Celebrity Author, Cody Lowry, Author of Schmooze: What They Should Teach at Harvard Business School

Yay!

So welcome everyone. This time I'm not going live, but that's okay because we're not editing anything. This is no prep needed, so candid conversation. And I am so excited because I have with me Cody Lowry, all about the schmooze. Do you have your book, by the way? Is your book there?

I have my book. It's called Schmooze: What They Should Teach at Harvard Business School. It's been endorsed by Alan Dershowitz, Hal Steinbrenner of the Yankees, Tim Gannon, co-founder of Outback Steakhouse, and it's getting great reviews. And I hope people, maybe after our conversation here, will run out and get a book or go to Amazon or Barnes Noble and get it.

You know, back in the '80s, I actually went to the Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People, and I love that you kind of say that that was like an important book at the time, and now your book is the important book of the time. But first, I want to ask you, is schmooze a Jewish word? I'm Jewish, and we used to grow up with it.

It is a Jewish word. It comes from the Yiddish word schmoozen, which means to chat idly in a friendly or persuasive manner, especially to gain favor. And what I've done in the book, Adrienne, is I've redefined the word schmooze. You know, schmooze takes on a negative connotation, kind of like Eddie Haskell. Hello, Mrs. Cleaver. Hello, Mr. Cleaver. Oh, your hair looks so nice. But you know, that's schmoozing, right? And when you look at how I've redefined the word schmooze, it's about a winning smile, about making a great first impression. It's about building relationships. It's about generosity, perseverance, appreciating. And I think first and foremost, it's about being kind to all regardless of class.

I love that. I would add confidence too. You have to have the confidence to schmooze, right?

Well, you do have to have confidence, but if you read the chapters in the book, you will gain that confidence.

Oh, and that's what a lot of people need.

Well, yeah, they do need confidence, and I guess it's a lesson in perseverance and all kinds of things. You know, in the book, they— the sizzle, as I call it— they talk about setting up a meeting with the President of the United States in one week, getting a baseball signed by the Pope, carrying the torch in the Olympic torch relay, being gifted a Super Bowl ring by one of NFL's Hall of Fame coaches, teeing it up at Augusta National with the head of CBS. That's a great story. And then within a 48-hour period, Adrian, I managed to work out an audition with Saturday Night Live.

I, I mean, that's amazing.

It's all by the schmooze. But when you look at that, that's the sizzle, right, that gets people into the book. And they're great stories, and they're all in the book. But, but again, it's, it's, it's about other things. It's, it's about the little guy and reaching out to him. It's about perseverance. Yeah, it's about confidence. It's about being a contrarian. It's about, you know, schmoozing from the podium. I think every parent ought to teach their kids, maybe not how to speak from the podium, but get up, act, get in front of people, and, you know, get used to schmoozing in front of people, I guess the best way to put it.

Oh my gosh, you could really have this whole— instead of Toastmasters, have the Schmooze Fest.

There you go, there you go.

I love that idea. It doesn't come naturally. I, you know, it's funny that when they say the biggest fear is really speaking, so schmoozing is not so easy. But are you able to share any of those stories? If I had— if you said, Adrian, pick one, that would be the president one.

Um, I think to put everything in the proper perspective, I'd like to, um, kind of share with you how I started schmoozing at age 11.

All right, I'm all ears.

Yeah, so, you know, most people have a rags-to-riches story, and I think mine is more of a riches-to-rags story. My grandfather was superintendent of schools in Detroit for 30 years. He was first president of Wayne State University. There's a high school in Detroit named after him, Frank Cody High School. So my mother was born into a, really, a life of privilege. She, you know, she was a debutante. She went to finishing school and really led a very charmed life until she met Emery, and that was my father. And, you know, they were both camp counselors up in Camp Chickapea in northern Michigan. And, you know, they look like, you know, something out of a storybook when you look at the wedding pictures. And my God, who's who was there from Detroit. But things all unfolded when they moved to Florida. And within a 7-year period, a 7-mile radius, we moved 32 times. My dad lost all of his money. They both became alcoholics. And finally, my dad had enough and he was gone. And my mom, you know, is just an amazing woman. She, she, she left us when she was only 54. But this was a woman who was, you know, led a really cushy life until this time. And now, you know, we're moving. My favorite saint was Saint Vincent de Paul because I knew he'd be there Christmas Day to, you know, give me the food. We had, in fact, food. We had government food. We had the lights turned. I mean, it was, it was horrific. And, and not so much for her 4 children, but really for her. I mean, this is a woman who in 1951 rode down Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. She was the queen of the 250th celebration of Detroit. Hudson Motor Company decorated her float with 49,342 carnations. And her mother did the Centennial back in 1901. So this is a woman with privilege, you know, the debutante, the finishing schools, and now, you know, she has got to raise 4 kids. She's never She's never had a job in her life. And, you know, I mentioned the drinking, and she drank pretty good. But she used to, when she was having a few, Adrian, she'd look over at me and our big 600-square-foot house, and she'd say, she'd say, you know, you may not have anything now, but you kids have blue blood running through your veins. We didn't know blue blood was right. And you can, you can be anything you want to be. And, and so I think she instilled in all of us, uh, the sense that, yeah, we didn't have to kind of hang out on the side of the tracks where we were living. And, you know, we could hang out with the attorneys' kids and the, and the doctors' kids. And so we all started working at a young age. Me, I started schmoozing at age 11. I sold papers for the Miami News in Fort Lauderdale at the Sunrise Shopping Center. It's now called the Galleria. And people walk by, I'd say, Miami News, ma'am. Miami News, sir. Would you buy a paper, please? You know, and I would go on like that. And when they ignored me, and I hate being ignored, I said, excuse me, ma'am, would you buy a paper if I told you where you got your shoes, what state you were born in, how many birthdays you've had? Well, almost everybody would bite, especially when the paper was only a nickel. And I'd say, you got your shoes on your feet, you were born in the state of infancy, and you've only had one birthday, the day you were born. So I started schmoozing. I learned that no didn't necessarily mean no. I learned about perseverance. And if we could stay on this story for just a second, I also learned, yes, at age 11, that it's really about reaching out to people, you know, maybe down on their luck or a little less fortunate. And the book is loaded with stories about generosity. One day my manager came to me. I'm at the— I go to the center and it's a Saturday and he usually gives me 35 papers. He wants to give me 50 papers that day to sell. I know there's no way to sell 50 papers, but I take his challenge and I go and I'm I walked the mall 4 or 5 times, you know, and sometimes I'd pitch the same people, you know, twice. And it got to be around 6 o'clock. I was dead tired because I started around 9 in the morning. And I must have looked like the Artful Dodger, you know. I had— I needed a haircut and I had ink all over me and I was a mess, you know. But I had 12 papers left and I wanted to sell those papers before I left so I'd have 50 papers. And I decided to go across the street to a restaurant called Wolfie's. It was a Jewish delicatessen and kind of like the meeting place in Fort Lauderdale at the time. And I thought, I'll go over there and I'll try to, I'll try to pitch my papers, sell the last 12 I have over there. And as I got walking up to the restaurant, I almost couldn't believe what I, what I was seeing. I saw a man selling the early edition of the Sunday Miami Herald, which was arguably the largest paper in the nation, bigger than the New York Times. And here I was, I was going to come up and try to sell the Miami News, the Saturday edition Miami News, which was more like a fish wrapper than an actual legitimate newspaper, right? So I thought about maybe, you know, backing off. I said no. So I went and I was on the other side of the doorway. He had papers that were stacked up. To the awnings, he didn't have to say one word. People came up to him and bought a paper, and it was an expensive paper. I think it was 50 cents then. And here I was trying to sell this Miami News Saturday edition for a nickel. And if they came out, I pitched them. I said, Miami News, Blue Street Edition, you know, blah, blah, blah. And I'm just, you know, I'm 11 years old. I'm not too smart, or I probably wouldn't have tried this. But I was ready to gather up my papers after about 30 minutes. And I, as I was doing that, this guy comes blowing out of the restaurant very quick. And I thought I'd give it one last shot. I said, paper, sir, Miami News, Blue Screen Edition. And he ignored me. And I followed him. Sir, would you buy a paper if I told you where you got your shoes, what state you were born in, and how many birthdays you've had? Adrian, he turned around so abruptly I thought he was going to hit me. And then he looked down at me and he said, "Son, how many papers do you have left?" And I said, "I have 12, sir." He said, "That's exactly how many I want. And then I want you to go home." You know, at age 11, that really stuck with me. It really did. And I've led a you know, a very blessed life. You know, my dad died at 51, my mom died at 54, and here I am at, you know, 70 and still charging and got all kinds of things going on. So, you know, I've been blessed. I think I was blessed to realize, you know, that lesson at such an early age and to be able to schmooze at the same time.

Wow, that brought tears to my eyes. What a beautiful— what a beautiful, sensitive man that knew that just, he wanted to help you.

Yeah, yeah.

What was the lesson that you took from that? I want to be clear so I understand.

Well, just to be kind to all, I mean, and reach out to people. Uh, I guess it's been 15 years now. My, my, uh, parish priest, uh, uh, Monsignor Caulfield, and my wife and I, we were in Rome, and as we were walking past the, uh, the Pantheon I looked, I almost couldn't believe what I was looking at, Adrian. There was a man on what looked like a skateboard. He had no arms, he had no legs, and he was panhandling. And I wasn't so shocked by that, but I really was shocked about how people walked by and ignored him like he wasn't even there. And if they did put some money in his can, you know, They'd drop it in, didn't even acknowledge it, and they'd walk off, you know. And so I told the Monsignor, I said, let's go see this guy. So we went over and I said the only word I knew in Italian, ciao! And he lit up like a Christmas tree. And, you know, we started kind of communicating. He was schmoozing, I was schmoozing back. Finally decided to leave. I put some money in his can and Father gave him a blessing. And as I walked off, I took about, I don't know, 4 or 5 steps and I turned around and he was zeroed in on me like a laser. And he was schmoozing and I was schmoozing back, right? So, we said our schmoozing goodbyes. But, you know, when you look at people and you look at them out in the street, yeah, I mean, the majority of them are hungry. And I'm not a bleeding liberal. I try to be apolitical, but I do have a heart. And I don't think that makes me all bad. But, you know, they're hungry. 82%, 85% of the people out there panhandling, they're not conning you. They're hungry, right? But they're also very, very lonely. And so, I engage these people on a regular basis. I feel guilty, you know, if I'm driving my car I wonder if he's going to get to my car in time, you know, and I have to go. You know how it is when you're, when you're in the car and that happens. So yeah, I think that's the lesson I learned. I learned to be, to persevere. You know, I've had a lot of setbacks in my life besides the early childhood. My favorite quote is a Japanese proverb: fall down 7 times, get up 8. And it's a good lesson for all of us because there's no one who hasn't met adversity head-on in their life, right? And, um, so I, you know, I learned that. And then, you know, being a salesman, as I mentioned earlier, you know, I learned that no does not always mean no. That's a defense mechanism that they, that they use to get you to back off. So yeah, that's, that's the lesson I learned there.

I love that lesson. It reminds me of Peter Yarrow. You remember Peter Yarrow from Peter, Paul and Mary and his song Don't Laugh at Me? I actually was trained by Peter Yarrow and the anti-bullying program. So anyways, but the words of his song are, "I wouldn't be out here begging if I had enough to eat, and don't think that I don't notice that our eyes never meet." And I think that that's so important that to really— any human deserves the look in the eyes. And I am really— I love you, I love your soul, because I think that's so important that we We really help each other. But okay, so schmoozing now. This is so interesting. So first of all, you, you, did you go to Harvard?

No, I didn't go to Harvard. I went to the University of South Florida, but I am proud to say that in 4 years I worked my way through college, a 4-year state university, without any financial assistance. And I worked all kinds of jobs, and that's a different book.

Oh, I love that. I love the way you're thinking. So you, so you, you have your job, and then at what point did you Like, so what point did you start to write schmooze? And, and what— yeah, and what was your career before that?

So before— and I'm still in the career, uh, I had my own advertising agency and I had it for 25 years in the Tampa Bay market. And then I had a firm out of Birmingham, Alabama. They bought, uh, my agency and I stayed with them. Well, I'm still with them on a—

what is it?

It's called—

what's it called?

Innermark Group out of Birmingham, Alabama.

Nice, nice.

And, um, yeah, so that, that's been my profession, and, uh, I still do that, but I do books, and I have some other, uh, interest on the table, if you will.

Okay, so then you lived in— so you lived in Fort Lauderdale, and then you were— oh, wow, wow.

And so when So, I mean, until I went to college, you know, age 18, 19, I took off and went to college.

Okay. And then, so you're in Lakeland now, which I love. And then I, so I just want to get an understanding. So ad agency, and then you just, at what point did you decide to write the book? What was going on with your, with writing a book and what made you want to write the book?

Yeah, I thought I had a lot to share. I think I am wired a little differently than most people. Most people wouldn't think about getting a baseball signed by the Pope. Most people wouldn't try to get a meeting with the President of the United States in one week. Most people wouldn't try to audition, you know, for Saturday Night Live within a 48-hour time period. So I do think I'm wired a little bit different. I've been, you know, I am not a nuclear physicist. I probably couldn't Algebra 2 was a subject I never did good. I'm surprised I passed it. But I do have some gifts, and I think it's, you know, my ability to, you know, schmooze with people and interact with people and walk in a room and have the kind of confidence that a lot of people don't have. And then I started just looking at my life up— it was 2017. And some of the things that have happened to me, and they happened because of my personality. And if we have time, I'd love to share with your audience a guy that really— chapter 2 in my book, and it's called Say Cheese. And it's about a guy by the name of Hugh Hoffman. And Hugh Hoffman was like a father figure to my brother and I when we were living in Fort Lauderdale. And he was— he's one of those people you think you're going to read about in Reader's Digest, one of the most unforgettable characters. He was about 6'6". He had a big head, big hands, you know. And but one thing that just stood apart was his smile. When he smiled from ear to ear, I mean, you couldn't help but smile, right? But beyond his smile, He imbued, I think, in both my brother and myself— don't think, he imbued in both my brother and myself information about life that we wouldn't usually have. Cody, you never lend money to a friend. It's the quickest way to lose one. Cody, when the maid comes over, I hide money in this seat. Tells me two things. One, if she's honest. Two, if she cleaned there. Number three, If somebody initiates the bet, don't take it. You know, and he was always— he bought my high school yearbook, he bought my high school ring, he bought my college yearbook. I mean, I wouldn't have bought those things. He bought me a college ring that I never would have bought. And I, you know, I have those things today. And just to give you an idea of the relationship that we had, He, you know, that, that saying about, uh, you know, somebody initiates the bet, don't take it. Now, he was a very well-to-do guy, right? He'd been married once, and he says, I was married for about 15 minutes. That was all I could take. And, uh, it was— it's a funny story about this woman and her, and her two sons and how they were going after her, her bank account. They just drove him nuts. He finally had to get a divorce. But anyway, if somebody initiates the bet, don't take it. So about a year later, he— I'm at his office and he comes out and he says, Cody— and he bought a Cadillac every year, right? Brand new Cadillac. Um, he said, Cody, I just got my new Cadillac. He says, and I'll bet you a dollar that you can't find the horn on that car. I'll give you one minute. Let me tell you something, 5 people have already lost today. And he's, you know, he's like, and Oh no. And I immediately, back in his office, he went back in his office, and I immediately called Connor Brown Cadillac in Fort Lauderdale. And I got a salesman on the line. And I said, say, tell me, where is the horn on the new Cadillac? They said, well, all you do is you squeeze the steering wheel. I said, really? And so he comes out a little bit later. And I said, Hugh, and my brother and I both call him Hugh. I said, what's this about the horn? And yeah, yeah, yeah, let me tell you something. I'll bet you a dollar. He gets right back into his deal. I'll bet you a dollar that you can't find the horn on my Cadillac. I'll give you, I'll give you 1 minute. And let me tell you something. He tells me again, he reiterates, you know, 5 people have already lost today, you know. So we go out to the car. It's got even power windows back then. And I'm holding on to the steering wheel. I'm looking up at this giant of a guy, right? And he's looking at his watch. Now, don't go, don't go. You would, you would have thought this was a you know, a Kennedy space shuttle or something. All right, don't go, don't go. All right, 1, 2, 3, go. Ah, I think— oh, son of a— you know what, he couldn't believe it. I should have known you're a smart kid, you would have figured that out. But, um, you know, so— and he was just, he was just a wonderful, wonderful person. He had a, um, he had like 7 houses in Fort Lauderdale called Religious Vacations Inc. Where preachers from around the United States would come and they would stay there for a week or 2 weeks on him.

Wow. Oh my gosh. How long— how— so did he pass?

Yeah, he's been gone now for probably 12 years.

Wow. How long did he live till? How old was he?

So he was 81, I think.

Oh, he sounds like a lovely soul. I love that.

Yeah, yeah, he was, he was a great guy.

And so he left his mark on you.

He left his mark on me and, and my brother and other people that he encountered on a day-to-day basis. He for sure was, was, uh, was a different guy.

That's so interesting. My dad had the gift of schmoozing. My parents had the, uh, actually they were just featured on the Today Show. They passed, they both passed But they, uh, The Today Show, my parents left a legacy of 80,000 toys in a museum in Chester, Connecticut called the Barker Cartoon Character and Comic Museum. So they just, uh, cute Dylan from the third hour of The Today Show was just there and doing a tour of the museum. And I know my dad would have loved every second of it, but he really, like, he just loved business so much. He was in the Fort Lauderdale area. Actually, my uncle had arts newsstand on Collins Avenue in Miami. Art Barker.

Yeah.

Anyways, I just think, when I listen to you, I'm thinking how really, if we came to like how my dad was successful in the business and having art galleries, that would have been the reason why, is that ability to schmooze. So, so taking the schmooze and not having a Harvard degree, but how important is it to schmooze in business to find business success?

Yeah, my good friend, and he wrote the foreword to my book, Nido Qubein, Dr. Qubein, president of High Point University. He's written 6 books. He was a founder of the National Speakers Association. And he said, you know, we live in the most connected society in the history of the world, and yet we are more disconnected than ever before. And he's right, you know. The art of actually looking somebody in the eye and communicating with them is not so usual today. And when you look at millennials and some of the younger generation, and quite frankly, some of the people, baby boomers, I mean, they got their head buried in their phones or, you know, and everything's a click or a like where, you know, I have been very successful been very successful in my business. I had to have a, you know, a digital IQ because that's what I do. But, you know, I would say that most of the success that I've had in life, it's been, you know, just schmoozing and building relationships. And one of the books, in the book, I say in one of the chapters, we have building relationships and the secret sauce, build the relationship, get the client to trust you, and then never let them down. Adrian, we have clients on the books 20, 25, 30 years, and you don't keep clients that long unless, you know, you know how to not just build or get the relationship but then maintain that relationship. So that's, that's a big part of, uh, uh, the book, and it's a big part of my success.

I love that. I think the book sounds excellent for anyone in like community outreach and, uh, you know, where you have to really be out in the community and developing those relationships Relationships, and I can't wait to get my copy. I didn't have a chance to get it, but I'm a SCORE, so I'm the chapter chair, and right now I've got to do a lot of schmoozing to make sure that our relationship, that we're collaborating with everyone around the table. And I do know it's, you know, I am an extrovert with an introvert kind of, I don't know, I don't do really well schmoozing. You know where I can't schmooze? I cannot schmooze in a bar. Like anything after hours when it's I become a totally different person. I'm not confident. I lose every sense of confidence, and I like, like a wallflower, I get really nervous. I don't know what it is. Breakfast, lunch, even dinner, I'm totally fine. Put me in a bar and I, I can't schmooze at all. I'm gonna lose. I lose that schmooze. It's crazy.

Well, you know, we're all, we're all different, and it's, you know, I would— fortunately, I was born born with a lampshade on my head, and I'm able to walk into any room and feel quite comfortable and do my Jerry Lewis or whatever I'm doing at the time, you know.

I love that. You know, my friend, I was in the industry with Halo, and I just left Halo to work on the promotional products, so I'm on the supplier side now, which I love. And I know we worked with a lot of ad agencies, but anyways, my former regional VP, Rick Green, amazing man, he's actually writing a book on Jerry Lewis and the— what's the other guy that— oh my gosh, Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, which is really great. So he's got a— he's got a collectible, so he's got a lot of great things. All right, so talking about your book, so now how could people reach you? Because I think one thing that I love these days is that I could read a book and then I could reach out and ask questions or talk to the author. So how do people connect with you?

So they connect with me, they can go to my website, which is mrschmooze.com, not M-I-S-T-E-R, but M-R schmooze.com. Um, I have a lot of people that are emailing me, and you've, uh, myschmooze@gmail.com. Um, and, uh, the book is, um, available at Barnes Noble, or, you know, any of the book— Amazon, obviously. And, um, yeah, so buy the book as a gift, everyone.

Yeah, get the book, you guys, for— you know, I think this would be a great— Alex, I'll get you the book, honey. Um, my son, I think that this is really important to, like, for even for your seniors that are in high school. Get the book for them because they're going off to college. They got— they should be— like, you know what, get the book when they're a sophomore because they should start schmoozing for their scholarships so that they're all set before they graduate. So I really— I— and how is the book written?

So stories Yeah, so it's not a biography at all. I mean, it's real life. People say it's inspirational self-help, say it's very funny, um, and it's, it's actually written by— from somebody who's walked the walk. You know, sometimes you pick up these books today and it's regurgitated, you know, digital information that other people are using here and there. And this— every story in the book is is, is a something that happened in my life, and I, and I draw a lesson from it. The last chapter is called The Essentials of Schmoozing, and it's about paying a compliment, right? It's about building your brand. It's about appreciating. It's about laughing at yourself. So I mean, it's jam-packed, and I tell stories, and apparently I'm a pretty good storyteller. Um, and, um, you know, it's, it's a fun fun read, it's an easy read, it's a quick read, but it will be an impactful read in someone's life, I believe.

I believe it. I have a question for you. So when you go to write the book and you look at the title Schmooze, so when I went on to Amazon, I thought for sure there'd be like 100 other titles with the word schmooze, but there's not. And were you surprised too that not many people are using that, the word term schmooze, as a title in a book?

Well, there are probably 4 or 5 different books out there with schmooze, but, um, I think this one, um, might be the leader of the pack. And we really haven't been out there that long, you know. We got killed by, uh, COVID, and, you know, the foot traffic in bookstores was nothing. And, um, really the only way people would get a book was through, through Amazon. But anyway, things— this looks like the country's opening up and You know, I get— we're open here like you.

All right, so you're going to go to— so are you going to plan to do a tour like a Barnes Noble tour?

Yeah, we're planning that right now, as a matter of fact.

Good, good, because we have a beautiful Barnes Noble here right across from Tager Outlets. So I look forward to having you come here. I'll help promote it in the local community. I'm going to promote the book so everyone can get to know and hear, you know, I think you should have like a schmooze fest. You could do— oh, I see it on Netflix too. I see Netflix series Schmooze with Cody.

Yeah, well, it's funny you should say that because there's some people that have been talking to me about a series and it's called Schmoozers We Love. You know, there's people all across this country. I love people, right? I love building relationships and delving into their, their history and, and so on and so forth. But there, there's, there's somebody in Peoria, Illinois who we would connect like that, but I don't know who they are. And so Schmoozers We Love or Schmoozers USA and find these, these individuals around the country who embody, um, the kinds of things I talk about in my book and especially you know, making sure that they have a little soft spot for the, for the little guy.

Oh my gosh, I love that. Actually, you would be a fantastic host, so you should have your own podcast called The Shrews.

Well, I do.

Oh, you do?

I started it, I started it, Adrienne, about, oh, I don't know, 6 months ago, and I am blowing and going. There's nothing real casual about it, as you know. About having your own podcast. I mean, it absolutely— I think I've got 10 in the tank, but I just, um, I have so much on my, my plate right now that— I mean, that Schmooze, uh, podcast was taking up 85% of my time, and, and right now I, I, I just can't make that happen.

I could totally understand. I did this— you know what, I started Candid Conversations because I wanted to show off my friends and give people— oh, thank you. A lot of the guests that I had in the beginning did not, they actually were not used to going on live, so I gave them a chance. But I was like, I don't want to ask the guests to give me preloaded questions or anything like that. So I thought I would do no prep needed. It's like if you and I had a cup of coffee, we met, we sat down, I'm not going to Google you in the bathroom before I come talk to you. So I'm going to ask questions, I'm not afraid of live, not afraid of mistakes to be made. Sometimes I had a dog that was senior, I'd have to get up and catch his poop before he smushed himself in it. But at the end of the day, it really, I totally agree with you. I somehow, I got the eye of a couple of PR agents who said that they liked what I'm doing. I've been called the HSN of podcasts. Don't even know what that means. Thank you, Captain Joe. Oh, Captain Joe Cicchetti, by the way, he gave me the best compliment. His mom and dad love me. That's all I needed to know. But anyways, I think that I do love schmoozing, but I'm always thoughtful of the other person I don't want to be the schmoozer too much, so I'm like careful. So I schmooze, but then I try to be quiet and use my ears a little bit more. So that's interesting. So schmoozing is a balance, right?

Absolutely. And if you'll shoot me, just text me your address, I'll, I'll shoot you a signed copy of the book.

That would be amazing. I really appreciate it. So thank you everyone for watching. This is fantastic. You are a lovely man. I can't wait to see you in Daytona Beach. Here so that we can promote you. I'm so excited. And schmooze fest. All right, thank you so much. Bye-bye. Thank you. Bye everyone. Bye-bye. Thank you.