Tony Stark Policci (00:01.378)
All right, everyone, thank you for tuning into another episode of the Hero Up podcast. You just heard the amazing introduction, my friend Nick Luisi here. And Nick is an amazing guy. Nick, thank you so much for being here and agreeing to be on the show today.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (00:15.072)
Well, Tony, first off, thank you for having me and thank you for this podcast. All the stuff you do and the topics that you go into is phenomenal, right? Because I don't think we talk about a lot of that enough. And I knew I was going be on this podcast. I've been working hard to get my beard because you've got a phenomenal one, right? So I'm almost there. I got a diet, right? So it looks as good as yours. But you know, anytime you get two guys with two beards, you know, talking about marketing and life and sales and business.

It's going to be a good show.

Tony Stark Policci (00:45.656)
Yeah, well, you know what? The beer looks great. And I feel really bad for anyone that is just listening to this and can't actually see you. one of the things of, one of the blessings of continuing to have a few birthdays, we start to get distinguished, right?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (01:00.992)
Sure, yeah. Well, as I say, I got a face for radio and now it's a face for podcasts. So, you know, they're not missing anything if they're just listening.

Tony Stark Policci (01:09.432)
Yeah, and you know, I made a choice to put context in this morning because sometimes when I'm doing the podcast, the glare gets pretty bad in my glasses. But if I would not have done that, we would have been almost identical.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (01:20.768)
Well, you're better looking. So I wouldn't look like your dad. Yeah, you're much younger looking and better looking. So yeah.

Tony Stark Policci (01:24.651)
I'm sorry.

Well, again, I appreciate you being there. let me just start. So first of all, who are you and what do you do? Let's start there.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (01:35.756)
Right. Fair. So Nicholas Luisi, I like to say I'm first the husband and a father, right? And then third, I'm a salesperson and a business executive. I've owned my own firm now. It's my third entrepreneurial step, right? But prior to that, people may know me as VP of Sales and President of a company that was called GKIC, right? And so Sales Performance Team, which is the company I currently have when we founded in 2019,

was a offshoot of that, right? Because people could understand marketing, small businesses can understand how funnels, copywriting, lead generation, all that. But what we found is that they struggled with hiring salespeople or managing salespeople or retaining salespeople. So we created a firm to help them with that. We helped them in a number of different ways, which I'm sure we'll get into. But that's what I am. I kind of grew up as a salesperson, so I love it.

It was my chosen profession and I've been doing it in a lot of different industries. So obviously I've got entrepreneurial ADD because I can't stick to one thing. And I just love the craft of selling and I love the craft of copywriting. That's what I was excited about. Because I think really good copywriters are just phenomenal salespeople in print and that's your expertise. So I'm excited to learn as much as I give.

Tony Stark Policci (02:59.31)
Well, Nick, I love that and I love the fact that the priorities that you gave there in identifying who you are in this world as a husband and a father. those have, they didn't start out to be my priorities when I got into marketing, but then again, I wasn't married when I first started back in 1991, but they shifted. They shifted relatively quickly and they became the most important things to me. So I really honor you for that. And speaking of marketing, so

Some people will know you you know, but the younger folks They will not know but you worked with Dan Kennedy. So Dan Kennedy was a mentor of mine I think we discovered him about the same time somewhere in 19 I Know I went to a Peter Lowe seminar in the with Joe we went to a bunch of those I think he took me to the to one for the first time to hear Dan speak. But anyway, Dan Kennedy brilliant marketer copywriter

His business has gone through a number of iterations with lots of different initials. GKIC, JPDK, like all these different things. So you worked with Dan, one of the great marketers for years, right? What were the most valuable lessons that you learned during that time that you still apply today?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (03:58.668)
Sure.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (04:16.044)
Sure. I'm going to answer that. I'm not pulling a camella. I'm going to answer that, but let me say that I think you and I were probably, if you were at a Peter Lowe, I first saw him in 1993 in the Phoenix Sun Arena in Arizona. I was running the West Coast sales team for the company I was working with. I took all of the sales guys to this event.

Tony Stark Policci (04:31.478)
We were there.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (04:40.464)
And know, sales guy, know, because Ziegler was speaking, right? That was the reason why we were there and Brian Tracy, right? And I think it was George Bush, right? Who knows? Right. So who knows what who else was on there? And at the end, right, it's clearing out. And, you know, so I promised him I buy him around. Right. So we're going to go to, you know, downtown Phoenix, right. And have and have a couple of adult beverages. And there's a there's a guy with a mustache, a big guy with a mustache running around, putting like pink flyers out.

Tony Stark Policci (04:43.426)
Right, yeah.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (05:08.234)
And I'm like, who is this? Go and look and it's Dan Kennedy, right? And he's talking about marketing. He's talking about magnetic marketing. And so I said, we're staying, or at least I'm staying because I'm interested. Anybody working this hard deserves an audience, right? He's like, hey, don't leave. If you leave, you're just going to sit in the parking lot. It does a spiel if you know magnetic marketing. And so that was my, I bought magnetic marketing. I wish I don't have it close because all of you'd see me leave the screen.

But I would hold up the original one, right? It's dog -eared, it's got, you know, it's been, it's been, I've spilled coffee on it for sure, you know, and so, but it's been, you know, it's kind of where I'm at. So the answer to your question, what have I learned? The importance of magnetic marketing, right? The importance of picking the right audience. The importance of having the right message to the right audience, right? So market message and then the right media, whatever that media is. The media has changed over the course of time.

Back in our day, we could use faxes. Young guys listening to this have no idea what that was. Or pass out flyers or those type of things. And so, the most important thing is I don't think entrepreneurs spend enough time on who's the right audience, who really has money, who really wants to buy my product and services and what's their pain, what's their problem. So problem, agitate, solve. How can I get that to them? Most important thing and I don't think we do enough of that.

Now it's, I got a Ferrari that I rented for the day and I'm cool, so buy my stuff, right? In the info marketing world. That's the first thing. The second thing that I still use to this day and ironically, I was just going over the list before you and I got on this call because I was going over it with Jack Turk, who you and I probably both know, a copywriter, is don't just, as a business person, you've got 80 things to do to grow your business. You can't just do one.

and then wait till that's done to do the second one and wait till that's done to wait to the third one. You got to do them all sequentially, right? If you want big, big results, you got to work hard. Third thing that I learned and he is the master at this is always be selling. And you know, he's a marketer and he's a copywriter, but he's really a salesperson, you know, always excellent at that. And I remember there was an interview that Lee was Lee Melter, who I'm referencing.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (07:28.684)
was doing and they're like, okay, I got a question from the audience. And he's like, when has a small business owner, can I ever stop selling and marketing? Never. You never can. But we all want to, right? We all take the foot off the brakes. We all want it to be easy. We all want this and you can't. And I think those are the top three things. And if I throw a bonus one in, right, because you you always have to have bonuses and fast action bonuses and all that stuff being with Dan. The fourth one is

really work on being somebody. Somebody to something. So authority, celebrity, expert. Positioning is the most important thing. Using the marketing to do the pre -selling so the selling is easy. Those that do it, those that master it, the riches are theirs. And it doesn't matter what they're selling to who they're selling. You could figure out that. You're going to figure out that. Listen, I've got

I got a list of a thousand more. could go deeper, do another call on this. Certainly a mentor of mine, privilege, honor of the world to work with him. Every day wasn't sunshine and roses. You may think it is because he's such a kind, gentle guy, but I learned so much from him and everybody listening, go buy his stuff. He'll love that. Go get all of his stuff and just study him because I think he's truly one of the preeminent thinkers for

marketing for positioning, for sales, for business in our lifetime.

Tony Stark Policci (08:58.146)
Yeah, you know, I agree with that. I would make this interesting comparison that some people might not agree with. But when I think about what Elon Musk has done for technology and innovation and risk taking, I think Dan Kennedy has the same kind of genius when comes to sales and marketing. Just the ability to really think at a whole different level and see things. And you just gave a crash course in the fundamentals.

of how to run successful marketing and sales campaigns and those were points that you gave Nick. So thank you very much. Bravo. Yeah.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (09:30.784)
You're welcome. You know, the interesting thing about both those guys, really not classically trained, right? You know, just great, phenomenal, voracious readers, voracious inputters of stuff. And then having the tenacity and the internal fortitude, right? Intestinal fortitude to think differently and talk about what you think and act differently. So I think there's a lesson in there for everybody. Yeah.

Tony Stark Policci (09:57.23)
Yeah, for sure. So how, how has your approach to marketing and sales evolved? like in the digital landscape, because we both cut our teeth when things were different. We were using a lot of direct mail. We're using space advertising, infomercials, those kinds of things, things that still exist. But now we've got everybody's digital, right? So how have things evolved for you and your business and the way that you work with your clients?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (10:23.306)
I don't think you're ever getting away from the digital acquisition of a customer. I think it's very inexpensive. It's expensive to do direct mail cold. I think you want to acquire them digitally and then take them offline as fast as possible. We do a lot of work, and quite frankly, with our clients with lot of outbound phones too. So we do a lot of that. So inbound lead coming in, get them to a setter, get them to a phone person.

then get them to a salesperson or account executive or strategist, do a discovery call, move them through to close. Or if I take over clients that never had an outbound, we do a lot of that. I think that people, especially traditional businesses and even, know, info marketing businesses, coach consultants, they really, you know, they're going out and figuring out how to acquire the lead. But now the one thing that you and I both know is all leads aren't equal.

Right? And so one of things that we look at is what's the source? What's the best source? Right? So LinkedIn for some may be a better source. It's just more expensive. And sometimes business owners will say, well, it's too expensive to lead. Yes, it is. But it closes 70 % of the time where a Facebook or Instagram lead closes 20 % of the time. Right? So we want to look at all the different sources. Look at obviously your cost per lead, cost per sale, return on advertising spend. But you're not going to get away with digital's here.

And I think digital is here. Now I grew up and I had a business where we were sending 80 ,000 postcards, 90 ,000 postcards, 100 ,000 postcards, you know, every month. That's a check to write, i .e. to the U .S. Postal Services. So I have a breath of fresh air when I could get away with a $20 ,000 Facebook spend, right? So, you know, it's just the economics. You're not upside down and you're not exposed.

And I think the speed that you could respond to an ad that's not working, right? Or a funnel that's not working on digital is much faster than the old days. You know, in the old days with the print advertising, if the phone didn't ring, like, okay, something was amiss, but I'm out of pocket, whatever that was, 10 ,000, 20 ,000 for the exposure. You print the yellow page ad, something was amiss, right? That's a problem. Now on digital, I could fix that immediately. So there's the speed access to

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (12:46.636)
the test, which I think is great. I think it's inexpensive to test, right? Obviously you do a soft, you know, you do a run of a thousand or 2000 on a direct mail campaign, see what your response rates are. But, you know, listen, everybody went remote. How do we get stuff to people, right? On direct mail, right? know, nobody was in the office. So there was one person that came in once, once a month and threw everything out. Well, that was expensive to ship all that stuff to them. So, I mean, you gotta, you gotta always be testing.

Right. You got to always be testing. but yeah.

Tony Stark Policci (13:18.22)
Right. Yeah, you know, that's a great comparison there. The one advantage that we did not have when we started was that speed. And money loves speed, right? That's one thing that we've learned. And the ability to be able to change something and really iterate as quickly as possible, or as soon as you see something not working, is a tremendous advantage. Let me ask you this. I remember, and this is a little bit of a step back, but I

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (13:30.272)
Yeah.

Tony Stark Policci (13:47.478)
I remember that you used to have this policy that once you talk with somebody, sales lead, a qualified lead, that you wanted to make sure that you got something physical into their hands as quickly as possible. Is that still something that...

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (13:59.276)
Yep. Yeah, I mean look at you guys do it, right? I got your book, you know, shipped to me when Ron and I talk, right? So, I mean, you got to get something to them as fast as possible. Behind me, I got my book, right? It's just a quick book. It's from, you know, the 90 minute book that Joe talks about and his partner in crime, his name escapes me from I love marketing, talk about, right? So get a book out. Get a book out.

Tony Stark Policci (14:23.16)
Thank you.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (14:25.808)
Get a book as fast as you can. Get a newsletter. I don't care. Create a magazine that's all about you. Get it to them. And now that becomes your business card. That becomes your positioning statement. Some call it a shock and awe package. Doing that really sets you apart. And if you've got margin in your business, and if you don't, find a new business, but get some margin in your business,

You could send that to them because no one else is doing that. And right now the world is competitive. No one's just looking at one thing. They're getting multiple, multiple, multiple bids. For some of my clients, see proposals languishing. So you just hit, we're trying different things. Maybe I need to put a shock and awe box in. So I'm going to let you know if I got to do that just to make things fast. Because listen, clients don't want to spend them.

Right? So you and I are now at both in the client work and they're like, well, can I just send the shock and all box electronically? Yeah. But everybody's got 300 ,000 emails. Right. And the now my SMS text, I'm getting a hundred junk texts because we're in the middle of a, you know, a voting season. Right. But you know, everything is, is full except for my mailbox. Right. So why not just go to the mailbox and, and, and make it that way. And, if you look at the folks that have really phenomenal.

businesses, either their service business or their, you know, they have a product business, whatever it is, they get a, they get something to somebody. and so I'm a firm believer of that. As soon as that phone hangs up, you know, and there's great people that do that. You get, know, you could partner with them and they'll get it out for you. So you, as the business owner don't have to. In the old days, when I was first starting my marketing and direct mail shop, we would, the goal was

It had to go out. I was taking them to the post office every day and then shipping them out. And that's how I knew how many phone calls I had to make in two days. Because you would follow up on those things. So absolutely.

Tony Stark Policci (16:30.907)
Yeah, wow, that's great. Let's talk about your new company for just a minute. As the founder of Sales Performance Team, talking about some of the things that you've just covered, how does that tie in? What are the most common sales challenges that you see small to mid -sized businesses facing today?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (16:49.014)
Same as they always are, right? Talent. How do I get talent? How do I up -level talent? How do I get salespeople that want to do the work, that want to follow up? We've created an industry of maybe a generation of really lazy salespeople because they've grown up with SDRs, right? Which is sales development reps or setters, right? People that are filling up their calendar. And so,

We have a generation that doesn't know how to fill their calendar. I grew up not knowing anybody or just picking up the phone and making dials, right? Or just following up on emails or following up on direct mail letters that I had sent out, right? So just doing the hard work. So teaching people the blocking and tackling is the most important thing. Hiring the right people, the right person that is the right fit for what you're selling and who you're selling to is the second thing. And third thing is that most

founders led organizations, business owners have not created a predictable sales process that somebody could follow because they're the best at selling their business. I'm not taking anything away from them, but they intuitively know what to do. Right? So the salesperson that watches them or learns from them or kind of listens to their calls doesn't realize why I'm saying something at 17 minutes in.

So I don't get an objection at 34 minutes in and I could get the close at 45 minutes, right? So they don't know that and the business owner has just roteley been doing it, right? It's like swinging a golf club. I use the analogy, somebody went to Jack Nichols and said, Jack, how do you hit a one iron? He goes, you take it out of your bag and you swing it, right? Because he just knew how to do it, but he couldn't teach somebody how to do that. So we break the mechanics down and teach people how to swing the one iron, i .e. do a sales call.

Tony Stark Policci (18:42.84)
That's really important. I know when I hired my first VA, I had a heck of a time trying to teach them what I wanted them to do. I know somebody asked me to describe your process. And I've been doing this so long. It's like, God, what is my process? actually taking that and creating a SOP that you can

then give to somebody else so that they can duplicate is super powerful. But I love the fact that the same challenges still exist. You did an awful lot of work. I I think this is probably part of what your company is now is in the area where most companies fall down is they're having terrible salespeople or not building good sales teams, right? And is it because of what you just said that we've fostered like generations of lazy salespeople and people really don't know how to sell, they don't know how to connect with others?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (19:41.654)
I think it's yes, yes and yes, right? So we have put them in. There's a proliferation of really cheap leads. Doesn't mean that leads are going to buy, right? There's a lot of cheap leads that are gumming up sales processes, if you will, because it's easy to acquire them in some industries. Some industries it's not. Some industries is purely outbound where they're just going out and hunting, right? And I think that

There are a lot of people in my space, Tony, as I'm sure you see in your space, in the copywriting space, in the marketing strategy space, that haven't kept up with the times. So they're just talking about stuff that worked when you and I saw Dan Kennedy in 1993, right? The world is different. The sales process is different. The buyers are different. There's different demographics that we're selling to. So you just have to kind of know that and deal with it and just be on top of it. So I think it's...

Yes, yes and yes. I also, listen, I said there's a lot of really bad sellers out there. There's a lot of really, really good sellers out there too, right? There's a lot of great salespeople out there. And I'm really impressed with some of the young people coming out of college now that have been on sales track, right? But they're going into high level. They're going to the IBMs of the world. They're going to sell medical supplies and devices and that. They're not a lot of times going to smaller businesses.

So the small business person, because the economics don't work for them, can't buy that A level salesperson. So what he needs to do is what we just talked about, create systems and processes and predictable flow so that they could take a C level salesperson, train them up with the right scripts, with the right processes, with the right discovery questions, whatever their process is, so that they are performing at a B level. Right? Because that's what you have to do. The economics don't allow you to

hire somebody that wants to go sell for Salesforce and knows that they're going to be making $250 ,000. It's just a different level of caliber. So you got to get the right level of caliber that you could afford the economics of it and then create a system to train them up. I we're looking at some things, like we use BAs in the Philippines. They're phenomenal for outbound, but you have to be really crystal clear on your scripts and your rebuttals and everything because English isn't their first language.

Tony Stark Policci (22:06.252)
Thank you.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (22:06.614)
We're also looking at some alternatives in Latin America. And we can get away with that if you're selling into big cities because there's a slight tinge of an accent. But they're really, they're a third of what a salesperson would cost you in the United States.

Tony Stark Policci (22:22.54)
In order to do that thing, excuse me.

The thing that comes to mind when talking about, let me just back up. I'm going to edit that out.

Tony Stark Policci (22:42.274)
When it comes to creating these processes, the thing that comes to mind for me is this principle of leadership, right? We have to be leaders in our business. So you've shared the stage with a lot of industry leaders. What do you think sets a truly exceptional marketer and business leader apart from those that aren't in today's competitive environment?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (23:06.198)
Great question. I think there is an X factor, right? That they, one is they're really curious people, right? So we talked about Elon and Dan, they're both really curious people. They are constantly thinking about how can I just see what I just saw and apply it to where I want to go? So that's the first thing, right? They're curious and they're constantly pushing forward. Two is,

that they're maniacal, not in a bad way. So that's a verb that I'm, I don't want to, they're not, they're not miracle. They're maniacal about customer, the customer experience, moving the customer experience and up -leveling that, because that becomes their value proposition to the marketplace. So the greatest entrepreneurs, the greatest small business people, the greatest people that I've ever worked with were,

focused on the end user, i .e. the customer, the patient, whoever you're serving and what is that experience? How do we make that better? And how can I put more margin in the business so I can up level that experience? Because if they're buying it for a dollar, but they want a $10 experience, my economics are off. We were just talking a little bit about that in some businesses. So they're always thinking about that. And the third thing is they just know the numbers. They just

They never take their eye off the numbers. And where I've lost it, where I've missed it, where I haven't done some great in my own companies is kind of taking your eyes off the numbers a little bit, right? So you kind of have to manage by scorecard, KPI, manage by process all the time so that you know at a glance where the money is, where it's going out, what the customer satisfaction is, all of that stuff that drives your business.

Tony Stark Policci (24:58.882)
Yeah, those are crucial points. And I think the thing that came to mind for me was be obsessed with the client or customer experience. Yeah. So Nick, for people that maybe just their eyes roll back in their heads when they think about looking at their numbers or their... What is it your CPA gives you?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (25:22.824)
APS. Yeah, or your account, your bank statement or yeah, all that stuff. Yeah.

Tony Stark Policci (25:28.322)
You your P &Ls, right? So what would you suggest to somebody who just is like that whole concept, they want to avoid it because it just feels so painful. What is, you know, do you have any suggestions for somebody that just wants to go run away from that kind of stuff?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (25:45.334)
Yeah, they can't.

I mean, you can't that or make sure your spouse is looking at it, right? Somebody needs to be the adult in the room and it's your business. think we talked about that. It's your business. You're the business leader and you're doing a disservice because if you've got 15 people on your payroll, you've got 15 lives that you're not responsible for, right? And you're taking your eye off of it is putting not only you in jeopardy, your company, probably your number one source of retirement, right? If you're going to have an exit.

Tony Stark Policci (26:06.51)
All right.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (26:18.262)
but also the livelihoods of all your employees. So you gotta do it.

Tony Stark Policci (26:22.764)
Absolutely. for me, one of the things I discovered was I need to have a good person doing my bookkeeping. I need to have a good CPA, not somebody that just as a number cruncher, but somebody can actually explain what some of these things mean to me. And getting in and really learning to understand the numbers is so crucial. And it was a mistake that I made early in my career, not really paying attention to that stuff.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (26:49.632)
I think we all have, right? We're all guilty of it at one point, right? If business is going bad, it's easy to kind of put your head in the sand and hope that it will go over. Hope isn't a strategy. I don't know who said it, but I agree with that. And so you just kind of have to, right? And listen, I'm pointing a finger and I got five going back at me, right? So I'm not judging. I'm just saying is learn from my experience or learn from my observations or learn from, you know, working with others that you have to do this.

Tony Stark Policci (27:00.675)
Right.

Tony Stark Policci (27:18.164)
Those are priorities, absolutely. Speaking of priorities, how have yours changed from when you first started your entrepreneurial journey to where you're at now?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (27:22.112)
Yeah.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (27:29.42)
So I think they changed the how I introduced myself, right? You know, I'm a husband and a father. And I think when I was younger, always I've been married, blessed to be married to the same woman, know, we're celebrating 30 years together, right? My children are 26 and 23. And I don't know if I was as good as I am today as making that step one and step two, right? On the ladder. And I'd be lying to say I was, right? And so there was times.

where also the stress from the office would come home, right? And that's not fair to the people around me. The stress from losing sales or winning sales or trying to grow a business or managing the cashflow as we talked about that would seep into the household. And now I made it a priority to never allow that, right? And also to be open and honest in the beginning, think there's Machismo as a male entrepreneur that you're not gonna share anything with your spouse.

share it with them. They should know, here's what's going on. I just lost a client. I overextended by making a bet on an industry that didn't work out. So I think being more sturdy in who I am, if you will, more solid in who I am and being able to share that. Now listen, I'm also seeking a little bit of help and talking to some people and talking to other entrepreneurs.

and realizing that I'm not the only one going through pain. And the important thing is to share that with people. So I think that's how I've changed a lot and working on it every day. So I don't have an answer. I'm trying to get better.

Tony Stark Policci (29:06.604)
Yeah, you know, for me, life is about continuous improvement. At least that's been my journey. I can't say that I'll speak for anybody else, but for me, I'm continuing to learn and grow every single day. And the man that I am today is a result of going through a hell of a lot of pain, making a lot of mistakes, having to look at the guy in the mirror and get real honest with, you know, what do you care about?

What matters to you? Who am I being? And making the decision to either step into that or ignore it. I've known a lot of guys that I came up with in the professional circle who haven't ever taken that step. what has the result of that has been a trail of destruction. You know, so they have created a tremendous amount of revenue. But the things that I think you and I would

probably agree on as being the greatest form of wealth is in those that we love, the relationships that we have. They don't have that. you know, I'm really grateful that at some point in my life, I was like, you know what? My kids really matter. They are the most important thing. I'm going to protect them and pour into them at all costs. And if the business suffers as a result of that, so be it.

And that's what I did. I'm really just congratulations on 30 years of marriage, over 30 years of marriage and raising two kids that are thriving. I think that's a tremendous accomplishment. My youngest son at this point, he's just turned 24. I've got a 20 year old stepdaughter, 26 year old stepdaughter.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (30:47.201)
Yeah.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (30:52.266)
Yeah, thank you.

Tony Stark Policci (31:03.982)
25 year old son, and then I've had a couple step sons that are in their 30s. like, I have great relationships with all of them. And I'm so grateful for that, right? And I look at that like, this is my legacy piece. When I was back working with Joe in Prana Marketing, I had this great vision that I was gonna be like this amazing, like legendary marketer. That's what I wanted to create, right? And...

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (31:29.263)
yeah.

Tony Stark Policci (31:32.032)
I was going to be the one that wasn't dysfunctional and blah, blah, blah, like some of the great guys that I followed. I won't mention any names, but I'm sure you know who they are. And I realized that we're all just human. And as time goes by, it is a continuous choice for me to step into being the best that I can be, to face my quote unquote demons, to deal with my

character inadequacies and just the human flaws that I have and really, you know, to have the hard conversations with myself and others. I love one thing that you said about sharing stuff with your wife. my first marriage fell apart. It actually didn't fall apart. It was, you know, a choice by one of us and it wasn't me to not continue growing.

The woman that I'm married to now, I feel like I found her like my life partner. I didn't really think there was such a thing until I met this woman. But she knew nothing about marketing, right? She is so far opposite from my world. It's not even funny. She also didn't know anything about the addiction issues that I, Joe and I both struggled with when, you know, earlier in our lives and like a good girl completely, but she's super smart, right? Three degrees, was going to be an attorney.

poured her life into being a mom and being like a childcare expert. Holy cow. I, I started, like when we were dating, she was sending me these texts, Nick, and I'd start to cry or laugh, like roll on the floor laughing. And I was like, you know, you're an amazing writer. She's like, no, I'm not. I'm like, no, you are like, trust me. anyway, I don't want to tell this long story, but the point is

Like as we've been together now 10 years, I've gone to her and shared some of my frustrations with clients or projects or whatever. And she gives me these incredible insights. And I'm like, where did you get that? And she says, it's just common sense.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (33:43.532)
It's just life, right? It's just life. Of course, I know this, right? sometimes you do, know, the Emperor has no clothes, right? You just need the person to say, dude, you can't do that. You know, if they don't pay you, don't deliver the work or something of that nature. And, you know, I think it's so critical. And I think those that you saw, right, you and I both have been around a lot of small business and men and entrepreneurs.

Tony Stark Policci (33:49.933)
Yeah.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (34:12.012)
Those that have the great relationship and the great spouse. There's something there. They may not be involved in the business, but they are there and they're almost like the rock. They're the foundation that you build on. To me, it's the most important thing. I've been blessed in my neighborhood that I grew up in and now live in. I'm a cliche that I moved back.

Tony Stark Policci (34:36.618)
that's awesome.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (34:37.406)
Yeah, I think it's a lot of fun, right? You know, when your kids go to the same high school that you went to, but it was a community of small businessmen, right? And, you they just, their wives were there running the business. But my guess is they were also part of the kitchen table board of directors, right? Let's talk about this. And my best friend in the world, my best man at my wedding, you know, it was a family that ran the business and it was a very large business. Well, you know,

You'd have the family around the table on Sundays and you'd eat and you play and you talk, but then you talk through the problems. And I think there is something that's foundational in having that partner and that spouse that you could have enough. I think it as men, I think it takes a lot of security and who we are to be vulnerable and to share and to say, Hey, listen, this is what's going on. And I think it takes a lot of growth. I don't think we're hardwired for that.

I think we are hardwired that we have to solve all the problems. And kudos to you for having that. Great on the 10 years and certainly, I can't wait to hear 10 more years and how much you guys have grown together and how much everything has had. Cause your smile is ear to ear as we're talking about her. So for those that are listening on the podcast, not only do we have great beards, but he's got a smile from ear to ear talking about his partner.

Tony Stark Policci (35:55.618)
Right, right.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (36:01.036)
And so am I, right? Thinking about it. That's what brings you joy. Not that you went out and you got another client. Not that you added a zero to your net worth. It's, I was a good spouse, right? I raised good children. They want to be around us, right? Hey, my daughter called me yesterday. I haven't talked to you in a couple days. my God. That was like the best call. It could have been better. It was better than a $20 ,000 check that came, right? It was like, my God, how you doing? What's going on, honey? Yeah. I'm trying to give you some space. Thanks for calling your old man.

Tony Stark Policci (36:01.346)
Yeah, man.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (36:30.76)
So it's just fun, right? And I think that's what gives us joy. that's what, you know, and we could do, we could talk about it more so that those that are, can learn from the mistakes that we've made, right? Because that's, let's solve a little pain and suffering by them not doing that. So.

Tony Stark Policci (36:48.558)
Right. You know, and that's a great point, Nick, because I said earlier that the man that I am today is a result of making a lot of mistakes, a lot of bad choices and a lot of, you know, lot of suffering. I mean, there was a period of my life where I was extremely self -centered and selfish. I was still battling other types of addictions and I made horrible choices, know, choices that were hurtful, that hurt my ex -wife, you know, that hurt me, that hurt other people.

The difference for me was that I looked at that and I was like, man, that's not who I want to be. Now, just because I didn't want to be that didn't mean I was automatically able to change. Now, my current wife, she's one of these people that she decides she wants to stop doing something, she just stops. She doesn't understand anybody that struggles with these behavior issues. But some of that is deep seated trauma and things that, of course, we realize.

I learned from, I think my greatest lessons were looking into the eyes of someone that I loved and realizing that a choice that I made hurt them. whatever it was that I wanted that made me make that choice was nowhere near as important as the look that I wanted of love and acceptance from them. I'm not sure if I'm making sense here, but like to me, I am

I have much more excitement when I cook dinner for my wife and she's like, my God, this is so good. Then I think I do when a client calls me and says, you your ad is beating all of our controls. I mean, I love that, but it's something different inside of me when I'm like, yeah, because like she's my heart, you know, and my kids, I love what you said about your daughter calling you. You know, it's my stepdaughters,

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (38:32.001)
Right.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (38:39.51)
Yeah.

Tony Stark Policci (38:47.276)
are both in college, brilliant girls. One's study is pre -med, she's gonna be a naturopath. She shifted from traditional medicine to naturopath. The other one is going into a special area of education, really challenging. But they come home from college almost every weekend because their mom, they're like thick as thieves. Now they included me in that, but I mean, they've got a longer history than I do in their family.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (39:09.526)
That's wonderful. Yeah.

Tony Stark Policci (39:16.91)
But when I was a 20 something, I didn't want to be around my dad. Like that's the last place I wanted to be. Wasn't that I didn't like him, but I just had things that were more important. So the fact that our kids want to call us, the kids want to be around us, I think that's a success. So here's where I was going with that long, monologue. You said, let's talk about ways that we can help people, you know,

develop these things and not make these kinds of mistakes. Is there anything that stands out to you as something that you learned that you would like to go back and say to 30 year old Nick?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (39:58.412)
The list is long, right? Yeah, because I'm human. And so I think the first two we just talked about, right? You made a commitment to having a family. That's the most important thing, right? So everything stands in that. And it's okay, right? And you're human and you're going to make mistakes as a young father, not. There's no instruction manual, right? And as a young spouse, you're going to make mistakes, but just learn and grow.

Tony Stark Policci (39:59.798)
Yeah, for sure.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (40:26.814)
and keep on making deposits in the emotional bank accounts, right? Keep on giving love. Leave with that. Realize that that problems happen and don't turn your back or run away or put your head in the sand. Realize that they happen. They happen for you. They happen for your family. You got to solve that and you solve it as a group, as a community, right? We, you know, and Joe, you guys were great.

Tony Stark Policci (40:34.368)
Mm.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (40:56.288)
when my son was struggling. And so having, looking for sources of people to talk to that could help. Maybe they don't know, but they could help. That's important. And listen, also realize that everybody goes through it. There's stuff that everybody's got going on up here. I think on the business side of things, goes back to how we started maybe a little bit, is you can never take your foot off the gas on the sales and marketing of your business. And I

did on one of my businesses, right? And then I thought I was the smartest guy in the world. It was 2006 to 2008 when we launched our agency. I was heavy in home improvement and home services. I couldn't spend the money fast enough, right? It was just flowing in. Well, in 2009 and 2010, I wasn't that bright, right? But I had taken the gas off, right? And so now you got to double down and you got to triple down and that. So never take your foot off.

always put the pressure on selling and growing the business. And one of things that you and I talked about too is never lose sight of your financials because that's the pain, right? You will feel that if you lose those. listen, I made every mistake in the book, but I've learned from them and I hope to share that with you. So focus on your family, make the emotional bank account, realizing that growing a business is not as important as having a solid

Tony Stark Policci (42:05.219)
you

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (42:23.756)
family life, right? And just keep on growing your business, keep on selling, keep on marketing and keep your eye on the financials, right? And so those are mistakes that I've made, full transparency about them, right? And, you know, had to dig out of some holes. know, we, I had one time in 2007, 2008, I had a half a million dollar line of credit. When the financial crisis happened, I blinked.

Tony Stark Policci (42:34.648)
All right.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (42:53.644)
and it was $75 ,000.

Tony Stark Policci (42:56.034)
Wow.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (42:57.068)
Back in the day, we were doing a lot of direct mail for our clients and for ourselves. We were writing checks. You had to have cash flow in the business and you had a cash flow for everything. you know, just constantly be looking at that. Manage that at all times. I know we all want to take the foot off the brakes and have it easy and live the laptop lifestyle and go travel around the world and do all the fun stuff. But realizing that that's just Instagram, right? You got to run your business.

Tony Stark Policci (43:01.07)
Thank you.

Tony Stark Policci (43:07.82)
Thank

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (43:26.748)
day and you got to focus on it and you know that's important.

Tony Stark Policci (43:31.458)
Sure. I think about one of the things I learned as a father that I wish if I could go back and do differently. There were a lot of times where I stepped in and I solved problems for my sons that I really ought to let them solve on their own. Not always, but there were enough times where I did that.

You said this earlier, men were naturally problem solvers. You know, I think we get a lot of value or just, I can't think of the word, like the good feelings out of being able to solve problems, right? I like to solve problems. I like to problems as a marketer, as a copywriter for my clients. And I think one of the toughest things for me with my adult children.

is when they get into a situation and they're struggling. Like for some reason, you know, I grew up with this attitude that struggling was a terrible thing and I didn't want my kids to struggle. Right. Had a great neighborhood growing up, you know, beautiful house. And copywriting allowed me to provide that lifestyle for him. But then there were times where I came in and I rescued them. And I think it was just for me, the fact that they had a.

A mother that struggled with addiction, was always chaos around that area. So I was trying to protect them. I was trying to keep a sense of order wherever I could.

As an adult, like I've had to like really force myself not to step in, not to rush in and fix their problems. And it's a, it's an amazing thing. Like when I'll give you an example, my son lost his job, couldn't pay his rent. I covered it for one month. I covered it for two months. I was going into the third month and I was like, I don't know if he's really trying hard enough. And,

Tony Stark Policci (45:30.668)
He's telling me, Dad, I'm trying. can't get hired. Blah, blah, blah. And I was like, you know what? I can't help you anymore. I can't help you. He's like, what am going to do? I said, I don't know. But I've been there. And I raised you right. I believe you'll figure this out. And you know what? He figured it out. Right. And it was I don't know who grew more from that experience, me or him.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (45:53.44)
Yep.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (45:58.614)
But was it painful to do?

Tony Stark Policci (46:00.92)
my god. Yeah, it was horrible, you know?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (46:02.7)
Your heart is like, I can't do it. Those that are listening, I got very animated. I held back from jumping because I agree. I've done the same mistakes. I've jumped in. And especially with my son, maybe because he was the first born. I don't know, but you'd go to rescue. And you're not setting them up with skills for life of how to problem solve.

As I say, every mistake you make, I got four going back at me. I'm glad that you said that because I realized that my wife and I were doing a lot of that. It wasn't helping anybody. But also when you finally say, can't, you got to figure this out yourself. I love you. I think I raised you right. You have the skills. You have the ability. You have the smarts. Figure it out. They do and they grow.

Tony Stark Policci (46:58.488)
Yeah.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (47:00.276)
And maybe they're pitched for a little bit, but they're going to come back and give you unconventional love. know, and eventually they'll realize you're doing it for their own good.

Tony Stark Policci (47:07.948)
And the funny thing for me is that as I racked my brain trying to think of a solution, like what could my son do to solve this problem that he's not doing? I couldn't come up with something. But when I, when I took myself out of the equation, he came up with something that I didn't even think of. And after the fact, was like, well, why wasn't that obvious to me? But you know, the, the joy that I got, because ultimately what I want as a parent and I

believe that any good parent wants this, is I want to raise kids that are able to take care of themselves and navigate their way through life no matter what. I want to build strong, successful young men and women of great character who make a difference in this world. And we cannot do that by solving the problems for them.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (47:47.158)
Yep. Yep.

Tony Stark Policci (48:06.446)
That's just one of the things that stands out to me, big lesson I've learned.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (48:09.366)
I think it's a great lesson. And you know, the interesting thing, Tony, we started talking, you know, kind of the state of the world and all that stuff before we got on. And, you know, I don't know about you, but when I interact with my children and their friends, I don't, I think they'll solve problems. and I'm, and I'm just worried that we don't screw up the world too much for them to solve the problems that they're going to have to solve from a geopolitical way, from an economic way, from a community's coming together and working together and all that stuff.

And I do have hope, you know, because I do think of parents like you and I and others that are around us and that are listening is they're trying to raise their children the right way. They're trying to help them. They realize, listen, I'm going to make some mistakes, right? My parents made mistakes and we blame them, but they were just trying to do their best job too.

They didn't know, they didn't have the role models, right? If I think about it, right? And so how, know, my dad is still around, I talk to him every day just because I know there will be a day that I don't and I can't, right? And you know, we're together, Italian family, right? So we're together a lot and around and probably too much for maybe my wife, but I think she's fine with it for 30 years, she's stuck around. But you know, it's just, you know, it's just part of it. And you realize, hey, you know,

It's all based on love, everything that we do and how do we come together when we have to. you know, like I got a brother, he's getting ready to move to North Carolina, right? And, you know, that's it'd be like the first one that's kind of moved farther away and isn't in the town. And so it be interesting to see what's going to happen with them. But I think it's a great journey for he and his wife. And he suffered from mental...

mental problems growing up, right? Bipolar, he talks about it, he writes about it as a copywriter, you'd appreciate it. Writes books and articles and comic books about it and it's part of his therapy. you know, listen, everybody's got something, right? And you just try to solve it as a family and you just solve it as support and you just give them love and you realize, you know, you can't make the decisions for them. And I agree with that with the kids.

Tony Stark Policci (50:25.4)
Yeah, that's a great point. think the one thing that I did right and consistently in raising my kids was I let them know they were loved. I showed them they were loved. And the way that I showed that was I made them a priority. I showed up for their events. I, you know, I put them first when they needed to be first. And it wasn't always easy and it certainly wasn't always fun. But I believe that that

shifted their confidence level. Because when I look at both of my, at least my two natural sons, they are really rock stars when it comes to relationships and self -confidence. And that's not who I was growing up. So that component that you have gone back to a number of times, know, lead with love, I think is phenomenal. And so looking back over your life,

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (51:17.953)
Yeah.

Tony Stark Policci (51:23.264)
Is there a moment that you wish you could revisit and change? If so, why?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (51:30.408)
We don't have enough time on this podcast, but yes, you know, right? I've got, I probably got thousands, right? And it's not that I'm trying to one up you. It's just a thousand things that I wish I would have done and done better. know, I, growing up in an Italian household, I grew up with loud, Loud, parents loud, father loud, right? And you're raising your hand.

Tony Stark Policci (51:33.728)
Yeah, I've got hundreds.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (51:59.08)
And so I think I carried that into my family. And there was times where everybody thought I was angry, I was just loud. But I did have a temper and I wish I would have learned to control that a lot earlier. So I had to work on that, work on it from a mental perspective, work on it from a physical perspective. So just exercising helped me being able to control that. So I wish that would have been the one that probably had repercussions just because

It's what you saw growing up and I don't think my, you know, they didn't know any better. They saw that growing up and I carried that in and so I had to work on that. That would be the biggest one that comes to my mind. You know, that if I could go back, put that genie in the bottle, I would have started working that out really, really, really early.

Tony Stark Policci (52:48.92)
Yeah, you know, I share that one with you and I don't know how much of that has anything to do with our heritage because people would say that that's just a stereotype. However, my father came from a family where he had seven siblings and we were just loud. Now, I didn't really realize how that was until I got married to Donna and she's got two daughters. And the first time I said something to him like,

Hey, Gabby, would you bring that over here for me? At about that volume and her face. And I was like, what's matter? She's like, why are you yelling at me? Or like, I was yelling at you. I didn't even realize, you know, what was normal volume for my sons and I, not angry volume is, is to them was way different. Also the temper thing. Now I know for me that a lot of that comes from the fact that

My dad was very physical with me, physical discipline. He yelled at me a lot. I had trauma in my life. For me, whether that's part of what my natural tendencies would be or not for that temper or that was part of nurture or combination of both, I don't know, but I had it. And I started working on it, but it's still something that I have to exercise a tremendous amount of awareness in to.

make sure that it stays reined in, right? Because I can get angry about the dumbest things. And yeah, as I look back on my parenting, there were times when I lost it that I wish I could go back and do differently, right? Now, one thing that I did that my dad didn't do was whenever that happened,

I would go back to my boys and I would say, you know, my behavior there was really inappropriate. It was unacceptable. I was demonstrating to you what it's like to be a man who is not being self -controlled. And I don't want you to think that that's okay. Now, you're going to feel angry, you're going to get angry, you're going to make mistakes, but I want you to know that this is not how I want to be. And I'm working on this. And I would apologize and I would accept, take ownership for my actions rather than just fluff it off.

Tony Stark Policci (55:13.516)
I hope that at some level that made an impact. I don't see those traits in my boys so much, which is a good thing.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (55:21.674)
Yeah, you know, we learn, right? And I think that's great that you had that. I was thinking about it. I'm like, I think I did that, but I couldn't. I wouldn't put a bet on it that I did it as often as you did or as well and elegant as you did or with the frequency. Right. So I think sometimes you just flew off the handle and you just let it happen and you let it sit. And it's it's like this weight that is now taking the family down and you know, just you have to control it.

so.

Tony Stark Policci (55:51.692)
Yeah. You know, I think you and I are part of a generation that I judge grew up with, and maybe this is still the same. Men were allowed to feel two things. We were allowed to laugh and we were allowed to be angry. That was it. And, you know, I do a lot of men's work. I got into something years ago, you know, called Warrior Circle. Yeah. And, you so I work with men. lead a men's group now. the part of the framework that I teach is

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (56:03.808)
Yeah, that's about it.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (56:12.356)
sure.

Tony Stark Policci (56:21.496)
five feelings, mad, sad, glad, afraid, ashamed, and then data, judgment, and feelings. And this is the framework. the mad is I'm blocked. I'm angry because I'm trying to get something in my life and I can't get it to it. The sad is I've lost something. Afraid is this judgment that I'm going to get hurt. Shame is this belief that I'm no good. And glad is I'm aligned. And the data is what the camera sees. The judgment is my opinion, my

feelings my judge or my opinion my judgment about those feelings and the feelings are which you know, are the five things that I that are coming up for me as a result of what I see and my opinions about and Boy, the guys that I introduced to this work It's transformational for them. I know it was transformational for me. I started like 2007 when I first discovered this and It has helped me to really separate some

The way that I process a lot of things in life, have you ever heard someone say something like, boy, I feel like crap? And when you think about that, it's like, what does that mean? Are you talking about like the physical thing that would be excrement? Is that what you feel like? How does that feel? How many different, like it's ambiguous, right? But when I start to take a look at what I'm actually feeling and I put some definitions behind it, then.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (57:22.634)
Yeah, yeah, of course.

Tony Stark Policci (57:45.186)
there's times when I'm actually sad and it's masquerading as anger because that's what I was allowed to have. Or I'm feeling shame and it's masquerading as anger because I'm not allowed to own that. And so anyone that's listening, the reason I'm even bringing this up is that one of the things I got from what you've been talking about, Nick, is that we...

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (57:50.326)
Sure.

Tony Stark Policci (58:08.972)
Become self -aware. We take a look at these things in our life and we learn that they're there and we reach out for help when we need it. Don't be an island, right? If I could go back at some of the toughest times in my life, I think I would have rather just reached out. I was much more comfortable being the helper than being the one asking for help. I was much more comfortable being the one offering advice than saying, man, I'm screwing up over here. don't know what to do. Yeah, right. And, you know,

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (58:33.92)
I'm in MS, yeah, right? Yep.

Tony Stark Policci (58:38.062)
Somewhere around 40, mid 40s, that started to become something that was just a go -to for me. It wasn't always comfortable, but I would get there and it makes a big difference. So I ask for help.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (58:53.58)
As for helping, think being groups, like masterminds, think part of it is support, right? Part of it is just, let's share best practices and ideas, but let's realize that we're not an island unto ourselves. And I think we want to be an island and as small business owners and entrepreneurs, we tend to think that we have to and realize that that's just BS that we're telling ourselves and reach out, right? There's a lot of good sources and

Tony Stark Policci (58:56.397)
next.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (59:23.06)
realize that you're not alone or if you have a family member that's struggling, realize that there's a lot of good sources and you could help them. And hopefully somebody listening that's struggling realizes that and realizes that we're, you know, just ping us and we'll get you to the right place.

Tony Stark Policci (59:39.128)
Yeah, absolutely. There's not too many topics I haven't broached at some point, know, some kind of trauma or issue.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (59:40.906)
Yeah.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (59:47.54)
I haven't, that's nothing I haven't seen, right? And you know, maybe I walked through the fire or maybe I was carrying somebody through the fire or I was walking around it, but there is, you've been around this world as many turns as you and I have, you're going to see some stuff and you know, you realize, you know, we have a picture in our mind and that picture, you know, is not fair.

Tony Stark Policci (01:00:00.406)
Absolutely.

Tony Stark Policci (01:00:10.456)
You mentioned reaching out for support. So how do you continue to learn and grow outside of your career, like in your personal life?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (01:00:18.86)
well, I, I, I have conversations like this, right? And I think I've learned as much from, from you, right? That I'm like, wow, there's like five good things that I got, right? But there's probably 10, but I only got five. because I'm not that smart. You can see the books behind me, right? I'm a voracious reader, audible courses. you know, I just think there's, there's so much different things. I tried to be a sponge of,

different things too. Where I was one dimensional of just reading marketing books and sales books and business books. I now take the summer off and just read different things, different topics, right? Cause I think that opens up my mind to different things. You know, I've learned to have good conversations with people, especially my spouse, right? Not superficial conversations, but just good conversations. And maybe because the kids are out of the house, we could go deep on some things.

I read three newspapers a day, digitally. The old days we'd have print come to the house, right? Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Financial Times. There's certain newsletters that I enjoy still to this day and I read. So, you know, there's so much ways to get input. The key is to be subjective with the input. I try to stay away from the news on TV.

for a number of different reasons. It's just, it's an echo chamber. It's bad. I get what I need off of the three newspapers, right? It gives me a taste for everything from that.

Tony Stark Policci (01:01:57.806)
Do you have any real strong male relationships in your life that are just fundamental to who you are and how you just navigate the world?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (01:02:07.316)
Yeah, so I have my father still, right? I'm still actively engaged and we talk every day and you know, talk about life and problems. I had a joked about where I said I was a cliche and you said that's phenomenal. I'm still friends with, you know, like five to seven guys that I grew up with, right? You know, and so we get together once, at least try to once a month for, you know, dinner or drinks or, you know, coax and, you know, something and, you know, you don't really get deep.

but you're there and you know you got support and every now and then somebody will have something. And so we're there. There's some other, as men we don't have enough of those and you could always do more. I'm very close to my wife and my spouse. I'm very close to my brother. So he and I talk at least once a week. And a lot of it is just to check in and some weeks it's three to four times. So.

But those are the ones. There are some relationships that I wish I would have kept up with that I didn't. And then life gets in the way and then you feel hurt. And then when you reach out, they don't respond. You're like, well, was it me or was it we weren't that close? So, but those are the ones that I kind of go to.

Tony Stark Policci (01:03:22.424)
Yeah, that's great. Nick, as we're coming to the end of our time here, is there a personal challenge that you're currently facing in your life? And how are you approaching it, if so?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (01:03:36.684)
Well, there's always personal challenges, right? So, you know, I've been fighting losing the last 10 pounds, right? You know, forever, right? So physically, how do I get better? How do I get, how do I get healthier? I am a prostate cancer survivor. I was diagnosed with it a year ago, over a year ago. had surgery a year ago in August and, you know, I had the blessing of the best doctor in the world did,

the guy from Meet the Fockers who talks about it, Ben Stiller, Did colon, people that talk about it publicly. So I had that, right? And you know, so there's, there's the rehab for that that's still happening. And there's the physical and the mental, if you will. And so I'll talk to people about that all the time. I have guys that call me that, you know, have just been diagnosed and they've heard that I had it.

you know, talk to them about the processes and things that I learned and even said, hey, have your spouse talk to my spouse or have your partner talk to my partner, you know, which is Vicki and she could take it from your perspective. So that's, you know, still processing. Sales performance team has done very well. I've been blessed, right? Knock on wood, but I really want to grow it. I really want to make an impact and scale it. So I am struggling with that. Right. So what does that look like? How do, who do I bring in? How do I bring them in?

What do I focus on? It's been me, right? So clients want me. Now what happens if I have other coaches and other, you know, fractional sales leaders that I put into the business? So what does that dynamic look like? And, you know, always thinking about what's the next wave, right? You know, what's the next wave in the world and how do I get in front of that wave and catch it and ride it? So those are three struggles that I'm struggling with.

working towards if you will. Struggles, listen, those are, I got them under control so I don't know if they're struggles. don't think it's fair. There's people struggling out there with a lot worse. But those are things that I'm going through.

Tony Stark Policci (01:05:27.446)
through.

Tony Stark Policci (01:05:37.944)
Well, your cancer experience, that had to be quite life altering, having discovered that.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (01:05:44.492)
Talk about slapping the face. Didn't even see it coming. So no symptoms, anything like that. When you then start peeling back the family envelope, if you will, Tony, I'm sure you have this as well. yeah, your grandfather had it. your cousin had it, but nobody talked about it. You realize he had it the same age that I got diagnosed with it. And unbeknownst to either of us who struggling with it, he's older than I am, had the same doctor.

I think the more you could talk about this allows people to realize they're not going through it alone. And one is get yourself checked as a man. But two is, you you realize that there are solutions out there and it's not a life sentence and you get it early enough. And I was blessed. had the best in the world. I in Chicago, so it's easy to get to really good care and you realize that, you know, it's a journey. And when you get your...

Tony Stark Policci (01:06:37.23)
Yeah, well.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (01:06:38.284)
when you get your 50s right the body bounces back a lot slower than when you're in your 20s and your 30s to stuff so you know that's you know i got i i twisted a knee in the weight room and i'm still in pt getting that you know i'm like god damn why did i try to do bavarian splits split squats you know and you know i know better right you know you still think you're 30 you see young people i'm like i can do this you know you're watching it on youtube of course i could do this and so you know it's just little things as the body ages so

Tony Stark Policci (01:07:08.44)
Right, yep, we've got a lot of those too. communicate, you know, I just want to highlight this, the thing that you said, because I think it's really important. We grew up in an era where these kinds of things weren't communicated. I try to make sure they communicate the things that nobody talked about when I was growing up to my kids, so that when they get into their 20s and 30s that...

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (01:07:11.004)
Yeah.

Tony Stark Policci (01:07:37.036)
they have conversations about things, know, when it comes from, you know, like just male issues, sex issues, thought issues, self -confidence issues, imposter syndrome, you know, these kinds of things that nobody ever talked about. Like, I, you know, I would see my dad, I knew something was going on with him, but I never knew what it was, you know, and it wasn't until years later when I started putting two and two together,

from my own life, picking out evidence going, I bet that's what was going on for dad or yeah, you know, and I, so communication, like talking about what's really going on with our family, with those that we love and being transparent about these things because, and you don't wake up wondering like, why am I the only one that has ever had this prostate issue? Like, where did this come from? You know, maybe I'd be more,

apt to actually go get checked, had I known, right? So last question I want to ask you is, it's really about your impact in the world, the legacy that you want to leave. And so the question is, who do you want to be a hero to? And I'm sure you're already a hero to your family. And that can still be your answer, but is there...

Is there something that breaks your heart? Is there something that you're so compelled by that you're like, man, this is the impact that I want to make on my life. This is what I want to do before my time is done here.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (01:09:19.391)
Well, we talked about it, Reza, certainly a hero to the family. But the other thing I'm working on and I'm trying to do more of is be a hero to young people going into the workplace or maybe have been forced in work transition and they don't know what to do. And especially young people trying to break into sales. And so I'm making an effort. Listen, I...

I reached out to my network when my daughter was looking for her first job. And people were just, unbelievable how wonderful people were. And so I've now made an effort, which is one is keeping active with my network, but also letting them know if they have a young child graduating from college that thinks they want to get into sales and doesn't know where to go or struggling getting some traction.

or they've lost their job and they're struggling to get traction, to have them talk to me. And I spent a lot of time with young people that my daughter went to college with because they didn't have anybody to teach them how to navigate network and how to look for the job and how to position yourself and all of that. It's a shame that colleges for that price tag that where you and I are both writing checks for aren't teaching them as well as they should be.

But maybe they are and the kids just aren't focusing on it. But I think there's a need for that. And I also think there's a need for some level of mentorship. I was blessed when I got into sales that I was around really, really, really good salespeople. They taught you how to dress. They taught you how to interact with clients. They taught you how to position yourself, how to act as a professional, all of that good stuff. And I learned by watching, observing and that type of thing.

So that's kind of what is it ties into the business. So that's good. But it also helps me. Listen, there's bigger things that I should take on in the world, right? Child hunger, there's a lot of other things, but I don't know, I won't know how to tackle those. This is something I could help and I could solve. And it gives me some value. So that's the other thing.

Tony Stark Policci (01:11:35.704)
That's amazing. I think that there's really few things that are more valuable than being a mentor to someone. Think about the people that mentored me. Where would my life be had I not had someone to give me some guidance? And it is, you make a difference where you can, right?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (01:11:43.019)
Yeah. Yeah.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (01:11:56.096)
That's my story. I'm sticking to it, right? Yep, yep, yep. I mean there's better people to solve bigger problems in the world. And if I can write a check, I'll write a check, right? Or if I could do something, I'll do something for that. I could solve this and I know how to help. And so that's what I'm focusing on.

Tony Stark Policci (01:12:12.942)
It's great. Nick, thank you so much for your time today. If people want to get a hold of you, if they want to find out about your business, if they need some help, tell me, like, how do folks find you? Where do they need to go?

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (01:12:22.912)
Well, real easy. They go to salesperformanceteam .com, which is our URL. You can email me nick at salesperformanceteam .com. I'm real active on LinkedIn, right? So you could go to LinkedIn and just hit me up there. It's Nick or Nicholas Louie C. L -O -I -S -E. So those are the easiest ways. I'm on Facebook sporadically and during the election season, I'm going to be on even less. And I'm on Instagram just for family and fun, right?

You get DMs there and I just delete them, right? But hit me up on LinkedIn. We're in that inbox every day. Hit me up on my email. We're in that every day. You go online. got a bunch of, you we talked about Dan, right? We got a lot of good stuff on our website for you. Free downloads, know, audits that you could use. Our book is there. Everything is there. So just go to that and, you know, start the journey and just learn.

Tony Stark Policci (01:13:16.93)
That's salesperformanceteam .com, right? All right. I'll have that linked underneath the podcast for those of you that are watching or listening. The links will be there. Luisi, grazie, grazie, man. Thank you so much for being here and sharing your life and your wisdom and your experience and your time with us today. I so appreciate you being on the show.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (01:13:19.446)
Yep, you betcha.

Nick Loise Sales Superstar (01:13:39.238)
Tony, thank you. First off, I do a lot of these podcasts and have, and this was, I think, one of the most enjoyable ones I've ever had. And I've learned so much. And I think your approach is one where you just want to talk to you forever, right? I know we got work to do. we got, you know, it's Friday, so we got to some stuff done. But man, man, what a great thing you're doing with this podcast. And what a great, you know, you're changing people's lives. And my guess is you don't even know the number of lives that you're changing, but thank you. And thank you for being real. You're a real guy.

Right? And a lot in this fake world that we live in, especially some of the people that we kind of came around. Thank you for being real.

Tony Stark Policci (01:14:16.51)
Wow, what a compliment. Thank you, Nick. And thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Hero Up Show. Until I see you next time, you are the hero that you can be and that you want to be. So keep going, keep going. Thanks for tuning in. I'll talk to you soon.