Becoming Unstoppable: Mike "C-Roc" Ciorrocco on Personal Growth and Building a Billion-Dollar Brand | S2:E62

0:05Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Founder Story. Today, we have a special guest that I got to meet. I think it was two years ago on Social Audio. which we're going to dive into that. It's bringing back a lot of memories, and I can't wait to dive into what's been happening since the last time we spoke, maybe two years ago. But Mike Searock, he is the founder of that one brand and the best-selling author twice. And we're going to dive into all the things that you've been doing, working on your new book. But Mike, it's really great to see you again. Isn't it weird that it's not audio only? Yeah, man.

0:41I like looking at people, and I like having my face out there, you know, Daniel. So it's great to have a conversation with you and great to reconnect, brother. I know. I don't think we ever had a face-to-face conversation, which is pretty funny. That was the whole 2021 year, right? 2021, half of 2022. But let's dive into what made you even want to be an entrepreneur. So what was it that was the spark for you? Yeah, I worked for several companies. My parents, grandparents, uncles, they were all entrepreneurs, but I really like the freedom and I like to be able to cause and create. And the companies that I work for, I'd have to go through kind of a bureaucracy, right?

1:18To be able to create and have ideas and test things out. And I wanted to be C-Rock wrong versus somebody else is taking a responsibility for it. If I wanna try something, I wanted to have that freedom and responsibility to be wrong because to me, being wrong gives you an opportunity to gather data, to try again and continue to evolve and get better. So, uh, yeah, that's, that's the, the reason that I love entrepreneurship. That's why I wanted to be, and I want to cause and create more things. Isn't it amazing that having the freedom, I mean, I remember working a corporate job and no matter how much PTO time they gave us or working remote, it just, it's not the same.

1:57Yeah, no, a hundred percent. I like, see, I like working when I want to work too. You know, I can work on Saturdays and Sundays. The day of the week really doesn't matter. Um, and you know, so for me, I just love the freedom and you know, if I want to take some time off, I'll take some time off and appreciate that time off given to my, to me myself. I love that. Yeah. You're like giving yourself PTO. Yeah. You've earned, you've really earned that vacation time. Let's, let's talk about that one brand. So what are you doing at that one brand? What does it consist of? Well, the brand started when I started doing some work on myself and really identifying who I am.

2:35I think it's important for everybody to really take some time to do that and do a self-assessment of like, okay, what is my mission in life? What are my goals? What are my non-negotiable, my standards that I'm not going to negotiate with, with myself or anybody else? And then also identifying the uniqueness of myself, the quirkiness, the weirdness, and then lean into it unapologetically. And that's how you become that one. And that one is so important to become because it's not about being the best. it's about being you. And in fact, the matter is, is that most people are blending in Daniel, and it's not good.

3:09Like you don't get attention when you blend in. And there's different ways to get attention. We talked about this offline, but you could be a sensationalist, a merchant of chaos, I'll say. And they have a term in media, if it bleeds, it reads. Or you can be a person that really steps into who you are unapologetically and be that one. And so I came up with this idea with this, and I wanted to create a brand when I did this that could go on several different industries, several different verticals. We started out with getting people booked on top podcasts with warm introductions and really emphasizing the relationship part with the podcast host.

3:46And it's been amazing, man. We've attracted New York Time bestselling authors, top entrepreneurs, billionaires, top CEOs of Fortune 50 companies, movie producers, you name it. So if somebody was to ask you, what are you made of? What would you say? Yeah, so this changes on a daily basis, but most recently I'm really diving into my faith and really developing my faith and strengthening my faith in God. I'm a firm believer that I've been saved by omnipresent, omnipotent, omniloving God. And for me, I think I'm really made of the Holy Spirit and what God has put into me and the purposes God's put into me.

4:25And I haven't I really have some regrets of not and I shouldn't be but regretful of not sharing more of that more of my faith journey earlier on. But it's become a really important part of my life right now. So I find it fascinating that it seems like people for a few many years were not really talking about faith. I think a lot of people have moved away from from maybe the typical religion. And they're you know, they'd be they'd say maybe they're more spiritual. but I feel like the last maybe two or three years, it's kind of swinging the other way now that I'm hearing a lot of people publicly talk about faith, which is very interesting.

5:06I find it fascinating. Why do you think that is? Because people are starting to see what's going on in their lives and in their environment, their communities around them, and they don't like it. And then they start asking questions. And when you start to ask questions, amazing things happen. The answers will start to appear. And people are starting to realize that there is some kind of structure that we need in our lives some kind of discipline and we need to understand that we don't have control over everything and being able to surrender and being vulnerable is a powerful powerful uh condition to be in or have and and that's what i'm what i'm seeing out there it's it's more you know apparent to me than ever that people should stop caring what people think and focus on uh their relationship with a higher power so that they can get some guidance to help people on the most dynamics possible including themselves their family they're in your their their groups that they're in like their teams and work environment mankind the earth i mean all these dynamics that we need to focus on can affect each and every one of uh the dynamics so i think that's what we're seeing and and i i just have a firm belief in the plan that god set out and i trust in it and i don't i don't want to ask questions except for hey guide me?

6:18What do I do next? So social media has seemed to possibly create great things, as we know, right? Like business, relationships, connections, but it also has created loneliness and lack of connection. So how do you see social media fitting into your life? Well, that's a tool, right? So social media is a tool or a platform you can use to advance your mission. Most people are drifting and they're on purpose. Everybody's on purpose, Daniel, but it's whose purpose are you on? Right? So if you're on someone like your own purpose, you're going to use social media to achieve the mission that you're on.

6:58So it doesn't, it's not just social media, it's alcohol, it's parties, it's television, Netflix, whatever's out there. Those are all vehicles that you can use, but you need to really identify who you are and whose purpose are you following because i got to tell you if you're not following your own purpose you're following someone else's someone else's got you and then you're going to go on that mission and then you're going to regret and be miserable that's what happens every time somebody's on someone else's mission matter of fact simon cynic wrote a book find your why and i think he should have he made the word why real big but he i don't think he emphasized enough the word your because it is so powerful to understand how important it is to find your why.

7:40And I think he should have really put your really big. Yeah. I mean, for me, it took me decades to figure out my why. I think we, we, we have this feeling, like I read this book, find your why. And all of a sudden I have my why, but not realizing like, no, I mean, it can take, at least for me, it took me decades going through different things to one day. I finally realized like, you know what, this is my why and I'm going to stick to it, but I'm with you until I figured that out. I was kind of like, you know, cruising around lost a hundred percent. You're not really, you're not really lost. You're, you may feel that way.

8:16That, that feeling comes from being on someone else's purpose. Most of the time it becomes a purpose of the media becomes a purpose of social media of the people that are on there and they're swaying you and you're a puppet. And I don't know about you, but I don't ever want to be a puppet. I'd rather be the puppet master in control at cause being guided by a higher power. and that's the way I roll when it's worked out really well for me and those around me in my environment and those that I have impact on. So currently right now, like in this moment, in about two hours, I have to submit my manuscript for a book.

8:48Like literally in two hours after this conversation, I have to go and make sure that it's finished to submit this. How does this feel after you, after like working on these books now, submitting this manuscript, launching this book, walk me through like how this whole process was for you. Did you say get to or have to? Both. Okay. Yeah. I mean, really, it's a perspective. I have to get to. Yeah, you're right. You have an amazing opportunity to impact people, but also writing a book and a manuscript is therapeutic, right? You get to do this opportunity, man. There's not many people that get to do this opportunity.

9:21So it's very important to stress that. But the process for me, what was the question? What's the process like? Yeah. So how was the whole process of writing the book and then when the book comes out and seeing the book on the shelf? I know this is like a big question, but just any, any parts of this whole process that stood out for you? Yeah. I mean, I do think the therapeutic part of it, writing a book was, is, you know, it's, it's tough, especially when you're writing about stories of your life, things you've been through, which my book, Rocket Fuel Converts FX was about, was about my life. And this law that I created, which was everything that you come across, you have a choice, two, two options.

9:57You can store the stuff in your trunk where it weighs you down. Hey, everyone. I'm not sure if you've heard, but our show Founder's Story is now available on the iHeartRadio app. So check that out. iHeartRadio online or you grab the app. It's super easy. You can listen to all of our episodes wherever you enjoy your podcast, whether that's iHeartRadio, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and many more. But check it out. It slows you down or you can store it in your fuel tank where you can convert it into rocket fuel and become unstoppable. And so when I had to face these different things in my life, I had to ask that question.

10:31Was I storing this stuff in my trunk? And is this part of things that are weighing me down and slowing me down? Or did I store it in my tank? And you can always make the decision again, even if you made the wrong decision in the past. So a very therapeutic vision, casting a vision out of what you expect. I had Grant Cardone writing the forward for the book before he even knew that I wanted him to, before the book was even started. Being a bestseller, had that already planned and visualized. and then going through the steps to do that and understanding that. And when it came tough or became difficult, just to keep going.

11:00The goal is keep going, keep chipping away. And then to see the fruits of your labor come, it's very, very satisfying, except for the fact that more importantly than anything, when you do accomplish that, it's the question you have to ask yourself after you celebrate for five minutes is what's next. So what for you, and I love that. Thank you for sharing about it's being, it's therapeutic. it's for sure like nerve wracking because I'm rethinking and reliving things that I have to then put down. And then I'm like, oh my gosh, people are going to read this. How were they going to think about me?

11:33And I'm concerned about that. But then I'm thinking, I hope somebody is motivated by this or maybe they'll be inspired or changed. But now after you've now launched two books, what have you found that they have done in terms of business for you? Well, credibility is a huge thing. I think authority and credibility, it creates that, especially if you do the work and get the, get the message out about the book, talk about the book, be obsessively talking about it. Uh, so yeah, credibility and authorities, huge, uh, opportunities for podcasts and stages. Um, you know, uh, for me, it's a good time to look at our opportunity to go back and reflect and see how far I've come since I wrote the book.

12:13And, uh, yeah, I mean, it's a calling card, really. I mean, I haven't made a whole lot of money with selling books, honestly. It's not like a publisher came to me and said, hey, you should write a book. And when you realize you need to hire, it's usually already too late. I've been there wasting weeks waiting for decent candidates. If I had used Indeed, I could have hired way faster. So when it comes to hiring, Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job post seen on other job sites. Indeed, sponsored jobs help you stand out and hire fast. With sponsored jobs, your post jumps to the top of the page, for your relevant candidates so you can reach the people you want faster.

12:49And it makes a huge difference. According to Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed have 45 % more applications than non-sponsored jobs. One thing I love about Indeed, it makes hiring fast because it puts you right in front of the right people without wasting time. Plus there are no monthly subscriptions, no long-term contracts. You only pay for results. And while I've been talking, 23 hires were made on Indeed worldwide. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed. And listeners of this show will get a$75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com slash founders story.

13:28Just go to indeed.com slash founders story right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash founders story. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring indeed is all you need. But that may happen in the future. And I didn't get an advance on it. But what it has done is open doors, especially getting somebody like Grant Cardone to write the forward for the book because I was mentored by him at first from afar. And then I started, you know, going and implementing some of the things he was talking about and making friends with some of the people in his organization and then getting to know Grant and having him write the forward for the book at a time where he became a television director a personality being on a undercover billionaire the timing was perfect and so that gave me proximity and that gave me elevation because of that and so that's what it's done for me and anything i ever do i'm gonna have to make sure i tag on to someone else respectfully uh you reward that person make sure it's there there it's an even trade to some degree maybe i'm over delivery because you need that you need to you need to attach on to those that have already done it.

14:38And I think that allows you to tap into their, their, you know, ecosystem. So we've, I've talked to other incredible people like yourself, and I'd say the number one thing that they have always mentioned is timing and like just how important timing was with the ability for them to be successful. How, besides the book, has timing been something that's positively impacted you in business other than the book and working with Grant Cardone? Oh, of course. And negatively as well. I mean, there's a tech platform blueprinted that we put out right before AI came out and became popular. And it ate our lunch because what we were doing with that tech platform was basically creating, not a course platform, but a platform that people could put their SOPs in and share their SOPs with their community or people.

15:29and really when it came down to it, when AI came out, you could just go to catch EPT and put, hey, I need an SOP for this. And without paying for it in a matter of five seconds, it comes up with the SOP. So that was a timing thing that affected us negatively. However, it gave me experience that I would have never had anywhere else of how to raise capital, being around people that are in tech, understanding how to build tech, what it takes to go to market. So there's a lot of positives that came from it as well. I would say timing-wise positively was that book, uh, was right around the pandemic and doing that and being around that allowed me to be online a lot more and zoom calls and different reach out to people, um, you know, and have 15 minute zoom calls with people to connect and network.

16:14So yeah, I mean, and, and now podcasting starting to take off and that one agency came around at the right time because there's a lot of companies that are built on Filipino VAs, which I don't have a problem with that and they're cold pitching guests on the shows and all of us podcast hosts get tons and tons of pitches that are cold misaligned and they're missing the most important part which is the relationship and i noticed that and i saw a hole in the market of the relationship part and the intentionality and alignment part and so the timing for this what we're doing now is phenomenal and so yeah that's helped me with that i loved the idea i remember you were telling me about this SOP idea.

16:51And I was like, holy crap, this is what everybody needs. This is an incredible idea. And who would have thought, you know, ChatGBT would come out and then, you know, all these things would happen. I'm totally with you when it comes to pitching. We get pitched all the time every day. And something I always notice, and I always, I would sometimes email people back just to, you know, to let them know, I'm like, look, you're pitching me somebody, but I don't understand how that person is going to make my audience, you know, how is it going to relate to my audience? And then how is it going to make my life better?

17:26Because in the end of the day, we know we get a lot of pitches. So it's like, there's no shortage of people being pitched, but it's like, they, they, they always just tell me like, this is so-and-so and this is what they do. But I'm like, yeah, but I, how does that fit into my audience? or like, how does that matter to me? Is it newsworthy? Is it relevant to anything? They never take the time to personalize anything. So I'm glad that you brought that up. And by the way, I've seen your pitching. It's amazing. It is amazing. I can tell a massive difference between people that just cold send like hundreds of emails, the same email.

18:06And they're just, I feel like it's just, it doesn't really work anymore. It's just too, there's too much noise in the market. So I appreciate that. Let's talk about that one brand. What's the future? So I write down every day that that one will become a billion dollar brand. I have no idea how that's going to happen, honestly. I just commit. Commitment is so important because commitment leads to your attention being set, your intention being set. Intention directs your attention. So I know that. I freak out sometimes when I write these things down and I'm like, I have no idea how this is going to happen.

18:40And I start to panic for a minute and I'm like, wait a minute. commitment, intention, attention, cause and create. And so I remind myself of that formula. So that one, I created it to go on a lot of different companies. It can be a licensed brand that can go on a lot of different companies. I just got to put the work in with my team to build it and then find people that believe in the vision of becoming that one and then add great people to the team, bring in their visions, their execution. And who knows? I mean, we may form a media company, We may form a clothing line. There's several different verticals that we could get into.

19:14But right now I'm at a stage, you're actually interviewing me at a stage where I feel that later on down the road, you're going to say, dude, I had C-Rock on here. He was just starting that one brand and everybody's heard of it. I think I know so many people that have already heard of C-Rock. So that, you know, you're already there. Like you're already at that place. It's not like you're starting from zero. So that's, you know, that's a great part in itself, right? I think it's like starting from zero is always challenging. But what I've seen with you is like you build your personal brand where you can then insert different things in.

19:47And you can get at a higher level. Your success level is already like up 50 % on whatever it is that you do, I would think, because you've built that personal brand. And you've done 1 ,101 interviews. Yeah, I agree. But just for me and personally, I wake up every day pretending nobody's ever heard of me. I started zero every day. And that freaks me out a little bit so that it forces me to take action and make sure every day is worth it. Like I got to put in the work. So I don't I don't think that 50 percent is the number. I really think it's like maybe one percent. And when I do create this brand to become whatever, and by the way, a billion is just a number.

20:27It's just a made up number. It's just a target. Right. But when I get let's say I do get there, I'll still think to myself, OK, 10 percent down, because if I get there, that means that I'm capable of so much more. And I always think to myself, Daniel, I wanna see how far I can take this thing, this thing, this opportunity that God's given me. It reminds me of Amazon, like the day one company. I know there's a few other ones. I've seen even TikTok uses that phrase too, or day zero or day one. It's like every day we think like we just started yesterday. What point in your life, besides a billion dollars, is there something else in your life that if you achieve it, you're like, wow, you know what?

21:06I did it. Well, so I've been married 21 and a half years now. So I'm going to continue to focus on making sure my marriage keeps getting better every day. My relationship with my wife is the best it possibly can be and support her and her dreams. But there's one thing in my mind, my son and my daughter, I'm creating opportunities for everything I'm doing, whether any kind of money comes in whatsoever. I'm creating opportunities. My son wants to go and film and television through this. What I do, I have connections to people in film and television. and he got invited to go on set and be a PA and start from the bottom.

21:36My daughter wants to be a golfer and she's 12. And I'm intentionally setting out time aside and intention for her to have every opportunity to be a professional golfer if it's in the cards for her. So for me, I want to grow this brand, focus on my family. And then if my son and daughter can be successful through something that I've done, where I laid the groundwork for a connection or just time and opportunity to practice and be focused on what we're doing, that's a great life for me. Man, amazing. I'm always shocked about how younger generations are picking up golf. And women, it's becoming like a really big sport for women with golf.

22:13It's really shocking to me. That's amazing, though. Do you play golf? Yeah, I love golf. I need to try it. What's your favorite sport right now? Are you into like paddle or was it pickleball? Are you doing any of those? Yeah, my son and my daughter, we play pickleball here or there. But really, golf is my favorite. I have a passion for it. I love coaching softball. My daughter plays softball as well. And then as far as watching, I like to watch golf, baseball, and football. Golf, baseball, and football, yeah. Yeah, thank you for sharing that. I need to get more into sports. I feel like I watched the Olympics, and I was super motivated.

22:51Like, you know what? I want to represent some country somewhere in the world for something at the next Olympics. But let's talk about any future products or services. Do you have something that's on the horizon that we can all get excited about? Yeah. So we just launched that one podcast mastermind tour where I've been doing this, all my podcasting in my studio here at the house. It's a bit amazing. It's very easy and efficient. However, I need to get on the road. And so what I'm going to be doing, I'm going to go to speak at other people's events. about becoming that one and then have a little breakout podcast episodes off of that.

23:29And then I'm creating my own tour where I'm going from city to city over the next year, starting in LA next Friday. And I'm going to bring celebrities and top business people in to be interviewed. And then those that want proximity to that, because I believe elevation comes from proximity and they would like to be interviewed on that one podcast with Mike C-Rock and have a content package created from the episode behind the scenes, B-roll and all that, and then be able to network with all the people that I interview and come to these locations. We're putting packages together and we already have interest that people are sending money to us to be able to be a part of that.

24:01And so we're going to Vegas next, Miami, Chicago, New York, Scottsdale. We're making a tour out of it and pretending that I'm a famous musician or something like going on tour. I love that, man. That's a great thing. Now you don't have to be a musician. you don't have to be an athlete you don't have to be a movie star a tv star to be able to create media to then do these things i think it's an incredible time for media in just my personal opinion but i can't wait to see you on one of these tours it i i totally am with building authority and leveraging media and then proximity i think clubhouse for me was like one of those those times where I really felt proximity is power in a sense, like I never even expected.

24:51So I totally am with that. I can't wait. I'm going to join you in Miami and New York, just because I feel like, I don't know. I feel like those two cities are calling to me, but if you want to get in touch with you, they want to find out information. They want to join you. How can they do so? The best way to do it is go to Instagram at Mikey C rock and shoot me a DM. And then I can lead you and feel like funnel you to the right direction for your needs, because that's to me um i have several different links and all that but dm and me on instagram i answer all my dms i love talking to people and it's mikeycrock on instagram mikeycrock on instagram really great seeing you man uh super happy that we're able to to touch base again after two years you really never know like you never know who you one will meet and then you never know who you're gonna meet again and how what's gonna happen there this world is it's so incredibly small sometimes is mind-blowing.

25:44Yeah, I agree, man. It's an awesome opportunity for us to maybe do calls and create a future together here. Awesome. Thanks for joining us today again on Founder's Story. Appreciate your time. Thanks, man. Appreciate you.