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This episode of Unstoppable Mindset has been a long time coming as when we tried to record it in June, tech issues got in the way and cut us off after ten minutes. Rick Franzo was kind enough to reschedule and now you get to hear the results. Rick never completed college and instead was drawn to a career in Radio. After five years he progressed to working in the grocery business as a buyer and also he worked in other positions. Like other coaches, he discovered that he had an aptitude for listening and helping people to solve problems and dilemmas. Along the way, however, his life took an unexpected twist when he learned in 2009 that he had an enormous brain tumor. While the tumor was not cancerous it was so large that it applied significant pressure on his brain, and he was given only two or three weeks to live. After living through a ten-and-a-half-hour operation to remove the tumor and a third of his skull he underwent rehab where he was told he would never walk again. Six weeks after going into rehab he walked out of the center. Rick credits this experience with helping to make him more empathetic in working with clients. He since has been diagnosed with two additional noncancerous tumors one of which is small and still in his head. Rick will tell us all about these experiences and he will discuss in his view what makes him a better result of what he has faced in life. I rarely have experienced such a refreshing and unstoppably positive attitude as what you will hear from Rick Franzo. About the Guest: Rick Franzo is an award-winning and nationally recognized business coach and the CEO of Hannah HDA Corp., a firm that serves small and medium businesses and larger corporations’ level up, get unstuck and generate more revenue, and build smarter, more effective teams. Rick has over 30 years’ experience in organizational performance, product acquisition, merchandising, leadership and people management, culture change and employee motivation. Rick is a 3-time brain tumor survivor (all non-malignant but invasive) and his book, “How Horseshoes Saved My Life”, chronicles the first 2 tumors. Rick is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in the brain tumor community for support, awareness, and fundraising for research. His Facebook support group “Brain Tumor Talk” is the largest general brain tumor support group on social media in the world with over 15k members from over 50 counties worldwide. Rick has lived in the Poconos his whole life and is married to his wife Debbie for 35 years, they have 3 adult kids, a grandson and 2 rescue mixed doxies, Rosie & Arlo. Ways to connect with Rick: Facebook Book Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064070316943 Facebook Business Page: https://www.facebook.com/gcpoconos/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-franzo-52948b26/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growth_coach_poconos/ Book Website: https://braintumorbook.wordpress.com/order-book/ Growth Coach Website: https://www.thegrowthcoach.com/poconos/ About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children’s Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association’s 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes
Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, Hi, and welcome to unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet and I have to tell you a story about the unexpected. Our guest today is Rick Franzo, and Rick and I were originally supposed to talk to each other on June 22. And about 10 minutes into our conversation suddenly everything disconnected. And I thought I was just telling Rick, what happened was that I had to for another purpose activate a VPN at the beginning of the day to do something. I forgot to deactivate it didn't think it would be an issue but it was an issue because 10 minutes into our conversation, the VPN cut us off go figure that anyway. So now we get to do it again, giving you the full scope of honesty in the world. So there we are. And Rick, welcome back. I gotta say to unstoppable mindset. Rick Franzo ** 02:13 Thank you, Mike, pleasure to be here. Michael Hingson ** 02:15 Well, we'll just have to start over and have fun again. So that's what we'll do. So tell me a little about you starting starting out the young Rick and all that sort of stuff. Rick Franzo ** 02:27 You only Rick I don't know how much time do we have? So go ahead. I'll I'll make it brief. I'll give you the Reader's Digest condensed version of it. So originally from the Poconos, still in the Poconos all my life. I have a wonderful wife of over 35 years Debbie, and three wonderful grown children and we're just living life and everything is great here. So watching the Poconos transformed from a honeymoon area to a kind of a family staycation area that is close to New York City. Philadelphia, Baltimore, things like that so plenty to do here in the Poconos. It's beautiful here in the mountains. Michael Hingson ** 03:12 Yeah, it is really nice to be in the Poconos. What What town are you actually closest to? Rick Franzo ** 03:17 Alright, so I'm in Paradise Valley. I'm about four miles below south of Mount Pocono. So that's the heart of the Poconos. Michael Hingson ** 03:29 We we spent time my wife and I when we lived in Westfield going through and being involved in the Poconos and and had a lot of fun, and stayed in places in New York, like the sag of Oregon and St. George and had a lot of fun there as well. Rick Franzo ** 03:44 Nice. Excellent. Yeah, we're close to a lot of different places for sure. Yeah. Michael Hingson ** 03:49 We've We've always enjoyed our time in the New York area, although my wife was a native of California, and I was born in Chicago and moved to California when I was five. So she would never let me call myself a native, that's okay. But still, she was a native and always wanted to be back in California. So after September 11, we ended up having an opportunity to come back to be with Guide Dogs for the Blind and took it because as I tell people, I was much more interested and excited in selling life and computer technology. And that's what we got to do. Rice. So it worked out. It worked out pretty well. Rick Franzo ** 04:29 I have to say, yeah. Michael Hingson ** 04:34 Well, so you you are in the Poconos. Did you go to college or do any of those kinds of things? Rick Franzo ** 04:42 Yeah, I went to East Stroudsburg University State University and I worked as a radio disc jockey so I was on the air on an am station it was a dawn to dusk station WPC N and I was on there for about five years and I have about 10 And years total of radio experience, my very first business was a mobile DJ business. And so I would do weddings and school dances. And one of the first gigs I had was at a local dairy farm for their Christmas party. And I didn't know what to expect. We were at a fire hall. So I hold all my equipment, and I went there. And I started to play music. And they started to serve dinner, it was about 536 o'clock and late afternoon, early evening in December. And all of the people there it was a lot of farmers that were there they ate, and I thought I was playing music until 11. And by 630, everybody had eaten, and they had maybe some presents, and they all left. And I was like, Is it me, but these are farmers, they're up at two, three o'clock in the morning, you know, milking the cows, or, you know, whatever it is farmers do. So I wrote back, I drove back and I was fairly dejected. I said, Oh, my goodness, this is never gonna work. But it was just the farmers. It wasn't me. And, you know, the whole dynamic of their lifestyle. So I had a very successful career as a mobile disc jockey as well. And that really translated into a lot of my public speaking that I do right now. So it's really interesting. Now, you know, some things from the past kind of blend in with things that are happening in the now. When Michael Hingson ** 06:24 you did radio, did you make recordings ever of what you did and go back and listen to them to see how you could improve or make your your show better? Rick Franzo ** 06:34 I did. And I don't have any of those recordings we did back in that day. Right? I sound like Charles Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie. So back in the old days, right? We did things on reel to reel. Yeah, we did things on cassette. So I would record myself on cassette, and then re listen and see where I had to improve. But I don't have any of those cassettes anymore. I don't know where they went. But maybe they oxidized I don't know. But it was really interesting. We used to do commercials and things and the jingles. And it was really a great time one of the best times in my life and so glad I had the opportunity to do that. It was really a cool thing. And I still see some people that were in radio with me at the time, and I see them on a regular basis. So it is pretty neat. I Michael Hingson ** 07:25 did radio in college and did a little bit of professional radio on a radio station up where my parents lived in Palmdale, but mostly did radio in college every Sunday night. My first quarter of doing radio was the last quarter of my freshman year, we had our station in a small room at the Physical Sciences building. And then over the summer, I think it was someone broke in and stole the board and all of the technology including the tape deck, so I then decided to go get into and I had done a couple of them in my first quarter. But then I decided to start a show in the fall six to nine every Sunday called the Radio Hall of Fame when we played old radio shows, and I had to ride a bike over to the station with my Wallen sack, tape recorder. So we had a recorder to play the reel to reel tapes on because there was no longer any tape machine. And our engineer had built a temporary replacement board until we could afford to get new stuff. So isn't adventurer doing that and then the station moved over to the University Commons from the physical sciences also because they needed the space. But it was an adventure lugging a tape machine for most of the year over to the place where we had the station to be able to connect it and do the show. So you know a lot of adventures I think my favorite story still is that my guide dog at the time, Squire and I, after one of our shows were standing outside and a couple of our friends were with us people from the station and we were standing there and one of them said squire is staring at a cat that is slowly slinking across the the patio, the whole deck where we were, and the cat slowly came up. Touch squire on the nose turned and ran. And the squire didn't move. Oh my goodness, it was so funny. He just just sat there is a golden retriever and would not have done anything to that cat loved friends. So I'm sure he was going What was that all about? But I did that show for Well, five years plus, every Sunday and I'll actually say almost six years. It was a lot of fun. You Yeah, radio is fun. And I listened to myself. And actually, when I became program director insisted that everyone listened to their own shows. And I was of the feeling and of the mind that if they listened, they probably improved because some of them really needed it. And I was so very amazed at how much they improved. Some of the people ended up going into radio. Full time somebody went to work for NBC and some went into other kinds of endeavors where they did a lot of public speaking and so on. But listening to those recordings helped. I've got a few of mine. We got to interview one night, Daws Butler, who is the guy the voice of Huckleberry hound, and Yogi Bear and did a lot of stuff with Stan Freeburg. Wow. And he came down and spent three hours with us and that was a lot of fun. And I still have the reel with that on it. I have to take it out. Rick Franzo ** 10:50 That's pretty neat. The people that you meet, right, yeah. Michael Hingson ** 10:55 Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Definitely. Rick Franzo ** 10:58 I don't think I interviewed anybody that was no nobody that was really famous. I met famous people here in the Poconos because they would come here, either on vacation, the boxers used to come here, before big fights and train at some of the resorts up here. So we had like Sugar Ray, Leonard Lewis, and I've met them and so it was pretty neat. I Michael Hingson ** 11:20 met Sugar Ray Leonard at a speech he gave for a company I worked for he came in and did a motivational speech. And it was okay, as I think back on it, but I got to meet him and when they took pictures and all that stuff, so it was kind of fun. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. So you went off to college? What'd you get a degree in? So Rick Franzo ** 11:40 I went to college, I never got my degree, I got a fine job in radio. There you go. Vacations major. So I said, What do I need college for? Right, real smart. And so I left college, went and did a radio career, and did my, my mobile DJ business. And then I started a family and just started to work in the management and the grocery industry. And that's really where I made my, my living was being a buyer and a person that was in charge of people in the grocery industry. But I also changed a little bit, I did some work in corrections, I was a corrections officer in a prison. And I worked at that same university as a buyer in the bookstore for 11 years before I started my own business. Michael Hingson ** 12:28 So being the big time radio personality that you were to Debbie fell in love with you after hearing you on the air and she decided to come meet you or what? Rick Franzo ** 12:36 No, no, it was a Michael Hingson ** 12:39 great story. That would have been, that Rick Franzo ** 12:41 would be a great story. Now. You know, we met actually, through her sister, and so was a radio station. event. It was an air band contest at the college. And she was there and we had met and we started to date and the rest is history. That was 1985. Michael Hingson ** 12:59 She didn't keep calling you up and say Play Misty for Me or anything like that. Rick Franzo ** 13:03 Yeah, we weren't Rick Franzo ** 13:09 like that. But it was we finally Karen Michael Hingson ** 13:12 and I finally watched that movie with Clint Eastwood. It was pretty interesting. Nice. Rick Franzo ** 13:18 Clint Eastwood movies. Yeah. Michael Hingson ** 13:19 Well, that's pretty cool, though. You since 1985. We got married in 1982. Okay, unfortunately, lost her just last November. But, you know, she's around watching. And if I, if I screw up, I'm going to hear about it. I'm sure. You're gonna watch your P's and Q's. That's exactly right. 40 years of memories and marriage, of course. Yeah, for sure. Definitely. Rick Franzo ** 13:40 But yeah, the DJ was fun and things like that. But, you know, we moved on and did different things. So when I worked at the college, it was time to, you know, do something for myself. So I decided to start my own business. So Michael Hingson ** 13:54 you went into the grocery business and all that, and were there and so when did you go off on your own? So Rick Franzo ** 13:59 I was a baker, and then I went into management. And then I was a seafood buyer. And then I was a trainer and a coach for new managers. And that was really a great evolution and then just went to do buying in the bookstore for the college and worked there for 11 years. So then I just decided that the time was right, to follow my passion and really monetize what I like to do, which was help people and so I bought a franchise and became a business coach. When did that start? 19 or I'm sorry, 2018. Alright, Michael Hingson ** 14:38 so you've only actually been in your own business as such for for five years, but obviously a lot of a lot of coaching experience and all that before then. Right? Definitely. And what you didn't know Debbie taught you? No Rick Franzo ** 14:52 doubt, no doubt, but I got really I cut my teeth so to speak, and the brain took or community, when I was kind of, really, after my surgery got involved with people that were in similar situations than I was, and started to really connect with them and kind of mentor them a little bit and, you know, got part of that community Michael Hingson ** 15:19 will tell us a little bit about that, because you've actually had several bouts with brain tumors and so on over the years. Yeah, Rick Franzo ** 15:25 and never cancer. I want to make that clear. But because of my experience in corrections, I did security at a ski mountain here in the Poconos. And at the end of the season, we had a barbecue at one of the people's houses, and I was playing horseshoes, and I lost all strength and coordination in the right side of my body out of nowhere, didn't know what was happening. So it scared me enough for me to go to my doctor, I went to my doctor, he did some physical tests and said, Yeah, you've got some weakness on your right side. You know, we'll send you for an MRI. So I went for the MRI, and they said you should know in about a week or so. And they call me the next day at work. And they said, Mr. Franza, we usually don't make this type of call. But you have an enormous brain tumor. And we have a neurosurgeon from a large hospital. In the area here today, you have a one o'clock appointment, we'll see you then. And I just the phone, I was like, Well, I'm dead. I don't know anything about brain tumors, I just thought they were all cancer. And so I was finished. So I made the drive home and told my wife, and we went to the doctor. And they said, the brain tumor that you have is enormous. We don't believe it's cancer, it would have killed you a long time before but you have about two weeks to live because we feel that the pressure is what's going to kill you. So they put me on medication and anti seizure medicine. And they said we're going to do surgery in three weeks or less. And in less than three weeks, I had 10 and a half hours of surgery, and a spoiler I lived, but Michael Hingson ** 17:13 I was wondering if we were doing this sort of remotely? Yeah. Rick Franzo ** 17:15 Okay, kinda surreal, right, the matrix, but they couldn't save my skull. So a third of my skull was all titanium. And I came up paralyzed from the waist down the collateral damage from my, you know, quote, unquote, benign brain tumor and the pressure. So I spent eight days in the hospital, and I went to rehab. And my goal was to walk out of there, and nobody believed it, because it looked impossible. But, you know, I became laser focused, and, you know, very, very humbled and lucky and blessed that things connected. And through the hard work of the therapists in six and a half weeks, I walked out of there with leg braces and a walker, but I walked out. Yeah. Michael Hingson ** 18:04 Still, that's really the important thing. And it's interesting, we so often just underestimate the power of what our brain can do. And you were focused, and you were intent on doing it. I keep flashing back to Christopher Reeves, who always said, I'll walk again, someday, the only the only difference was, you had a specific plan, and he raised funds, and his journey wasn't able to be fulfilled. But you, you were so focused, that you obviously brought it about, and I'm sure that that had a lot to do with you walking again. Rick Franzo ** 18:38 I think mindset had a lot to do with it. I think also, you know, just just things connecting, we know so little about the brain surgeon. So, you know, I appreciated that nobody could tell me if, you know, I was gonna walk again or not. There's people that have, you know, such traumatic injuries, no matter how much they try, you know, and how positive their mindset is. They're not going to walk again. But, you know, it's all about, you know, having that hope, right? Hope is is a real thing. It's tangible, you can wrap your arms around it, and hope doesn't always mean that you're going to survive, but hope actually gets you to that next level, and maybe it'll help somebody else that's in a similar situation. So hope is absolutely a real thing and not false hope or toxic hope, or, you know, over positive hope or anything else, just straight up hope. Well, Michael Hingson ** 19:36 and clearly that working. So when did you have the initial brain tumor surgery? Rick Franzo ** 19:42 I had the brain tumor surgery in June of 2009. Okay. Michael Hingson ** 19:49 And you have had to deal with that since also, haven't you? Yes, Rick Franzo ** 19:55 yeah. So I got diagnosed with a second brain tumor in In 2011, that still there. And then another type of brain tumor, and 2017. And the one that was in 2011, they marked as residual and it's been behaving itself, the newer one, still not cancer, but made me deaf in my right ear, took my balance away. So I was walking and following. And so I had radiation on that, and 2017. And then as I started my business, I was doing outpatient physical therapy, so that I couldn't, I didn't fall every time I was walking, so much of the time, I'll use a cane when I'm out, especially in somewhere where I'm not really familiar. But other than that I drive and live a fairly normal life. Michael Hingson ** 20:43 Well, it's, it's interesting, do they have an explanation as to why you are getting so many tumors and no, I'm certainly grateful for it personally, why they're not cancerous. Rick Franzo ** 20:54 There's, there's no explanation, they don't know if it's hereditary. Nobody else in my family has had it. There's no known cause for brain tumors, there's no effective screening for brain tumors and brain cancer, there is 130 different types of brain tumors and brain cancer. So making accurate diagnosis is our it's very, very difficult. So they call it an orphan disease. But almost 800,000 people in the United States live with just in the United States live with a primary brain tumor, that's a tumor that starts in your brain and stays they're not talking about other tumors that metastasized to the brain, which are, you know, the ones that are most common that do that are long in breast cancer, they, they have the most propensity to go to the brain. Michael Hingson ** 21:45 Well, so, so my explanation is as good as any is it's just an attention getting device on your part, right? Well, it's Rick Franzo ** 21:52 a kind of get out of jail free card, right? Michael Hingson ** 21:54 Yeah. Rick Franzo ** 21:55 You know, a little tumor humor never hurt, I get it, I'm one of the best things is being able to speak and, you know, bring awareness, and, you know, support people and, you know, just just be part of that, that community, it's a club that nobody wants to be a part of. Michael Hingson ** 22:12 Yeah. Well, and it so greatly enhances you, because it helps you, since you clearly have chosen to do it, tell stories about it, and you use it to, to more make your life something that people can relate to, although we certainly don't want people to have brain tumors, but still, you dealt with it. And you have continued to not only live with it, which is kind of negative, but overcome it and move forward, which is really the important thing. So how are you involved in the whole issue of the world of people with brain tumors today? Because I know you're doing a lot more. You are part of a big Facebook group. And what else do you do with that? Yeah, Rick Franzo ** 22:57 I found that a Facebook group called Brain Tumor talk. And it is now the largest general brain tumor support group on social media on the planet. There's over 15,000 people from about 50 countries, give or take, I wrote a book, I do public speaking, I had a radio show for four years from the college that I worked at, called Brain Tumor talk worldwide radio show, just really humbled that I'm able to be a mentor for the American brain tumor Association in Chicago, and mentor other people that have brain tumors. So, you know, recovery happened, because it just did. But you know, what I did with everything else was a choice. And, you know, being the CEO of my own corporation, and, you know, doing something that I love every day, that's a choice. And, you know, if somebody tells you, you can't do something, look at you, I'm speaking to the choir. But, you know, absolutely, that isn't true. Michael Hingson ** 23:55 Yeah. And I think all of us face challenges. And it's always a question of how we decide to deal with the challenges. It's like anything, and you clearly have made it an extremely positive thing that is worth talking about, and clearly is worth talking about. And it helps you. I assume you go in regularly to get checkups to make sure that nothing else is happening with the tumors. Yeah, Rick Franzo ** 24:23 I go every two years to make sure that everything up there is behaving itself. And so far, so Michael Hingson ** 24:29 good. So they grow slowly. Yeah, they're Rick Franzo ** 24:33 slow growers. So again, there's no reason why I get them. There's no reason why anybody gets the, you know, a brain tumor. We just don't know what the cause is. Michael Hingson ** 24:47 So the one that you got in 2011, has it grown or does it grow at all? Or is it just a Rick Franzo ** 24:51 table? It's just kind of sitting there? It's just kind of sitting there? Yeah. Which is, you know, that that unwanted neighbor in your head? You know what I mean? We can't evict it. So we do what we got to do with it. So it's not causing any kind of, you know, drama or trauma in my head. So they remove it. They I'm sure that they could, but that isn't really an option. It's not harming anything. So we're not adding value. No. And you know, as as we, we get older, these types of tumors tend to calcify. So maybe it'll just calcified and go away. It's not very large. So we'll see what happens. Michael Hingson ** 25:31 Being blind my whole life, I have developed cataracts on my islands is in so on. And I asked a doctor once that just happens because of no use, right? And I asked an ophthalmologist once should we remove them? And he said, Well, we could not sure that there would be any value in doing it. Because it's not going to make you see which I didn't think that it would. But I didn't know whether there was any value in it. Actually, what brought the discussion up was because when I get eye exams, in order for them to look at the retina, for normal people, they can do it by dilating the lens and or the eye and so on, and they can see through the lens, but with cataracts, they can't. So they actually have to do an ultrasound of my eyes in order to see what's going on at the back. Interesting. And, and so they do, and it's fascinating. It's, it's different, certainly doesn't hurt, but it's, it's different. I'm glad they have the technology to be able to do those kinds of things. Rick Franzo ** 26:29 Absolutely, you know, you don't realize what you have, and until you pretty much lose it. You know, again, you've been through so many things, but so many other people have. And a lot of times people will say, Well, I haven't had it as bad as you brick, but it's personal to them. So there's not any kind of levels, nobody has it any better or worse than I do or you do, or anybody else. It's personal to whoever it is that is dealing with it. And it just is, you know what you do with what you got? Michael Hingson ** 26:59 That's right. And there's no reason not to do anything you want with what you got. Right? Rick Franzo ** 27:04 Exactly. I don't lead off with a brain tumor card. But you know, it is part of my story. You know, it isn't, it doesn't define me. But it is part of, of what I do. And a lot of the coaching that I do the business coaching is almost like the therapy. So the therapist couldn't sit up there that, you know, helped me sit up, they couldn't walk for me, but they had to show me a strategy so that I was able to go and do it for myself. And that's very similar to what I do as a business coach, I see things from, you know, the outside looking in where the therapist did as well. And all we have to do is give the strategies, and so long as somebody is coachable, they'll move on it. And Michael Hingson ** 27:49 that's really the key is that they need to be able to be coachable, which means they need to be willing to, to deal with it. Rick Franzo ** 27:57 Yeah, and not have somebody solve their problems for them. Like I said, the therapist couldn't walk for me, I can't do the business for the people who I coach, they're the experts in their business, on the expert at seeing some maybe gaps or blind spots that they have, so that they can level up. And most of the time, it's just a slight adjustment, and maybe just a little bit of different mindset. And you know, some things maybe that they aren't aware of that. It's hard to see the forest through the trees, when you know, you're right in the middle of things. So they get through, you know, the chaos of a working day or a year and they don't know what to do. What would Michael Hingson ** 28:41 what would you say the differences between a coach and a therapist because they are two different kinds of positions? Rick Franzo ** 28:47 Well, if this was COVID, I would say nothing. Because there were so many people it was it was a rough time for everybody. I don't have the wherewithal to be a therapist, I'm a very good listener. But other than that, I think that I can't give strategies except on things that I know. Therapists are very good listeners. But they have that specialized training. So it's kind of same circus, different 10. But what I do is I craft strategies, therapists craft strategies, I went to a neuropsychologist because I was having panic attacks. And I didn't know how to deal with it. And it was really because of my brain injury. And he gave me strategy specific to people with brain injuries. And so I'm able to do that with people that are in business. And so it's kind of similar, but I'm not a therapist. I'm not a I'm not a mentor. You know, I'm simply a coach. And you know, that's enough. Michael Hingson ** 29:49 Yeah, what I've been told by some is that what a coach does is not solve problems, but he helps the person actually seek out and identify The challenge is and helps them to move to discover what the solutions are for themselves. Exactly. Yeah, Rick Franzo ** 30:08 we in a nutshell, that's exactly what I do. I can't solve their problems because, you know, if I, I'm, I'm there to go and help them identify the problems. But again, the therapists couldn't walk for me, I can't go and swing a hammer or tell them how to, to do something, I can suggest things. But really, I'm there to help them almost like a sports coach. Right. So Michael Jordan had a coach, the coach didn't go and shoot the baskets, but he would identify some things that maybe could help them to be more effective. And that's the same thing that we do. Michael Hingson ** 30:44 Do you play horseshoes anymore? Rick Franzo ** 30:45 I do. Wish you pets here. I'm not good. At. But I do play horseshoes. Yes. But Michael Hingson ** 30:55 at least you're able to go out and have fun and do that some more. Yeah, it's been too hot. Rick Franzo ** 31:00 So really played this year? So much, but because the heat really affects me. Michael Hingson ** 31:06 Yeah, it's way too hot to be outside for any of us given? I think so I made 90s in high 90s. And then you got places like pour Phoenix, which is just done. Its 19th day over 110. I can't Rick Franzo ** 31:18 even not for me, even though it's a dry heat. Michael Hingson ** 31:22 Yeah, even though it is a dry, it's still it's really hot. That's just kind of crazy. Absolutely. How do you think the whole experience with brain tumors and also now with the Facebook page, and getting to interact with so many other people, how has all that affected you as a coach? Rick Franzo ** 31:43 I think it, it caused me to have more empathy, I think that the whole experience did. So if I didn't go through what I went through, in 2009, I probably wouldn't be a coach. And if I was, I wouldn't be a very good coach. Because I feel that I, I really lacked empathy. And I, I feel that that's the greatest gift that this gave me was that sense of empathy. So I feel that it helps me to be more present more effective, and more real with people. Michael Hingson ** 32:20 I know, for me, I tried to be empathetic. And if I get messages from people that I'm not, then I always need to go back and look at that, because I think it is very important to be empathetic. That doesn't mean that you necessarily agree, but you can certainly understand where people are coming from, and you can help and interact with them, and approach them where they are, as opposed to where you think they ought to be. Rick Franzo ** 32:45 Exactly. I mean, and that's the whole, you know, basis of what I do is, it's not my plan, right? I'm not a consultant, I meet them where they are. And that's where we start to work. And there's no one size fits all, we kind of take it as it is and, you know, let it flow and let it go. And, you know, crash strategy based on because everybody's different, right? Everybody has different heredity background, they have different role models, different experiences, things like that. So we have to kind of dig in and find out where they are, and where they want to be. And just get their from point A to point B. And sometimes they're just stuck and we help them to get unstuck. Michael Hingson ** 33:27 So you mentioned empathy, what are some other important traits or qualities that a good coach should have? Patience, Rick Franzo ** 33:32 definitely patience. And be a good listener, not just to listen to respond, but again, listen to understand, and, you know, absolutely, don't go in with any kind of preconceived notions, or just just really listen to what it is that people are saying, and kind of take it from there. If we listen and give somebody an opportunity to speak, they're going to tell you everything that really you need to know to help them. Yeah. Michael Hingson ** 34:06 And I have found that even in sales and I, as you may know, and listeners hear now, I've been in sales, most all of my adult life and both in terms of selling high tech, but even philosophy and so on. All we can do ultimately is really present things to people they need to learn to accept it or, or decide to, to think about accepting it. And I believe what my best sales guy ever said to me, which is the only thing I can sell is myself and my word. And all the rest is stuff so selling products and all that that stuff that's not really selling because the customer needs to want to buy it but it also has to be the right product and part of what I need to do, as he always put it is sell the right thing or tell them We can't do it, which is always a great way to establish a better relationship with your bosses, but it's still the best way to go. Rick Franzo ** 35:06 It is right. You know, you have that, that that mantra that you're going to do the right thing for people, for sure. And, you know, it's like Simon Sinek says people are gonna buy from who they like and who they trust. And, you know, we're not just selling things, we're not selling services, or products or widgets or anything else. We're really selling the benefits of what it is and how it can help them. Specifically, we're selling a transformation, whatever that is, whether it's pasta, or whether it's, you know, some sort of sales process. Yeah. Michael Hingson ** 35:42 And I think that, it's important to recognize that it's really all about trust, first and foremost. And whatever we do, and it's the same with you, as a coach, it's all about trust, people aren't going to listen to you, if they can't find that they can trust you, which gets back to the empathy thing, again, in part, and just you as a listener, establishing a relationship with them. Rick Franzo ** 36:08 It's, it's really transformative, because I actually choose the people that I work with. So as much as they, you know, kind of screen me, I screen them to make sure that we're a good fit, if I'm going to be dealing with that company, or that person, or we're going to be interacting and building a relationship. For a year or more, I have to make sure that when I get up in the morning, I say, Well, you know what, this is going to be a great day, I'm meeting with Michael, not what I had today, Michael, eight o'clock, great. I don't know what I'm going to do, maybe I better have a little barbershop my coffee a little bit. So that, you know, I have that latitude that I can really be choosy on who I deal with. And they can as well. And every one of my clients and referral partners and people that I network with, and people that I surround myself with, are very fortunate to have all of them, Michael Hingson ** 37:06 I think you hit it right on the head, though, it's all a matter of choice. And no matter who you're working with, you have the ability to choose how you deal with that situation, which is really the way it ought to be. And we should, we should choose to be more positive. And it's it's unfortunate that so often, too many people just look at only the negative side of things, which gets very frustrating after a while Rick Franzo ** 37:31 does but you know, sometimes people can pick themselves up by their own bootstraps. And, you know, it is a choice. But sometimes circumstances kind of prevent that from happening. And I can be empathetic to that, too. And, you know, it's really, I'm very non judgmental about that, where before I was, you know, what are you doing, you can do this and everything else, maybe they can't? Michael Hingson ** 37:59 Or maybe they haven't discovered something that they need to discover. And to be able to do it. And then of course, that's your job to help them see if there's something to discover. Rick Franzo ** 38:08 Yeah, absolutely. And sometimes there isn't. Michael Hingson ** 38:12 And sometimes there isn't, which is also okay. Or we need to understand that that should be okay to believe that and and recognize that. Yep, absolutely. What do you what do you do to help or to work with people who have a hard time achieving their goals, we all are here about setting goals and, and deciding what we're going to do and set a goal to do this. And so um, but a lot of people have a lot of challenges achieving goals. So how do you help people like that? Rick Franzo ** 38:41 Right, really kind of dig in and find out, you know, what makes them them, right, to establish what their need is, and you know, how they actually learn. So I try to keep things again, it's it's almost cliche, like I'm explaining to a fifth grader, not to talk down to anybody, but to make sure that my message is being received clearly, and without so much collateral stuff that's going on. So I break it down. And I do it, I compartmentalize things and structure it so that almost in a SMART goal way. So it's specific, measurable, attainable, realistic time bound, so that we have really good strategy, not just throwing up things against the wall and seeing what sticks. And if we have a process, then that's half the battle right there. But it's a process that fits them not a cookie cutter one size fits all, because everybody has different businesses, they have different backgrounds. They have different structure for their business, different personalities, especially. So we really have to go and understand first and foremost, how to communicate with them, how to go and build that relationship and how to listen to what it is they really want and need and what the difference is between between those two, I'm Michael Hingson ** 40:01 sorry. And the neat and exciting thing about that is that you get to learn as you go along because you meet these people who may have experiences that are different from you. And they help you grow every Rick Franzo ** 40:15 day. Every day, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't learn something new. Michael Hingson ** 40:21 I have always felt during this podcast that if I'm not learning at least as much as other people learn, then I'm not doing my job. And I don't know what I'm gonna learn. I don't know what happens on on every interview. And that's what makes it fun. It's all about they're not interviews, they're conversations, but it's so much fun. And I want to learn and get to learn so much. It's really a great blessing to me, as far as I'm concerned. But it's Rick Franzo ** 40:44 all about building relationships. When we first spoke, we This isn't like the third time that we're speaking, the first time. You made a reference to Young Frankenstein. No, no, Michael Hingson ** 40:55 no, no, no. Frankenstein. Frankenstein. Rick Franzo ** 40:59
