hard work.

You know, it takes a lot to do what we do in the space. So, great job. And I'd love for you just to share with somebody that might be listening that, you know, they listen to this and they get so encouraged that not only did you go after, you know, one and try it. Now you've had this one and it's now over 400 episodes. What would be maybe the top three tips you could share with a future podcast host in getting it off the ground?

Agi Keramidas (30:25.242)
Wow, yes. You know, I will add one thing and give some, the first tip is I will give you a little bit of more motivation because if you're considering doing a podcast, I will motivate you by saying that before I started my podcast, I never thought I would write a book. You know, I wanted to write a book as an idea or a fantasy, but I never thought that I would actually be able to do it. And the podcast gave me the content.

for the book. So the book happened quite naturally from the podcast. So I'm sharing that as a inspiration that there are so many possibilities by doing a podcast. And, you know, it's, it's, if you're feeling called to do it, you really owe it, owe it to yourself and the people who would listen to you.

Regarding the tips, my main tip, Jordan, is what I didn't do when I started and I realized that is to not go into that alone. Get someone a mentor or someone that can guide you. First of all, to smoothen the process and do it faster and more efficiently, but also to...

Jordan Mendoza (31:26.703)
Yep.

Agi Keramidas (31:54.49)
have a quality product that you will end up with because I have seen and you know, it saddens me as an experienced podcaster and the person that has this attention to detail. It saddens me to see people that they want to do a podcast and then they decide to do it on their own and then they end up with some nice content that sounds terrible. It's not well presented and you know, in the end it's a mediocre.

podcast which it is you know it's very difficult to do an excellent podcast on your own you have to have you know help from people who know and have been in the space for longer so that's really my biggest tip get some guidance when you do it but please do it.

Jordan Mendoza (32:46.255)
Yes, absolutely. That's great. And I'd love for you just to share again, what's the name of the book? We are going to make sure we link the book in the show notes so everyone can go grab a copy. Go ahead and share the name of the book, what platforms that they can grab a copy.

Agi Keramidas (33:03.29)
The book is called 88 Actionable Insights for Life. So it covers all sorts of different tactics of personal development. We know we mentioned earlier the morning routines or things like that. So imagine 88 of those that you can pick and implement. I will offer to your audience, Jordan, a copy of the book as my present to support your personal development journey. So the.

the digital version of the book, the ebook. So you can go to agikeramidas .com slash 88 and you can download a free copy. And I hope you find there something of value that you can use.

Jordan Mendoza (33:43.791)
Awesome.

Yes. Yeah, I mean, there's 88 in there, guys. As long as you find at least one, then it'll be worth it. Make sure to check it out. Hey, Auggie, I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to come on the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. I know that the actionable insights you shared on the show are definitely going to be helpful. I'm sure that the other 88 in the book are also going to be helpful. So we'll make sure to get all that linked in the show notes. Any final thoughts, my friend?

Agi Keramidas (33:53.21)
Definitely.

Agi Keramidas (34:08.122)
Hehehehehe

Agi Keramidas (34:15.13)
I will only say this to someone listening. That little thing that you have been thinking about doing for a while, do it. Take some action towards it. You don't have to do something major or crazy, but take some small action towards that direction and then let momentum take over and see what happens.

Jordan Mendoza (34:39.471)
Yes, love it. Yeah, you never know what's going to be on the trail. But if you want to be a trailblazer, you have to take action. I haven't met a single trailblazer that was sitting on the couch. You have to take action, folks. So great advice. Aggie, thank you so much again for coming on the show. And folks, we will be here with another amazing guest next week. Cannot wait to share with you.