Phillip Gonzales on Systems, Faith & Staying the Course

0:00The following programming is sponsored by Marc J. Bernstein. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of this station, its management, or Beasley Media Group. Entrepreneur, founder, author, and financial advisor, Marc Bernstein helps high-performing business owners turn their visions into reality. At March Forward, Marc and his partners and associates think out of the box to partner with their clients in regards to their visions for their lives, their businesses, and their legacies. And through his innovative work with the Forward Focus Forums, Mark connects entrepreneurs to resources that help to fuel their success.

0:35Founders Forum is a radio show and podcast where entrepreneurs share their journeys, reveal the stories behind their successes, and the lessons they've learned. Join Mark and his guests for a mix of inspiration, valuable insights, and a bit of fun. Now, let's dive in. Good morning, America. How are you? We're here on Founders Forum this morning. It's another bright, sunny day in Babcock Ranch, Florida. And I tell you Babcock Ranch because this is part of the Babcock Ranch series. And I have two entrepreneurs from Babcock Ranch today, Philip and Susan. Susan is my co-host for this show, so thank you for doing this.

1:16And Susan is CEO and founder of Babcock Mortgage, which we'll talk about in our next show. and Philip Gonzalez is founder and CEO of Adriel Partners Growth Agency. And he is a professional communicator, and you will know that very shortly, whose passion is to help people unlock their next level of success in their business, family, and faith. He's the founder of Adriel Partners Growth Agency, I should have said before, helping leaders grow their business faster, healthier, and more profitably through coaching, consulting, and creative services. He's also an ordained minister, musician, and I've heard him sing, and he's pretty good, and so is his wife, and author, and lives with his wife and three children in Babcock Ranch, Florida, the first solar-powered town in America.

2:08And we also, as you know, part of the series. You may have already heard. It may already be out. Sid Kitson, the founder, was here with us a couple weeks ago. and I should mention we are in Florida podcast studio. Steve Lang is owner entrepreneur there. And so this is, we were in this very, very place with Sid two weeks ago, I think. And, or last week, it might have even been last week, time's flying. So anyway, we're going to be, you're going to be hearing a lot more about Babcock Ranch as we go on. So Philip, tell us your story. You're not originally from here. Tell us where you're from, how you got here, and how you got here professionally and business-wise.

2:51Oh, goodness. Well, I was born in Texas in the beginning of the 80s. And I lived there until I was about eight years old. And then my family came here in 1990 because my father is a pastor. And he was actually called to serve at a church here in Fort Myers, a little church down there. And so we moved here as a family, myself, my two younger brothers, and had to leave our dog behind, which was very sad. His name was Jacques. He was a poodle. We called him Jacques Le Dog Oui Oui because he used to pee all over the house. So we showed up here in August of 1990, which also is the exact month and year when my wife was born.

3:28So she likes to say that I was sent here for her. And, of course, being a good husband, I say yes, dear. I was. So I grew up, really most of my growing up was in Florida. And it's been interesting to see the whole community change, the whole region. I grew up in Gateway, a similar kind of master plan community. But we really loved being able to be a part of Babcock Ranch, close to the founding. Along with Susan, we were in one of the first couple hundred houses here in the ranch. And just seeing everything grow up around us. You two were both pioneers here. Well, they had us, you know, we had to dig our own lots and build our own houses.

4:02You know, churn butter. That's how they did in the old days. Trudge through the mud. It felt like we churned butter when we had to drive to the grocery store. and it wasn't in our neighborhood. Leave the bubble, go south, and finally show up. So it's been really fun to see the community around grow throughout the several years that I've been here. And we should also say, besides being the first solar-powered town, it's weather-resilient, somewhat hurricane-proof, and all about preservation, which is really becoming a model around the country. We're also having Amy and Jennifer, two of the engineers who did a lot of the work on the show Amy was already recorded and it's fascinating that they're being called on to projects all over Florida and starting to be nationally to do similar work and when he asks Sid his vision it's to do nothing but continue to work on Babcock Ranch but influence others they're very open, they want to give the planning and all the secrets away to everybody who wants to do it because he'd love to see this happen all over the country and ultimately the world.

5:10So it's pretty cool. So anyway, you came to Babcock Grants. Tell us professionally, because I know you started pretty early as an entrepreneur. Goodness, that is quite a journey. So I was born, and my mother tells me that I started speaking full sentences by the age of one, and I've never stopped. And so I like to call myself a professional communicator, because everything from in college, my degree was communication studies. I worked at the News Press, our local Gannett-owned newspaper, for several years. I started in entrepreneurship, really, in about 2003, when one of the friends that my dad had from our church, he asked if I wanted to run a cart in our local shopping mall that sold personalized VeggieTales children's music CDs.

5:55Very niche, but what I discovered was... Very niche. Very niche, personalized music CDs at carts in malls. What I found out, his name was... Val Veggies. Well, pretty much. If you know VeggieTales, you know they're faith-based children's media, and it's a lot of fun. Virgil was a millionaire at the time, multiple times over, and he had made his money in systems, designing systems for people to start their own small business opportunities. The sales scripts, the employee training manuals, how to negotiate a mall lease. He was building these things out. And so he asked me to be one of his operators, and after a couple years asked if I would come and be a part of his corporate team.

6:31And so we traveled the country teaching other small business owners how to actually set up and run these business in a box concepts. Like a franchise, but without the fee. Except you kind of do pay a fee to us. So it was a fascinating learning experience to learn from Virgil. All about the power of systems and how to repeat a good thing multiple times. And that's what makes it a great thing. Also sounds like the start in the sense of your consulting career. Yes. And I'd actually been designing websites since the late 90s. And so providing business services as a service provider, that's something I've done for decades.

7:06But then working with Virgil was really the first time that I saw how the power of sharing wisdom and sharing a template for how to do something could be even more powerful than just providing a service. And so I did that for several years. Along the way, parallel, I've always had parallel tracks. I was also ordained as a minister, and I was the worship pastor at my church. Then we planted a church as well. Was becoming a minister something you always wanted to do because your dad did it, or is it something that came to you later as a thought? That's such a great question. People would ask that growing up.

7:36Do you want to be like your dad? And I always had the same answer. To be a pastor is a heavy thing in a good way. Don't just step into it. So I said, if God wants me to do it, I will, but I'm not just signing up. So I really did feel called, really in 2006, that it was time to step into that role. And everything has a season, kind of like we talked about earlier with cycles. And so I was called into that for a long season. And we planned out a church, ran that for eight years, got to see a lot of people's lives changed. And then at the end of that season, it was time to refocus on helping a more narrow audience, and that's business owners.

8:09And I really enjoyed jumping into that and taking a lot of the lessons I learned from Virgil about sales and systems, a lot of the lessons I learned from counseling couples and helping people on their spiritual journey. Well, guess what? The business journey has a lot of parallels too. You're facing the unknown, you're achieving obstacles or trying to overcome obstacles, and you're looking for the core principles that will guide you there along the way. And so that was really about 2019 is when I jumped wholeheartedly into the business side of consulting and coaching and also still doing websites and marketing.

8:41And so wholeheartedly into entrepreneurialism as well. And so as an entrepreneur, so you started and then it's just been a smooth ride ever since, right? Oh, absolutely. I've never had any challenges. That'll just come to you. So, okay, since you mentioned it, since I was wrong, since there were some challenges, tell me about that. What kind of things did you face? What are some of the, I'm sure they're almost innumerable as they are for most people. Absolutely. But what strikes you as some of the things that happened to you that you were able to learn from later on? I tell you what, that's a great question, Mark.

9:19One of the first things that I really learned from was watching the company that I was a part of with Virgil. They had a content partner. I watched that partnership totally implode. Lawsuits, front page news headlines in Nashville, contract negotiations, litigation. I discovered that you need to be very careful who you're partnering with. And you need to be very careful how you structure the terms of that partnership. And so in my own business, that was one of the early lessons I learned really as a what not to do because I got to watch him. And because of that, I've learned to structure my business in a certain way and it's been helpful for me.

9:55But one of the biggest things that I've really struggled with... I had interesting partnership lessons as well earlier. And today I have a very healthy partnership, but it took a lot of years to be able to do that properly. Definitely something to be said for learning the lessons and then applying them on the other side. Yep, yep. So it turns out that one of the biggest things, though, for me personally was that imposter syndrome, that feeling that yes I know I'm good at this yes I know I could do that but am I really good enough and that's one of the things that I've found I don't think it ever goes away and in the many many conversations I've had with other entrepreneurs and other business owners for most of them it's not that it goes away but you learn how to act in spite of it you learn how to take that put it into bots push it to the side and say yes I feel that but I'm not going to let my feelings determine my future.

10:47I'm going to let my focus determine my future instead. Which is different than if you want to be successful, act successful. You're not putting on an act, but you're taking those other feelings and putting them in a box. I see a distinction there. 100%. It's not acting like someone you're not. It's choosing to act as the version of you that you know you can be. And in the doing, we find the being. That's where the becoming starts to happen. Right, I like that. and I just had another thought that just escaped me. So what have you learned from that, and how do you apply that with your clients today?

11:25Sure. I've learned that if you wait for the perfect feeling to take action, you'll never actually take action at all. The better option is to make a wise choice with the information you have and choose to move forward and discover at the end of the day you're never really failing as long as you're learning along the way. Gotcha. you uh we we don't have that much more time before our break uh so i would like to just ask you um in terms of what is there any other challenge that you can mention that besides that one certainly the challenge of focus has been a big one it's easy to say yes to many things it's hard to say no but i heard a wise man say once you're more defined by what you say no to than by what you say yes to so that's really a challenge even to this day but by faith i'm overcoming it makes a lot of sense.

12:13And how do you, what is your solution to that? How do you, because that's a hard one. I have the same issue. How do you, what occurs when something comes at you that you know you should be saying no to or that you think you might and you're not sure if it should say no to it or not? That's a great question. Maybe we want listeners to stick around until after the break to hear the answer. That's perfect. We'll be right back on Founders Forum. The Sattel Institute is the leading CEO member organization dedicated to corporate social responsibility. Under the vision and leadership of its founder, entrepreneur and philanthropist Ed Sattel, the Institute brings together CEOs in Philadelphia and other cities to support the non-profit organizations that do heroic work in our communities.

12:56The Sattel Institute believes that community is every leader's business. SI's members-only meetings and private CEO conferences give members the opportunity to hear from world-class thought leaders on crucial topics like AI, education, corporate philanthropy, and more. In addition, CEO members get the opportunity to share ideas and experience with their peers, like-minded CEOs who believe in the importance of giving back to the community and who understand the benefits companies get from embracing corporate social responsibility. The Sattel Institute charges no dues or fees. In order to join, member companies simply make a long-term commitment to the nonprofit of their choice.

13:35To find out more about membership and why so many leading companies are now part of the Sattel Institute, visit the organization's website at sattelinstitute.org. Sattel, S-A-T-E-L-L, institute.org. As Ed Sattel says, think we, not just me.

14:01So back to that question, Philip. When someone comes to you and you have a decision point, yes or no, to do something, what goes through your mind and what's the process that you use, if any, to make that decision? Well, the first thing that goes to my mind usually is, of course I can. I can help everyone with everything. I've discovered that's not the voice to listen to. The second thing that goes through my head is this. does this direction correspond with the direction for my vision? Because at the end of the day, if you don't know where you're going, you won't know how you're getting there.

14:35And I have had to learn the discipline of having a clear vision for this is where I want to go with my business and my life. And anything that's not contributing to that, I simply have to say no to. I heard somebody say it this way, that it's never the bad that's the enemy of the best. It's the good that's the enemy of the best. So I simply have to ask the question, yes, I could do this, but is it wise considering the direction that I want to take this in the future? It also goes a couple of, did you want to say something? Yeah, I was just going to ask you about, you know, the culture of your company and how you feel like that plays into that.

15:08Absolutely. I know for me, I have a great blessing. I have several remote team members that help me with different executing things. I used to do the design of websites myself. I don't do that anymore because I have people way better. I try to focus on my uniqueness. And I found that the direction I want to take things with my business really is where there's more power in the hands of my team. I'm not having to make all the decisions. I want to be able to delegate more effectively. But in order for that to happen, two things must take place. Number one, they need to know that I trust them and value them.

15:42And number two, they need to know the level at which we do things here. And that's where you get culture. And so even for a team that's remote, I find, I remember when it's their birthdays and I contact them and I just wish them a happy birthday. I try to always find the good in the work they've done before I offer the criticism for what they could do better. I try to always address them respectfully. One that always calls me sir, I call him sir right back. Because it's that level of respect when they feel valued as people, they know that I really do believe in them. I want good for them. I'm not here to use them as a consumable resource and toss them aside when someone cheaper comes along.

16:17What I'm trying to do is create a culture where they know they're valued, they know they're empowered, and they have the knowledge to do what must be done. Does that reflect back to you? Do you see that in how they come back to you? Do they absorb that culture and be respectful and try to be thoughtful on the other end as well with clients and with you? Does it come back to you that way? Absolutely, Mark. And it's one of the things I've loved to see the most is really you reap what you sow. And nowhere does that come across more effectively than in relationships to people. And so, yeah, they're a great team and they do wonderful work and we're building it together.

16:55By the way, you mentioned uniqueness, that you focus on your uniqueness. So we talked about unique ability. Talk about that a lot on the show. The three of us were talking about it before. I think when you're doing something that isn't your unique ability, you're drawing energy away from yourself. And you're drawing it away from other things that you should be doing. So in my case, if I say, if I take clients that are outside the scope example of the people that we focus on, I'm probably not doing as good a job for my other clients, right? Or I may not be doing my partners any favors, or I may not be doing my family any favors by doing that.

17:34So to me, all that goes into it now. And the more I can focus on what energizes me, because I'm better for everybody else, and what's going to benefit everyone who's involved in that action more. I'm in alignment and everything's flowing the way it should be flowing, if that makes sense. So did you have any more questions about culture in terms of maintaining it? Not specifically. I mean, I think that the way that you presented it was kind of what I was thinking. Good, Susan. Okay, good. And I know both of you have some situations where you're working remotely with people. And I'm always interested in how you maintain it remotely.

18:19But you kind of address that because you'll make a call. I'm sure you have video meetings and things like that. I do want to ask you, let's talk about your future vision. Because I know we've had some talk about it already. So we were talking if it's three years from now, it's the year 2029. and we're looking back, Philip, and discussing what happened over the last three years. What would have to happen in your life, that could be professionally, personally, or anything else, for you to feel that that was a successful three-year period in your life? That's a great question. Well, I'd clone myself into a robot and let that do all the work for me with AI.

18:57No, I think for me, if I look three years out and I say, what does success look like for me? It involves me on a stage inspiring people to level up in their business or their family or their faith. You know, you look at the things that I've really had the privilege of doing over the years, and so many of them kind of lead to that point of creating and presenting ideas that help people level up and live better lives. And so for that to happen, there's three things in particular. Number one, I need to be consistent in letting people know, outreach. If you're looking for a speaker, contact philipgonzalez.com.

19:29Like, I need to let people know about that. and I've found that's where you get into the imposter syndrome sometimes and you have to just overcome that. So number one, let people know. Number two, I need to continue to invest in my team so they can continue running the kind of daily operations of our, call it the bread and butter business. Because if you're going to go out and do speaking gigs, certainly there's a point when that becomes very helpful for your family and very lucrative, but you don't usually start there. So I want to make sure that I'm a wise steward of the company I have and the team I have so they're operating well without me.

20:00And the third thing I think that needs to happen is really for me to continue to practice what I preach, to set that vision for my life, to pursue that vision for my life, to say no to the things that don't contribute to my life vision and really stay the course. And when I get the chance to chat with business owners, that's the biggest thing I always want to encourage them. Have that vision and stay the course because there's a thousand distractions that will come up. And as for me, I'm a very, very, very creative person. So I love new things. I love changing things. Just this morning, I was chatting with ChatGPT saying, hey, what if I switched from using WordPress to build our client websites into switching to something else?

20:38That's a terrible idea for the vision of having things run without you. Stay the course and good things will come your way if you've set your vision appropriately. By the way, I loved how you got the little plug in there for philipgonzalez.com. That was great. By the way, you are the entertainer. I first met Philip. He was actually on stage at open mic night here in Batcock Ranch, and he is quite the entertainer. And Susan, I just found out, also was a singer and did musical theater, right? Yes. And so you're more an extrovert than you appear to be as well, I think. Yes. Although I will say as I'm getting older, just a little older, I'm becoming more private.

21:24You know, I'm noticing, you know, back when we started, you know, we've been cruising a lot. We would go on cruises and I'd get up and sing and it was fun. And then people would follow me around on the whole ship the whole entire week and be like, you're amazing. And at some point I was like, you know what, that's nice, but I don't need all the attention. So I started backing out a little bit. So I don't know if my personality is changing, but I love theater. I love being on stage. I'm making people happy. Well, and Mark, you're a great, you're a musician as well. You're an entertainer too. That's true.

21:56I feel like I'm an introvert who behaves like an extrovert. Like I feel like basically I started out like you, very private, very quiet. But if I get around people in the right setting, my wife says I'm a total extrovert. I think it comes from where energy comes from, right? And so I might not automatically have that anymore. But once I get into it, you can't pull me back. Now I'm into it. Now I'm energized. And I want to keep doing this more. You have to have some of those tendencies. Anyway, that's not really what the show is about. It was a little aside that I made. So what challenges do you see, Philip, ahead in terms of staying on course and in terms of accomplishing your three-year vision?

22:35Well, that's a great question, too. You're so good at this. Every day there is a new opportunity to find a different direction I could go. And with the advent of AI, for someone like me who's hyper-creative and I've never been diagnosed with ADHD, so I don't claim it, But if I was, every day there's a new thing that could be fresh and shiny. It's simply discipline. It's making the daily choice. It's just like growing a marriage or growing any sort of relationship. You make a choice every day to say no to the distractions and say yes to the vision for where you're going forward. And there's no other trick I've found.

23:10There's no magic bullet. There's no special formula. It's the daily choice to do the right thing. And that's what's going to take you where you need to go. Same thing for me. And I'm sure that that's the advice you give to your clients as well. Focus, stay on track. Now, there are times, let me ask you this, though. There are times that things change and you need to pivot. How do you know when it's time to pivot if you're trying to stay the course all the time? Absolutely. I use a magic eight ball and I shake it and it tells me the answer. Ouija board? Exactly. No, I think that's such a great question, too.

23:43The idea of pivoting is, why do you pivot? You pivot because there's now a better way to get you to your goal. If you don't have a clear goal and a clear vision, you won't know when it's time to pivot because any direction could work as well as any other. But if you have a clear vision for where you want to go, a new opportunity arises and you can say, okay, let's pivot because this path is now a better path to the same destination we've always had. Or you discover actually that destination is not where we need to go at all. That's what I want to get to. Sometimes the goal can change. can. Because along the journey, you might find that, you know what, that wasn't the right goal after all.

24:20100%. I like to say it this way, that everyone at some point wants to chase success, but not everyone has really understood and defined what true success is. From my background and from my perspective, true success is finding and being the best version of the person you were made to be for the good of all people, and I would say the glory of God. And we know that that's a journey. that's not actually a destination. You don't end up there. That's something that you're, all of that, all of this is something that you're constantly, constantly work, doing the work. The joy is in the journey. The joy is in the journey, exactly.

24:55So I know you're a reader and what are your favorite books? What books have most influenced you? I've got a whole wall full of books that I love but the top three for me are certainly the Bible. It's been very foundational for my life and for my business. A lot of wisdom there. Number two, Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz. The power of our subconscious and how we can use that to achieve greater things. Third one is what I'd call a personal one. It's The Practice by Seth Godin. Seth is a marketing guru. The Practice are short musings on how to do creative work well. And anyone in business as an entrepreneur, you are doing creative work.

25:34You're creating something. So The Practice by Seth Godin, another one of my favorites. Great. And I want to ask you another question because I know you're an introspective person. If you could speak to your younger self, Philip, what advice would you give you? Oh, man. Forgive yourself for the missteps along the way because there will be many. And choose to see them as learning opportunities, not failures. And if you can learn to take every failure and instead reframe it as a learning opportunity and forgive yourself for not getting it right every time, you'll have much more boldness to keep moving forward as long as it takes to get to that success.

26:11Well, that's a perfect ending to our show today. Thanks so much for being here. Thank you, Susan, for co-hosting. Thank you, Philip. Thank all of you for listening. And we will see you next week on Founders Forum. Founders Forum was brought to you in part by March Forward LLC. We partner with entrepreneurs like you to assist in accomplishing your future vision, your life, your business, your legacy. Comprehensive wealth planning that starts with you, not a product. We hope you enjoyed your time with Founders Forum and that you found something of value to take with you throughout your day. Join us again next week for another episode of Founders Forum on WWDB 860 AM Philadelphia or on your favorite podcast streaming service.

26:54Securities offered through DFPG Investments, LLC. DFPG. Investment advisory services offered through Diversify Advisory Services, LLC. Diversify. D.A.S. and D.F.P.G. are affiliated entities. March is unaffiliated with D.A.S. and D.F.P.G. Members F.I.N.R.A. slash S.I.P.C. The information provided in this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be interpreted as investment advice. The views expressed are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Diversify or D.F.P.G.