Insights from the Strongest Man in Logistics, Robert Bain

I'm Jennifer Purpose Romaine , Executive Director at the Transportation Marketing and Sales Association , which is a trade nonprofit educating and connecting marketing and sales professionals in transportation and logistics , and today I have on the show Robert Bain , who is known as the strongest man in logistics Super pumped to have you here .

We've been doing podcasts together for years , but this is the first time I actually get to interview you , so pretty excited . So you've had a really varied career in logistics . I have .

Yes , I talk about this , but I just love doing these interviews with my friends because I just go deep dive into their LinkedIn and see actually like what they did before I met them . So what brought you to logistics ? What kept you here ? Tell us about your career .

It's fun , it's exciting , it's never dull the downside to it , of course , until you get to like the management level , some of the income is a little lower than I prefer , especially as you grow a family and I didn't , like you know , not having nights to myself or holidays or weekends Like that's usually times you're working is when you're serving people that have

more traditional working hours . So start looking around for something a little more traditional and found this office job and when interviewed , I love telling the story of how I literally fell into this . I had no .

The only thing I knew about logistics is that you moved stuff and I liked the concept of that because I wanted a career that was long-term , sustainable . That was why I wanted to be in the service industry .

My dad worked in telecom for a long time and he wasn't able to keep up as things really started to exponentially grow and so , knowing that I'm like I need a career that's sustainable and that I can really kind of get engaged with and follow , so I interviewed this company and the guy who's interviewed me actually was a guy I played against in high school .

I played soccer against in high school and played soccer in high school and john and I did not get along at that time . Um , I am one of those players that I would push everything to the limit . So if the rest gonna let me do it , I'm gonna do it , and even it makes you uncomfortable , I'm still gonna do it .

Uh , so he didn't like that and so , knowing that , uh , he had no intention of hiring me , and but still toward me around the office to kind of just save face and do you know what he normally does as part of his routine ?

And as we're walking around the office , I overheard this conversation going on with one of the account managers and she's talking to her client .

He's on speakerphone and he's explaining that he's moving a Mercedes McLaren SLR which , for those who don't know , this is the first Mercedes and McLaren supercar mashup , basically , and McLaren's known for their race cars , their F1 vehicles , for the supercars that they build , and these things were retailing at about $3.25 million and they were in the secondary market in

the $1 a half to two and a half million dollar range . So I'm like , hey , make sure you have somebody with the right insurance for that , because I'm seeing an AMG 63 on your screen with $183,000 MSRP . Like that is not the vehicle . She said no , no , no , that's what my client sent to me .

I'm like , well , your client is sending you the wrong information , because , well , your client is sending you the wrong information , because I get it Like , the rider for that coverage is going to be different than the rider for you know , an exotic vehicle . And she looks at me and goes I think my client knows what he has .

And I even said I'm like sir , do you have an SLR , mclaren or AMG 63 ? Oh , it's an SLR . I'm like no problem . So I walked away . It's a 20-second conversation . About two weeks later I get a phone call hey , you're off to the job . Blah , blah , blah . Great , give my two weeks to my employer and I go to work for them .

I go to find out on my first or second day hey , what happened ? Was I right ? It's like being right ? And she is not there . In fact , her desk is empty , empty . And I asked my new boss , this guy John . I'm like hey , what happened ? He's like well , I'm going to introduce you to somebody . He takes me to the Vice President of Operations Office .

I said hi , I'm Robert Bain , nice to meet you . All John says is this is the guy I'm like . Am I already in trouble ? I'm like my first day here . Like , like what has happened ? And oh you're , you're the mclaren guy .

So yeah , yeah , I guess , like what happened with this I don't know , I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing that I'm the mclaren guy .

And so they were doing a post-mortem after the uh shipment had moved , because in transit they had moved it as the amg and used that type of insurance , and in transit the upper hydraulic moved it as the AMG and used that type of insurance . And in transit the upper hydraulic on the car carrier failed and smashed out on top of the vehicle .

It was a $175,000 damage claim . Carrier only had $150,000 in insurance . So for those who don't know , if you're an intermediary and the carrier that you hire to move freight damages the freight to the point that it's over the value of their cargo policy , you are on the hook for that Delta .

And he's like obviously he did , because he overheard three seconds of your conversation . He corrected you . You said no , it cost us $25,000 . You're fired , hire him . And the company was absorbed by CRST .

They're a large carrier in Cedar Rapids , Iowa , and that's really where I learned a lot about trucking because they're huge , a massive , multi-billion dollar operation , and got to kind of see all sides of the business With that . I then having conversations with my family , I did not like living in Iowa . Iowa's a great place to live for some people .

It's a great place to raise kids , it's safe , it's nice . It was just too slow for me . So we started looking at different places and my wife's best friend at the time lived in the Chicago suburbs , specifically in Des Plaines , and I'm like , cool , that's where we're going .

And so we moved out here , helped start a couple of brokers out here , one of which , through a series of acquisitions , got acquired by Blue Grace Logistics down in Tampa . I then moved on and I ran a private carrier for about five years in Waukegan , illinois , first time really being in like a higher level leadership position .

I was the GM there and I basically took that carrier from about six vehicles , six power units and about you know two dozen trailers to 50 vehicles , 75 drivers , a couple hundred trailers around the Midwest

Really like a nice little regional operation and did all that before I had turned 32 and then got recruited to go over to Uber Freight . I was part of their first group of industry hires there . I took them with that group out of stealth into basically go from no one even knows Uber has a freight brokerage to .

We're running a billion dollar annual revenue run rate in 14 months , which was insanity , like it wasn't real life Moved on from there and I really started consulting after that either short or long term engagements .

I've worked for awesome organizations like Shipwell , like Quad Graphics and Quad Express , which is now Holistic , worked for a couple of stealth startups that you know were kind of on the cusp of some really cool things and kind of helped push them along to the next stage . So now I work for an organization called GLCS .

We are a managed IT and technology consulting firm and our focus is helping our customers , specifically trucking companies and intermediaries with their IT , with their tech stacks , and augmenting the staff they have so that they're able to fully support the on-premise staff they have , on-premise or remote .

So everything from your TMS to your pricing engines , your maintenance software , whatever it may be , if it touches your organization technologically , we are able to assist with that .

We have a lot of family in the background because we're my opposites , um , but then also like being at a c level when you're very much in the weeds . It's important because there are some things that sometimes can get lost in translation .

So being able to kind of be that sherpa back and forth with the needs of the organization , but also the goals of the organization and the needs of the individuals that are actually going to execute , I think are super important for people to be successful operationally as well as just from a scaling and grossing point .

fascinating in general . But I do think it can help sales and marketing professionals , and so I'm just curious your perspective , with that kind of training , of being able to do that , has that helped you with your career in logistic , sales and management ?

I mean , really , I went to college to play soccer party and find somebody to marry , did all three . It was great , you know . So that was fine .

But like from a professional perspective , like I really wanted to work in the schools as a psychologist or as a social worker , somebody that was , you know , helping kids on some level that either were not getting the attention they needed in a positive way Kids need some direction or like I don't like the term role model , but if I can like , show kids like ,

hey , you can screw up a lot of stuff in your life and still come out okay on the other end , that's really very much what I wanted to do and that plays into a lot of the other things I've done in my life too .

But then you look at the two majors and what I , you know , kind of learned there is understanding that there's some base level things that work for everything . From an education perspective , how curriculum is developed for the kindergartner is not too different than how it's developed for the 401 in college .

It may be more advanced on the subject matter , but the actual curriculum development is very , very similar . And so , knowing that from a leadership perspective , I know somebody is an X , I need them at Y , I can develop curriculum to get them there , but they have to still execute on that curriculum .

And so then psychology comes in and say all right , ultimately , in leaders , if you hear this , this is what is most important for any C-level . You're giving them the best comp plan , the most simple technology that's going to make their life easier . What they want to know is what's in it . For me , yes . Why does it matter to me ?

If it doesn't matter to me , I listen , you can give me all the different reasons of like , oh , the organization do great things , we're going to scale it . I don't care if I don't understand what's in it for me , because I any person that's listening to this you have all these things going on .

You've got kids , you've got sports , you've got your spouse , you've got your family , you've got the world . All these things going on . Why do I care ? And this middle manager may not even be my direct boss saying , hey , we need to change this process because X , I don't care . So the psychology of it comes back to what's in it for me .

Cool , if I can show you here's how to do it , here's why you're doing it , here's why it benefits you , all these things that play into change management and how I'm able to progress . The organization . That is what has served me tremendously in understanding both the leadership and directional part , but also just dealing with people .

So , ultimately , like we're human , we're human beings , and to treat people like anything other than that is one terrible . So it's super important to be able to do that for folks and give them all these things . And so then , once you understand that they're human beings , you can then sort of serve them at that human level .

And again it goes back to what's in it for me . In some cases what's in it for me is I just need another human to hear me and I need to be seen . So that's helped .

And , to be fair , that's not always natural for me , cause a lot of times , like I am very much , I'm very independent , I'm very much like I keep to myself it doesn't affect me , I don't care . So that was and it has been . So I have to continuously work on it . It's still something I work on , because I don't always see the world that way .

It's a piece we forget about and , just like everyone is wired a little bit differently and for multitudes of reasons just as who they are , how they grew up , what they did , and , yes , they want to be able to understand their , their piece of it . And if you are making process improvements

and you are making changes , they need to know how that , what , how does that change affect them and how does it affect the business ? And what is their piece of it ? Is their role changing ? Or just like how you're doing something ? Are they taking on more responsibilities ? Or like , if you are having shifts in employees , what does that look like ?

And I feel like actually I was just talking about this not that long ago but like a merger and acquisition . It's a huge thing . It happens all the time . I think everybody has lived a horror story through it .

I feel we always talk about it like , oh , this is the efficiency it's going to have on the company , but we don't sit and talk about how it affects our people and just listen like , hey , there's , this is happening , but you're still going to have a job tomorrow and this is what the job's going to be .

What they suck at is assimilation and transition those two things . M&a is great , uh , but yeah , the rest of it , no , they don't do so . The tna , they're not so hot on . So that's an issue , and that is something that uh , folks have to really focus on is , yes , we're gonna use , uh , all these different efficiencies . Where do they come from ? What ?

How does it impact the people ? To your point , is my role impacted if you bring in like two logistics organizations , two , two brokerages , you're do you need two vice presidents of sales . I don't know , Do you need two presidents ? I don't know . Do you need you have 10 account managers on each side ? Do you need 20 ? If you share customers , who gets who ?

All these things you need to think , and these are things that are on a base level or talked about , but also you need to look at do these people fit into the new culture we're building ? And if they don't , how do you help them ?

And if they do , but they're not where they need to be , because if you're looking at different roles and again , you may only need 12 account managers in this new case , or 15 carrier sales reps or three finance folks , but you've got seven on the roster well , where else do we go ? How do we do that ?

So thinking about that , and really that that is where change management starts , is like assuring people that , whatever the outcome is , they're okay . Because what are we afraid of ? We're afraid of losing everything . We're afraid , like I have my house , I have my car .

I've always been like , and I've made this assumption I'm going to be in this organization until either I retire or I'm ready to stop . That's and when people get that sudden change , that's where you get the pushback Like , oh , it'll never work .

It'll never work because they're afraid , like I'm going to lose my role or machines and take my job , whatever the case may be .

So that and that leadership communication again back to the psychology piece we just mentioned that's so huge is understanding where they sit as people , how you communicate that to them and , honestly , how I say it and how you say it , even though we're saying the same thing may hit them very differently .

You want good performance , you want people that are strong , you want people to not necessarily do what they're told , but you want them to follow kind of the guidelines . But people asking the question nine times out of a hundred , it is not malicious in intent . It's like hey , just like , either A help me understand or is this truly the best way ?

And listen , leaders . This is one of the soundbites here you don't always know what is best .

So , like you are that is your like moniker , that's who you are now but like when did that happen and when ? When are you like yes , that's for sure , Something I'm going to run with , and just not like be like , oh yeah , I'm super strong .

So I got obsessed with strength and being strong , traveling around doing baseball card and memorabilia shows with my dad and late night we would sit up eating popeyes , watching , uh , world's strongest man in school wrestling and I just found this stuff fascinating . I thought it was so cool .

Like guys you can pick up big , heavy rocks or you know 400 pound men that move . Like guys that are 120 pounds , like I just I love this . Like these are , even though you might look at something , oh , that's not an athlete . No , they , they're athletes , let me tell you . But then I talk to my dad about it . I'm like I'd love to do something like this .

He's like , yeah , but the problem is you're probably going to end up being like 5'10 at the tallest . And the shortest guy that we were watching was 6'3" . Strongman , specifically that type of competing Typically the elite guys . They're large in every direction . You've got Hathor Bjornsson .

A lot of people know him as the Mountain from Game of Thrones , thor at his biggest . He's 6'8" . He's 460 pounds . That is a large human being . Even when he cut down to do his

boxing match with Eddie Hall , he cut down to 310 . He dropped 150 pounds and got shredded at 6'8" . All that being said , I'm like okay , like no problem . I continued to play soccer . I started lifting weights in college and got pretty big by the time I , when I graduated high school , I was 155 pounds . When I graduated college , I was 225 .

And for the most part , there was very minimal fluffiness in there . Like , I hit the weight room , I had a lot of stuff going for me . I , there was very minimal fluffiness in there . I hit the weight room , I had a lot of stuff going for me .

I was young , testosterone was really high , unlimited meal plan , all those things helped me a lot and I continued lifting weights and then I find this whole powerlifting thing get into it really like it . But it's always this extra thing about me Like , oh yeah , I lift weights .

You see it pretty quick If you ever meet me in person , um , I fill out a shirt pretty well , um , and so it came to 2020 and I had started helping out and kind of give back to the sport , because sports given me a lot like . I've traveled all over the world for this game . I've coached my children um .

One of the coolest moments of my life is representing the united states at a awpc worlds with my daughter in 2019 , then Orlando whole family went down there , watched Lily and I compete . Um , super cool and and a unique experience . Like how many parents get to do that with their kids represent your country at at the same time Like it's . It's really cool .

So I wanted to start giving it back . So I started helping out um spotting and loading and being the safety crew at meets , and part of that was I would start to get the crowd involved if the crowd was not about powerlifting . For those who've never been to a meet is the most boring thing in the world .

You're literally watching your friends work out with their friends . It's not fun . It's neat to see big numbers Don't get me wrong but it's like what do they do ? They walk up , get under the bar , down and up , put it back . Next person up , get under the bar , down and up . It's boring .

And then you get to bench press lay under the bar , down and up , put it back , lay under the bar , down and up . Deadlift is different up and go down . It's super simple .

So , but if I can get the crowd involved in it , because a lot of the crowds don't have any context like , oh , here's a large man , his name is Barzin and he looks Persian because he is , and he's 360 pounds oh , by the way , he's got a thousand pounds over his face Maybe we get excited for this . So start doing that , and I'm really excited about it .

It's super fun . I ended up getting an opportunity to be on ESPN , you know , when the WPO , the World Powerful Organization finals , was on that , and then we come to 2020 . And I give it that buildup , because then we go to 2020 and the world shuts down , right , the whole world ends .

At the very top of the movement and at the very top of that deadlift , I think I'm pulling my hips through , but while I am , I'm also pulling my arm up and I have a mixed grip like this and I rupture the distal tendon in my arm . So there's two tendons that connect you , the bicep here to the forearm .

Uh , there's your uh bicep tendon , your distal tendon , and so the distal tendon ruptures completely off the bone and comes away . So I have now blown my arm apart and the world is ending and I don't know what to do . So I go through the process , I get diagnosed Yep , that's it .

And thankfully they had reopened elective surgeries because it was weird , because it wasn't a life-threatening injury . But if you don't operate on this tendon within a couple of weeks it will start to die . So get in , doc . Heals me up or patches me up , great , fill the cast on . That's a whole other story about me coming to after that surgery .

But and I'm sitting in my garage one night and I am just depressed , I am upset , I , I , I am drinking very heavily , like things are like , things are very , very bleak in my mind because I can't go anywhere , I can't do anything , I'm stuck in my house . I love my family but again , I'm stuck in my house .

There are times when I'm afraid to go outside because I literally see cops driving up and down the street because you're not supposed to be outdoors Wild . And later on that week I end up talking to Trey Griggs . This is actually when we were getting ready to start Word on the Street .

He was kind of kicking the idea around about doing this online luncheon with everybody , and that's what eventually turned into Word on the Street . And he's going to say hey , how you doing man with all this and I let it all out and I think at one point I was crying on the phone .

It was rough and I didn't have a lot of people to talk to about it and Trey being the great friend that he is and he I don't think at that moment he had any clue that what he was about to do , no , none of us did . And he said listen , man , you're , you're the strongest guy I know and you're probably the strongest man in logistics .

You're gonna get through this . And that . That sat with me for over a year actually . And as I thought about , like I do , I , I am the strongest man in logistics like nobody does what I do . And I'm like you know what ? Linkedin's fun social media . I don't do a ton on it , but I got a decent following .

I had a few hundred connections , like a thousand followers or something . I'm like , ah , screw it . And I just threw it on my title and I started getting all this react . People were making fun of me and so finally , I came out one day and I , uh , violet agrees . And I said is anybody else that can squat 700 , bench four , pull 750 .

I will hand my title over , no problem and they shut a lot of people up . Cool , I continue spotting and doing these events uh , a staff while I was still competing too , which was very , very difficult . By the way , my body did not like that , but I got very , very confident .

I learned how to work with crowds and kind of identify the people that were going to help , you know , get the crowd up and moving , and I was able to create an experience for lifters and for athletes that from what .

I've been told I get this bragging on myself a little bit , I don't always like to do that , but , um , that that is exceptional , that is , that is unique and that , uh , people really wanted to to engage in . And so the the gym that I was helping a lot of , at a lot of meets almost every other weekend , people would intentionally sign up for meets .

If they knew I was going to be spotted , they would sign up for me so they knew I was going to be on the mic and so . So it was cool and I gained this confidence and I I then kind of transferred that to my professional life where , like , I can say this stuff in front of a crowd of 500 people . Why can't I say it on a webinar ?

Why can't I say it on a podcast ? And obviously , like you mentioned , like we've been on many podcasts together and I have no problem speaking my mind sure don't and .

But I also learned how to tell stories through that , being able to tell a story that weaves through every competitor but also overnight attempts for the same competitor , because I , I , you know even though , yeah , I'm getting to know you over the course of you know , 60 seconds from when you're called , bars loaded until you complete your lift , like that's cool and

that allowed to get allowed for a lot of confidence in how to tell stories and how to piece these things together . And then do the post-mortem . People ask was like , hey , great job , and you did this . That no different than when I'm doing meetings , when I'm doing networking events . So , hey , I can piece these things together from all the different things .

Oh you , great example this I was at manifest and I met somebody from a , uh , from uber freight and they are working on this , really , really unique uh , or from uber technically , uh , like home delivery service , essentially for like , um , small packages into like appliance , like all types of different stuff .

And one of the issues they have is like how do we set up , you know , for , uh , somebody has no infrastructure whatsoever . How do we set this up for them ? Like , I need to introduce you to Matt over at PopCapacity They've got warehousing , like Airbnb for warehouses . I'm just like , what a great match for this .

You guys can basically go to somebody and say , hey , we can get you warehousing in your area , we can have the delivery set up and you can be in Sacramento , in Atlanta , georgia . But piecing those kinds of things together , it's like , well , start doing that and then start putting my networks together and never being afraid If it doesn't work , it doesn't work .

No one holds me accountable . I'm not a bad person for saying , hey , make new friends . It's what helped break down those barriers , the mental barriers of like , oh man , what if something doesn't go perfect ? Well , what if it does ? Oh my God , what if something doesn't go perfect ? Well , what if it does ? Oh my God ? Like what if things do go right ?

And so that's . That's a very long winded way of saying like Strongest man . Logistics went from just I lift heavy circles to it built this confidence in me that I I don't physically fear anything , but like I'll go into the boardrooms .

I carry myself uniquely , I have a very unique look and I don't , you know , non-traditional sales like most , just don't have this laying around . You know , um , and I'm cool with that and and I can be me , and we've talked about this .

Jenna , what I kind of developed mentally and I've told me about this is you get the same , robert Bain , whether I'm at home , I'm at a powerlifting . Whether I'm at home I'm at a powerlifting meet , I'm at the bar , I'm , you know , at a conference , whatever . It's just the volumes turn at a different level . That's it , and that's that's real .

If I had to kind of synthesize it all together , it's like powerlifting gave me a volume knob and taught me how to use it .

professional , instead of being like this weird thing you do on the side that you never talk about in your professional life , which I think is really cool .

And when they see that , I'll tell you it , because typically they see the passion for sport and physical culture first , and when they see it translate to a professional side , it's like oh , I can , I can do this too . I too could be excited about stuff , I too could be excited about leading , and that's okay and so it's it's it's not a better way to say .

It's like the four minute mile syndrome , like once it's been done , like anybody can do it . I can do this and then .

But part of that is like how hard you support strong women . And I wanted to call this out because I feel like , as a woman and a female in the industry , like there's a lot of men who are like , oh yeah , I support women

, but like not really or not all the way .

And I you talked a little bit about how you have spotted for the past six years and you've been staff and all that , but part of that has been with your daughter and without her but at women's events to support very strong women , and so I want to talk about that and what that means to you and how you've been .

I know you're kind of like closing the door on that to protect your own body , but like what has that meant to you and why do you do that ?

I was already very clear about that , that I'm by no means perfect , but I do love my strong ladies .

Uh , the lady who you know started it , has run it and uh does get help from her , her staff . But laura phelps , realistically the best power lifter of all time . She's incredible Dozens of all-time world records , has coached dozens of all-time world records , different ladies across the board .

She very much is the type that has opened the door and then held it open for others to come through , and that's what I think is so important about her and this event . As I got to know Laura and she knew my skill set on the platform , I said , hey , if you ever want me there for the program , I'll come through , and so sure , we love you .

And when I got there for my first one , it was like , oh , are you just gonna like help out ?

I'm like , well , if you guys will have me , I'll backspot everybody and they said , sure , yeah , and so in in that um , I was able to meet all these incredible , strong women and really start to understand their stories and start to understand different things about the plight of these strong women .

I'm like , hey , you don't look like everybody else and people say things and people do things and it expanded my mindset , it expanded my understanding of the human experience .

It expanded my mindset , it's been in my understanding of the human experience , and so then , when I realized that this event was so much more than just lifting heavy circles , it was like it is just the ladies , it's all for them . It is not about us , it is not about any of the staff per se , it is all .

And so , once again , if I can create that special moment for each and every one of them , whether it was my girl , soraya , who is 14 , did her second pro-am just recently who , this girl steals the show every time , all the personality Picture , conor McGregor , just 15 years old and with a singlet , that's her .

Like she'll , she'll walk through , do the walk and she's just . She's all this personality . To people like Leah Reichman , who she , she broke a 21 year old record the all time biggest total by a woman , first woman ever squat 900 pounds as the largest woman squat of all time 954 . Like , these women do incredible things .

That like , when you really think about it , it's so outside the norm of thinking that all I want to do is say , hey , what like ? What else can we done ? What else can we do ? And and then it's also the whole concept of right I'm doing things that should scare me . How do I just give you the confidence ?

The only thing you got to do is just under the stupid bar , go down and up , and so that's something I say , something I do , and every single one of them I wanted to make sure I gave the same enthusiasm , from first one to the last deadlift , whether it's somebody who I would never even look at , otherwise do it's my own child , y'all have the same experience

. So , um , and then it was making sure they all got their props . It's like , hey , like you know you , this is the age of social media , your comments , you're engaging with all that . You tell them that they did a good job , did all , and so , being a part of that , and then make sure to follow all that .

You do it throughout the year , like , hey , what's the next , what's the next one ? And then , with laura , and it's always telling her like , listen , like you have me , and also , what I'm doing is I am here to serve . That is that is why I'm here , and I said this , um , I said this when I hung up the elbow sleeves .

It has been one of my greatest honors to serve those ladies , because people like my daughters , people like yourself who have never been in this family You've heard about these people for years and little girls . There was a young lady there .

She was eight years old , running around getting pictures with all the the ladies because she'd heard about the pro-am three years ago . I'd never gotten to go . She finally got to do a reverse one .

You are setting up the next generation of powerful , strong , insane women the best kind of insane and we want that and we love that , and so that's always came back to us . My daughters will see stuff like this , and then now my daughters will see stuff like this , and now my granddaughter will see stuff like this .

I want them to understand what it's like to my boys , to understand what it's like to support women . And again , I'm not perfect . I still have a lot of work to do on that . There's certain stuff that I see that I lose my mind on , but again , it's it's . It's all .

I wanted to create that experience with them and I wanted to make sure these ladies knew that they are so special and they are incredible . And if any of you all see this , again , it has been my honor to serve you .

And yeah , saturday I did hang up the elbow sleeves and received one of the most beautiful tributes I could have ever asked for , because I didn't ask for it . I didn't need it Again . I was there to serve . Laura took time at the end of the meet , um , and put the spotlight on me , which she didn't need to , and it was , um .

But you also showed up and supported in a really real and authentic way , which isn't something that everyone gets all the time , so you can feather in your cap yeah , yeah , I need it because I'm over here .

I would not have had the confidence . And my favorite one was like I would not even have the audacity to get under that bar unless you were there and that listen , I've done a lot of crazy stuff in my life . There's not a lot better highs than that .

It's not like you're just abandoning the community because you have to protect yourself too .

So , knowing that like I need to kind of focus on my own training . But no , I mean , saturday was the last day spotting Sunday I was back at the venue , I was on the mic all day and seen , because I still had the gift of gab . I like to yap , obviously , as we're going through this .

So , yeah , I very much continue to support it and even if it's just me showing up there and make sure I pay my 10 bucks a day and clap for the ladies , I will do that until Laura's done with it and that was the whole conversation after the meet on what that looks like .

You know , I'll talk a little bit about what it meant , like the whole , like why I say it and I don't feel like what , what a strong brand is going to be . You know it's going to be something that is is complimentary , is catchy , is exciting for people and something like ultimately , like why do people want to keep following ? Like why , why do they care ?

Like certainly there's going to be enough when it comes to the operational expertise , technology expertise . But what is it ? Is it stuff about my life ? Is it stuff about my lifting ? How do you fully engage people and humanize people that you've never met before ? I'll tell you .

People will come up to me and say , listen , I've never met you , but I feel like I know you very well and I think that tells me that the branding is working .

So we talk a lot about that and kind of how I do it and um , and honestly , how I I made a post about finding your voice and how I learned for my voice to come through type and through the , the written word um , and make it sound like I'm talking to you I'm really excited about it and I know we talked about how you build the brand and that's who you

are , but it does , and you talked about it making connections , making business .

But it does equate to sales and business , which is actually I'm putting you like I told you right after a keynote speaker who is talking about the power of not just storytelling but story selling , because you have to tell the right story at the right time to the right people in the right place , or you're just talking .

So I'm really excited about that and I think it's going to be really great , super excited to have you on on stage and this is also the first time I've gotten you to then come to a tmsa event . Um , you know I've asked every year since I've had you .

But besides taking the stage and sharing a bit about your journey , what are you looking forward to being able to come to tmsa ?

I think it's unique that it is an organization that's , you know , 100 years old and I think that's so important that when you have that much history , like there's so much that can be gleaned from that , from the organization , from the archives .

So I'm really excited to learn more about the organization , see the culture , the vibe and what you know obviously you've helped foster in your time as the chairman , but also , like what was laid , the foundation laid before that . So you know , the networking is always huge . Austin's nice . I do like Austin .

Though I will say part of me wishes it was going to be in Savannah again , only because , for those who don't know , I have a doppelganger , apparently , and that is the umpire of the Savannah bananas .

gonna just keep asking and and just keep saying yes and so , because I was even like OK , you guys are going to come speak , can we have the banana ? Come to conference , like at what point are you going to just tell me now we can have the banana ?

I'm like I don't know what that is , and from watching it , from that moment to watching where they have catapulted over the past you know , four years has been an amazing thing . It made us look phenomenally cool to have them . So I was excited .

But yeah , we're in Austin , texas , this year , but we will have our own fun , surprises and things occurring there , and so I'm excited about that , excited to have you as a part of the show and to um bring you into tms so you can see we're excited for it .

I can't , I cannot wait so that takes us to my very last question that I ask everybody who comes on the show , and that is if you could go back in time and advise a younger robert anything , and that could be personally or professionally when would you go back to and what would you tell him ?

That is the commonality of so many of those answers and I just hope that people who watch the show in a younger version think about that as they're entering their careers , like , yes , you can go hard , but you also have to take care of yourself and the longevity of your life and the work-life balance is really important .

I'm really excited to talk about it and about the importance of being in industry associations and joining them and actually contributing to what they do and how it helps you with your professional growth . So check us out here next week , on on the move and until next time , I'll see you later . Bye .