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We are Stronger Together: Community, Mentorship, and Humility
8 Plays19 days ago
Dominic Ortega is the guy people look for at Tucson galas—because if he’s taking your picture, your story is getting told. In this Voice of Growth episode, Dominic shares how a marketer’s habit—always exceed expectations—became a community superpower. We cover raising six figures with a few phone calls, why everyone can do something, and how a single, well-told story can unlock real money for Casa Maria, Sister José, and dozens of local nonprofits. We talk role models (Humberto Lopez; Neelam & Gulshan Sethi, MD; Bill Holmes), the surprise Women Who Soar award, journaling as a life OS, ego-free listening, and redefining failure as fuel. You don’t need permission to make a difference; you need a first action. Start today.
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Transcript
Growth and Personal Development
00:00:04
Speaker
The Voice of Growth, Mastering the Mind and Market.
00:00:10
Speaker
Everyone can do something.
00:00:15
Speaker
My gosh, I've had a blessed life.
00:00:19
Speaker
We are stronger together. Always exceed expectations.
00:00:27
Speaker
I can teach you how you will never fail. You run the race, but in the end, it's only against yourself. I've won in in in the race of life, man.
Dominic's Connection to Tucson
00:00:42
Speaker
I'm gonna make a difference.
00:00:46
Speaker
Mr. Tucson. I have been back to Tucson. I came back in 2009 timeframe. And since that point in time, I've sort of watched the arc of you going from, think you were about retiring about that point in time. Yeah, I've been retired 10 years now.
00:01:07
Speaker
I've seen the arc of that to all of your philanthropic endeavors, your community in engagement person, your connector.
00:01:18
Speaker
I was gonna read your awards, but the whole podcast would be consumed with your list of awards. And I really wanna get to know the person. um Obviously, our team did research and I have known you for some amount of time.
00:01:31
Speaker
Grew up in a small town. tell me Tell me about why Tucson, why our community is so important to you. Well, ah a big part of it was the way I was raised, third of seven children, very blessed in that my parents were very, very loving people and were always there for the community. and My parents passed away about 34 years ago, both parents.
00:01:58
Speaker
And ah Tucson wound up being the place that I met the love of my life 50 years ago at the University of Arizona. That's why I love the university. And met her, small town kids, big city, Tucson. And we fell in love with it. And that just has has become our home.
Championing Nonprofits and Community Engagement
00:02:17
Speaker
And then it was that evolution of Yes, the day-to-day living, getting through working, successful at that, and then eventually retiring 10 years ago. And then making a commitment actually about 15 years ago to really try and become a voice for the nonprofits.
00:02:38
Speaker
That's fantastic. Yeah, I know you're at all these events. Yeah. I think you're a staple. Every time I go to one of these events, I'm like, okay, where's Dominic? And more likely than not, gonna get a picture by you. Right. It's become, it's part of the brand. You know, people are saying, gosh, if Dominic didn't take your picture, were you there? Or did the event even happen? My gosh, that's praise, high praise indeed, you know, when they say that. You've got to come to our event. And sometimes i'm they they invite me to two or three galas in one night and I can only go to one. You've got to make a choice. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
00:03:12
Speaker
So when you look at how far the city of Tucson has gone, and um'm I'm going kind of focus a lot on Tucson because that for you and for me in part is such a central part of our life. I mean, I came back to Tucson. was born here. Went and toured around the the country. Came back in 2009 timeframe. nine timef frame and and i love the community. I think there's so much to offer here in Tucson.
00:03:35
Speaker
um Who have you seen? Give me a few folks that you are... that you believe have moved the needle substantially in Tucson? Well, it's funny getting back to that 15 year time period, probably one of the first was Humberto Lopez, who'd become a very, very close friend of mine. Didn't know him from Adam, but you know my background was I was a presenter. I was ah kind of a a marketing guru type of individual. I heard about this individual, wanted to meet him in order to honor him.
00:04:09
Speaker
And it was rather a reverse interview. He didn't know if he wanted to be honored and everything like that. Got to know him and my presentation went very well from that one meeting. You know, he says, you've got the deal and you're hired. He was in essence hiring me and ah kind of got me the bug into the bug of ah of an appreciation.
00:04:32
Speaker
The particular a award that he was going to get in, it was a scholarship dinner, would normally raised $25,000, $30,000. And when in that one meeting, he said, you've got it.
00:04:46
Speaker
He picked up the phone, made eight phone calls, and had $200,000. It raised that evening. And it was... um Eye-opening for me, the impact of an individual. And he has become a good friend. And, you know, there's always been that evolution. But there are individuals like that. And then Neelam and Gulshan Sethi.
00:05:08
Speaker
These two individuals are ah just icons in the community who over and over. i mean you Google, you'll get... you'll get 10 pages ah of information on that. So you have Humberto Lopez, multimillionaire, probably a billionaire by now, Neelam and Gulshan Sethi, a cardiologist.
00:05:30
Speaker
I've been to events where people say, you know, Gulshan, he saved my life. He saved my friend's life. He's done over 15,000 1,000 surgeries wow here in Tucson and is is really world renowned. But you see the heart of these individuals and that can't ah you you can't not have have that leave an impression on you saying, gosh, I can make a difference. And in the corporate world,
00:05:55
Speaker
I was that marketing person, so I shifted and evolved. I said, I'm going to keep doing this. I'm going to keep sharing and marketing these stories of these nonprofits of Tucson and share those stories and As we have, we've found individuals who have a real passion, matching the passions to the particular ah groups that i'm involved with. And then they'll say, gosh, that's wonderful. I'm going to support them.
Mentorship and Overcoming Challenges
00:06:22
Speaker
I'll give them give them money.
00:06:23
Speaker
And that's how that evolution really took place. But they're, as I say, real you know heroes out there. And some of them are from the the corporate perspective because they have, i always remember Bill Holmes.
00:06:37
Speaker
Bill Holmes was was just ah a mighty man, you know, and he's my size. Somebody gave me a compliment. I said, europe you're a Hispanic Bill Holmes. I said, what a compliment. I will definitely take that. Because he was kind of energetic as as well. Of course, then Bill passed away. did, yeah. It shows how things can happen.
00:06:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's kind of crazy. And, you know, the Umberto and Bill and all these people that are in in the lives of of so many, what really gets me and part of the reason why this podcast is is such a passion for me is that it helps to enable action.
00:07:17
Speaker
There's a lot of people out there on the sidelines in life And there's no judgment about that for me, right? There can be on the sidelines. You can live your entire life on the sideline. That's totally fine.
00:07:29
Speaker
But what I like to do is, if you know me, I like to push it a little bit. I like to stir the pot. I like to get people to understand that fear is a word and it and it really holds us back more than anything else.
00:07:43
Speaker
If you had a ah young 25 year old entrepreneur call you one day and say, listen, I i have this project I'm working on, him but I don't know if you if I should do it.
00:07:56
Speaker
What would you tell that person? I actually have that happen quite often. It's really, really interesting. and in some cases, some of these individuals have become what they call my Tucson son or a Tucson daughter. My three children are often away and successful. But yeah, I mean, got a call from a university student. umm I'm working on raising $5,000 for food. Committing food at the university level that that students, there there are issues as far as food there. And wanted to raise $5,000. It's important. And if you look at my Facebook, there's something i agree with you completely. i say everyone can do something.
00:08:39
Speaker
Everyone can do something. You might be reading a book to third graders, or as in this particular case, you say, what would you advise them? Of course, hopefully this concept they're working speaks to their heart because they've got to work from passion. you know they They've got to have a feeling for it, a love for it. This individual young man said, you know gosh, it's not right that students are...
00:09:02
Speaker
going a little bit hungry here at the university. And they have a food bank and and everything like that. But um you know he took it to heart and he said, I'm gonna make a difference. i remember meeting that at Casa Maria, which is, is ah you know, 4.30 in the morning, they start making the soup and everything else like that. And I went there during spring break and there were a group of six, seven students. They were all from the Honors College. Instead of going on spring break,
00:09:30
Speaker
They were there serving up these from this giant cauldron soup for, people are absolutely just on the street, and living on the street. So you know my advice to them is is clearly, I'm glad that you've embraced something. you know Kudos to you that you, rather than going off on spring break, are saying to yourself, I wanna make a difference. yeah So I certainly will encourage, And I'm very fortunate able to connect people with them. I might say, oh, well, let me introduce you to this person. Because again, I probably have ties to 50, 60, 70 different nonprofits. When somebody says they might need some help, I might have an individual call me asking, saying he doesn't have money for his dentures. He had a maid, couldn't get the money.
00:10:18
Speaker
I called up Impact of, and they said, we have an emergency fund. And then El Rio said, we need to have an adult emergency fund for dental care. And they started that, but the other group paid for that. So I get these calls on a large scale, help out with the Heart Ball or the El Rio Gala. On a small scale, people reach out to me quite a bit for little things, and I feel privileged if they think enough to call me. My wife says, who do they think you are? But usually I'm able to connect somebody, and sometimes I'll chuckle when the individual said, trying to raise $5,000. I'm thinking, gosh, I can call one person and do that, but it's better that we do it. Let this person learn from this. Yeah. I usually wait until the end of the podcast ask this question. Okay. But I'm just going to do it now because that's appropriate.
Reflection on a Fulfilled Life
00:11:09
Speaker
I am going to take a ah magic phone right now and I'm going to call a number. On the other side of that number is Dominic Ortega in Globe at 17 years old.
00:11:24
Speaker
Graduated high school, about to graduate, whatever. Yeah, graduated at 17. What would you tell yourself? I would say, keep doing what you're doing. I almost feel a little guilty.
00:11:38
Speaker
i would say I've almost had a magical life. You know, you're the hero of your story. I'm the hero my story, right? We're the good guys. And how will the story evolve? My gosh, I've had a blessed life. When I was in elementary school, middle school, high school, going off into college and career-wise, it's almost, want to say, somewhat magical or storybooked.
00:12:07
Speaker
ah you know so somewhat somewhat magical or storybook And I say, is this fair? You know, I mean, I've had met this beautiful girl, you know, love of my life 50 years ago to be able to have a partner. That's that's ah very very important. I've had three healthy, wonderful children, great parents, great brothers and sisters. And then meeting people, being inspired by people. You know, like here you are doing doing this and there's growth for you, growth for others. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, it's just been, there's an old movie, it's called It's a Wonderful Life. Indeed. Man, I'm living a wonderful life. That's amazing. Yeah, it really is. it really Well, in that same vein, I'm going to take the phone back. I'm going dial a different number. Okay. And it's going to be Dominic Ortega at years old. but
00:12:59
Speaker
Were you, hopefully would know the answer because it was me, ah you know, ah being fulfilled. And even right now, certainly there are more ah more days that I've gone through than there are ahead ah for me. But...
00:13:19
Speaker
in fulfillment and happiness if I was still fulfilled and happy because I i feel that today. i tell a line, ah know if you hear about me getting hit by a truck tomorrow, don't cry for me Argentina. Do you know what that line is? Evita says don't cry for you know Because the life, having lived this blessed life, I i hope it continues, really, as my health probably ah that that i'm I'm looking forward to. But having that fulfilled life and being able to look in the in the mirror, Manny, I'll tell you, is so important to say, you know were you a person of integrity? Were you honest and faithful to your wife? Were you a good friend to people? those Those are important aspects to me. And knock on wood, you know i can I can say you know i I've tried to hold to to certain values. Not that I'm i'm better than anybody, and i never i never measure myself against anyone else. Because it's easy to become jealous. It's easy to become envious of other individuals.
00:14:28
Speaker
ah There's a line, you know you run the race, but in the end, it's only against yourself. you know And i've I've won. I've won in in in the race of life, man. It's pretty darn amazing and exciting to be in that position. And ah yeah, if I live to be that that long, it'll be pretty cool. And ah to give myself a wink and say, hey, we did it. We continued on being a person of integrity, being somebody that maybe was it a good and positive role model for other individuals. I think I do strive strive to do that and let people see you can do this. You can help this person. You can be there. But you're right. No judgment to people.
00:15:14
Speaker
that choose not to right it's ah It's a ah perspective though for me that spells happiness and fulfillment. Yeah, I think um I really am a glass half full kind of guy and I really i haven't always been that way as a kid. So my father died when I was one and so I had this period from we'll say one to 15 or 16 where it was up a lot of woe is me.
00:15:39
Speaker
where um I would walk into a family event and everybody would say, oh, he looks just like his dad. and And so I always had this sort of like, I was fighting that. I was fighting that I was just like him. I was fighting that that I was the one that had lost his father and poor poor this, poor that.
00:15:53
Speaker
But in in like early high school, I made a decision. I'm like, this does not serve me. This is not, I'm not getting anything from from being the victim. right And I mean, we're all human beings. We'd struggle with this with one thing or another. We all carry some sort of cross, you know? And for me, that was one of mine and and I kind of dealt with it.
00:16:14
Speaker
And very rarely does it come back. I mean, I haven't had that mentality in a long time. But I do see it sometimes in others. And that's when I try to sort of reach across the aisle and say, you know what?
00:16:25
Speaker
I'm here for you. i hear you. And I'd be happy to to just listen. And a lot of people don't have that. Besides your lovely wife, who I've met, um who would you say is your biggest...
00:16:40
Speaker
Um, um gosh, I, that's interesting because I have had so many individuals who've been really, really positive aspects, uh, of my life. I think, you know, I really respect Gulshan Sethi so much because he's such a humble man.
00:17:04
Speaker
He's a humble man, yet he's a Renaissance man. He's my height, you know, he's not a huge guy, but he he's somebody that would definitely want to hopefully have lived my life in the way in the way that he has. um But initially, of course, my father. My father was the greatest man I'd ever known.
00:17:32
Speaker
And he was a philosopher. he was, you know, I remember coming home from college and I i said to him, Dad, why didn't you could have been a multimillionaire? You could have been a corporate giant. And he was running ah and owning a little jewelry store in Globe, Arizona.
00:17:49
Speaker
And he was happy with his life and he was fulfilled. Great dad, great husband. And, you know, shame on me that here I look down on him in essence for that. And yet he was the greatest philosopher, one of the kindest men, priests would come to him for advice. Wow. I kid you not. I mean, he was he was truly amazing. But again, in the evolution of time, there's the high school, and then you leave, you yourre your it's the cats in the cradle. Sorry, dad, I can't come home. You know, can't come home. now The kids, the babies, this and that. And, um you know, but there is no doubt my father was was the greatest man i have ever known and will ever known. So and from that point till I was seen in my beginning of 30s when he passed away, then, of course, there was just evolutions on my own. And then in this other phase, probably somebody like, ah like,
00:18:50
Speaker
and overall as far as being rounded and a humble individual, Gulshan Sethi. Yeah. He's a pretty impressive man, even though he doesn't try it to be. Yeah.
00:19:02
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, those are amazing people. i have a few of those in my life that I, maybe from the outside in, they're one thing, but when you get to know them, they they really show their different light. Yeah.
00:19:13
Speaker
And i think that those are all people that are There are sometimes, times I'm gonna use the term, unreachable for some. You would have the pleasure of having a relationship with him and with others, and others do not. And this is why this this format is so
Photography and Storytelling
00:19:29
Speaker
important. I think the idea of a podcast and telling stories is so important. And so you are, among many things, a storyteller.
00:19:38
Speaker
You tell great stories, and you use your your photography to tell stories. in In a manner of speaking, are Because you work with so many organizations and because you are a connector, you have a very unique position in in life, right?
00:19:57
Speaker
What do you see as your next chapter? Or will you just continue? I shouldn't say just continue. Or will you continue doing what you're doing? Or do you have something else in mind?
00:20:09
Speaker
You know, i I so enjoy this. ah As you know, there might be a day that I'll go to three events in one day, a breakfast, a lunch, and a dinner. And and thereve even been there have been couple of days back in 2019, I went to four. Thankfully, in La Paloma, they have two ballrooms. So maybe I'll go to breakfast here, go to but one ballroom, then go to the other ballroom, and then have some dinner Now that's time. That is my most precious asset. There's only so much of it that I have.
00:20:38
Speaker
And people say, how can you do that? And I'll tell you, it's it's a labor of love You know, I i learned the story and then youth on their own and what they do and single mom scholars and YWCA, how they're empowering women and against racism. And i get fired up, you know, it's it's part of that fuel.
00:21:03
Speaker
and it is true the more that you give the more you receive and i really feel that in my heart because as i and sometimes i'm like gosh it's gonna drive there it's gonna be get ready and an hour round trip and four hours there and then come home and the next day everybody's sleeping in And I'm working for five hours on these pictures and processing them putting them out there. But then somebody will say, oh my God, that's such a, you know, Casa Maria does such amazing work. Sister Jose, I did a post for them on a Friday. And on a Saturday, a friend called me up and said, that that looks wonderful. I'm going to give them $10,000.
00:21:44
Speaker
And I'm like, whoa, see, that's that's ah a nice victory. But really, there's a moral ah victory for me inside, you know, to feel good. And we'll see as long as I can continue on on with this, i'll I'll probably continue to do so because they need an ambassador. And i I like to be, I hope to be a good ambassador for them telling their story.
00:22:06
Speaker
You're definitely the yeah the ambassador for so many. ah the the dozens of awards you've won, there's one in particular that I'm going to kind of ask you about because it's a peculiar word.
00:22:18
Speaker
I think you know which one I'm gonna ask about. 2020 Women Who Soar. Yeah. So that is an award usually given to women. It's only given to women. Tell me about that. Yeah. um i got I was notified by the by ah the university saying, you are a recipient of the Women Who Soar. And I thought, is this a mistake, Dominique? Do you think Dominique is a woman? They said, no, no. You and Carlotta Flores. Now I'm like, Carlotta Flores, she is legendary. I mean, I'm... so admire her so um they said no you are receiving this i said why why am i receiving this award and they say you advocate so much for women in the community and you do so much for women that we want to recognize that and you are getting this award along with carlotta floors and i was you know I was certainly honored, and i i do think it's so important to to value and appreciate the women of our of our community. and As I say, I've had these Tucson daughters and Tucson sons that I've helped mentor in different ways, but probably an 80% ratio of women to you know as my daughters to to the men because i want to be... there for them as kind of a father figure and and sometimes they don't know what they don't know and and whereas i have experience i've been trained in different things and problem solving critical thinking business plans you know i can mentor one she started a business and and three four years later she's making five six hundred thousand dollars she's 28 29 years old That's amazing. But in the end, each of them has to put in the hard work. She put in the work. She started doing COVID.
00:24:05
Speaker
We did a business plans all over the phone and everything. She put in the hard work. First year, $100,000, $250,000, $550,000. And this girl, is she didn't know how great she was. And then again, she put in the work. She made herself successful.
00:24:21
Speaker
But it's it's really kind of cool to see stories like that. And she's won now Best of Tucson. I think maybe she's 30 years old, her and her husband. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. That's remarkable.
Addressing Societal Challenges
00:24:32
Speaker
With all these accolades and all of the success and all these great things happening in the region, in Tucson, in the nation, in the world, really, what do you see as maybe the top three problems that that we're facing as a society. Do you have any sense of that and you're from your perspective? Absolutely, because um you know I gave a speech for that that Philanthropist of the Year and you know we're talking to 800 people from different nonprofits. And I said, I wish you didn't exist.
00:25:07
Speaker
I wish there wasn't a need for someone to provide housing for someone, for a need for somebody to provide food for someone, you know, emergency funds. um that's that That is certainly a challenge that exists today, i think more so than it has in the past. That...
00:25:31
Speaker
There is more of an us and them mentality. and ah And sadly, you know, when we you hear talk, I'm not a super religious person, raised Catholic, but, you know, a basic philosophy that I believe in is is caring for other individuals and and caring, sharing, equality, certainly for for everyone. And sadly, there is such a disparity in the world and in the United States right now that it's um it's a challenging, very, very challenging time.
00:26:04
Speaker
And yet it's important that we talk to each other and say, gosh, you're just like me. you know We do want the same thing. But why are we so contrary to to the way, the methodology that that we can achieve this oneness, which which is is what I believe in. Another thing that I put, like I say, and going back to at the end of some of my posts when I say ah we can all do something, also I'll say, we are stronger together.
00:26:34
Speaker
I try and leave that little tagline out there, letting people know we are stronger together and it's a challenge. I know it's going to take aliens coming from a spaceship, coming to attack us to to finally, you know, that that's what brings people humanity together. But but but sadly, that that is you know the major challenge and and equity, resources that we have, you know water, the the planet itself. But these are challenges that only if we start caring for each other, I think, I will take a lot less less so others can have more. And that's kind of a philosophy that I believe in. And ah sometimes people agree with that and sometimes they don't. They say, I've got mine and I want yours. That was an interesting conversation i had with an individual. so Wow. yeah Yeah. I think if you really boil down to human nature and kind of who we are, if you really pause...
00:27:32
Speaker
in stillness and silence and really look at the person you might disagree with. Most people, if you look at at least Americans, we all kind of want the same thing. And me saying that is controversial because people don't believe that. Right, right.
00:27:47
Speaker
I can ask somebody on the extreme left and the extreme right a question about, do you want to be healthy? Do you want your family to be provided for? Do you want to be cared for when you're sick? Do you want this? Do you want that? And a lot of the times, if if they take the ego off the table, they're all going to agree.
00:28:04
Speaker
It's just the manner and the and the scope. There's going to be little differences on how. um you know i was raised in a very left-leaning family. I came out into a more right-leaning situation, and I kind of settled more in the libertarian mindset of of like, okay,
00:28:21
Speaker
I just believe that we, maybe it's because of my grandmother, my mother, I've seen people work their butts off and then have, you know, either the government or somebody give somebody else who's not working everything for free. I think that's where my mindset comes from. What's wrong with this picture? Fundamentally, I think we all kind of want the same thing. Yeah.
00:28:40
Speaker
No, I agree with you. and And you're right. You mentioned a key word, ego. Ego is, you know, oh what it... I'm not listening to what he's saying, but i want to I want to answer. I want to beat him. I want to debate and ah my answer to be more right than than there. So often we do not listen. And it's that ego of of wanting to to win or overpower or beat the other individual. And, ah yeah, I like dealing with the facts. And I say, you know what?
00:29:13
Speaker
I want to learn, too. Let's look that up. You know, you bring up a good point. And let's let's find out. So maybe both of us can learn. right And, you know, that helps to kind of diffuse a little bit of a situation.
Mindfulness and Living Positively
00:29:26
Speaker
I've had guys hang up on me before and call me a couple of names. And, you know, these are my my friends, supposedly, you know. like,
00:29:33
Speaker
Oh, you know, I just, well let's look it up. you know Agree not to disagree. Yeah, it's it's a little crazy out there sometimes. And, you know, you look at where politics are going. You look at where um there's so many people in need. there i mean, i don't like I don't think a lot of people like war, but I don't like the fact that we're, we're at we in general as as a human as a human race. If you look at our brains, they're a 200,000 to 500,000 year old operating system.
00:30:02
Speaker
yeah We're existing on this OS, if you will, that hasn't been upgraded. That's a great point, man. There are ways to get ah slight upgrades, right? There is some mindfulness techniques. there's there's ah you know You can call it prayer, you can call it meditation, um you can call it psychology. There's lots of ways, right?
00:30:22
Speaker
What is it what is a way you use to sort of ground yourself in the madness that we have in this world? You know, ah i love information. and And again, for me, it's it's very easy. In the old days, i was in the grind, baby. I was, you know, get up early and you've got to start cranking and start producing.
00:30:42
Speaker
Well, now being retired for 10 years, I'm able to be an observer of this world, ah be an observer of the madness. And of course, I have tremendous amount of information my fingertips. And I like global news because we are a global community and and impacted by that. So um I enjoy being mindful of taking time. I also love writing things down. and And certainly anybody that I would tell anybody who asked me when I do mentor some,
00:31:13
Speaker
Actually, it' sometimes I carry ah a journal and I'll gift that gift that to them. I said, here's a journal. I want you to write down. Write down what you want to do. and be in six months. Write down want be in three years or five years This is my gift to you. Then if you want to talk about it, we'll we'll talk about it. and Imagine the tree of life and this is your life here. And yeah here's your financial end. Here's your emotional end. Here is, you know, and all these different aspects. And how are you going to grow? How are you going to nurture? You know you hear the old saying, there are two bears inside and which one will you feed the good bear or the bad bear? You know, that that type of thing. so So it's important, but to take that time. And that's why a lot of people utilize this, you know, 4.30 a.m. It's quiet.
00:31:59
Speaker
have mindfulness, meditation, things like that to improve themselves. But but many people don't have that luxury. They're getting them 4.30 in morning to go dig a ditch, you know, or something like that. And so ah we we need to help those individuals.
00:32:14
Speaker
There's a podcast I listened to the day. I consume lots of podcasts and I really... For me, it's been kind of a breakthrough of information. And sometimes you hear these podcast guests and they might be blowing smoke, but whatever, go back to the the data, right? Figure it out.
00:32:31
Speaker
Guy, his name is Oz Perlman, spelled like Oz, Ozzy. He is a mentalist. So he's kind of like a magician. In that, he'll come, he'll speak with you, and he will guess you'll have you know ask you to guess somebody's name or whatever.
00:32:49
Speaker
He'll say, think about somebody in your life, this and that, write it down, and then he will guess a name, and he's almost always right. So the the guy that was interviewing him, somebody else I admire, Stephen Bartlett, was kind of trying to probe, like, how do you do this?
00:33:03
Speaker
And he didn't give away many secrets, but he did give away one that's tied to what you just said. He writes down everything. If he meets somebody, he goes back, he has a journal on his phone actually, and he writes down features about that person.
00:33:20
Speaker
Okay, so Dominic this and that, you know I met him here. and And so what he does is he builds a dossier of this person. and And so when he meets them in the future, he will have tidbits, so like, oh yeah, you're from Globe, right?
00:33:32
Speaker
And you know your dad was a jeweler, right? Or whatever. And so that builds community, builds trust, and that helps to to grow. Do you have anything like that, little tricks or little things that you do besides writing that you can share?
00:33:46
Speaker
Well, I totally believe in that. In fact, one of the in the, if you could say, led to my success corporate wise, there was a guy in MASH called Radar. yeah He always knew the boss would turn around and you know I was kind of a little bit known for for doing some of those things because my motto was always exceed expectations.
00:34:09
Speaker
always exceed expectations. So when they were expecting this, I would do that and more. And and you're right, improving the memory is is very, very important. Remembering the facts individual. It's important just you know utilizing a person's name you know and building the rapport with that with the individual. ah that that adds so much to the relationship and it can build trust. And you're right, I was kind of known for to be able to read people. This person, I must have said something because we're in this group scenario and this person, there's a problem. Either they're unhappy with something or they're unhappy with me. Let's probe, let's find out. And it was it was a kind of cool gift to to have to be able to...
00:34:58
Speaker
you know you You've got to read people. You have to see. And this person, when they were doing this to me, and oh as I misspoke about his wife that it was was much younger than him or whatever, and he really got upset with me for that ah I had to you know publicly, and then I said, and i really obviously I've said something that offended you. I apologize. you know i I want to be as...
00:35:22
Speaker
public as possible and and and clear that up and and at least offer now whether he will and accept it or not. You know, he was an old guy and he he wasn't. But anyway, it it makes for an interesting life. But at least you've done your part to make amends, you know, again, ego. And in terms of I'm no I'm no better than you, I'm no no worse worse than you. um yeah I had a dear friend just tell me that recently. You think you're better than everybody else and you're not. And I'm like, dude, that's the opposite of my philosophy. There is nobody that I compare myself to because that's bad for you internally. And you give that free rent space in your brain about somebody else.
00:36:05
Speaker
Why would you care about that when it tears you down and you should be focusing? I mean, I'm a believer in Zig Ziglar and Hopkins and, and you know, all these individuals. It's about the positive. Tony Robbins, be that positive individual. Build others up. Don't ever tear people down. noticed a couple guys in town that they just tear people down and they think it lifts them up and they're so wrong. They're so wrong. It's the opposite. Yeah, and people look down and they think they're they're a big deal and they're they're really not.
00:36:36
Speaker
And it's it's a shame because we we all write should rise together. you know You do your podcast and become a multizillionaire, I'm proud of you, man. Way to go And there should be, oh, why should I help them with this or that? No, you know, it's because again, typically you have to put in the work to achieve what you're going to achieve.
00:36:59
Speaker
Yeah, there's ah a bit of a mentor of mine back in the day, Bob Davis, a local real estate guy. You know, he's ah he's a little bit polarizing sometimes, but he's like he's a great guy. And he told me something early on when I move moved back to Tucson.
00:37:12
Speaker
He says, make all the connections that you possibly can. Never ask for, never put your hand out when you do that because it'll all come back.
Networking and Philanthropy
00:37:22
Speaker
And I took that to heart and it has come back. And I tell my kids, I tell all the people I work with as well as, ah you know, life and business is a full contact sport.
00:37:30
Speaker
It's a full contact sport. We're gonna get a little beat up sometimes. We're gonna get hurt. We're gonna hurt other people, but it's about just getting back up, dusting yourself off and going at it again.
00:37:42
Speaker
well Absolutely. goes back I never use the the F word. The F word in my book is failure. For me, there are learning experiences. And again, it's a cliche, how will you react to that, quote, failure or learning experience? That's what makes the individual's character. And so you know, it is important to let people know and to take the risk and take the challenge. And I tell people, what if I could tell you now a way that you would never fail? Let me tell you, I don't care how young they are, all there, they turn around.
00:38:18
Speaker
I can teach you how you will never fail in life. Do you want to know more? And I've had people you know that were, doing and all of a sudden, well, yeah. Because as you see, there's that fear. And then you have to just define what is, quote, failure you know and and what is truly success. So ah like I say, it's it's fun to be in this this observer of life, an observer of of young people and middle-aged people and the world and um enjoy the the world as it goes by and and hopefully be an active participant of making things a little better. You know, that's one thing that I think everyone should strive for
00:39:07
Speaker
And I think you see it as certainly these billionaires get older and older. They're giving away, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars. And are they trying to buy their way into heaven or they do feel guilty of how they treated people in the past? um You know, or is it just truly they've reached a point where they realize what is important in life to, you know, help others? You Bill Gates, what he's doing to eliminate malaria and whatnot. And, know,
00:39:33
Speaker
you know, help leaving the world a better place. You know, that's that's a pretty good gig, a pretty good epitaph on your on your tombstone, you know, that made the world a little better place and made people feel a little better about themselves.
00:39:50
Speaker
That's important, making people feel better about themselves. Not in an I'll get something out of it transactional way, but just because it's a good thing to do and it's a right thing, way to be, I think.
00:40:04
Speaker
That's very good. i mean, thank you so much for that, for the for doing that for the community, for doing that for so many young people and old people too. And, you know, in 25 years, you'll be 94. And that was the reason for the math. and And really, you know, I hope that 25 years when i'm I'll be older than you, but ah that we can sit and have a cup of coffee and chat about and really look at this this world as it's evolved. Hopefully, again, as being optimist, we see that the world is evolving in a better direction. We hope. A lot of diseases are being cured. A lot of people will will live longer because of technology.
00:40:43
Speaker
Yeah, we have tick we have issues. Yeah, we have a lot of problems. But I always look at what's the what part can I do to move the needle? And i appreciate that you have the same mentality. no Absolutely. we're it is we We want better for everyone. I think it's i think it's it's the right way to think about life. It certainly brings joy in one's life and ah and fulfillment. So say I've had a conversation, what do you want? want to be rich.
00:41:11
Speaker
Okay, do you really? going to give you $100 million. dollars Now what are you going to do with it? I'm going to this, isn't this, and this. Now what's important to you? Now that you've already bought a solid gold toilet, now that you've already bought your mother a house, now that you have a Lamborghini, you have five of them. Now what's important to you?
00:41:29
Speaker
Start individuals thinking about it. They're well, I want to be healthy. ooh Do you need a billion dollars to work out? and and I want to and be knowledgeable to read a book and things like that. Do you need a billion dollars?
00:41:44
Speaker
Do you need a billion dollars to be fulfilled and happy? It was a fun conversation. Yeah, it's a great great advice. You know, it's like I say, it's fun to fun to share and ah it will be what it will be. Some people like me, some people don't, but it's okay, you know, and we we like ourselves and that's a pretty big deal. It is. Well, thank you so much for your time, Dominic. It really was inspired here. And I know that this podcast will inspire lots of people to take action.
00:42:17
Speaker
And as you say, you know, do that little extra. We can all do a little bit. And so thank you for being on the podcast. It's a pleasure. Thank you for having me, buddy. Cheers. Really? My pleasure.