She was my high school crush. Oh, I was definitely not hers. We knew each other. We were friends and acquaintances. But I mean, she was by far the most popular girl in the school and I was, you know, the same person I am today kind of a consummate nerd.
Yeah,
you know, years later, after my journey, I ran into her in a park. And she was actually married at the time and had a young daughter and I said, hello. I use some words that some think are quite crazy, but I did say call me when you're single.
This episode, you'll get to know Solon Bach holds the resilient entrepreneur. And you'll hear the story of how he went from being homeless, and sleeping in a gas station bathroom to becoming a highly successful entrepreneur, and international business advisor. I'm Dave Crenshaw, and this is my success Show. Welcome back friends to the Dave Crenshaw Success Show. This is the show where I speak to some of the most successful people I've met in my life
journey. And I'm looking for universal principles of success that you can use every single day. In case it's your first time here, you're hearing me for the first time, I'm a best selling author, I speak around the world to Fortune 500 companies. And with my online courses, I've taught millions how to be successful. With this show, I wanted to do something a
little different. First of all, I was looking for something to help my family succeed in particular, my children, but I thought you'd enjoy learning along with them. And the people that I interview, I look for people who have multifaceted success, not just financial and career success, but they have a happy life. They have balanced and they spend time with their
family and have fun. And my guest today is someone that I met while we were doing some charitable work, we were having fun in prison, helping people part of a program called hustle 2.0. I'll mention that later in the interview. But first, before I introduce him, I want to ask you to do something. During the episode, look for something you can do an action you can take today or tomorrow, not months from now, but something you can
immediately act on. And then that way you'll make Solons success story, a part of your success story. And I'm really excited to share his story with you. Solon Bach holds is the CEO and co founder of LBC studios, a mobile game developer and publisher. He's been honored as part of British and Vancouver's 40, under 40. And he's an active member of YPO. That's Young Presidents Organization in
British Columbia. He now shares his knowledge with various tech companies as a seasoned advisor and board member, and he loves solving complex problems through collaborative execution. Solon lives in Fort Langley, British Columbia with his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters, Solon, thank you so much for being here.
Thanks very much, Dave. It's a pleasure to be here.
And where are you located right now,
I'm in Fort Langley BC in my beautiful home. And today we lost power. So I appreciate adapting today's interview.
The irony of it right. You've never lost power before inherent happens when we got this interview. So I appreciate you moving quickly and Thinking quickly, and that's not surprising with your entrepreneurial background, right? Yeah, we're very fortunate here. Yeah, exactly. So we first met in prison of all places. And California when we were doing an event with puzzle 2.0. And I heard some of your story. You talked a little bit
about how you were homeless. I believe it was sleeping in a bathroom when you were at one point in your life. Yeah,
there's so much to share and touch on. So I'll try to be succinct. But it was really interesting to be back in prison, but on the side of the lens of supporting and mentoring inmates and Mavericks for hustle 2.0. And sharing my journey that includes, you know, as you mentioned, state of homelessness and sleeping on bathroom floors, actually in some gas stations about five kilometers or three miles from here. Yeah,
wow. I'm excited to get into that story. So let's gradually work our way there and start at the beginning. And typically, we start with the question of what did you want to be when you grew up? And I'm not talking about the answer for a small child I'm talking about in your teenage years, when you started to form ideas about what you were going to be when you grew up? What were your thoughts at the time, what was life like for you?
Yeah, it's interesting. My teenage years were challenging to say the least. So when I think about the question of what I want to be, I also have to separate it Is it what I wanted or what others wanted of me. And when I think back to high school, there were moments where I thought I wanted to be an astronaut, a paleontologist, I had a deep passion for acting
and film. But I felt that the direction that was imposed on me or supported was to move towards a legal profession potentially becoming a lawyer, or following the family business in real estate.
Okay, so you grew up around both lawyers and real estate investors?
No. So I come from a split family. And I think that unique dynamic had a pretty significant influence on me, my father, he was a second generation real estate investor and financer. And you know, from all perspectives as a young child, early adult teenager, I definitely looked up to him as what success was, or the way I defined it as a teenager, which was really financial success. However, coming from a split family, my mom was the epitome of a starving artist, she was a
painter. We lived in Montreal, and she was going back to school and really just trying to make ends meet and supporting me towards a path of education, and really thinking about something bigger for myself. And from her father, there was an influence to move towards perhaps a legal profession. That's
interesting, as someone who also came from a split family background, my parents divorced when I was five, it was like, every time I would visit my father versus every time I would be with my mother, because she had custody. The experiences were so different from each other, that it gave me a broader perspective of things and a realization that there wasn't just one way was it like that for you?
Yeah, I mean, I think still to this day, the dichotomy of the differences between the two family systems is still something I internally have to navigate. As a teenager, I put a high emphasis and value on my father having financial success and freedom. You know, as a kid, what that looked like, meant we could go on trips, and we had free time. And we got to do a lot of the things that I value.
The other side of the coin was my mom was the empathetic and the Compassionate One, and the one who really showed up for me emotionally, and supported me through the educational journey I was on and really valued family over everything else. And as a teenager, I undervalued that, and I think as I mature, as a father myself, I recognize that perhaps the definition of success for me is shifting more towards my mom's family systems.
And as I obtained financial success, less towards those aspirations.
I'd like the word that you just use their family systems. I'm a system guy. And everything that I look at in terms of the business is in terms of systems, but I've never heard it put quite that way. And what I like about it is it shows open mindedness on your part, because sometimes we look at just a personality is responsible for everyone. Is that systems thinking a part of things that you do in your work life? Yeah,
probably, sometimes to the benefit, and sometimes not so much in my own family is I'm incredibly organized, analytical and intentional. And so I break a lot of things down into systems if I can, okay, the word family systems, however, comes from my spouse, Michelle. Oh, she recently became a therapeutic counselor. And so through our journey of navigating our own relationship, and how we show up for our kids, I learned a lot about family systems. And yeah, it's a therapeutic term.
I'm fascinated to dive into that as we go through this journey. So you got these two different perspectives? Where did you start your career journey? What did you actually begin doing? Did you go to college? What was that pathway?
So I always had the good fortune of being academically strong. And not I would say, because I tried hard, but just sort of a natural gift to kind of understand what was expected and how to navigate that successfully. Given that there was an expectation of perhaps moving towards a legal profession, I did start attending university at a school close by here at a university college with the intention of it moving my path towards a legal
profession. That said, I learned early on, you know, I had those typical jobs as a teenager working at McDonald's and Pizza Hut. And I learned very, very quickly that I'm not a great employee, not just not a great employee, but I struggle when there's limitations for opportunity, and where that opportunity can go and I think very early I realized that I have an entrepreneurial spirit, and even in the path of the legal profession that likely wasn't going to be fulfilled.
Now, my departure from university didn't come because of that realization.
So what did cause your departure from university?
So I graduated at 17. But truth be told, I actually was already living on my own the dynamic with my father who has some incredible attributes, but also a very, my way, or the highway approach to lessons learned, resulted in a lot of conflict early on in my life. And so I moved out and by moved out, I mean, I really just coach served on some family coaches
when I was about 15. And by the time I was going to university, I was living in my car with an extension cord plugged into my car with a small TV, and that was my home. And so to answer your question about my departure from university was ultimately the day of my final exams. For my first semester, I didn't have enough gas to get to school, I ran out on the way there, and I missed my exams, and I never looked back.
Wow, that's remarkable. What did you gain during that time? We've clearly it was a struggle for you to do that. Yet, I'm guessing that you learned some valuable lessons that still influence what you do today.
Yes, I think in the moment, it was tough, I was probably angry, upset. And those aren't emotions that are going to help you overcome challenges in the future. I think looking back now, though, there's a couple of big realizations for myself, the importance of resilience, to get back up when things don't go your way, you know, when an example today, just the challenges of power going out just before this interview, and adapting. The second is taking a high level of
self accountability. And what I mean by that is, things don't happen to you, they happen for you. And, you know, in the moment, it could feel like this is big, upset, or kick to the teeth. But the reality is, it was an opportunity to learn and grow. And I think one of the driving forces in my life that continues to be really important is managing fear of failure, not just as a driver, but also as an opportunity to learn and grow. Were
you feeling a fear of failure during that time,
I still feel it. I think it's one of the personal things that I'm trying to manage myself, I have an incredible driving force. You know, having looked up to my dad who achieved financial success, quite young, I really just wanted him to feel proud of me. And that's been a challenge in our relationship. But ultimately, underneath that is, yeah, I have a constant sense of fear of failure. And by all accounts, I'm incredibly
successful. But there's always something underneath that drives me but also leaves me in a place of discomfort. And
as you said, right now, you're highly successful. And we're gonna get into that more. Yet, in the past, you were afraid of failure? And I believe you would say that you were failing at that time. Is that accurate? Was the fear justified in those early years? Yeah,
I mean, by all accounts, when you, in your mind set these ambitious goals of what success looks like to you, and really every step you're taking is a step backwards, you're at least the feeling is absolutely, I felt behind, you know, and as we talk a little bit about my journey of homelessness, and coming out of that, the reality it's, you know, 18, with basically University wasted, difficult relationships with my family, struggling on the edge of
addiction at this point. And watching my peers around me kind of progress. You know, I think actually, that was probably one of the biggest challenges. When I finally took accountability and started making steps towards a better life was I always felt behind, right, I always felt like I had wasted these years, making poor decisions. And ultimately, now I'm behind in this race. And that's been an incredible driver. But, you know, I think my age now, it's also an opportunity to make peace with it.
And that's an interesting phrase, too, is the concept of being in a race against other people, rather than you're on your own journey, right. And yeah, the speed at which others accomplish things is not the same speed that you need to follow.
Absolutely. It's been a very big learning lesson. Yeah.
And I would say that from an objective perspective, now, compared to others, you would be winning the race, but that isn't what matters. What matters is what you've gained in the process. Right. And are you growing every day? Yeah,
we'll definitely touch on some of those thoughts.
So with that as a concept, what was one of the perhaps negative turning moments when you You were in that situation you dropped out of college, talk to me about the path that led to the more difficult parts of your life journey from
a place of self accountability, ultimately, the choices I made and the feelings and way I chose to react to situations I have to take full accountability and ownership for,
can you give me one example of that
addiction, you know, addiction, led to some criminality, and that criminality ultimately closed some doors in my life, which, you know, led to some prison time, it led to broken relationships. You know, and as I think, again, as a father, how important it is to be confident, I lacked a lot of self confidence, I really felt lost. And that's a difficult thing to
overcome, you know. So when I think of key moments in my life, on the negative side, as you've requested, I have a very vivid memory of waking up on a gas station floor, and somebody banging on the door, because they needed to use the bathroom, and feeling really alone and really lost. I also remember a very, and in the interest of keeping the conversation, not so much about the specific events. But you know, there was a moment where my life was at risk, where someone had attempted to kidnap
me. And I, in that moment, felt like, my life might be over. And this is not the life I had envisioned for myself.
So how did you move past those kinds of feelings? I mean, that's pretty intense. As I'm sitting here listening to this, I'm thinking, My gosh, that would be so painful, that would feel very depressing. I would feel despondent. I mean, I've been in some pretty bad situations myself, how did you climb out of that?
So it's interesting, and we'll touch on this in a bit. But it's really recognizing who you are, rather than, as you mentioned earlier about the race, you know, comparing yourselves or who others want you to be. And for me, there was a foundational sense of my why, and I couldn't call it that in that moment. Nor was I pinpointing that specifically in that time. But as I reflect back, I realized how important it was for me, in my motivations, and where I feel
valued. And bring value is a sense of family, a single unit, you know, something that I felt I didn't have, and deep, meaningful relationships with people I care about, I always wanted to be a dad, I know that's a strange thing to say, as a young person. But that sense of family and cohesive unit, coming from a broken family was really important. So where that started, for me, ultimately was I had a girlfriend during this tough time, briefly. And she had a
young baby. And even though we were navigating chaos, there was a sense of peace that came from being at home with her and being a stepfather to this child, even in this chaos. And it led me to a moment to realization that this is not the life I want for myself, that I'm chasing fruitless pursuits of what I deemed to be success and power. And the only thing that's going to change is me. And what that looked like, the first step was I enrolled myself into a detox. I
imagine that took a tremendous amount of courage to do that. Were you afraid to check yourself into detox? Were you resisting it? Super
afraid? Yeah. I was afraid, I think very much the same way as an adult, when you look at new opportunities as an entrepreneurs is the fear of the unknown. You know, I didn't know a life at that point, any different than what I was living in? And truthfully, it also didn't feel I had a support system. And I'm not saying that that is real. You know, my parents definitely care, and would have been there to help. But in the moment, I felt alone.
And the only people I knew were people from a lifestyle that definitely didn't support rehabilitation. Yeah, that
is part of the process, right, is to form new relationships that are more positive that are going to not put you in that situation that leads to the addiction. Right,
exactly. So that was the first step. And it was 10 days. And I'm proud to say that 10 days later, I never looked back. Wow. Yeah. There was no relapses. It was 10 days it was done. And there was just this switch that went off for me that how powerful it is, when you set your mind to accomplish something and you do it for you. It was probably that first step towards rebuilding confidence and really feeling empowered with the choices I made, that they're mine and mine alone.
That kind of leads to what my next question was, and maybe that's The answer, but I'm curious about a lesson that you learned during detox that you're still using today.
I mean, I think that that awareness of self accountability definitely came out of there. I think there was an opportunity there as well, to just recognize, you know, and we talked about this previously, that things aren't just really happening to me, they're an opportunity to happen for me, and that I have some ownership in this. And I think that rings true in terms of decision making. But I'll add one more. And this really relates to
hustle 2.0. When our experience down there in the prison system,
I'm going to pause just for a moment, Solon, hustle 2.0 has come up a few times, but just for some context, that's a program where they're teaching people who have been incarcerated, to take the pattern of their life in the past and transform it. That's the whole concept of hustle 2.0, they had a hustle before, but it wasn't legal. Now they're learning a new one. And so you and I both contributed to it and spent some time there.
Yeah. And to connect those dots, I think, were one of the biggest takeaways is when people in detox, were taking care of me. There wasn't judgment. And there was compassion for my situation, and a genuine care for me as a human being. And I think that is something that I carry through today, in business and in life is just recognizing that we're all human on this experience, things happen again, in our lives, and we come from different families and
experiences. But ultimately, you know, we should never judge a book by its cover. And this stems from a book called The Four Agreements, right, but don't take things personally, be impeccable with your word, and just really treat people as human beings, and see the best in them. And
I think that's something that drew me to you, when we first met Solon wishes I could feel your compassion, I could feel that you care for other people. And also, your story, though, illustrates something I always think about when I'm in a place like that, where I'm in prison, I view people as they can become, not as what they are now. And what I love about your story is you're
a perfect example of that. I think if someone saw someone sleeping on the floor of a bathroom in a gas station, they'd look at that person and say, they're done. Right? They're never going to get better than this. This is who they are. Yeah, you see that person. And you see someone who can be a highly successful entrepreneur, and be recognized and have dozens of employees
working for them. And more than that, being a good father being a good husband, and making a difference in the world, you know that because you've accomplished that.
Yeah. And I think that's why I am so open about my past is your story is one to be shared. It's not something to shy away from your mistakes are an opportunity to share your wisdom as well. And, you know, even mistakes, you know, the reality is, I wouldn't be who I was today without those experiences. And I think I do have to acknowledge that choices I made had negative impacts on other people, and I have to make
amends with that. But I think by living and being the person you want to be with a commitment to constant growth, you honor that.
That's beautiful. Okay, so you leave detox, I know, one of the first major milestones of your career was real estate, right and founding your real estate company. So connect the dots. How do you get from homeless struggling, coming out of detox, to getting to a point where you're a real estate investor, that seems like a pretty big leap. So I'd love to hear the journey to that. It's
interesting, because it goes back to the family dynamics. My father and grandfather were both in the real estate business, and they weren't active at the time that I joined. But you know, for lack of a better term, you could call it the family business. And as a child, and given my dynamic with my father, the reality was, I wanted to be anything other than
Him. And yet here I was being supported by my dad and rekindling relationships with him, that this actually seemed like a path that would allow me to remove limits on my potential, call it be in business for yourself. And I went and got my real estate license as a starting point, rekindled my relationships with my father and family. And, you know, the truth is, I wasn't that successful to start. I think we can all acknowledge
that. Building your own business is a tremendous amount of work and requires a good work ethic. And when I started, I probably believed very similarly to school that I would just kind of figure it out and would be good at it without necessarily putting in the work that needed to be done. The second part of that was going back to that early relationship I had with that girlfriend with a young daughter was I was still missing the purpose behind the work. Real estate can be impactful,
but my why wasn't in my life. I wasn't in a relationship. I didn't have a family. And what really skyrocketed that real estate business was when I met my wife. How
did that occur? How did you meet? What was the start of the relationship?
I'll give you the short version, we actually went to high school together, she was my high school crush. Oh, I was definitely not hers. We knew each other. We were friends and acquaintances. But I mean, she was by far the most popular girl in the school. And I was, you know, the same person I am today, kind of a consummate nerd. Yeah, you know, years later, after my journey, I ran into her in a park. And she was actually married at the time and
had a young daughter. And I said, Hello, I use some words that some think are quite crazy. But I did say call me when you're single.
All right. years later, we
reconnected at a corporate event by complete circumstance. And, you know, we fostered a friendship which led to eventually, my belief, we were going to be married quite quickly. And we were and she was going through divorce. And she had a young daughter, as I mentioned, who is six at the time, who became my stepdaughter. And the minute they came into my life, that deep sense of purpose in my why all of a sudden just clicked, you know, I had to support other people that I cared about, and
they were in my life. And here was my opportunity to have that family unit. And that mattered. And that's really what drove my success.
I just wrote a note here that supporting others, gives you a sense of purpose. And part of my story, I tell when I speak that there were two words that changed my life. And the two words were I'm pregnant. And it also gave me that sense of I need to change, I need to do a better job, I feel responsible for this life. So I completely can empathize with that feeling that comes from having someone that you love driving you to become a better person.
Yeah, I mean, in that moment, you have an opportunity to really reflect back on your own childhood to and think about the things that you valued, and the things that you would do different if you were in the same position. And for me, with those life experiences I've shared, having a six year old in my life, and my wife was all right, you know, we're always going to have a roof over our head, we're gonna have food on
her plate. And for me, personally, I'm going to show up financially, physically and emotionally, for my kids, and for my family. That's
wonderful. That's admirable. So did you ever have success with real estate? I know, you said you struggled in the beginning to come in turn into something profitable for you.
Yeah, as soon as they came in my life. And there was this concept that we have a life together, and it's a we and not a me, everything changed. And I think the wheels were already starting, and my work ethic could increase. But that was just a supercharging moment, there was another friend in my life at the time to who really changed my perspective, by saying these words to me, don't be afraid of your own success. And that was an interesting concept of a limiting belief.
And I really took that to heart. And I just said, You know what, I'm not going to just try to be at this level, I'm just gonna see where I can go. And all of a sudden, my real estate business took off, I started securing a lot of larger project development, marketing opportunities. And by all accounts, you could say I was successful the way I defined it as a young boy, which was financial. But the truth is, I was trading time for money. And I was not fulfilled.
So before we get into that, the word systems came up before. Yeah. So I think it's easy for someone to hear this and say, he was more motivated. Therefore, he was more successful. But motivation is only one part of the equation. So what were the systems that you changed from before you were motivated to after? What specifically did you alter in the way that you operated?
Yeah. So my quirks we'll call them for success was just being incredibly diligent and organized in everything I do. You know, I was meticulous in my scheduling and my calendar, everything down to the detail was in there. And for me, again, going back to that fear of failure is the minute I put it down and say, I'm going to do it or this is a thing that I need to accomplish, deferring it, or deleting it didn't become
an option. And that gave me a huge sense of accountability to myself, being really financially responsible. You know, one thing I learned in the real estate industry and in my journey in entrepreneurship and business is this sense of ego getting in the way where we are living beyond our means. And for me, right Regardless of the success was being incredibly financially diligent, you know, what are my needs versus my wants. And we now live much more comfortably
than we did at that time. But at that time, we were really tight with our budget. And we made sure that the little bit of money we did made was invested for our future. And I think that was really helpful in running the business because it also meant we were mean and lean, and how we ran the business. Interesting.
Okay, so you did those things, you were start to be successful, but you were not feeling fulfilled. Why was that?
I think one thing that always lives in my spirit, is this sense of doing something bigger. And that's not to knock, what I was doing was not impactful? You know, I impacted a lot of families positively and built a lot of really positive
relationships along the way. But something underneath that, both in terms of my why with my family, like our quality of life was not what I wanted it to be, you know, it's one thing to talk the talk, but if we're not actually living it, then you're not being authentic to yourself. And the truth is, my time was not existent. For my family, I was working seven days a week, I said, I valued these things like family and time and experiences,
but I wasn't even present. And you know, the time that we didn't use to go do things, my mind was elsewhere, or I was on the phone. And this wasn't the life that I had envisioned, again, for myself. And I felt like there was something bigger, something more impactful, and something more meaningful that I can do with my time. And time will be a big part of my discussion, because I really believe it is the most valuable
asset we have. And I'm trying to be very intentional with what I use my time with.
Yeah, absolutely. And I can see that you do keep coming back to how you're spending time, which is a joy for me to hear as a productivity guy. So what did you pivot to? What was the change?
So it was an opportunity of timing. And again, I think just, I wrestle with this idea of saying yes to too many things, but with Yes, comes opportunity that is debated heavily now about, you know, being conscious about what you say no to as well. But in the moment, having recognized that I needed to change, or I believed I needed to change, my wife and myself had gone through some experiences therapeutically, that had allowed us to connect on a deeper level in our
relationship. And in that experience, I also had a bit of a realization or, you know, an epiphany for lack of a better term, that I needed to start another business. And in this thought, I knew who that business was going to be with, I just didn't know what the business was. And so we sat down, me and my partner at my dining table, and we just talked about changing our lives and what that would look like and what kind of business we can
start together. And I think and this is where as entrepreneurs, you have to be really intentional, when you take risks is no, there's a market and know who the customer is. And regardless of the challenges and limitations and lack of technical belief, just really believe that we can deliver. And so for us, you know, we ask ourselves these questions.
Talk to me about your partner, who is this person? And how did you become associated with them and know so strongly that the kind of person you want to work with? Yeah,
he was always a very intentional person as well and a thoughtful person. He's a friend of mine that I grew up with in circles and had his own sort of successful business at the time as well. And I could also sense that there was a change to his industry that he wasn't necessarily enjoying. And I think that those pairings and the ability to kind of have similar mindsets and approaches to life and family was an
opportunity to align. And what that really came down to is we asked ourselves these questions, what do we really want, and we both agreed that we wanted the flexibility to travel and be with our families. We wanted a business that was scalable. And we believe that at the time, this was during the most recent tech boom, and the emergence of online games and mobile games.
This was a space we could probably enter without any technical background, only because we really believed that there was an underserved audience and an opportunity to build a game to serve that audience.
What I love about what you just said, is that you built the company from the start with what you wanted out of it. What was the life that you wanted the company to give you not? Yeah, how can we make a lot of money? Or what are we good at? It sounds like that was intentional. You were both aware that you were doing that? Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, financial success, I think, at the time was also a big part of that. But I've also recognized and I try to speak less about that as the outcome because from my perspective, having gone through a challenging couple years in our ecosystem, and the mobile landscape as a whole is you really realize that, you know, two big takeaways for me why I didn't use the word financial success in there is, you know, you can't predict that you have to enjoy the journey itself.
Having gone through a difficult couple years, I had to reevaluate that the value of my business is not the value of me. And lastly, outcomes and products should not be the goal, but rather people and impact. And so shifting that to more who I get to work with and how I empower them, and how I can impact others through my work, doesn't require, as we talked
about earlier, a race. It's just a state, versus if we say we have to make this money, and this is our outcome, and we don't achieve that, then it brings that concept of failure back into your life.
So you said something really interesting there about who you get to work with? I'm assuming that that thought influences your hiring process. Is that correct? Absolutely. So talk to me about what you do in the hiring process to make sure that you're working with the kind of people you want to work with? Yeah, that's
a great question. That's been a process in itself. I mean, honestly, early on, given that we don't come from a technical background, we really had to lean on, you know, what we defined as experts, people with possibly the resume or pedigree to help lead us and guide us in building our company, where we learned that that necessarily wasn't true.
And how we apply that to our hiring processes today is we defined what we call a player's and a player's doesn't necessarily mean that you're the best expert or you have the resume in your industry. But it comes more down to the attitude. Are you willing to grow? Do you collaborate? Do you have a deep passion and desire to continue to learn your skills professionally, and personally, those attitudes, and then tying them to our values as a company? Are you accountable? And honest?
Do you have a passion for what you do? Those things are more applicable in our hiring process. So we will sometimes hire people with less experience that we believe we can grow internally, because they have the right attitude and the right values of the company? Yes,
you're speaking my language. One of the things I emphasize from my clients is higher traits over skills. Yes. And what most people do is to hire skills over traits, oh, you know how to program with this particular language? Oh, you were a manager for this industry great. When instead you should be looking for the kind of person that has the ability. And then if you need to, you can teach the skills, but you cannot change someone's traits, and the work environment. That's
absolutely true. And if I'm being true to myself, I have to operate that way. Because I'm the same, I don't have the resume, I don't have the educational background, or the pedigree that most would typically look for as a CEO of a tech company. But I do believe I foster those traits. And you know, I think that needs to percolate down through your whole team so that you live and walk the talk. So
I enjoy games. And when I think about being a game developer, I think that just seems crazy. I'm not saying that you can't be profitable with it. I'm saying that seems extremely difficult to ramp up and create. So I'm curious about maybe just one or two situations where adversity and building your company that you overcame and figured out? Yeah,
there's many, I think we're still navigating them today. The interesting thing about the industry I'm in is how young it is, you know, it's truly a 10 year industry, the mobile ecosystem. And it operates very differently than other industries where we're free to play games, you can download and play or a games for free. And we rely on a very small portion of conversion of people that actually spend in conjunction with ads and understanding the ad ecosystem.
So challenges along the way, you know, first and foremost, we didn't have the expertise. So going back to leaning on experts, when we were forced to make challenging decisions that would have a meaningful impact on the future of our business. You know, we were operating without experience, you know, we were learning as we go. And so a perfect example of that with our first game was, do we license this thing with a very famous celebrity brand who is aligned
to our audience. And we explored that rate down to the point of contract, we had the contract drafted and the decision mean, my partner and our team had to debate at length was, is signing with this person under these terms, going to be a more positive net for our business or building our own IP and brand for our audience. And that was heavily heavily debated. And we can't look at the past and say this is for sure what the
outcome would be. But I'm saying thankful for the choice we did make, which was to go it alone and the outcome that we're living today, that was a very significant one. The second significant one, I think goes back to, as you mentioned, hiring people, which we can talk
about if you'd like. Yeah, please, you've talked about your process. But what else have you learned about hiring people. So
we hire much slower now. And we let go much quicker than we used to. And I have a different way of putting that. But early on, we scaled too quickly, you know, we grew our company by adding boots on the ground, because we were growing fast. And we just kept hiring. And you know, we grew the company to close to 50 people at the time. But what we didn't have was clear vision and clear process and accountability with the right people in the right
places. And so when challenges would come up with both an issue of scale, and an issue without clear vision and process was, it was very difficult to understand whether we had the right players on the team. And we would give a lot of chances to validate that because we didn't really have a
clear way to know. And so what happened is, we would keep people that weren't necessarily the right fit aligned with our values and traits we talked about in the company for too long, and they had a pretty negative impact on the overall success at the time. Versus now we are much leaner. We are very clear and intentional when we hire of what that purpose, role and support looks like for that
individual. And also when things are not going as planned, there's a very clear process to identify those challenges and overcome them before we make the decision whether they can be supported and grow or they can't.
So shifting gears a little bit, I know that you've also stepped into role as an advisor to companies. Yeah. Is that something you're still doing?
It is? Yeah, honestly, there's another thing that I very much live by that I probably want to make sure is heard here. And it's something I say out loud, often, in whatever you do be an energy giver, not an energy taker. And so how that applies to your question about supporting businesses, is I'm very intentional now about the companies that I do jump in, and asking myself, you know, can I bring value here? What energy can I bring to this table that's going to help support the
challenges they're facing? Am I doing it for them? Am I doing it for me and my ego? Or am I doing it for something that aligns with my why? And early on when I started advising for companies, ultimately, I just got excited by people trying to solve interesting challenges. And you know, I get excited easily. But if you say yes to too many of those things, you're pulling yourself away from the thing that you need to really take care of, and you can actually bring value to too many things
at the same time. Yeah, it's very challenging to have your headspace in different businesses. And so now, I'm very intentional about what I do say yes to. And typically, the businesses that I do advise for, give me energy just as much as I can give them energy. And I can take that energy back to my business that I run daily, you know, it excites me. So there's also a creative aspect there that allows me to bring that energy into my core business. And that excites me.
I love that perspective, be an energy giver, not an energy taker, and also, how you're limiting what you're participating in, which sort of leads to my second last question, which is, what are you doing? Now, you mentioned you struggle with work life balance previously. So what do you do now, to make sure that you have time for balance time for family time for fun?
Well, we talked a lot about systems. So every year, I have a system too. So it's a combination of looking at my values, my family's values that we talked about, collectively, looking at our goals, personally, romance, business, finance, we align those each year. And I'm now layering that on top, I've recognized as I turned 40, I don't have the same energy I used to have. And I may not be at the front of the pack in my industry. And there's younger, smarter, quicker people
that are going to come up. And so there's a great book I'm reading right now. So this is kind of fresh in my mind, shifting my mind from fluid intelligence to crystallized intelligence and just changing my role in my life. Now to be more somebody that helps others rather than worrying about what I'm achieving, has allowed me to step back and not feel that sense of fear of failure, not feel like I'm on a race or I have to chase and it allows me to say no to a lot more things.
It allows me to be a lot more present with my family and balance those things because I know most of the things I'm saying yes to are aligned fundamentally to my purpose and why and bring me meaning and bring value and I can give value there. So my schedule is actually getting lighter, not fuller. The only thing that battles with that a little bit is ultimately to be able to support others I do have to achieve some financial success. maintain and support my family.
And given some of the challenges in the economics of our industry the past couple of years, that's been approaching in my headspace a little bit just to make sure that our company thrives and survives over the next few years, so that I can continue to take the steps that I'm doing.
And what was the book that you said, you're reading that's helping with that? It's Arthur Brooks,
from strength to strength. He's a Harvard professor that studied happiness and joy throughout life, especially the second stage of life.
Sounds like a great book. We'll link to that in the show notes. Last question, five years from now, what are you seeing into the future for you and for your business? Wow, that
is a great question. So in five years from now, in the spirit of allowing others to grow and supporting others in their growth, I would like to see my leadership team step up, and actually drive the business forward, and give me the space and freedom that I can continue to grow in my skills as well.
There are areas of business and entrepreneurship that I have not yet experienced that I would like to, I'd like to take on a more strategic role at a board level, I would also like to be more involved in the community, I feel that giving back and even as I look back in this past year, in some of my experiences with hustle 2.0, or volunteering for the LPGA, just tying those, you know, with my daughter's passions as well, I feel some of the greatest rewards in my life
are when I can serve others. And fundamentally, that's why I joined YPO. You know, it's about being a better leader, not just in business, but in your community and in your family. And I think that's really important for me, as I move into my second stage of life is how
do I give back. And so five years, I'd like to set up a foundation with a focus on children in the local community, just looking back at my own life experiences and thinking how positive it would have been if I had known that people cared, and I knew where they were. And I'd like to be able to support others in my future.
I love that. And it brings it full circle to of transitioning from that mindset of I'm in a race, I'm in a competition with other people, too. You're serving, you're helping other people grow. And I think that's a beautiful way to sort of tie this up is to see that transition that you've made in your life and in your career.
I appreciate that. And, you know, the journey continues.
Yeah, exactly. And that'll never be done. But it just sounds like you're on such a wonderful trajectory forward with your life and your career. That's exciting to hear that. Okay, so and so this is the part in every episode, where I invite the audience, to move from just listening to this wonderful story that you shared with us to doing something about it. I'm a big believer that action is more important than
knowledge. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to summarize some possible action steps that someone listening might take, based on your story based on your example, things that they can do today, or within the next seven days, not some big thing that can be done in a year, but something they can do right now. And then they'll make what you shared a part of their life. So I'm going to share three things that stood out to me. And then I'd invite you to share something after I do that sound
good? That sounds great. So the first thing and you said this several times, which is things don't happen to you, they happen for you. The adversity that you experience is opportunity, if you take ownership of it. So I would invite someone listening to this, to think about something that is difficult, something that's a challenge, something that they're an obstacle that they're trying to overcome. And say, this didn't happen to you, this happened for you. And ask yourself, What can
I learn from this? where's this going to help me grow? What can I do and just that mindset shift is going to empower you and help you move forward. Second action that I wrote down, and this came up a few times, compare yourself to yourself more than comparing yourself to others. Yes, you can learn from the example of others, that's fine, but don't feel like you're in a competition with them. You're in a competition to become better than you were before. And use
that as the benchmark. And that will help you grow and empower you. So take a look at something that you're trying to improve on and say, How can I do a little bit better? Maybe even what's the number that I need to hit to grow a little bit more than I was before? And gosh, there were so many in here. I'm going to focus on build the company or your career. You don't have to be an entrepreneur from the start with what you want out of
it. And even if you're in your career, you've been in your career, 20 years, say okay, what Do I want my life to look like over the next five to 10 years? What do I need to change? And I think that was such a powerful moment that you had Solon, your career where you're sitting down with your partner, and you're saying, we need to restart this, we need to figure out how to create a business that's going
to serve us. And I think anyone at any point in their career can pause, reassess, and say, What do I need to change? And I think that's a powerful moment. Those are just three possible actions, what's one that you would add as a possible action for someone listening?
I think one I would add is just really identify your why in life, and why it can be different for everybody. It can be a thing you do people in your life, a feeling that you want to get to. But I think the minute that you really understand what drives you, you can then apply that to action to anything you
want to take on. And a first step I would say in identifying your Y is identify your values, you know, really write down four core values, and how you apply those to the things that matter in life.
Solon, thank you so much for being on the show. I really enjoyed this conversation that we had. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom. And thank you everyone for listening. Remember, it's not just about the knowledge that you gained, but it's what you do about what you learned. So consider the suggestions that we had. Think about the experience that you have listening to this remarkable story, and choose one thing to do, and you'll make solid success story, a part of
your success story. Thank you for listening.
You've been listening to the Dave Crenshaw Success Show, hosted by my dad, Dave Crenshaw, and produce invaluable incorporated research and assistant production by Victoria Bidez Sand editing by Mark Lamorgese az waste route by me Darci Crenshaw, and the music is by Ryan Brady via con five licensing. Please subscribe to the Dave Crenshaw success Success Project on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to get your podcasts.
If you have a suggestion for someone my dad might like to interview, please send it to guests at Dave crenshaw.com and please don't forget to leave us a five star review. See you next time.