Welcome And What’s Ahead

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This evening I am going to veer a little off topic of music and chat with a business partner I met about six months ago. Hey everyone, it's Randy Holsey with Backstage Pass Radio. And I'm taking you guys off the beaten path this evening, and I'll chat with a friend about the coffee business, moving from one country to another, B2B lead generation, and I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of her musical preferences when we get done. So you guys settle in, and we're going to explore the thoughts, the interest, and the recent move across the country with my friend Jovanna Chuberic when we return.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

This is Backstage Fast Radio. Backstage Fast Radio, a podcast by an artist for the artist. Each week we take you behind the scenes of some of your favorite musicians and the music they created. From chart-topping hits to underground gems, we explore the sounds that move us and the people who make it all happen. Remember to please subscribe, rate, and leave reviews on your favorite podcast platform. So whether you're a casual listener or a die hard music fan, tune in and discover the magic behind the melodies. Here is your host of Backstage Pass Radio, Randy Holsey.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

Well, well, well, here we are. Yovin, how are you?

SPEAKER_04 1:20

I'm doing great, Randy. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 1:22

I'm doing good. Great to see you.

SPEAKER_04 1:25

You as well. Thanks for today.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Yeah, how was the day? The day was good for you.

SPEAKER_06 1:30

Great. Gorgeous day in Sedona. Can't complain.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

God. You're gonna start already with me, aren't you? About the nice weather, because we've had really uh not so good weather here in Houston this week. So uh yeah, I don't really want to hear about your great weather there to be honest.

SPEAKER_06 1:47

So you know I have to rub it in now because we're always rubber's weather from Texas.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

I get it, I get it. So I guess your mom was just uh recently in Sedona,

Moving To Sedona And Starting Over

SPEAKER_01 2:02

correct? How was the visit with mom?

SPEAKER_06 2:04

It was fantastic, it was great to hang out with her, show her around Sedona. We spend a couple of days in Phoenix with my niece. She was actually here for um, she does uh traditional Serbian dancing, so like the traditional folklore. Um, and she was here with her group from Milwaukee. They had about 40 other groups that came from nationwide and Canada, and uh they all did their performances, which was super cool.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

So it was just was this ironic that she just happened to be doing this in Phoenix, like where you kind of almost moved to? Like, how did how did the stars align there, right?

SPEAKER_06 2:43

Yeah, no, it was super ironic. She she actually had that trip planned. I had that trip planned with her. Um, and um it was uh then I ended up moving and just uh my household in Milwaukee and everything kind of aligned that way. So I ended up moving, and uh so she she just kind of came to meet up meet me up here, which was awesome. It was great to be able to show him the place that I'm staying at and um show him around Sedona.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

So yeah, and they were in town for how long again?

SPEAKER_06 3:13

Just a few days they came in and loved Sunday, so that's cool. Short and sweet.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Well, and I guess the um I guess most of your family is back in Wisconsin, is is that right?

SPEAKER_06 3:25

They are. Um just my mom and dad and my sister, her husband and kids. So um the rest of my family is really kind of you know, either in Serbia or Croatia, or um, I have some relatives that are in Canada and kind of all over Europe. So yeah, we're gonna spread.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Yeah, for sure. Well, I guess uh there was a recent move, right? And I guess this happened uh if my if my memory serves me correctly, I think that it was probably less than a month ago. Like you haven't been in Sedona that long, right? Are you uh are you settled in? And is my timeline about right? About how long you've been there?

SPEAKER_06 4:04

Yeah, that's great memory, Randy. Um, I just moved at the beginning of the month. So um it's it's just been a few weeks. Yeah. So settling in, organized my office finally, and now I get to hang out with you.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Aren't you lucky?

SPEAKER_01 4:19

You so lucky, I swear. Um yeah, well, so I guess for the record, like what what took you from Wisconsin to Sedona? Did did you find Sedona or did Sedona find you? How did that work out?

SPEAKER_06 4:35

A little bit of both. Okay. I feel like Sedona is one of those places that invites you in. Um, so I traveled to Sedona, yeah, probably the first time about 10, 15 years ago. And I I love hiking, I love I love the outdoors. And uh um the first time I came here, I was just like, it's so breathtaking. And I was like, I see myself here someday. Um, and I kept coming back to Sedona, and then um about a couple of years ago, I was like, you know, maybe it would be good for me to move there soon. And um, and um just kind of the opportunity opened up right now, so I took it.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

That's super awesome. I guess that was a big move for you, like just leaving the family behind and and finally jumping off the cliff, huh?

SPEAKER_06 5:23

Yeah, totally. I mean, you know, for the longest time I felt so guilty about leaving Wisconsin. You know, my parents like moved me halfway across the world to give me a better life. And then I always felt guilty about leaving them. Um, and uh here I am, finally did it.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Well, you you look, you you shouldn't feel guilty for deserting your family. It's it's okay. Uh you you know me. I'm gonna make you feel worse than you really already feel, right? You wouldn't expect anything less from me, I'm sure, right?

SPEAKER_05 5:57

What else are you gonna tell me?

SPEAKER_01 5:59

I know, I know. Uh well, you know, uh, I think you know, we've talked in in passing before, but um, you know, Sedona is postcard beautiful, and you know, I think it was February of last year we did our sales kickoff in Sedona, and it was man, it was just a breathtaking place. I mean, there's there's a lot of beauty there for sure with the red rocks and everything.

SPEAKER_06 6:27

There is the energy is incredible, right? It's uh it's something that you absolutely you said are well, it's it's like a postcard. So every day I wake up and I look at the mountains and I'm like, man, I'm so lucky to be here.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of you know, I'm not a big hiker. I'll I I wouldn't say, I mean, anything that takes energy, I'm probably not a fan of, but um, you know, there there are definitely a lot of the you know, hiking places in Sedona. I did notice that about Sedona, and I have a um a partner uh for my podcast that's uh out of Sedona and uh uh an e-bike company. And I did take like a 45-mile ride when I was in Sedona, and you know, I hooked the GoPro up to the to the bike, and it was just like the coolest thing ever. And then we went out um and played golf at uh Seven Canyons Country Club, which was absolutely breathtaking, one of the one of the best golf courses in in the Sedona area, but it was just absolutely beautiful. So you're in an awesome place for sure, there's no doubt.

SPEAKER_06 7:36

Yeah, no, I'm excited. I'm excited to explore more. I think there's a little over 200 trails. Um, and it's funny enough because a few years ago I was like, you know, it's on my bucket list. Someday I'm gonna hike every single trade trail in Sedona. So I'm always impressed with the mountain bikers. Like I see them like just riding off the cliffs, and I'm like, man, you guys are strong and definitely brave.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

So yeah, there's uh, you know, I guess there's something to be said for those, those guys are probably a lot more well, you know, 30 years ago I was doing dumb things like that too. There's no doubt, right? When you get a little bit older, you uh you choose to keep your feet on the ground a little bit more and not buy stock in uncertain things, right? And uh yeah, so that's kind of where I'm at these days. But you know, I was gonna ask you if by preference you were an outdoorsy person or were you kind are you kind of the homebody person, right? And it sounds you kind of answered that, but expound upon that a little bit about the outdoors. Like, have you always been the outdoorsy kind?

SPEAKER_06 8:41

Yeah, absolutely. I you know, I always enjoyed um being outside, being with animals too. That was like another thing that I always as a kid, like growing up, I was always like out with the animals. Like, um, you know, I always used to like adopt like stray dogs in Europe. Like I would, you know, just bring all these dogs and cats home to and feed them and attract them. And all of a sudden we had like three dogs and seven cats. And you know, so I always just like as a kid, I was always just like playing

Outdoors Life And Real Camping

SPEAKER_06 9:10

outside all day, like climbing trees and you know, doing all that stuff. And uh, and then um, you know, post-college I've really started um, you know, kind of getting back into nature a little bit more, um, doing a lot of camping trips, um, backpacking, hiking. So um, I find nature to calm me. Like we all have such busy lives and sports, sure is so calming to me. So it's it it's grounding.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Now, do you are you do you like camping or do you like glamping? There's a difference, right?

SPEAKER_04 9:46

Oh, I knew you were gonna go.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

No, I'm a through and through it's it's an interview, Yovana. It's an interview. I'm supposed to find out things about you that I don't know, right? Of course I'm gonna ask that question.

SPEAKER_05 9:58

Are you one of those bougie glampers?

SPEAKER_01 10:01

I was not stereotyping you, by the way. Like I it was a legitimate question.

SPEAKER_06 10:07

No, I'm an absolute camper. I will I won't even have an air mattress. I will have just a little mat that I will sleep on. Um, a lot of the backpacking trips that would literally just bring the blow-up mattress, like one of those little ones that you're just gonna blow like fully on the ground. But um, no, I'll get I'll get down in the dirt for sure.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

That's pretty cool. I mean, I'm impressed. Like, I won't even do that. Like, I'm a glamper. If I'm going camping, like I want air con I want the amenities, like I need air conditioning, I need like running water, all of the things. But that's that's really not camping at that point in time, right?

SPEAKER_03 10:44

Doesn't surprise me about you, I figure that.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Kind of a kind of a uh what do you call it, uh Cinderella kind of guy, right? Yeah. Too funny. Well, growing up, you know, were you you of course you were outdoorsy, but were you a sports kid or not not not so much?

SPEAKER_06 11:06

Yeah, I played sports, I played soccer, I played tennis. Um, growing up, um, I was in gymnastics as well as a kid. So um, those were kind of the extent of the sports, mostly individual sports. Um apparently I wasn't a team player, so imagine that.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Uh is it safe to say that that soccer was considered, was that like a national pastime for you guys? Um, where where you grew up? Soccer was a big sport for you guys.

SPEAKER_06 11:35

Funny you asked that, Randy, because in Europe, like soccer for women was not big at all. It was

Sports, Soccer Culture, And Identity

SPEAKER_06 11:42

such a like male-dominant sport. Um, so I actually didn't play soccer until I came to the United States. Um, and women's soccer in the US is so huge and and popular, right? So, um, and I loved soccer, just you know, watching it with my dad as a kid, and always, you know, um, we have crazy fans in Europe. Like soccer games are um, you know, a lot of fun. They get crazy and out of control. But um, so I started playing in in the United States.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

That's that's interesting. You know, I've had a a couple of people from Europe on my show, and even that many more from the UK. And I had a guy, the name may not sound familiar to you, but his name is Carmine Apiece, and he was the uh uh the drummer for Rod Stewart and uh a lot of like famous people, like he's he's just been around forever. And you know, I remember Rod Stewart being you know, probably top three artist of all time for me, right? Was a huge soccer fan, Celtic United, you know, the Celtic team, and uh I think he might have even pro played at the pro level before, but you know, I I thought that soccer might have been, you know, over in Croatia and and areas like that that soccer was probably fairly big, but I wasn't sure, right?

SPEAKER_06 13:03

Yeah, no, yeah, it's it's a huge sport. So um a lot of Europeans take a lot of pride in their um country's soccer team, right? Um it's a big deal for World Cup, European um league. So it it's it's a lot of fun. Yeah. Uh yeah. Unfortunately, we didn't qualify this year for a World Cup, but that's right.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

There's a there's always next year, right?

SPEAKER_05 13:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

You know what's funny is um I I I really do go out of my way to try not to offend people on my show because it's never been one of those shows. But uh and I'll say this kind of tongue in cheek, but um I have so many people that I talk to, I'll say, you know, I really don't know much about soccer. I didn't I didn't play it growing up. And they're like, dude, it's just like hockey, and you're a hockey guy, right? You're a hockey player, and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, dude, soccer is nothing like hockey, okay? Like, that is organized kickball to hockey players, right? That that is not the same sport, people, okay? You can call it what you want, but it is not hockey. I digress a little bit, but my my point, you know, I thought I'd pick on you since you said you were a soccer player, right?

SPEAKER_04 14:20

Well, you know, Europeans don't even call it soccer, they call it football.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Football, yeah, right, of course, which goes against what we do here as football, two totally different sports, right?

SPEAKER_05 14:29

Because you play for 90 minutes and the score is nil-nil. Like, what does that mean?

SPEAKER_01 14:34

I know, and then I asked somebody one time something about like, okay, I'm a hockey guy, right? And when you start a period in hockey, it starts at 20 minutes and it counts down to zero, right? And I said, Soccer, the clock is counting from zero up, and I'm like, well, when's the end of the game? And everybody's like, nobody knows. It's like, how does that work? Explain this concept to me. You don't, how do you know how hard you're supposed to like at the end of a hockey game? You pull the goalie if you're down a goal to give yourself an extra attacker to try to win the game before the clock runs out. If you don't know when the games end, then like what like what I don't get it. Like, I just really don't get it. I'll have to like get you to teach me someday.

SPEAKER_06 15:21

But yeah, well, you're lucky World Cup is coming up, so we're gonna have a chance to watch some games.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

I guess so. I guess so. You're gonna have to give me the the soccer 101. I think it's gonna Yovanus, I think it's gonna be honestly in one ear and out the other. I'm not gonna lie. I don't know if I want to learn about soccer at this stage in my life, but if you if you want to teach me a few things about the sport, that would be super great. I'll listen for sure. Right.

SPEAKER_04 15:47

We'll we'll save that for another time.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Well, we've covered the uh the recent move to Sedona, which again, by the way, I'm jealous of, but um but there was another move that happened close to let's see 20 26 years ago, right? If my math is correct. So you're you're you're born in Croatia. You correct me where I'm wrong, okay? So you're born in Croatia. Uh and so first of all, where in Croatia were you born?

SPEAKER_06 16:23

Yeah. Um, so the town is called Virovitica. It's about again. So

From Croatia To America By Chance

SPEAKER_06 16:30

it's two, it's a mouthful.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

You lost me. You lost me. I'm from Pasadena, Texas, right?

SPEAKER_06 16:38

Uh Virovitica is the name of the town. It was uh it's a smaller town, about 40,000 people. Um, but it's about an hour away from Zagreb, which is the capital city. So the western um portion of Croatia is where it's located. Um, so I uh I was born there, um, lived there till I was four years old, and then uh civil war broke out. Um so um that was a big event, obviously, in my life as a as a child, um and that ultimately caused the move to Serbia, um, and um then lastly to United States.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Sure. Well, so I know you've been here for roughly 26 years, and this this war that broke out, was this what people know is the homeland war? Is that is that correct? Or is that the time frame of the homeland war, like in the 90s?

SPEAKER_06 17:40

Uh the 90s, you're absolutely correct. So it's former Yugoslavia was uh a combination of a few countries, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, uh what's known today as Montenegro, um, Slovenia. Um, so they were all um, you know, part of former Yugoslavia. Um, and then as the um former leader passed away and a new leader stepped in, um, some of the countries wanted to separate. Um, there's um, you know, kind of three major religious influences in in former Yugoslavia, which is uh big reason or part of that civil war that broke out.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

So interesting. What what are the big three religions there? You you you mentioned about the religions, but what are they?

SPEAKER_06 18:31

Yeah, great question. Um, so Bosnian and and was heavily influenced by Muslim religion. Um, Croatia is Catholic, um, and Serbia is Serbian Orthodox. Um, we were all kind of mixed in um within those countries. Um, as you can imagine, a lot of families were mixed families, right? Marriages that were you know uh mixed. Um so it it was uh it was a tragedy for all parties, right? Um the sad thing about war is that it's never the people, it's it's the governments, right? And it's super unfortunate. Um, because you know, as as somebody who went through that, um, moving to the United States, it's funny because when I moved to Milwaukee, um, one of the first friends I met is Bosnian, and she's actually still the closest friend that I have 26 years later, right? So um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

But well, I guess that war broke out. Was it because Croatia had declared independence from Yugoslavia? Is that kind of where all I mean, I know you said there was a a changing of the leadership, but uh what was that kind of the gist of it? Is that Croatia had declared independence from Yugoslavia?

SPEAKER_06 19:52

Yeah, each each country started claiming their independence, right? Um again, Croatia was heavily influenced by Catholic um Croatians, right? Um, you know, Serbia was obviously very heavily influenced by Serbian Orthodox. And um, so each country started declaring independence, and and um which um you know a lot of people today will say, well, they probably should have never been part of the same country, right? Um, but yeah, there's there's uh lots of different opinions on that, Randy.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Of course, yeah. Um you know, I didn't realize this, but um Nikola Tesla was Croatian, I and I had no idea, right? The pioneer of alternating current electricity, right? I had no idea.

SPEAKER_06 20:41

It's interesting, right? He was another Croatian born, but he's Serbian, right? Yeah, his uh dad was actually a Serbian Orthodox priest. Um yeah, he's a brilliant mind. Um and uh you know, growing up, obviously we we learned a lot about Tesla and um he got the enjoy of of uh Serbia for sure.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Yeah. So there's a there's a really interesting story um uh uh about the war in Croatia and and how it affected your family. And you you spoke of it just you know about the moves, but but high level. I I wanted you to kind of share this story because this is this is an interesting story to me, because of course we had a civil war here many, many years ago, none that I've ever been a part of in my life. And um it it's just so interesting, these different parts of the world, and you know, some of the most beautiful places, but there's a lot of times so much political unrest and fighting and stuff going on, right? And you know, luckily we we don't have a lot of I mean, we have our own challenges too here in the States, which you know you're you live here now, but um but there's not war and The streets, right? And uh I I wanted you to just kind of share high level the story about your your dad and what transpired there with the whole war thing and and and and walk the listeners of backstage pass radio through that because I think that a lot of people that and I you know people listen to the show all over the world, but I the large base here is in the United States and we don't go through things like that.

SPEAKER_06 22:25

So absolutely. Um so the town that we lived in was about 80% of the population was Croatian, and about 20% of the population was Serbian. So my mom was actually born in that town, grew up in that town. Um my dad was from a different town, but we lived in Virubetica, as as I mentioned. And um when the war broke out, um my mom, you know, working in Croatia, she used to work in the insurance industry. And so she knew um a lot of people in in the town, right? It's a smaller town as is, and she she was very familiar with everybody. And um, when the war broke out, my dad was a volunteer for the ambulance, and

Dad Captured And Mom’s Search

SPEAKER_06 23:13

he used to help transport the wounded or people that needed medical help and things like that. So um as he went to the military base, the Serbian military base, um, of course, each each side had their own military base, right? Um, and as he went there to um help support with the wounded, um, he actually the base actually ended up getting attacked and um taken over by the Croatian army. So as part of that, my dad was taken in as a prisoner, prisoner of war. Um, and uh he was kept in captivity. Um, my mom had no idea where he was. Um, he was just gone, missing, right? Um and uh so she actually started the search for him. Um and she went to the military bases to look for him. She went to the Croatian military bases to search for him. And um she uh came across some, you know, army guards and captains that she knew, and she was begging for answers um to try to find out where he is, where he's located, what happened to him, is he dead, is he alive, right? Um and uh, you know, there's it's always interesting as a I was I was super young, I was three years old um when the war broke out. And um, but there's these memories, these vivid memories that you kind of have uh from that time. And uh I remember our mom driving us around um going to different prisons to find my dad, to see my dad, um, to bring them food and bring other prisoners food. Um and uh, you know, I remember the sirens would be going off like nobody is supposed to be outside when the sirens are on, right? But my mom is like driving around with two little kids trying to go and see dad to ensure that um he's okay, that he's being fed, that they're okay, that the rest of the guys are okay as well. Um, you know, talk about a brave woman. She's always like, she's one person that always inspired me in my life. But um, but eventually um we found out that my dad was supposed to get executed. Um, as you know, they were kind of moving him from prison to prison. Um, he, I mean, they used to beat them and you know, went through a lot of trauma in those prisons. And um, you know, we eventually figured out that he is on a list to get executed along with other prisoners. And so that was kind of the time when my mom decided, all right, we can't stay here anymore. There's nothing left for us here, right? Um, so she uh decided to move us to Serbia where she had some family, and obviously Serbia was still a safe place for us as Serbs. Um, and so we ended up um moving to Belgrade. Um so um about three months later, we actually found out that my dad was a part of a prisoner exchange program. So uh European Red Cross um got involved, they figured out that there was a lot of non-army personnel um in in captivity in some of these prisons. So um they they stepped in and made sure that you know um that they can um be exchanged and and put to safety. And so um, you know, luckily my dad was uh part of that and he we were reunited in Belgrade about three months later.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

So that's crazy. So you so he's held. So why did he get held as a prisoner of war? It was this by your own people?

SPEAKER_06 27:22

Like uh It was by Croatians, right? So uh you know uh uh again in war there is uh there's not very much justice, right? Um there's not a lot of rules that are always being followed, unfortunately, right? Um so and that goes on both sides, right? Is that no one side is um you know better than the other, I always say it takes two to tango, right? So um it it you know there were a lot of there were a lot of people who stepped in during war, and even though they weren't like formerly, you know, army personnel, they came in to fight for their country. Um so a lot of people who were fighting for the country, right? They weren't necessarily um you know trained army personnel. Um but uh my dad was not even you know fighting in the war, he was just a volunteer all people, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:26

So well, you had mentioned that you had, you know, and and still do have vivid memories of back in the day, but like for a for a young girl, you said three, right? Like um what what are the memories of being without dad not knowing anything about his existence? Alive, dead, whereabouts, anything? Like how how impactful was that to you as as such a young girl? Because a lot of times I think a lot of people don't we have good long-term memory, but that's pretty young, right? And I'm just curious what you remember about that and how traumatic was that to you.

SPEAKER_06 29:08

Yeah, um, I mean, I remember um grenades going off, I remember bullets, I remember all of that stuff, right? The sounds um of the war for sure. Um I remember vividly, um, there was uh one evening, middle of the night, right? The the war is going on, you hear the fighting and the grenades are you know kind of shaking up the house, right? Um, and uh again, I was about three and a half years old, right? And um, my mom, I mean, we would regularly go down in the basement, right? Because if the house collapses, the granite falls, right? You think about all these things, right? So we regularly go in the basement in the middle of the night or whatnot. And you know, I remember this vividly, you know, my mom just kind of stepped out to check out because we used to sleep together. My mom was like kept us in the same room, right? So we can all be together. And um, you know, my mom stepped out just to kind of check out what's going outside to see if we should go in the basement or not. And um, I was ready. I had my clothes on, I had my shoes on. I literally I was like, I put on all the clothes, I was ready, like I was ready for anything. Um, I think that's the part that really stuck with me as a child when you go through an experience like that. You're really ready for anything. Like you know that any moment anything can happen. And so you can be within seconds, you can be ready to, you know, to bolt, essentially, right? Wow. So um, and you know, the other thing that I, you know, extremely vividly remember is um uh I remember when we went to see my dad for the last time, right? We thought he was gonna get executed. And, you know, my mom was the kind of person who no matter what age we were at, she was always very honest with us. And as much as a, you know, a three and a half year old should not know that this is probably the last time she's ever gonna see her dad. Um, my mom was very um like, all right, this is the situation, like this is what's happening. Like she she always um stayed real with us. And um I do remember the last time we went to see my dad um in the prison. And you know, I I remember we, you know, we walk into this room and there is this um fence between the, you know, between us and the prisoners, and then there's like another door, and they walk in all the prisoners um, you know, for visitation. Um, and this fence that was this mesh fence that was between us, it was like there was like a half wall, and then this like, you know, metal mesh fence. And it's like I couldn't even stick my little finger through it. That's how tight it was. So you can kind of barely see through it, right? And I do remember um, you know, my mom was, you know, having a conversation with my dad, and my dad was trying to be joyful, right? And and stuff, and I I just I couldn't speak, right? I couldn't let my dad because if I thought if I start talking to my dad, I'm gonna start crying, and I can't let my dad see me cry, right? That was like the biggest thing for me. And so um, at some point, they actually started walking out the the prisoners, right? So they walk out the prisoners first after the visitation. And Randy, I don't even know how I did it, but I ran through the crowd and I somehow ended up on the other side where the prisoners were, and I ran over to my dad. Um, and my mom thought, oh shit, this is it. They're gonna kill my daughter. Like, this is the end of it. Um, but the guard was kind and he understood, and um he gave me a minute to give my dad a hug and um brought me back to my mother. But uh, but yeah, I um I remember all that.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Wow. That's so heavy, you know. Like, like thanks for sharing that. And and and I'm trying to put the pieces uh the the timeline together and my brain kind of on the fly. But your your mom makes the decision to leave and move you guys to Serbia and then on to Belgrade. So this is after she finds out where your dad is, or is this before is this before she finds out the whereabouts of your dad?

SPEAKER_06 33:49

Yeah, it's after. So she found out where he was located. We would go visit him, then they would move him to another prison. So they kept bouncing the prisoners around from prison to prison, and um, you know, and a lot of these prisons were you know makeshift prisons, they weren't like a traditional prison. Right. So, um, but they would move him around to different spots. Um, and um so we would like go from one spot, then we'd lose him again, right? Then we'd find out again where he's at, then go visit him there. Um, you know, it's not like there was a place where you can just call and somebody will give you the information, right?

SPEAKER_02 34:28

Of course, of course.

SPEAKER_06 34:30

A lot of running around and and figuring out and showing up at places really where a woman with two kids had no business being, right? Um, so um, so yeah, so we we visited him, you know, uh more than once. Um sometimes my mom would go alone, sometimes she would bring us along um with her. Um, and then eventually when she found out that he was on the list to get executed, um, you know, she she made the decision. And obviously my dad supported that and said, You guys should leave. Like, there is nothing left for you here. Like, don't risk the safety of the kids because of me, right?

SPEAKER_01 35:08

So is that is that the ultimate reason for moving you guys uh to sub Serbia and then on to Belgrade was just to keep you guys safe from everything that was going on at the time?

SPEAKER_06 35:21

Yeah, that's correct, Randy. My grandparents um lived in Croatia and um they stayed, right? Because, you know, it it's it's uh kind of interesting to think about that time and when people are going through that stuff is um they think it'll pass and you know things are gonna get back to normal. Um, and if we can just, you know, stick with it, or you know, my grandparents were also like, we're old, so whatever happens, happens, right?

SPEAKER_07 35:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 35:50

But the the the younger people flood the country, right? So kids.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

So he gets released. You're in Belgrade at the time, right? He gets released. So you guys are reunited in Belgrade? Is that is that correct? Okay. And because your dad was a um a prisoner of war, why why did this give you guys the opportunity to pick from what was it, a handful of countries that you could move to? Like what what what how did that come about?

SPEAKER_06 36:25

Yeah, so we were technically considered refugees in Serbia, um, which is really interesting when you really think about it, right? Um, but uh so when we moved to Serbia, we were considered refugees. Um, because we weren't like I wasn't born in Serbia, I was born in what is known as Croatia today. Um and so for many years um we were you know considered refugee status. Um

Refugee Status And Resettling In Wisconsin

SPEAKER_06 36:53

we had the ability to work there and live there and all of that stuff, but we were under the the refugee status. Um and um because we were considered refugees, we basically didn't have a place of citizenship, right? We didn't have a place to live and where we originated from, we couldn't go back. Um so um, and and because my dad was a prisoner of war, um and we had the opportunity to move out of Serbia to uh a handful of countries that um you know kind of had this program where they would accept, you know, refugees of of you know from that war. So we had an option between Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and United States.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

So you guys choose the the US, right? Is do you know where that thought process came from? Why the US and not New Zealand, Australia, and our Canada?

SPEAKER_06 37:59

Yeah, we didn't choose at all. We left it to chance, Randy. So um when my mom filled out the paperwork and um and we asked her when she came home, we're like, all right, so what'd you pick? And she's like, I didn't pick anything. And we're like, well, what do you mean? And she's like, well, I didn't want to get a if I pick something, I didn't want to get rejected for that particular country when there's four opportunities, right? So she wanted to open up the opportunity, um, and kind of said, Hey, I don't know where we're going, I don't know what it's gonna be like anyway. So might as well leave it to chance. And uh we were we were given, or the United States was selected for us. Um, and um of all the places in United States, we were placed in Wapaca, Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_01 38:50

So um that was just Waupaca, Wisconsin, just like where where where does that come from, right? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_06 38:58

Like exactly. So we were like, where is Wapaca, Wisconsin? We knew Milwaukee, Wisconsin, right? But um we had no idea where Waupaca was. And uh turns out it's a really small town in northern Wisconsin of about, you know, a couple thousand people.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

So that's so that's so, you know, to me. I mean, the thought process is just like where did they throw a dart at the map and say, here's where you're going, here's where you're gonna be.

SPEAKER_06 39:31

You know, you have all these cities, right, that have a lot of influence from different countries, right? And you have a lot of people migrating into those cities, right? But then you have Wapaka, and they literally had no foreigners in Wapaca whatsoever. When when we first moved to Wapaca, it was like a big deal to town of Wapaka, like it was like in the newspaper, like there's this family moving from Serbia.

SPEAKER_01 39:59

So you were a legend before you were even a legend. That's the crazy thing.

SPEAKER_04 40:03

I didn't know I was a celebrity before I was too.

SPEAKER_01 40:07

I'm telling you. Wow. Well, you know, I'm I'm glad that um fate and chance worked out because I guess if it had not, then you and I may have never been friends, right? So how great is that?

SPEAKER_05 40:24

It all worked out.

SPEAKER_01 40:25

It did. It did. Well, thanks for sharing that. I know that the those types of stories can be, you know, they they go down into sometimes a dark place, right? That's not great to you know, that's not always great to remember, but it it's it's what made you who you are today. And and I have to think that being a three and a half, four-year-old kid when all of this is going on, you're forced to grow up and mature very fast for your age, right? Like you were you were probably three going on eight, right? But but you know, I think that most kids, especially here in the States, you know, we like I told you earlier, we we've not had to go through traumatic things like that. And three-year-olds are just three-year-olds here, right? So, you know, I mean, you tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure there's some maturity that you gain from that whole experience, right?

SPEAKER_06 41:22

There is, and it's so funny when I look back in my childhood, I am actually super grateful for it, right? Um, because it it made me into a stronger person. It I believe that it made me a good problem solver. Um, you know, even moving from a country to country, again, moving to Wapaca, like, you know, I studied English in school, but I wasn't fluent. And so I moved to a place where there's no one who speaks my language. I am the only kid at school that is foreign, and um, kids are curious, right? And they ask questions, they want to talk to you, and and some more of them being sweet, some of them are being jerks, right? But they're curious, and um, you know, all of that. Um, you know, I remember crying and you know, I don't want to go to school tomorrow, right? Um, but I'm super grateful for all of that because uh quite honestly, uh, you know, whenever I'm faced with a challenge, I always think I can overcome anything, right? It's about what how we think about situations, right? And I always think about if my mother could have done all this stuff for us, um, if she could have then, you know, gone and looked for my dad um during wartime and and you know do it with two little kids, I can overcome any problem that I'm but nothing phases me.

SPEAKER_01 42:47

Yeah, you could suck it up, right?

SPEAKER_06 42:49

I can suck it up for sure.

SPEAKER_01 42:51

Do you think that that made you um independent in your in your I was gonna say older age, but that's you know what I mean. You know what I mean, right? Don't don't don't make it weird, right? I know you're fixing to make it weird, but as as you've matured in life, right, like has has that made you an independent woman? Like you could stand on your own two feet, right?

SPEAKER_06 43:14

It has, yeah. I mean, you know, again, I keep going circling back to my mom, right? She's always thought us that um, you know, as as women, I have a sister, right? And as as women, like we just need to figure things out on our own, right? That we can stand on our own two feet, problem solve, um, you know, get good education, do all those things so that we can always take care of ourselves and not depend on anybody else, right? And so um, yeah, uh absolutely. I I would I would absolutely say that all of that experience has made me into an independent person that I am today.

SPEAKER_01 43:51

So well, you're I think you're you're certainly Americanized now for sure, right? Do you I I'm assuming you still Speak the native tongue, right? And are you still speak it as well as you did, or do you ever lose that? Or talk talk to the listeners a little bit about that? Like I'm thinking not, right? But I don't speak multiple languages, so I don't know, right?

SPEAKER_06 44:14

Um, you know, I was uh I I saw I have a circle of friends, you know, one I mentioned who's Bosnian, the other one is Costa Rican, and we've been all like super close friends um for, you know, ever since middle school and high school since I moved to um to Milwaukee. And uh we always joke around about this that we don't really speak any one language, right? I have an accent in English, but when I speak Serbian, I kind of have an accent now too, right? Um if you don't practice it, you start to

Language Loss And Family Roots

SPEAKER_06 44:44

lose it. Okay. Um and it's also dependent on the age that um, you know, that you were when you, you know, moved to a different country. So um the younger you are, you know, from the native language standpoint, um, you know, the more likely you're going to start losing it a little bit unless you speak it um, you know, consistently. Um, I retain that well, but there's absolutely times when I'm you know talking to my mom and I'll mix in English words with Serbian.

SPEAKER_01 45:18

Does she still favor the uh the native tongue versus English? She does. I figured she would. Usually the old school people will, you know, whether you're from Canada or wherever you you stay, French, you know, you come here and you speak that. And and you know, the the the interesting thing about you know the hockey days, there were transplants that came to Houston specifically to play hockey from from Montreal and places like this, and French is the native tongue, and they come here and they have families while they're you know playing professional hockey. And of course, they put the kids into the school system here, and what are they teaching the kids? They're teaching them English because that's the native tongue. And there was a lot of friction back, you know, in the in the old country, right? Like, you know, the the family wants to disown them because, hey, you're not teaching them French. You need to teach those kids French, right? Here, and you know, if anything, um I would think in the United States, because of the the southern border of Mexico, you know, it's probably well, you could you could argue the fact that, well, we've got the northern border too, right? Where it's mostly a lot of French speaking, but down south it's all Spanish speaking, right? So, you know, there was a lot of friction there with some of the families, to be honest with you. So I did I I just assumed, right, that your mom probably still spoke a lot in the native tongue, right?

SPEAKER_06 46:40

She does. And my dad, as a matter of fact, you know, after 26 years in the United States, um, he's not fluent in English. Um and um it's interesting with my nieces now, um, because when they were born, um, my sister really wanted him to learn Serbian, speak Serbian, and so she was um constantly speaking Serbian to them at home. But as soon as they started school, they just picked up English, and you know, kids don't want to be different, they want to fit in. Um, so they almost like rejected Serbian in a way, right? Um, and so whatever Serbian they they spoke as younger children, they actually don't even speak it anymore. Um, so it's always funny when we're you know all together, and sometimes I'm translating for my dad on what my nieces are saying to him. So you're absolutely right. There's always that desire to keep the language, right? And it's usually for the grandparents, right? Who um are naturally fluent.

SPEAKER_01 47:45

Of course. Well, yeah, I mean, to be honest, I mean, short of your name being a little off, right, for an Americanized name, like looking at you and speaking to you, I would never know, right? That that you come from another country. So because you your English is like well adapted, right? Like you speak it very well. So uh it that's interesting.

SPEAKER_06 48:09

You're being kind. There's an absolute like accent.

SPEAKER_01 48:13

I mean, but it's but it's so it's so slight. I mean, somebody might say, Oh, well, maybe she's from Canada or something. You know what I mean? Like, but but but but the Canadians speak another language too, right? Like, we won't get on that. But I have a lot of Canadian friends for sure. I I I love my Canadian friends. So anyway, I wanted to switch gears with you uh just for a minute. And of course, you and I met through our partnership, right? Uh, our work partnership. Uh share with the listeners the company that you're with and what your company does and the role in, you know, which you serve for the company, right?

SPEAKER_06 48:56

Yeah. Um, so MPI, um, you know, it's short for making a positive impact. Um, but we're a lead generation company. So we work with other organizations um to help them with outbound sales activity, um, what a lot of people um know as cold calling, right? And it's something that um

What MPI Does In Lead Generation

SPEAKER_06 49:19

every organization needs more sales, every organization needs more revenue, and outbound sales is something that um often organizations are struggling with, right? Whether it's um, you know, getting the right person, you know, to do it, whether it's the consistency of doing it or the outcome of doing it. Um, so I've been doing that for a little over four years now. Um, and my role within the organization is um overseeing the entire operations of the of the organization, the team. Um, but really where I step in um is working strategically with our clients. Um and you know, the big portion of what I drive is the outbound strategy, the list development, who to target, why to target them in order to get the best results.

SPEAKER_01 50:12

So what what's the background for you? Like, did do you come from this environment? Do you learn it on the fly? Like, talk to me and the listeners a little bit about that because VP of operation, like I've sat on calls with you, and let's just be on, I mean, I don't want your head to get big on the on this thing, right? So um I mean you you're you're you're pretty polished, right? You're you're a polished gal and you're you're incredibly intelligent, right? So uh share share the thoughts, you know, like what's the background? How did you how did you learn so much about this?

SPEAKER_06 50:49

Um, you know, part curiosity, part um, I have a weird mixed background, right? My experience has been a mix of um working in sales um and then also working in operations. Um and one of the key things that I identified um in kind of working in opposite roles is that um in most organizations, sales and operations kind of butt butt heads, right? And um sales are always something that you know it's kind of the pride and joy of the company, right? And you know, the salespeople are always awesome. Well, you know this from your experience being in sales, but um, but the you know, the operations team is always kind of doing the the work, right? And I always kind of observe this and watched this. And um, as I watched the sales and as a as I've been part of sales, I always realized that there's really no structure within sales. Salespeople kind of, you know, you always hear things like, oh, they're just a natural salesperson, right? Um just got it. And um, you know, I kind of fell into lead generation. I did, it's not something that I necessarily seeked or that I was super intrigued with. I kind of fell into it. Um, but what intrigued me about it is that um I believed that sales is like anything else, that you gotta operationalize it. You gotta create a structure, you gotta create a process, you gotta create a system that salespeople can follow. And if you create that type of environment, um anybody who is interested in sales and wants to do well, then they can do it under their proper structure and guidance.

SPEAKER_01 52:41

So kind of a rinse and repeat mentality, right? Once you learn the system, you go do the system because it's proven, right? It's kind of there's a track record of being successful, right?

SPEAKER_03 52:51

That's exactly right.

unknown 52:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:53

Well, and I think so I'm trying to think back if my memory serves me correctly. I think MPI started, was it 96? Is 96?

SPEAKER_06 53:04

Yeah, we started in 96, but really we started in coin. Um we used to sell coins. Um, so if you think back to um the 50 state quarter program, we used to sell a ton of those. Um, so we started out selling to local banks, credit unions, community banks, right? Um, and um over time we started working with over 13,000 banks um nationwide. Um, so we really grew that business. Um, and then Oid happened. Um, and obviously that took a huge hit on financial industry um and the banks, which um in turn um created a big turn around in our business. So um, you know, Drew, who is the founder and owner of MPI, um, a true entrepreneur, right? Um, he reinvented himself during that time. Um, we had this huge sales team that we were, you know, deploying to, you know, sell for us. Um, and as you know, we took a downturn, um, you know, some of the you know uh people that Drew had connections with and knew that were like, hey, we need some help with sales. And it kind of started as this, well, let's try this fractional model, right? Where I have a sales team, right? We can we can sell. Um, let's try this fractional model. And that's really how um it all got started. It was really the turn of events for the business where you know that that caused the lead generation to spark up.

SPEAKER_01 54:39

Sure. Interesting story. Well, did you did you hire into the VP role there or was this a work your way up kind of thing with MPI?

SPEAKER_06 54:52

So um when I left the coffee industry, which um we'll talk about that a little bit later, but um, you know, when I joined MPI, um, you know, I I was very transparent with Drew in a sense that um, you know, I want to learn the system from the ground up, right? So um I want to learn the interface with clients. I want to learn what you know client relationship managers are doing, what the um SDR managers are doing. So um I was brought in as a senior account manager. Um and um I started with you know managing clients and working with the SDR team. And um, you know, that gave me insight onto what opportunities do we have as a business? What do we need to do from a structure or process standpoint um that we can improve upon in order to create that wash, rinse repeat system, right? So I was in that role for about eight months and then stepped into the VP of Ops Roll.

SPEAKER_02 55:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 56:00

Well, let's talk about cold calling, right? That's I think for a lot of people that's a dirty word, right? Um, and and it's certainly, I think since COVID, um, there there's many that would say cold calling is dead. I myself disagree with the mindset wholeheartedly. Uh but but your folks do this daily, right? Share your thoughts, Jovenus thoughts around cold dialing. Like, is it still needed in our in our trade today? Or do you think, and I already know the answer, and I think everybody listening to this already knows the answer, right? But like,

Cold Calling That Builds Human Connection

SPEAKER_01 56:46

would you agree, like post-COVID, people start, I mean, lots of things changed, right? We stopped going to meetings, right? We started doing this Zoom bullshit, and and I believe I'm still kind of the old school guy that relationships and opportunities come from being in front of people. Like, yes, I believe that Zoom and Teams and all of the things serve a very valuable purpose. Uh, it allows us to scale, but um I I'm rambling a bit, but share your thoughts just basically around cold calling and why it's important, right?

SPEAKER_06 57:26

Yeah, so I I think you're right. First of all, cold calling has a very bad rep. Um, and part of that stemmed from, you know, kind of the mentality of like smile and dial, right? You don't have to think, you just gotta pick up the phone and call. Um, or you know, offshoring we that became very popular, you know, uh in recent years. And a lot of people kind of got a bad taste in their mouth from that, or um, you know, just the you know, power dialers, right? We always talk about, you know, how many thousands of dials can we make this week? And um it's about quality over quantity, right? But answer the question around um, is cold calling needed? I believe that cold calling is needed more than ever today, um, because of all of the things that you mentioned, right? COVID changed us um as people, it changed how we interact with each other. Um, emailing became so heavy, right? We get so many notifications, so many emails, and nobody's really reading that. So all of those methods that, you know, kind of became popular for a while and they were working, and you know, it's easy to send out hundreds of emails without, you know, even doing much. Um people still want human connection, right? Um, we oftentimes, you know, have callers engage with prospects where somebody will say, Hey, thank you for actually calling me today. Um, which is not what people think will happen when they think of cold call. They think that, you know, whoever answers the phone, they're gonna be rude and they're gonna hang up on them. And, you know, there is that always happens, right? But there is um it happens so infrequently, right? Um, people actually want that human connection, they want to be sold to.

SPEAKER_01 59:24

Of course. Well, and I think there's two there's two different types of sellers, and I and I have this conversation sometimes internally, right? Um if you're a a newbie in selling, right, versus that of a Randy Halsey who has been in the channel for many, many years and has developed many, many relationships over time, right? Both as back from the engineering days, coming full circle to to um being in leadership for a bar, right? And selling. Um you develop these relationships. So if if you put me, if you said, Randy, you're going to a new company tomorrow, right? And this is I'm just hypothetically speaking, right? New company tomorrow, you're not under a non-compete, like you just have full reins. I I'm probably not having to do a ton of cold calling, right? Because I know people and and I'm I like to think that I'm respected by the people that I know. I've always tried to be a stand-up guy, right? And be an honest guy. And and I believe that a lot of those relationships would come back to me, right? Versus a new rep that's a hunter, they don't have that same relationship. So the only way to generate pipeline, right, is to do what? You gotta pick up the phone and do something, right? Because your phone is not gonna just magically start ringing like the bat phone every day. Like nobody knows who the hell you are and what you have, right? No, I mean let's just be honest, you're not that popular, right? So you you you have to do something, right? Do you think there's I mean, you think I'm right with what I'm saying, right? Of course.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:18

And it's really interesting because i it's almost a different skill set, too, than when you think of closers, right? Being a closer is, you know, taking that opportunity, you know, across the finish line, and that's a certain skill that one has to have. Um, but cold calling is almost a completely different skill set. Um, and um, you know, a lot of companies who separate those roles are right to do that. Right. We always talk about this. Anybody can do this, right? It you just have to stay consistent, you have to do it correctly in a sense, right? You gotta have the, you know, identifying who are you calling, why are you calling them? And and ultimately at the end of the day, the question that I always ask our clients is why should they meet with you, right? Why should they take that conversation with you? Um and if we talk about things like, well, we have great customer service, or we have, yeah, so does everybody, right? But why should they meet with you? Um, what value are we going to bring to them by having that conversation, right? Um, and and again, you know, creating those scripts or the conversations that, you know, the sales development or rep deploys on the phone is also a very particular thing that we do, right? Um, there is a certain level of consistency that you have to have conversationally, and there is a certain level of fluidity that you have to have conversationally, but still within your control, right? Like, so um, you know, the example I always use, it's kind of like if you ask anybody like, hey, what do you want for food for dinner tonight, right? Um, they're gonna kind of take you, you know, all over the place. But if you're like, hey, would you like Italian or Mexican? Now you're giving them only two options to choose from. And cold calling works kind of in the same way, right? You gotta set your conversation.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:22

Sure. Yeah, I mean, early on, um I was making a cold call and and the person said, Well, what's what's your value? And like, what why should I be talking to you? And I said, Do you have two hours? Like I can like I can tell you that's that's that's Randy humor. I'm just kidding. Yeah, gee, how much time do you have? Where where shall I start? Right uh well, what do you what do you think makes a good SDR BDR person? And for the listeners out there, like this is a bonus episode for me. Like I'm usually a music guy. We're talking a lot about music, and now we're off on this topic of of sales, but as as listeners listen to this, they're gonna hear things along the way that they're like, you lost me. Like, what is a SDR or a BDR? First of all, tell the listeners what an SDR BDR is, and what do you think makes a good SDR BDR for a company?

SPEAKER_06 1:04:23

Yeah, so SDR, commonly known as sales development rep, BDR as a business development rep, um, used in interchangeably. Um, each company uses it, um, you know, one or the other. Um, but uh, you know, depending who you ask, um, my response on what makes a good SDR, BDR, is being able to work within structure and consistency while applying um, you know, the information and listening to the prospect so you can apply that information and still have fluidity in the conversation. Um, so it takes a level of active listening. Um, again, common misperception, it's not about script reading, right? Script reading is not gonna get an appointment. Um, it's it's you know the the combination of consistency and fluidity.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:23

Yeah, I think if, you know, I think most and you you agree or disagree, but I think a lot of first-time reps, they start with that that um crutch, if you will, of reading a script, right? But I think where you become more proficient and more effective is when you don't have to lean on the crutch of the script, where it's just like you and I right now are having a very unlabored conversation, right? There's it's it's easy to talk to you, right? It and it's not like I'm, you know, I'm I'm reading, okay. Ask Jovan this, you know, like we we just we're just talking as people, right? So uh would you agree with that that that's really what happens where they become more effective when they can get off of the um oh I was gonna use another analogy, but I won't do that because I might post this on LinkedIn, so I want to be professional, which I'm not usually on my regular show. So this is a little bit of an adjustment for me, but I usually talk to you know rock stars and stuff like that. So we have different conversations. Uh, but um would would you agree with that though?

SPEAKER_06 1:06:36

I I would, right? And I kind of compare it to um it's like a good barista or like a good bartender or a waiter. Um, you know, you have a list of things that you want to cover, but at the same time, you're conversational and engaging, right? Um, you know, the the biggest mistake that sales development reps can make in their role is when something is working, don't make a change for the sake of making a change, right? Because again, that level of consistency that you have to have. And sometimes people will be like, oh, I just kind of want to change the introduction a little bit. Um, but that's what's working, right? Identifying that introduction and what's working within it, within it is why you gotta stick with it, right? With that consistency is what helps us figure out what is actually getting people intrigued for the next 30 seconds of the comment.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:36

Well, what's the old adage? If it's not broke, don't fix it, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:07:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:41

Yeah. Well, I you know, I'll share with the listeners that you know, my son Cameron had been a technical IT person for for years. And he came to me and he was asking me, you know, hey, I'm a I'm a new dad, and you know, I've got a baby now, and I've got to try to figure out a way to um, you know, make more money, right? And I I said, I love this mindset, like you're you're getting to that age where it's dawning on you that you know minimum wage is not gonna work much longer, right? You're gonna have to do something a little above and beyond that. And I I told he said, you know, like what's the what's the path? What's the path? And I said, well, you know what, Cameron, I I really believe, like I was cast into my job. I went from an engineer, like a solutions architect to a sales guy. And I didn't know a damn thing about selling cold calling. I I didn't, I didn't even know, like I I I really knew nothing, Jovina. And it was how and I struggled, I think, for the first year, and thank goodness, you know, I I have to drop a couple of names, but not that they even listened to this podcast, but it was back at a company, uh, Vector ESP, we were a big Citrix house, and you know, Tom Flink and Dan Tonnell, uh, because I was an engineer with them and said, you know, I really want to jump into the sales game with both feet, and they took a chance. And man, they floated me for a year. Like I just didn't know what I was doing. And the and the crazy thing is I didn't have that background of being taught to what makes a successful salesperson. And you have to agree with me that the foundation to a successful sales rep, account executive is what we would call them, is the foundation of being able to pick up the damn phone and make dials, right, and be impactful on the phone. And and I explained to Cameron, I said, if you can do that job, right, the rest is gravy, right? Because you either are afraid to pick up the phone or you're not afraid to pick up the phone. And there's a lot of reps that are petrified to just pick up the phone. So I said, if you can do this, right, that's your first step. Go get your experience there, and the the rest should be like a run downhill from there, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:10:20

Yeah, exactly, Randy. I remember my first sales role. I I worked in uh pre-cut vegetables and fruits, right? The company that I used to work for, we did um pre-cuts, and um I was new in the sales role, and it was like, all right, go go get more business, right? And I was like, okay, well, who do I call, right? Like, where do I start with? So aside from just picking up the phone, there's also the challenge of who am I calling, right? Um, and then how am I gonna get a hold of them? All right, now that I know that I should be calling Randy, how am I gonna get his contact information? So um there is a combination of things I call the the market intelligence is, you know, kind of what we segment that as or you know, uh classify that as individuals who focus on that list development. Um, who should we call? Why should we call them? How are we going to get their contact information and then generate people alike so that when you do have a conversation with somebody that you can you know talk to their pain points, you can relate with them better, um, you can ask questions that are relevant to them, to their role and the impact of how your what your product does, how it's gonna make on them, right?

SPEAKER_07 1:11:46

Sure.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:47

Um, because not every person within our an organization um has the same experience with that product or service.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:55

So absolutely. And and you know, going into sales, I I knew enough because I'm not a dumb guy, right? I knew that I was gonna have to pick up the phone and call people and that, okay, I've got to write this script or s or whatever, and you know, read it, and that's what I did. But I didn't know all the formalities, I didn't know what to even put in the script, so I just did logical thinking, right? Like what Randy, if somebody called you, what would you want to hear from them, right? It was kind of that. There was no company like like the beauty of MPI is that for someone like Cameron, you guys are showing them this is the process, and this is a process that the laws of average say work over time. I mean, it's a numbers game at the end of the day, right? But this is this is how we're successful because it's a rinse and repeat. I didn't have that. It was the wild, wild west for me. Just figure it out as you go. But I'm such a driven person that I I I didn't need somebody to say you gotta do this, you gotta do that. I just kept changing it until I figured out what was working. And then, like hockey players, they're very superstitious. If they're winning a game, if one guy goes out on the ice first and they win that game, then I promise you the next game, that same guy is gonna hit the ice first for the next game until they lose, and then something else is gonna happen, right? But until then, they don't break the superstition or what what's winning games for them, right? So, and I think the same applied for me. Once I found that that little trigger that you know got me a few appointments, like I just rode that wave as long as I could.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:41

Yeah, and and it it's all about that. It's about consistency, right? I keep saying like consistency, right? Once you figure that out, either as an individual sales rep, right, or as an organization, um, stick with it. Um, something will eventually change, but stick with it. Um and um, you know, I also encourage, you know, organizations that to try different methods, right? Um, again, a lot of people think cold calling is dead. It's not. Um it's um it it it the results in comparison to email or other methods are surprisingly um different in a good way. Um so I I I would always encourage organizations to look at different options and cold calling being one of them. Um it's also going to help their sales team as well. Having an a sales development rep or a business development rep on the team who's making these cold calls also makes for their internal sales team, what you would say is, you know, account executive or um sales manager or whatever, you know, organizations may have, because it's challenging that team to think about their product and service a little bit differently, right? Because a lot of us get, you know, we get inquiries. It's easy to talk about to about our product or service with somebody who's already looking into us. Now it's just a matter of what am I competing against? Versus let's talk about and take you through the process of why you should look at this product or service. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:21

Well, where can the listeners of Backstage Pass Radio find more information about MPI? Um, like uh social media or a website. Is there anything that you can plug for MPI?

SPEAKER_06 1:15:36

Yeah, absolutely. MPI-impact.com. Um, check out our website. You can also visit us on LinkedIn at MPI Impact. Um, and um, you know, we occasionally post blogs and things about things that you can do yourself. Again, um, we want to educate first. Um, and everything that we do, um, every organization can do internally. It just takes a lot of effort um and time. Um, some organizations uh organizations choose to outsource for that reason. Um, it ends up being cheaper. Um, I can test the different strategies a lot faster versus hiring internally. Um, but ultimately every organization can to do this themselves. And we share a lot of tips and insights on things that you can do from list development, from messaging or execution.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:29

Well, you guys have been great to work with um over the last, I don't know, half a year now. I guess we we've been going at it for a little while now. But you know, the interesting thing about my show is that I don't I'm never talking about business. It's always about uh music and songs and something totally off the beating beaten path of what what we're talking about. But I guess I'll I'll shamelessly or do a shameless plug for the company that I work for, uh the Broadleaf Group, which I've never done since we're on the um you know the business subject. But we're an end-to-end system integrator based in Houston that ha has been in business for 21 years. So we we help, you know, small, medium business and enterprise business with IT IT needs, right? From you know, from the handheld and the the desktop all the way into the core of the data center. So cloud, security, data center, um, network design, and uh you know, a a lot of AI stuff going on, which you're which you're aware of, and we're working on things together to to uh generate business in that area. So if you guys are you know at a company looking for uh you know an integrator to come in and help with the different areas of IT, uh Broadleafgroup.com is the website there. So yeah, thanks for thanks for sharing uh kind of the backstory about MPI, uh Yovana and where you guys uh have strength. It's been great working with you there. But I guess lastly on the MPI subject, uh quick shout out to Drew, Christine, and and Cameron over at MPI. I I would I I I wouldn't be fair if I didn't mention those because that's my team there, right? So talk to me about like we we're gonna shift gears one more time here. So I guess from a getting to know Yovina more on a personal perspective, like talk to me about hobbies, like tell me, tell me uh about the connection with coffee and with what you know while you were in Wisconsin. Walk me down that road.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:41

Yeah. So I mentioned a little bit about doing um sales um in a produce industry. So I started my career in retail um and um worked retail sales management, um, and then I went into aerospace industry. Um and it was, you know, I was recruited into it. It was an account management role. I was, you know, uh 21 years old, uh collecting experience under

Coffee Career From Sales To Operations

SPEAKER_06 1:19:09

my belt. And um, you know, then one of the managers that I used to work with at Lens Crafters recruited me into sales. He's like, hey, you were great at sales at Lens Crafters. I know this is very different with produce, but you know, come check it out. I think you'll enjoy it. And so I went into produce sales. Um and um I spent nearly a couple of years there. And um uh I saw this email from a local coffee company that um uh, you know, they were looking for a business development manager. Um and I thought, well, I love coffee, right? Um, why not? Let's give it a shot, right? And um I interviewed with the owners, again, great family business, um, started in '96 as well. Um, the name of the coffee company is Fiddleheads Coffee. And uh um I fell in love with it. Um, I was having a blast. We at the time when I joined the company, we were um, we just started roasting coffee and then we're opening up a bakery. Um and so I took the coffee wholesale um as a first step. So we expanded into some of the um local grocery stores, local coffee shops, restaurants, et cetera. Um, and then um as we opened the bakery business, we I also took that business wholesale as well and did the same thing with that. Um and as I was kind of growing all of this, um, the owners asked me to step in more operationally and if I had any interest in, you know, taking on more of the operations of the business, in particular with retail cafes that we had. And I was like, heck yes, I will absolutely love to do that. And um, so then we also started expanding the retail cafe side. So we went from um three locations that we had at the time to, you know, fast forward 11 years later in the coffee industry. Um, we had eight locations, um, and you know, I had a lot of fun, you know, going through opening up new stores, designing the stores, organizing, uh, working with the team. Um, it really challenged me in a different way. I went from having 20 baristas to having a hundred baristas. Um, you know, hiring looks very different. Um, you gotta get a different set of, you know, uh I always say running one coffee shop is different than two, but once you take it as a three, four, or five, um, it it starts to get really challenging. And coffee industry, like anything else, like restaurant industry, it's all about the bottom line, right? Tight squeeze, tight margins. You gotta sell a lot of coffee in order to stay profitable to expand. Um, so you know, how you expand and how you cross-train your staff. Um, you know, I did a lot of cross-training between locations because we were working with a lot of baristas who have school schedules and obligations and, you know, uh getting people in one store. So you're doing this little like, it's like a game of chess, right? It's like you gotta move one person here, the other person there, to the other person here in order to make the schedules work. Um, so it was it was uh a really great um, you know, uh career development for me. Um, I was fortunate enough to work with an owner who um was a CEO in his former life in um in talent industry and um learned a lot from him and um had a really great work and relationship with him and um was given this opportunity to kind of spread my wings and see where he can take me. So um, and then 11 years later, um, you know, we decided to part ways as I wanted to kind of continue developing my career and continue growing. And then I thought thought, let's go into lead generation, let's see if I can get broken or not.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:12

Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:16

Still standing, Randy. I'm still standing.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:18

I know you are. You're very resilient, right? Well, would you would you say that you're a huge coffee connoisseur? Like, are are you pretty uh basic with coffee, or do you like all kinds of coffees? Like, talk to me about that a little bit. I don't know if I can swear on your show, Randy, but would you can say anything you want to say on my show?

SPEAKER_05 1:23:41

All right, because I'm no basic bitch with coffee.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:46

Uh no, I uh So you like all the foo foo stuff then, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:23:53

Uh I developed a coffee palette, right? Um it's like a wine palette, but um, you know, if you ask the coffee drinkers, they would say it's a little bit more um, you know, uh complex than wine tasting. But um, you know,

Coffee Tasting, Roasts, And Caffeine Myths

SPEAKER_06 1:24:09

there's about you know a hundred different ways to describe coffee um and what it tastes like and the aromas and um you know all of that. So the flavor notes that are brought out in coffee is dependent on the altitude that the the coffee is grown in, the soil that it's grown in, of course, the weather. Um, and so um it's a really neat industry and interesting industry to be a part of um and to learn about. But as part of it, yeah, I developed a coffee palette. I'm a little bit of a snob when it comes to coffee.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:44

Yeah, um, that's that's really interesting because um I wonder like what the ratio is or what the percentage is, I should say, like of people that drink coffee, right? Like me, I I know there are certain coffees that I like, but I don't overthink all of the where was this being from and all the foo-foo shit that goes along with that, right? It's just like it either tastes good or it doesn't taste good, right? So it's interesting that you say all of the things like, you know, what kind of earth, what was the weather, you know, all of these things change the flavor of the the coffee, right? And and that's things that people like me don't even think of when I drink coffee.

SPEAKER_06 1:25:27

Well, you know, it's always interesting. It's it's the second traded um or second most traded commodity in the world, right? It comes right behind oil. Um, so we certainly um produce and consume a lot of coffee. Um it, you know, in terms of being that it's a commodity, it also works with the market as well. So it's always um, you know, you will see the fluctuation with coffee price based on the market. Um but the the process of you know growing coffee and you know, and uh separating the cherry right from the bean is you know uh unique to different countries and how they do it. Um as an example, Ethiopian coffees often um the cherries are dried on the ground. So as the cherries are grinding, you know, it basically separating naturally in the sun from the bean, they will the bean will absorb a lot of that um, you know, uh earthy flavors and tones from sitting on earth while they're actually drying those cherry beans. So um, yeah, it's it's a really neat process. Um, you know, I always encourage everybody, if you ever get a chance, if you're traveling to a country that um is a get big coffee producer, um, go tour one of the coffee plantations. It's really incredible to see that process.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:56

Wow, what why do I feel dumb when I talk to you? Like that's like I I never I I mean all of that, I wouldn't even know any of that stuff. So and you know what? Like, in all fairness, like I'm I'm picking a little bit, but you know, that's one of the main reasons that I ever started my podcast was to learn more about the stories behind the songs. And of course, yeah, it would it just happened to be music that was the focus. But even these bonus episodes, which I call them that are kind of off of that beaten path of music, they're also interesting in their in their own right. You know what I mean? Like, even though, like, I mean, I never would have dreamed that I would be talking to somebody about a coffee bean on my show, right? But it it's it's cool to learn about that, right? Because it's it's things that I never thought of. And and I've never I've never had to think about it, I guess, is though is what I'm trying to say.

SPEAKER_06 1:27:50

Well, next time you drink coffee, you'll you'll be thinking about me.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:53

Of course, yeah. I said this this is the the yovanna bean here, like for it, you'll have a coffee named after you.

SPEAKER_06 1:28:01

Fun fact for you, Randy, since most people think you know, the the more robust flavor of the coffee means stronger coffee. It's actually the opposite. The darker the roast, the less caffeine that coffee has. The lighter the roast, the more caffeinated it is. Yeah, but it's kind of like vegetables, right? The more you cook them, the more um nutrients you lose out of them. It's the same thing with the bean. The more you cook it, right? The more it's you roast it, um, the more um nutrients you lose out of it, the more moisture you lose the um caffeine. So um so lighter roast coffee is stronger coffee.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:40

So if I'm in a hotel and one says dark roast, that's that's a more mild coffee then. Yeah, they it and that's like polar opposite is to the way the brain thinks, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:28:51

Exactly. And there's also like what type of bean is it? Is it, you know, there's kind of uh uh beans that are grown at high altitudes and beans that are grown at low altitudes. Um the low altitude beans actually, you know, think of your folders, right? Most commonly like the the shitty coffee that everybody knows about, right? That actually has more caffeine um than you know some of these high-end coffees that we're buying 340 bucks a pound.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:18

So why so why would somebody buy the uh the the the less potent coffee? Like, I mean, what like is it just a preference more than anything?

SPEAKER_06 1:29:29

Shit, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:32

It's like why do some people drink light beer and others don't like light beer? They say it's like drinking piss, you know, like it's you know, why do they do that? So I don't know if it's an acquired taste or why does somebody smoke a Marlboro light versus a regular Marlboro red? Like I I I don't know. Is it I guess it's preference more than anything, right?

SPEAKER_05 1:29:52

For sure.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:53

Well, what's your what's your do you have a go-to coffee that that um I'm an espresso drinker, so I like um espresso medium roast espresso over dark roast espresso. It holds up better in a drink. If you're doing like a latte, it's gonna you're gonna get more of those natural flavor notes of espresso um in there. Oh, the Jet decided to join in the episode.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:18

There you go.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:19

All right, I think I gotta feed him.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:21

Okay, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:37

So I I guess, I mean, I I don't want to assume anything, but are you a music lover at all? Or you like what's your thoughts around music?

SPEAKER_06 1:33:48

Yeah, I I love music. Um music relaxes me as a kid. I used to dance a lot. I did ballroom dancing, so that was a lot of fun. But I love music. I love all kinds of music, probably not like heavy metal, um, but you know, put anything on and I'll enjoy it. Um, you know, it it brings up different moods for me, right? Um, you know, when I'm working out, I probably you're gonna laugh at me. I want some like hip-hop or rap, like something or EDM, right? Something that's gonna give me really my adrenaline rush. Um, you

Music Taste And Ballroom Dancing

SPEAKER_06 1:34:23

know, other times I'll listen to some classical or instrumental. Um, and um, yeah, I love all kinds of music.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:30

So do you have a go-to genre? Like, is there one that's just it for you?

SPEAKER_06 1:34:36

Um, I mean, listen, I'm the kid who grew up in the 2000s, right? So pop and hip-hop was, you know, um rap was huge. So I definitely um grew up with it, you know, uh being young, going to the clubs and um all that. So um, you know, I I definitely still enjoy that a lot. I I'll I'll be one of those who'll, you know, put the top 40 and listen to it, um, whatever it is, but um, but not necessarily, right? I I enjoy a little bit of everything.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:06

You know, I we joked about it a little bit uh a while back. You know, I got invited to that that red carpet thing in in Vegas with a past guest, and and she had like, I don't know, five number one hits on Billboard for EDM, uh EDM. Like, and I'm like, I'm so dumb to that genre. Like, I don't know, I just don't listen to it. I don't know anything about it.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:33

So when you said that, it made me uh This is why I can't that we didn't go, like that you just turned that down.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:40

I should have, I yeah, I I should have said, Hey Kendra, I've got a friend that's gonna come walk the red carpet in my place, right? And then you could have gone and you know talk the talk and walk the walk.

SPEAKER_06 1:35:51

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:52

Maybe maybe the next invite I'll uh we'll figure something out, right?

SPEAKER_07 1:35:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:59

Um yeah, you you mentioned the ballroom dancing thing. Like this one kind of caught me off guard a little bit. Like I've never, I don't know, they always say don't judge a book by its cover, and that's not a that's not a bad thing, Yovana. Like it's not uh a bad thought, but like I would have never uh if you would have said, Randy, would you associate Yovina with ballroom dancing? I would have said, Hell no. Like that's like the last thing that she would ever do, right? So so talk to me about ballroom dancing, educate me on something else I don't know here, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:36:33

Yeah. Um, I mean, I was a kid, right? When I started it, um, you know, my mom encouraged it. Um, I always loved music, I always loved dancing. And my mom used to do ballroom dancing. She used to play three different instruments as a as a child grown up. And uh um, so it's something that she always um she always wanted us to kind of experience different things. And um so I started it and then I loved it. I used to do it competitively, even right. So, you know, as you you know, waltz, um, cha-cha, tango, right? All of those, um, you know, I used to love doing it. So um I did it growing up in Europe, and then when I moved to the United States, I I stopped, um, you know, partially because of the move, partially um, it's a huge financial commitment, and it's something that was hard for my parents to continue. And um, so I I paused, but you know, in my next life, maybe I'll be a ballroom dancer. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:38

Well, I mean, you sound legit. Like I never would have I never would have guessed this, right? So do you do you still enjoy dancing? Is it still a thing for you?

SPEAKER_06 1:37:49

I do. I enjoy it, you know. Sometimes I'll um get together with my friends, and um, we actually just uh recently before I moved from Milwaukee, a group of my friends and I we did salsa dancing. Um, so yeah, I enjoy it. Um, it's different for me now. It's but yeah, I enjoy it a lot.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:09

That's interesting. You keep referring back to friends, and I I I didn't know you had friends, so I learned something.

SPEAKER_07 1:38:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:19

You know, you know what's funny though is there's one thing that you don't want to see Randy Holsey do, and that's dancing. It is just a sight, like it's not even it's not, it's not good, right? Like, and you would say, How are you a musician and you you have this rhythm, right? Uh musicians have to have rhythm. Like, how do you have that rhythm? But but there's something about the feet and the hips and all like like it to it doesn't all go together, right? For you can either dance or you can't, I believe, but I I'm not I'm not that guy, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:38:54

Yeah, it it's about rhythm too, yeah. I used it's still about rhythm, but it's just a little bit different, right? Feeling it in your body versus maybe hearing it, right? Of course.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:04

But it's yeah, well, is there anything like new and exciting coming up for you as it relates to like travels, projects, um, work-related stuff that that you're excited about that you'd like to share with the listeners who are getting to know Yovana?

SPEAKER_06 1:39:23

Um you know, I love traveling. Um, you know, I'm I'm hoping to go to Portugal this year, so that's gonna be my next trip. Um, celebrating it, celebrating my my 40th birthday. I love traveling on my birthdays. Um, so if you ever want to send me a gift, don't just book me an airline ticket. Um, but uh yeah, so yeah, other than that, um nothing major. I'm excited. We're gonna be actually launching a new website for work. So we've been working on that. Um we're gonna be updating our brand and we're gonna be um changing our branding to lead catalysts. So a little sneak peek into that is gonna be coming soon, but um, but we're excited about that. It's

Travel Plans, Rebrand, And Europe Talk

SPEAKER_06 1:40:09

been um about 12 months in the works, and we're super excited to rebrand and a little bit beyond um based on what we do today, especially with you know, a combination of AI, and we're utilizing a lot of AI tools to support what we do while still maintaining that um you know conversation um through human connection, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:40:33

Of course, of course, yeah. Well, you know, I'm I guess I'm skeptical and excited all at the same time, and skeptical and are not skeptical, maybe not, and maybe that's not the right word. So maybe um I don't know what the right word for it is, but uh in in short, um I'm supposed to be taking my first trip to Europe in um in in November, right? And uh I've been asked to um go out on the road with um on the European tour with the Graham Bonnet band. And Graham was former lead singer of a famous band called Rainbow, um, you know, back in the day, some hit songs, and uh Graham's been around uh a long time with many different bands, the Michael Schenker group and Alcatraz. But, you know, I said, you know, if there's I I always wanted to see Europe, but I I never I don't know, I just never made the leap, right? And I said, well, this is this is the time I have to to do it, you know, go with some friends, uh, there's music involved in it, you know, a European tour and whatnot. So um we're I think the band is still working those dates out and whatnot. So I'm uh cautiously looking forward to that. Like I and I say cautiously, like, because I mean I've just never I've never been to Europe, so I don't know what to expect. And uh, you know, for people that know me, know I have this small palette of foods that I like to eat. I'm I'm I don't have this exquisite, like all these different like things that I like to eat. So I'm a little, I guess a little shallow when it comes to um different foods and whatnot. So that that probably has me a little on the you know, the weirded outside, like am I gonna get over there and like lose 50 pounds because I don't want to eat, right? Or I don't like something. So, you know, there's there's unknowns, and I think it's like playing a show, like you don't you don't know if your sound's gonna go off in the middle, like there's just unknowns, and it's the it's this anxiety of not knowing, I think, more than anything, right? Excited but nervous all at the same time, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:42:49

Yeah. Um, take advantage of it, do it. Um, there's burgers everywhere and pasta, so you can you're gonna be fine. Plus, there's McDonald's everywhere, so um, you're gonna be fine. Um take advantage of it. Europe is gorgeous. Um, every country is so different and unique. The architecture is beautiful. Um, so and it's amazing to think about, you know, it's kind of like hopping from a state to state in in US, right? But you're hopping from a country to country with like completely different culture, different architecture, um, different beauty of the the towns and cities. And um, and Europe in general is just like, you know, between the coastlines and mountains and rivers and everything, it's it's just so beautiful. So you just gotta take advantage of it and do it.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:39

That's what I that's what I've seen, you know. And the interesting thing, I I think where some of the fascination came from is that uh oddly enough, you know, watching Game of Thrones, right? And I'm not a big movie watcher because I just don't have that kind of time to just sit and watch TV. I have so many things going on, but you know, looking into that show and some of the filming locations, some of them were in Croatia, right? Like it, it's it's it's really it's like wow, I would have never, I would have never thunk that, that it was Croatia, because I I guess not being a world traveler, you know, you just kind of you have these visions or pictures in your brain of what places might look like based on just what you've heard over time and you've not done any research on it. And I'm like pleasantly surprised that wow, that's that's in Croatia. Like I would have never thought that, and it's beautiful. Like you so I think that that's where some of the fascination came from, you know, going to Finland and Norway and some of the places like that. And, you know, over time on the show, I've talked to artists that are from Fleckefjur, Norway, and from, you know, um Budenheim and different places over there, and they're and even in Tilburg, Tilburg, like in the Netherlands, and they're like, Randy, when you whenever you come over, dude, you can stay at our place. And it's like those kind of friendships are developed from the show. And I'm like, why am I not taking advantage of this? Like you've got people that are inviting you into their home and willing to show you around in Spain and and different places, and it's like you're an idiot for not getting out and taking advantage of this, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:45:23

Yeah, if you don't want to go, I'll go, just let them know, I'll be stopping by.

SPEAKER_01 1:45:28

Yeah, maybe I need somebody that like speaks the native tongue over there, right? Because I can barely yeah, I can barely pronounce the name correctly, let alone have a conversation. So anyway.

SPEAKER_06 1:45:39

Um, you know, uh Europe is so English fluent that everybody speaks English, so you it's so easy to get around, and that's the beauty of um Europe is that no matter which language, like uh everybody speaks English.

SPEAKER_01 1:45:56

So well, and you know, I never really thought too much about that until you know, thinking about taking this trip with with Graham and Bethany. Um like they're like, Randy, do you realize that English is probably the most spoken language on the planet Earth, right? And I'm like, you know what? I guess no, I guess I don't sit around pondering those thoughts every day. Like just in the daily life with a podcast and being a professional musician that plays out and a full-time job running a sales organization. Like, I don't sit and ponder things like that. I really don't, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:46:31

You're born into a good language, so consider yourself lucky.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:34

Yeah, I thought you were gonna say I was boring there for a little bit, but I would have agreed with you totally. Well, I thought I thought before, like I've I've taken up almost two hours of your time, and I thought before I cut you loose, uh, we could do some quick fire questions. I think they're always fun. They're you know, the idea is a quick short answer. And I mean, if there's any of them that you want to elaborate on, you certainly can. There's no parameters, but quick answers are fun, and it's a way to get to know you a little bit better. Sound like fun? Okay. So favorite color?

SPEAKER_06 1:47:12

Uh green.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:14

Green. Okay. Early bird, early bird or night owl?

SPEAKER_03 1:47:18

Early bird.

SPEAKER_04 1:47:20

4 30 a.m.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:22

Every day?

SPEAKER_03 1:47:23

Every day.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:24

So what what's what's the uh what's the uh thought around 4 30? Like is this like get up, work out? It's uh yeah, I guess it's a routine thing for you, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:47:35

It's a routine thing. Um, you know, uh part of it I always joke around.

Quickfire Questions And Wrap Up

SPEAKER_06 1:47:39

All the successful people wake up before anybody else, right? So I always joke around about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:47:43

Um, preach. Say it louder for the people in the back, goddammit, because I say that like there is no successful people that sleep till freaking noon. I'm sorry. Like like I'll debate that. If anybody wants to come on here and run their mouth on my show, I'll give you a seat at the table and we'll have a whole two-hour conversation around that. So anyway, carry carry on with your thought, please. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 1:48:08

Yeah, the other part is energy, right? Um, it's peaceful, it's um sunrise. Um, you know, so energetically the earth is waking up and um, you know, it's it's a great time for a short meditation, centering yourself. Um, so I really enjoy that. Um, and it just became a routine for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:48:27

So yeah, that's good. I mean, I I I feel like that I can get up and do things like I mean, I could knock a half a day of stuff out before some people's alarm clocks even go off. And I think I think a part of that is for for many years, I was an insomniac. I haven't set an alarm for myself in over 25 years, right? Uh, even if I had tomorrow, if I had a flight out tomorrow morning at nine o'clock, I wouldn't set an alarm because my internal alarm clock it never fails me. Um and it's I I've just never been a layer around in in bed. Like I'm up awake, I'm at least awake by 3:30 or 4 every morning. And I think when you when you work full time and you're trying to produce a show and you're trying to learn songs for to be a professional musician, like when in and a lot of people ask, when do you sleep? When do you have time to sleep and do all of those things? And I mean, the short answer is that you you don't, and you can't be productive laying in a bed, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:49:34

So do you hang late? Are you okay with like staying up late? I mean, you do a lot of shows.

SPEAKER_01 1:49:40

Um, so so my shows is um being that I'm not in a band anymore. I mean, the band thing, I got that t-shirt back in the 80s, and I don't I don't miss, I mean, I kind of miss playing in a band, but I play in a duo. Chris and I have played together for five years, and we're playing like Breweries that are family friendly, usually during the day. We play restaurants, you know, that that have live music. And we're we're like the six to nine o'clock uh musicians, right? We're not in bars till one or two in the morning. That that's not happening anymore, right? Um, so we're we're very early. Everything that Chris and I do is very family oriented and pet friendly. A lot of these microbreweries that we play, it's like bring the dogs out, bring the kids. Um, and we play some festivals and private parties and things like that. So there's never, there's never a get home at three in the morning kind of night. Now, there are some nights that I'll stay up kind of late. I mean, late for me is like 11:30 or so, but you know, I'm I'm not up till the wee hours of the morning. And I think a lot of people mistake, you know, Randy, I got a I got an email from you really late last night. I said, no, you didn't. You got one really early, is what you got. Don't don't mistake the two because I don't stay up till three emailing people, right? I might get up and email you at three, but I don't, I don't do that before I go to bed. So I my my whole thing, Yelvina, is um it's always been I there there has to be this work family life balance, right? Meaning that, you know, as and when my kids were growing up, I didn't want to be the dad that was never present, and the kids grew up saying, Well, my dad was never at my hockey game or never at my baseball game. Like I was very, very involved, and you have to separate, you have to leave work at a reasonable time, and then you have family time. So there was always that separation for me. I didn't want to work in the evenings. Now I'll wake up early and get some things caught up or done, but staying up while my kids had, you know, were coming home from school and having dinner, like that wasn't time to work for me, right? So I was always really good at separating those things.

SPEAKER_06 1:52:07

Well, a shout out to you as a dad, because it definitely shows with Cam. We're super happy to have him. He's a he's freaking great. He's a rock.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:16

That that that means a lot because you know, you never know. Um, you know, you always hope that your kid is gonna shine, and especially when you go stamp your name on him. And it's like, that's why I told you guys early on, you know, put him through the ringer, teach him. Like, uh, like I I believe that he can do that job, and I believe that he's a sponge and he wants to learn, and he has more incentive now to learn because of a young family and whatnot, right? So, you know, just because you know, you're working with me and we've become friends, like don't don't give him any special treatment. And even when my daughter, my daughter was working with Broadleaf for a while and there was no special treatment there. It's like you you're you're accountable to the business too, right? And um, there's no there's no free pass or anything like that. You're gonna put in your time and you're gonna uphold your end and be accountable, or you can just go back to nursing and doing the things that whatever it is that you want to do, right? But you're not you're not gonna come and be lazy. Don't be, and I always even telling Cameron, you know, like, hey, what am I gonna do? Kind of, I said, Cam, look, if you want to be a garbage man, go be the best garbage man that you can be. Don't don't be a lazy garbage man, go put in the work because I believe that if you if you put in the work, the the work will repay you, right? And make you successful.

SPEAKER_06 1:53:41

It it shows, Randy. Um, it we just talked about Cam today as a team, and the word that came out was accountability, that he's very accountable to himself, to his team, and um how he shows up every day. So um you raise a great, a great kid.

SPEAKER_01 1:53:58

Thank you so much. Well, and I I I was talking to somebody the other day, and I said, you know, I was talking to Yovina and she said, Do you have any more kids? And I'm like, and I said, you know, I took that as a great compliment because I mean that meant a lot to me. You you really don't know those, those kind of compliments. And there's always one thing I think any parent, you know, they always want their kids to be better than them, right? And you you want your kids to be respected and admired. And I think that, you know, I think that I'm a reflection of my parents. My parents have always been really proud of me. Like when they introduced me to somebody, they're just proud of me because they raised a good kid, right? And, you know, I've had my just like you, I'm, you know, we've done bad things in our lives and and things that we weren't proud of, but ultimately we're upstanding people, we do the right things, we're accountable, we're productive, we're and that's all that's all that you can ask for, right? At the end of the day.

SPEAKER_06 1:54:56

Yeah. You gotta make some mistakes.

SPEAKER_04 1:54:58

That's how you learn, Ryan.

SPEAKER_01 1:55:00

I I know. I I think I made one one time, Yovana, and then maybe I was mistaken, but yeah, maybe. Anyway, uh, what's the one thing you think that people often get wrong about you?

SPEAKER_06 1:55:16

I don't know. Uh they underestimate me. Um, probably that's one thing that um people get wrong about me. Um, but um it's a positive thing, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:55:32

What is a skill you have that that many people wouldn't know that you have?

SPEAKER_06 1:55:39

Oh geez. Um, I don't think I have any special skills or talents.

SPEAKER_01 1:55:44

Really?

SPEAKER_06 1:55:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:55:46

It's tough just being beautiful all the time, right? Like, and just no no talent. You don't even have to be talented, you just have to look good and everybody, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:55:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:55:55

Um I know the feel I know the feeling, actually. So is there a song that kind of relating this back to music, right? Is there a song that you've heard in your life that's that song that that you wished if you were a songwriter you had written?

SPEAKER_06 1:56:16

That's a great question. Um, I'm really terrible with like names of songs and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:56:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:56:23

Yeah, and artists. So I apologize to the music community out there because I'm I'm good with numbers, bad with names.

SPEAKER_01 1:56:30

Sure. Um, but well, maybe you can sing a little bit of it for the listeners.

SPEAKER_06 1:56:35

You don't want that.

SPEAKER_01 1:56:37

You don't want to sing and you don't want me to dance, right? So yeah, we know we know our roles, right? Fair enough. And I I thought that, you know, maybe when I put that question in there, I said, you know, maybe because I know a lot of people, much like yourself, that will sit there and sing every song on the radio, but then you say, Who sang that song? And you're like, I have no idea. What's the name of the song? I have no idea. Like, I just know the the I just know the tune, right?

SPEAKER_06 1:57:06

So a lot of people don't pull some random artists, you know, some random rappers, mostly when I'm around my dad just to tease him, but um any habit that you have that most would never guess you have? Uh I mean, the 4 30 a.m. is probably the one happened thing that I have. Um, but um meditation, daily meditation. I try to do that consistently. Um it's um grounding is important to me. Um again, you know, uh the stressful environments, work, right? Running around, doing all that stuff. Um, but med daily meditation is key for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:57:51

Yeah, I would have never guessed that. Um interesting. Um, is there a favorite, like if you had to pick a pastime, is there a favorite pastime of yours?

SPEAKER_06 1:58:00

Um, past time. Oh, I was gonna I thought you meant like past life. I'm like, oh, I don't know what it was in my past life, but it would be fun to do.

SPEAKER_01 1:58:07

That's a whole that's that's episode two that we'll do talking about your past life.

SPEAKER_06 1:58:11

That when we talk about ayahuasca, then I'll tell you more about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:58:14

Right.

SPEAKER_06 1:58:16

Um, past time. Um, no, there's not like a specific um time frame. I think uh for me, I I consider myself um super lucky to be surrounded by the friends and family that I'm surrounded by. Um so we always have fun together. Um, you know, you talk about maturity and you know how fast I had to grow up, but um, we're really silly together. We try to really have fun. And um, you know, I I always say don't take life so serious, right? Have fun in it because life is serious and it's just have fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:58:54

100%. And that's the you know, that's kind of the interesting thing that over the time that I've worked with you guys at MPI, you're just like it, it's almost it's it's just been real easy, you know what I mean? Like it's been this little friendship thing that you either connect with people or you don't. And I always say it's like um what I use an acronym, PLU, right? People like us. And you gravitate to certain people, and then there's others, like I probably shouldn't say this out loud, but there's certain customers that I gravitate to, and then there's certain ones that I I I like and respect, but I would never hang out with you on the weekend, right? Like, like, and those are those are not the PLUs, like the PLUs are like like I could see myself hanging out with you or going to a game or having a beer or whatever. Like that would be and and that's why I ask you on my show because you're PLU, right? But there are those people that you're just like, you know, I'm just gonna keep it professional. You're over there, I'm over here, and you know, for sure. I don't think anything less of you, but uh I don't necessarily want to spend my weekends with you either, kind of thing, right?

SPEAKER_04 2:00:04

Um I think of you as P PLU too.

SPEAKER_01 2:00:07

Yeah, that's great. I'm glad that you do. Um, do you have a dream job? Have you ever thought what the dream job for you would be? If you could just like not that you want to not we don't want Drew to hear this, right? But if you if you were to like quit today and you could just have your dream job, do you know what it would be? Professional traveler. I don't know. How do you make money doing that? Are you a are you an influencer at this time, right? Okay, all right, all right.

SPEAKER_06 2:00:36

I don't I don't I wouldn't post anything, I would just be a professional traveler just for uh sharing experiences. But no, I don't I I I don't think I do. Um I'm whatever I do, I like to have the ability to problem solve, to change, to evolve, right? Um so I I don't know. I don't really think about dream jobs. I think maybe what I'm doing is I I love it and I enjoy it. And again, um working with different people, working learning about different industries, um, problem solving for them, right? So it's it's it, you know, there's jobs that, you know, kind of like what you were saying, there's your people and there's jobs that you wake up and you're like, all right, it's a job, but even a bad day is a good day, um, in a sense, because even when that bad day happens, it it I get energized to like solve it, fix it, you know, walk away from it in a different perspective. So um, so I enjoy it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:01:39

Well, I think there's the old saying, and maybe it's not a saying, but you know, if you love what you do, it's not work, right? Or something along those lines. You just enjoy getting up and and going and and and diving into that every day, whether it's you know, sales or podcasting or or whatever the widget is, right? Well, I I think I've already I already know the answer to this, but I was gonna ask you coffee or tea.

SPEAKER_06 2:02:06

Coffee for sure. Now if you ask me beer or wine, what would you guess?

SPEAKER_01 2:02:10

I would say wine, probably. Yeah. Mountains or beach. Mountains. I'm with you on that one. I've never been the beach guy, right? Um vinyl or digital. You're you're way too young to answer that question, but uh I'll ask it anyway.

SPEAKER_05 2:02:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 2:02:30

Digital.

SPEAKER_01 2:02:31

Yeah. Introvert or extrovert.

SPEAKER_06 2:02:35

Uh social introvert.

SPEAKER_01 2:02:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 2:02:39

You didn't expect that, did you?

SPEAKER_01 2:02:41

No. No. Well, why so so yeah, I said this was quickfire, but I have to ask you about that. Like how how can you be personable and then say that you're a social introvert, right? Um you just have to be comfortable with the people that you're talking to, or no, no, I'll spark a conversation with anyone.

SPEAKER_06 2:03:02

Um, it just uh drains me. So I need my alone time. Um, so I need to recharge. Um, so you can you can put me in front of a group of people, you can put me on stage, I can do a speech, I can do all those things. Um, but it will drain my energy. So some people get energized, uh people get drained, I get drained, but I also enjoy doing it, which is weird.

SPEAKER_01 2:03:27

So two hours and nine minutes of conversation with me. Are you drained right now?

SPEAKER_06 2:03:33

No, I'm not, although it is getting dark in my room. So it's like it's bedtime. I gotta get up at 4 30, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:03:42

Yeah, I know. Well, you're what you're what an hour are you mountain time there?

SPEAKER_06 2:03:47

Um I'm Pacific time now.

SPEAKER_01 2:03:49

Oh, you're Pacific time, so it's oh yeah, you got a few hours before you go to bed. Yeah, yeah, you're not that old yet. Um, okay, so favorite podcast.

SPEAKER_05 2:04:00

Well, obvious, obviously. Do I have to say it backstage?

SPEAKER_01 2:04:06

Yeah, yeah. Favorite podcast host.

SPEAKER_05 2:04:09

Oh, well, Randy Holsey.

SPEAKER_01 2:04:11

Yeah, say it louder for the people in the back, please, so they can hear you. Uh you're so awesome. Um, you know, this was uh this was as great as I had anticipated, Yovina. It's you know, I know we've been talking about this for a while, but it's great to uh have you on and and learn more about you and and what makes you tick. And I I appreciate you uh sharing your story with the listeners of Backstage Pass Radio. And I appreciate you and your team's efforts in um helping my company be more successful. So I appreciate that. And I look forward to continued success with you guys. And uh I wish you good health and success in the near and far future.

SPEAKER_06 2:05:02

Yeah, thanks, Randy. Um, it was a pleasure being on the show with you tonight. Really appreciate you inviting me.

SPEAKER_01 2:05:08

I don't know why you did still, but I remember you asking me that in the early stages. It's like, why are you having me on this show?

SPEAKER_06 2:05:17

And I just, you know, Kendra and then Yobana. Who the heck is Yovana?

SPEAKER_01 2:05:23

Yeah. Well, there's gonna be people in a lot of countries that know who you are now for sure, right? So that's I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. So yeah, we'll we'll see. But I also uh asked the listeners to uh like, share, and subscribe to the podcast on Facebook at Backstage Pass Radio Podcast, on Instagram at BackstagePass Radio, and on the website at BackstagePassradio.com. You guys remember to take care of yourselves and each other, and we will see you right back here on the next episode of Backstage Pass Radio.

SPEAKER_00 2:05:58

Thank you for tuning into this episode of Backstage Pass Radio. Backstage Pass Radio. We hope you enjoyed this episode and gained some new insights into the world of music. Backstage Pass Radio is heard in over 80 countries, and the streams continue to grow each week. If you loved what you heard, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave reviews on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback means

Where To Follow And Final Goodbye

SPEAKER_00 2:06:22

the world to us and helps us bring you even more amazing content. So join us next time for another deep dive into the stories and sounds that shape our musical landscape. Until then, keep listening, keep exploring, and keep the passion of music alive.