296 - He helps you to be heard above the noise: Tom interviews Dick Bruso - Screw The Commute

296 – He helps you to be heard above the noise: Tom interviews Dick Bruso

Dick Bruso is founder of Heard Above the Noise and he's a well respected branding and marketing consultant, serving high performing entrepreneurs, business and association leaders for well over two decades. And he strategically and successfully positions his clients to be heard above the noise. We all know there's a lot of noise out there in a very competitive marketplace. He's an accomplished professional speaker. He presents entertaining, high content keynotes internationally.

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Screw The Commute Podcast Show Notes Episode 296

How To Automate Your Businesshttps://screwthecommute.com/automatefree/

entrepreneurship distance learning school, home based business, lifestyle business

Internet Marketing Training Centerhttps://imtcva.org/

Higher Education Webinar – https://screwthecommute.com/webinars

[03:57] Tom's introduction to Dick Bruso

[10:49] Don't brand yourself into the poor house

[15:39] Entrepreneurial eldest of nine children

[19:47] Podcasting can be a great marketing tool

[20:48] Speaking can be a great platform even during a pandemic

[23:56] Sponsor message

[26:37] A typical day for Dick

[28:33] Find a community in person or online

[32:27] Online businesses have unlimited upside and limited downside

[34:22] Dick's Complimentary 20 minute Branding Strategy phone consultation

Entrepreneurial Resources Mentioned in This Podcast

Higher Education Webinarhttps://screwthecommute.com/webinars

Screw The Commutehttps://screwthecommute.com/

entrepreneurship distance learning school, home based business, lifestyle business

Screw The Commute Podcast Apphttps://screwthecommute.com/app/

College Ripoff Quizhttps://imtcva.org/quiz

Know a young person for our Youth Episode Series? Send an email to Tom! – orders@antion.com

Have a Roku box? Find Tom's Public Speaking Channel there!https://channelstore.roku.com/details/267358/the-public-speaking-channel

How To Automate Your Businesshttps://screwthecommute.com/automatefree/

Internet Marketing Retreat and Joint Venture Programhttps://greatinternetmarketingtraining.com/

Dick's websitehttp://heardabove.com/

Via email: dickbruso@heardabove.com

Internet Marketing Training Centerhttps://imtcva.org/

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Being a Great Video Conference Presenter – https://screwthecommute.com/295/

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Episode 296 – Dick Bruso
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey everybody, it's Tom here with episode two hundred ninety six of Screw the Commute podcast. I'm here with Dick Bruso. He's a longtime friend of mine who's been doing great work so people can be, listen to this, heard above the noise. You don't want to miss him. I'll bring him on in a minute. Hope you didn't miss Episode two ninety five. It's one of my Monday training sessions, which is something everybody in the speaking and training and consulting field is doing now. But some of them are doing a pretty bad job of it. So I said how to be a great video conference presenter. That was our Monday training session. And it doesn't take a lot to be a great video conference presenter, but it also doesn't take much to have a pitiful looking, ineffective session online. So we wouldn't want that to happen to you. So that was episode two Ninety five. All right. How would you like to hear your own voice here on screw the commute? Well, if the show's helped you out at all in your business or giving you ideas that help you start a business. We want to hear about it. Go to screwthecommute.com and look for a little blue side bar that says send voicemail. Click on it and talk into your phone or computer. Tell us how the show's helped you and put your website in and we'll give you a big shout so you can be heard above the noise in a future podcast episode of Screw the Commute. All right. Make sure you grab a copy of our free e-book. We sell this book for 27 bucks, and it's really, really powerful. It's how I've run my business using inexpensive automation techniques and tools over many, many years that have saved me millions and millions of keystrokes and allowed me to steal business from my competitors that are too slow to get back to prospects. So you'll you'll love this. So check it out at screwthecommute.com/automatefree. And while you're at it, grab a copy of our podcast app at screwthecommute.com/app, where you can put it on your cell phone and tablet. It does all kinds of fancy stuff. We have video instructions on how to use it and screen capture instructions so you can take us with you on the road. All right. Well, we're sitting here in the middle of this pandemic and people have called me. Tom, you're doing all right? I'm like, I've been sitting here for 20 years. I didn't even know there wasn't outside this house. Nothing working like crazy from home my entire career. Hence, screw the commute podcast. I mean, literally, I had a nightclub in the 80s and I lived above it so I was screwing the commute. So I'm all about working from home, but people are kind of freaking out. And I don't want you to be subject to outside influences to be able to make money for you and your family. So I started a school. It's the only licensed, dedicated Internet marketing school in the country. It's IMTCVA.org of course we'll have that in the show notes and we have people making money before they even graduate. It's a highly in demand skill that we teach. It's not any kind of big theory. It's the nuts and bolts of email marketing and shopping carts and all the stuff I've done to have a beautiful lifestyle business for 26 years now online. So check it out at IMTCVA.org. And it is a beautiful legacy gift for your kids or your grandchildren so that they're not going to a four year school and learning how to protest and then compete for jobs at Starbucks when they get out. So check it out.

[00:04:00] Let's get to the main event. Dick Bruso is founder of Heard Above the Noise, hence the reference I made earlier. And he's a well respected branding and marketing consultant, serving high performing entrepreneurs, business and association leaders for well over two decades. And he strategically and successfully positions his clients to be heard above the noise. And we all know there's a lot of noise out there in a very competitive marketplace. He's an accomplished professional speaker. He presents entertaining, high content keynotes internationally. Dick. Are you ready to screw? The commute?

[00:04:38] Well, it's good catching up with the man. It's been a while.

[00:04:45] It has been. It's always a pleasure to be with you, Tom.

[00:04:47] Well, we've kind of ran into each other on some other podcasts. Thing we were doing together after all this time.

[00:04:56] So, so many funny years ago.

[00:05:00] Oh, 20. Yeah. I can't remember. I'm so far over the hill Dick. I can't remember going up the hill.

[00:05:07] I think we met also, or at least I had the opportunity to attend. I think you're first but can but I and several others and my wife join me on one as well. And they were terrific. You were way ahead of everyone else. I was just absolutely terrific.

[00:05:25] Yeah. For those of you, though. No, but camp is one. It's one of the top three longest running. I think it's the top, the top, longest running, continuously running Internet seminar ever. There was about three of us that back in the in the late 90s, 96, 97 is when it started. And everybody wanted me to teach him how to do this stuff. And they wanted me to do a boot camp. And I'm thinking I and I come from a comic background. I can't do boot camp. Everybody does boot camp. And I thought, I'm sitting here on my rear and making all this money.

[00:05:56] I'll call it bootcamp caught on.

[00:06:00] And I've done him in eleven countries around the world. I don't think, you know, there's the in England, they made me call it bum camp.

[00:06:09] Well, that's a great name.

[00:06:11] But it was heard above the noise. That's probably something that you teach people, you know, go a different direction than everybody else, right?

[00:06:18] Absolutely. In fact, screw the commute is a great brand and tagline and the getting you out of the car and into the money being the tagline. Right, as you could say, well, work from home or whatever it might be. But screw the commute gets people's attention. You have the rhyming component in there and you're telling people you don't have to stay in the car in traffic jams.

[00:06:40] You get your own business and get into the money. I think it's brilliant and a great example of branding.

[00:06:47] Well, yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah. And it's clear because there's a lot of people come to me and I should send them to you because they come to me and they have some obscure name they want to do. And I thought, hey, if you were a Yahoo! And you could, you have enough money to advertise on every bus in America, have whatever name you want, but if you're a little potatoes like us, you'd better be very clear in your branding, right?

[00:07:11] Absolutely. In fact, I think there's three keys to a successful brand. And the first part is what I call the power brand. And it has three components essence, passion and uniqueness. And the essence is really who are you and what's your story and what you're calling, so to speak.

[00:07:32] And then the passion, why do you do what you do? And there is a an exercise that I do with my clients. And we could talk about it briefly here, if you like. Yeah. That is talking about the ultimate message. And what this exercise is, is imagine that you were given the opportunity to speak in front of a million people. Obviously a very large venue. You had 45 minutes to speak and to give your message and they would pay you handsomely.

[00:08:01] But the caveat would be that you can never speak about this message again, could not write about it, could not be on a podcast and talk about it. No mass message mentioned ever again. So the question is, what would your message be if this was the only opportunity to get your message out there? What would it be?

[00:08:22] Oh, I got that. I got that. It's like if you're overweight, your sex life is probably suffering.

[00:08:33] But I think that's really important is to understand what it is you want to get out there. And, you know, when you look at this program today, I think there's two components. One is who you are, the person listening to this program, and two, who are the people you want to serve. And I think if you can get clarity on that, then the people you want to serve. What's the problem that they're dealing with? And I mentioned that there were three keys. So the power brand is what, essence, passion and uniqueness. And that is what will really set you apart in the marketplace. And think of Cirque de Soleil searches. L.A. is in what's referred to as the Blue Ocean. A book was written number years ago about the blue ocean and the red ocean as a competitive ocean where everybody in their neighbors in it fighting to get some territory. The blue ocean is where you have a nice, peaceful ocean because you own that niche.

[00:09:32] And when I travel around the country and also throughout Canada, I've asked the audience to name or raise her hand and indicate if they've attended a service delay event. Then I ask him to indicate the Gonta two or three or four. And most of the hands stay up. And then I asked them how many can name the number two company behind Surface Away? And in 20 years, no one has named that company. It's a company out of Mexico and I can't remember their name.

[00:10:08] So the Cirque de Soleil, they own that particular niche and that is key. You want to own your niche. You want to be positioned as the go to person, for example. You are the go to person for everything. Internet when it comes to entrepreneurship, because you walk the talk and you talk the walk. All right. So people know who you're going to call. You're going to call Tom Antion. Well, that's the same thing that someone is listening to this program needs to ask.

[00:10:41] Who am I going to represent in the marketplace? And why are they going to call me? And I'm. Am I the go to guy person that they want to reach or gal?

[00:10:52] So I'm glad to hear this, because, you know, in many ways I have run into people that I said that they branded themself into the poorhouse, but because all they worried about was that their brochure colors match their Web page and stuff.

[00:11:12] And they totally ignored that. You know, the marketplace. Yeah, it's a factor. But, I mean, I wouldn't put it as high on the totem pole as Cirque de Soleil.

[00:11:23] Well, it's interesting. You know, I've worked with. Oh, I would say pretty easily. One out of 20 members of the national speakers and so, so many bestselling authors, et cetera.

[00:11:35] But what they've done as we work together and branding them as separate them from the marketplace. For example, I think of Marta Popper. She's focus on mediation as an alternative to going to the divorce court. And the brand we have for her is a divorce whisperer. I don't have a husband, a wife in the court shouting at each other in front of the kids, et cetera, et cetera. But they can really talk in a mediation format. And she's been extremely successful and been recognized by two state supreme courts for her work.

[00:12:08] Another person, I think anyway, before you go past that, I don't think a minor difference in her brochure colors would have changed that result for her. Oh, you're absolutely.

[00:12:20] That's what I'm saying, that a lot of people, when they're when they hear branding, they think, oh, well, my logo and my colors and this and that.

[00:12:29] And they forget that it's got to be something really big that sets you apart before any of that other stuff matters.

[00:12:35] Oh, absolutely. And they get that. They major in the minor. Yes. All right. And you need a major in the majors. And that is what sets you apart.

[00:12:44] And who are the people you really want to serve and how can you solve the problem or problems that they're facing? And if you get that, it's going to make a huge difference. And I was going to mention another person you may know, Sandy is Sandy Jiru. And when she came out here, we created a brand called Wild Place International, turning your workplace into a wild place. Now, the reason I mentioned Sandy, if you know her, she is very vivacious, very entertaining, sings those parodies. I mean, she just has all the talents in the world. So she is a perfect person to come into a business and make that happen. And give me an idea of how powerful that concept is. After we met, she went to a corporate meeting and, you know, these long conference tables where the end is the CEO and then all the lieutenants, so to speak, of the company was sitting on the opposite sides and she got up there and she was going to Tom for 15, 20 minutes and tell what she did. And she got up there and she said, well, I'm Sandy Drew on the founder of Wild Place International, and I'm all about turning your workplace into a wild place.

[00:13:59] And then right after that, the CEO stood up. Pointed his finger at Sandy and said, let's do it.

[00:14:08] They started dancing, right?

[00:14:11] Right there. In other words, he caught the image, right. The value of that that brand and that he wanted to turn his workplace into a wild place. And so I think when you look at branding, you look at your personality, you look at the people you're going to serve. And I'm sure one other example, because it's pretty exciting. I had a client that years ago sent me all his materials and then in side one of the boxes, it was several boxes. More than I normally get was a champagne bottle stuffed with, you know, just kind of popcorn and stuff to keep it from breaking. And it was empty, of course, and no no champagne in it. And so I called him up and I said once a champagne bottle. And he said, well, it's when my driving partner and I won the offroad national championship and I thought you'd like to see it. And so as we talk, we've found out that what he really likes to do is to work with the CEO and come alongside that CEO and help them become more successful. So the brand for him, because what he did off road, he was a navigator or the co-driver and one that national championship. And so the brand he has today is a corporate co-driver. And the tagline is the key to accelerating performance.

[00:15:40] Yeah, it's beautiful. Think through those things. A good family like Dick to help you.

[00:15:45] And all of a sudden, you're far, far ahead of the pack. You're above the noise. Right. So let's take let's take you back and see. Were you an entrepreneurial kid? How did you come up through the ranks?

[00:15:56] Well, I'm the eldest of nine children. Why did my dad was a school teacher, so we didn't have a lot of money. So we learned a couple of key factors, hard work ethic to be loyal. Where was this? And keep your word. This was in the San Fernando Valley. And my dad, you would've loved my dad. And my mom was terrific as well. And the key in our family was the fact that we all contributed. We all had our chores and we all gave for. And so then I started mowing lawns still.

[00:16:34] But there was a lot of noise in your house.

[00:16:36] Well, that's where the name came. I know. That's what I'm thinking. Right.

[00:16:41] And that's what I do for my clients. But that's where it came from. And I think just a quick sidebar. You want to make sure your brand's authentic. It relates to you, an audience with your story. So sure I did. Most young kids would do mow lawns, babysat, delivered newspapers, et cetera. And so I always had that entrepreneurial spirit. And so my degree was speech and drama and graduate work in education. So I naturally went into the insurance business.

[00:17:14] But the interesting thing is, because of the speech and drama and teaching and all that, it tied in beautifully with the insurance field. I specialize in estate planning. I became Rookie of the Year in Southern California and won trips and so forth. And then I was blessed to be in that scenario, very thankful. And then eventually went into having my own fee only financial planning company. We did financial planning for Wal-Mart executives and physicians, et cetera. But all that background and speech and drama, et cetera, allowed me to ultimately do my own thing, which I've been doing primarily for many, many years, with the exception that I decided to take a detour because I started doing a lot of radio interviews on a book that I had written called Bible Promises, Help and Hope for Your Finances.

[00:18:08] And I ended up being about 100 different programs, radio programs, about seven television programs. Again, very thankful, very surprised that all that happened. And then I decided to do a 90 second feature, daily feature on helping hope for your finances. And it caught on and three hundred thirty two stations aired it for over five years, including the Moody Broadcasting Network. Again, much to my surprise. And this is before the Internet. And we we receive a thousand letters per month, some from people in prison. Some pastors could be the same person depending on the situation. But the reality was that there was a real hunger for that. And so Moody then asked me to be a semi regular on their program.

[00:18:59] And what was the name of the book again?

[00:19:01] I was helping hope for your finances.

[00:19:03] Bible promises help and hope for your finance. It's out of print. Now, although there's a few copies probably wandering around on eBay or something. But the thing that was really interesting is that that 90 second feature just open up communication, unlike anything I had seen before. And and so what I'm saying with what you're doing with podcasting and I want to commend you for that. I know we discuss it at one of your bootcamps years ago when I wrote an article for Speaker magazine in 2009 about the future podcast called Three Peas and a Podcast. And you're the one who's taken the concept and you really applied it and put it into action. So congratulations.

[00:19:49] Well, I had pooh pooh it for a while because nobody was making any money. And. And it was a big ego trip for a lot of people. But once I saw that, you know, new cars, you can talk to your dashboard and it'll play it. And all these Amazon echo devices and Google Play devices in homes. There's got 100 million of them out there. I thought maybe to get on this thing. This is taken off. It's exceeded XM Radio and it's free. So it's a great marketing tool.

[00:20:22] Oh, it's terrific. And I remember my folks didn't have much money, but for my 16th birthday, they gave me my all time favorite gift, and that was an Emerson transistor radio. I mean, et cetera. And I said, boy, this is the best thing I could plug in this little earphone into my ear and listen to it go down the beach and just have a great time. And now, you know, that's so ancient. But, yeah, it was to be the beginning of what's happening now with podcast.

[00:20:52] So besides podcasting, once you determine a brand for somebody, they've got to get the word out. So what what are your favorite vehicles to start them with to get the word out of their new brand?

[00:21:04] Well, I personally, because of my background and professional speaking, think speaking is phenomenal and certainly Tom, I think I went through or purchased one of your courses on humor and, you know, keep in laughing or something.

[00:21:21] Yeah. Yeah. Make them laugh. You make them laugh. And and so I think getting out there and speaking is one of the best platforms you can have.

[00:21:29] Yeah. Except we're stuck now. A lot of meetings have been canceled. So it's good to have other avenues.

[00:21:35] Well, what we're doing right now, we're on Zoom just using the audio portion, preparing for a major keynote in September where we're transitioning from doing it live. It's an annual event for a major association. We're going to do it online. So we're kind of learning together and we're gonna make it happen. So I think you can certainly go online with what you have to offer.

[00:22:03] But what I think is really interesting about podcasting and I'm becoming much more of an advocate than ever before about it, is that you can just take your niche, whatever that is, if you're serving Dennis or yours or being ballet dancers or whatever it might be, you can focus on that niche and develop a podcast around that niche. And you're speaking could be along that line as well. And I know you had Fred Bernstine recent. Right, an old friend of mine and a client as well as the past. And he works with the interior design community and has been extremely successful because he focus on that and that old saying there are riches in the niches. Well, he understood that and he ran with it and done very well. He's done very well.

[00:22:52] Well, you know, I tried that ballet one for a while, but it didn't go too good for me.

[00:22:57] Yeah. You were having trouble with that, too. I think more like ballet. I could do belly dancing. Well, to each their own.

[00:23:09] But I think the reality is. So, for example, I heard above the noise, my my niche, my primary mission.

[00:23:16] It's not my only niche, but my primary image are speakers who writes slash writers who speak. And then I work with association business leaders and a lot of entrepreneurs. But the reason that I work in that niche, in the first part, the speakers and the authors is because as you discover Tom by out there speaking and writing books, including e-books, that's the way to promote yourself. Blogs, which you certainly have been an advocate of for many years, as well as podcasts.

[00:23:47] What we're doing right now is a great way to get your name out there in front of others and video to where you love YouTube for massive distribution on YouTube, too. Absolutely.

[00:23:59] So you guys take a brief break. First sponsor break and we come back. We'll ask Dick, what's a typical day look like for him and his. Entrepreneurial world. And he's got something special for you, too. So hang in there, folks. So, folks, about 20 years ago, I kind of turned the Internet marketing guru were on its head because guys at my level were charged in 50 or 100 grand upfront. The small business people to teach him this stuff that I've been doing all these years. And I thought, you know what, that's and I know a lot of these guys. You give me 50 grand. You never see him again. So so I said this is too risky for small business and it's not right. So I charged about flipped everything on its head. I charged an entry fee, which is only about 10 percent of what everybody was charging. And then I took a percentage of profits that was capped at fifty thousand dollars.

[00:24:52] So for me to make my fifty thousand, you had to make two hundred thousand. Well, guess what? People love this and jumped on the bandwagon and seventeen hundred students later and 20 years later, it's still going strong.

[00:25:06] And also they knew I wouldn't disappear on him because I wouldn't get my 50. Thanks. So. So it's been just wonderful and it's a very high value.

[00:25:15] Guys at my level won't even talk to you, let alone teach anything. And so mine is all one on one because I don't want a group session where if I'm talking to the advanced people, the the non advanced people or the beginners are lost. And if I'm talking to the beginners, the advance people are like, wow, what am I doing here? So it's one on one with me and the all the people that I've trained that work here. So you have unlimited one on one tutoring with all of them.

[00:25:46] So it's it's very powerful. And you actually spend an immersion weekend in the great Internet marketing retreat center. Again, the only facility of its kind in the world where you actually live in a big mansion house. It's my where I'm sitting right now, basically now you can't do it during the pandemic, but we don't actually even let anybody come until they've had four months of training so that they're not deer in the headlights the whole time.

[00:26:10] So it's extremely powerful and also includes a scholarship to my school. So very, very powerful program. I'll put it up against anybody on Earth that you can throw at me. In the end. I got the seventh, at least seventeen hundred people that'll vouch for me and really thousands and thousands in the speeches that I've done around the world, just like Dick has. So check it out. That's at greatInternetmarketingtraining.com.

[00:26:41] All right, let's get back to the main event. Dick Bruso is here. He is developed a brand called Heard Above the Noise. And he really does that and helps other people be heard above the noise through branding. So. So, Dick, what's a typical day look like for you? What do you get up early? You work out the eat. What what's it look like?

[00:27:01] Well, a typical day right now is I'm in a strong learning curve in terms of everything online. Yep.

[00:27:09] I've been taking courses related to podcasting, to online courses with Zoom.

[00:27:16] I'll make sure you listen to Monday's podcast or I talked about being a great online presenter.

[00:27:22] I promise you, I will miss you.

[00:27:25] Like I mentioned earlier, you walk the talk and and you have rave reviews, so I will definitely listen to it. And and the other thing that I'm doing as well, I've been married at 54 years. And that was my best sale, getting my wife to marry me.

[00:27:43] I have nine grandchildren, one great grandson of four beautiful daughters and four terrific Santa Claus. And so spending time with them, whether it's online, we've had our one of our grandsons with us for a couple of months, an online education for him because the school. Right. Wow. And so a lot of kind of family related things as well.

[00:28:10] And then the other thing that I'm looking to do is to really offer, which I talk about here in a few minutes, offer something to those that are listening, why they're at home that is productive and not just sitting there, but doing something that would allow them to move whatever business they have moved forward in a positive way. And one of the things that has helped me a lot is our chapter of the National Speakers Association here in Colorado. We're the largest chapter in the country. And I had the privilege of being president of it. But I remember when I went to my very first meeting and I came home and I asked my wife, Joanne is my wife. Joanne asked me. She said, well, what was it like? And I said it was a room full of me, people that loved what they were doing, they were excited, etc.. And so one of the. Things I would recommend for anyone listening to this podcast is find a community if you don't have one where you can visit online. Encourage help one another. Which is exactly what our chapter is doing. But the national offices are doing as well. But that community makes a huge, huge difference. So you want to look for community. The other thing I want to mention is something that helped me a lot in broadcasting early on in Tom. I think you would relate to this because you you demonstrated in the way that you interact with people. You make it conversational, very enjoyable, very relaxing. I don't know if you remember that fellow by the name of Joe Roberts.

[00:29:51] Sure. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:29:52] And Joe Roberts is an old friend. Haven't seen him, though, for several years. And he is a media coach and fellow broadcaster at the top afternoon drive program in Los Angeles. And I believe now he's headquartered in Nashville. Well, we were talking one day and he teaches on this about, you know, who makes the best guest on a podcast or a radio show or a television show. And I would say this formula would work in terms of what you offer. You may not offer a radio or television or podcast program, but what you offer and the three areas where the problem that you address. The opportunity missed that people don't take advantage of what you have to offer. And the myth that you're destroying. So, for example, let's say one of the problems out there is so many people are living lives of quiet desperation because other people said that they can't do this, they shouldn't do this, etc. Now with a coded virus, it's even more difficult. So that could be the problem. The opportunity missed is they're missing out on fulfilling their potential and utilizing their special gifts. And the myth that's destroyed is it's too risky to succeed on my own.

[00:31:12] And, you know, Tom that there are many people out there that you freed them because of what you do. You've shown them how they can work from home, build a viable and profitable business and fulfill their potential, their potential and really utilize their very special gifts. And I'm sure you don't concern yourself with how risky it is as much as how successful you can be by applying the right principles. So to me, that's very, very important. And something I want people to take a look at what they're doing currently and say what could they ultimately do that could impact others in a positive way. And it's an old spiritual that says God ain't make no junk. Now, it may not be correct grammatically, but, boy, the message is loud and clear. And everyone listening to this podcasts, I guarantee you, Tom, and I know you would echo the sentiment. Everyone listening to this podcast has something to offer the world. They are unique. They are special. And only they can offer what they offer. And once you get that and you really clarify and focus on that brand and how it serves other people, that's the key to great success.

[00:32:29] That's that's beautiful. Yeah. Very powerful information. And when you talk about the risk and the high end, this is kind of what I've been preaching all these years of this online type of business has an unlimited upside and a limited downside. The risk is extremely low for for doing this. Unless, of course, you get you know, you get sucked into some scammer. But if you learn how to make a Web site really cheap, how to promote it, how to do YouTube videos and do all these things they don't cost much to do.

[00:33:05] What's the potential to bring in money is just enormous. I mean, it's been in the, you know, probably 30 million dollars for me while just sitting at home, you know, so. So it's amazingly powerful thing. And it still has a little bit of a stigma because there are so many scammers out there. But this is real. You know, everybody listening to this has purchased something online. Well, somebody sold it to you, probably Amazon, 90 percent of it. But there's a lot of other stuff, intellectual property and things you can you can create for yourself. That's so easy nowadays. You just won't believe it. But it really is so. So I think you have you said you had some kind of freebie for everybody, huh?

[00:33:49] Yeah, absolutely. And just a quick sidebar. You did a recent podcast on hobbies. Yeah. And why for years has said what I do for a living is my hobby that I love so much. And that's what I would wish for everyone tuning into this podcast that you do something you truly love and compassion about because it's like a magnet. Other people will be attracted to what you do. And you could build a very successful business, whether it's online or on another avenue that you take. So I just want to encourage everyone listening along those lines. Well, here's the offer. Everyone listening.

[00:34:29] I'd like to offer you the opportunity. It's free. It's complimentary. You have a 20 minute branding strategy session with me over the phone. So that's a 20 minute branding strategy session over the phone. And here are the steps. Very easy.

[00:34:44] Can they do it on Zoom? To give you practice.

[00:34:51] I think I'll go by phone.

[00:34:53] Zoom hasn't been as reliable as my.

[00:34:55] Yeah because everybody's on all day long now. So it's the internet connections are a little tougher.

[00:35:02] That's right. But again, as I get to know somebody, I'll be glad to do something on Zoom or whatever. So here's a first step. E mail your email address to DickBruso@heardabove.com.

[00:35:26] Just heard above. Ok. We'll have this in the show notes. Everybody's there. Don't worry about it if you're driving home.

[00:35:32] Right. And good branding strategy in the subject line. Just the two words. Branding strategy in the subject line. Then obviously, if you email me, I'll have your email address, but provide any other contact information. And the time zone you're in, because people are listening to Tom's program, I'm sure, probably around the world. So if you're out of the country, let me know and let me know the time zone you're in. And then I will contact you by email within 40 hours. Forty eight hours. Pardon me. Forty eight hours of the receipt of your email. Just schedule a time to visit by phone, and that will be on a first come first serve basis. So the sooner you do it, the better. Now I realize because Tom's podcast is so popular, people come back to it or catch programs they might have missed. So regardless of when you're listening to this, whether it's next month or next year, I'll still honor this free complimentary 20 minute branding strategy session.

[00:36:34] But hurry up, everybody. Because he'll he'll turn it down to nineteen point six minutes.

[00:36:39] If you want something, I always close every one of my talks or interviews with.

[00:36:46] And that is. Tune out the naysayers and tune in the cheerleaders.

[00:36:52] That's a beautiful sentiment. Well, Dick, it's been so great catching up with you, man.

[00:36:57] Oh, it's been my pleasure and privilege, Tom and keep up the great work that you're doing. And if I could be of any help or encouragement to you, you know where to find me.

[00:37:07] All right. Let's screw the commute, everybody, and then pay attention to all those great things that Dick had to say about getting yourself above the noise, something special so that you're in that blue ocean.

[00:37:21] All right. Everybody will catch on the next episode. See ya later.

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