0090: Achieving Your Peak Performance Using The Performance Booster™ Framework with #1 Best Selling Author, Speaker, Trainer, & CEO Richie Contartesi

Ea interviews, episode 90, inspiration, transformation, success stories and the imperfect action round. Seven days a week. Join Mario Ficcini for today's expert Authority effect interview. Have you ever wanted to perform at the highest level? Have you ever wanted to perform at your peak, if you will? Well, I have Richie Contartesi with us today and he is a number one best selling authority. He played football professionally and now he speaks to all around the country, inspiring people. Like he inspired me when I met him in person. And I got to tell you, his story is incredible. How he treats people is incredible. And he is so just down to earth. He's what we all strive to be in all areas of life. And I'm very excited to have him on. I'm going to bring him up right after we thank our sponsor. Why every business needs a book, including yours. Would you like to save five plus hours with every prospect? Generate more leads and profit in your business? Now visit businessbookchecklist.com and learn how you can implement this in your business today. Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Richie Contartesi. Richie, how are you doing?

I am doing excellent. How you doing, Mario? Glad to be here.

I'm feeling great.

Awesome.

I'm feeling great. I'm excited to have you here. I'll never forget when you were on stage and I honestly, you're amazing.

Oh, thank you.

That's why I invited you on the show. I wanted to share you with my audience and I know they're gonna get a lot of value out of this. So tell us a story. How did all this start? I mean, what made you wanna get into business?

Yeah, so. Well, here's the thing, Mario, is when I was at Ole Miss, I understood what it felt like to be overwhelmed. I understood what it felt like to have anxiety. I understood what it felt like to see other people around me doing really well. And there were some days like I would just be like, how can I perform better? How can I be the best version of myself? How can I be literally my best? And so when I graduated from Ole Miss, I went on and got into the business world and got a job and I did well. And I actually met an author. And he said, richie, you know, I love your story. You've got to. You gotta write a book. And I was like, I gotta write a book. I don't know how to write a book. I failed 5th grade cause I couldn't read and write. And so I said, you know what, let me take his expertise. And he said, hey, Richie, I wanna help you. And so he was one of the first mentors that I had, and he guided me and helped me through that process. And after I wrote the book, I said, you know what? I have this experience, and I know other people are feeling the same way. And I'm saying to myself, like, how can I help other people break through overwhelm? How can I help other people become the best version of themselves? How can I help other people achieve goals that everyone else would say to them, that's impossible? And I just kind of went on this journey of saying, hey, I understand what it feels like. And so I started out in the youth market, and I spoke at high schools and colleges and really helping to prepare them for life, for business, for whatever that was. And over time, it kind of evolved. And I had an organization that said, hey, we want you to come and speak at our company. And so I went and did that and started in the motivational and the inspirational realm. And what I found was because I spent five years speaking with Millennials and Gen Z and preparing them for life and for business and for the workforce, it only made sense. And to continue that and help organizations bring in the younger generation, how do we engage them? Right. How do we develop peak performers, and how do we keep them. How do we keep them from leaving? And so that's kind of how it all evolved and came about.

Well, it's such a great story, because I remember sitting in the audience and how I felt. And when you were talking about your private clients, I was going to. I'm curious what he's doing for them. But I love how you're going with the younger generation to turn them into peak performers, because I know businesses nowadays, they're looking for that top talent, but the challenges businesses have nowadays are retaining it, because there's a difference from, let's say, the wiser generation to the millennials and beyond that. So tell me, how are you helping them, and how are you bridging this gap to make it cohesive for everyone?

Yeah, absolutely. So it's a great question, Mario. So they're. You're right. Retention is definite, a big issue. There's the engagement side of things is something that's big. And then it's also, how do we take the young talent that we have and turn them into all stars, is what I like to say, or impact players. How can we help them become the best version of themselves, not just professionally, but personally? So a lot of organizations, they drive their people to be great professionally, but what they don't understand is other generations are different than millennials. I'm a millennial Other. They're different than Gen Z in the fact that there's. You have to split development of the work, of their workforce, of their team, into two areas, and that's personally and they. And you have to develop them professionally. And what a lot of organizations do is, is they combine the two, and they kind of do a little bit of personal, but they do majority of professional. And we develop differently. So in order to engage the younger workforce, in order to develop and keep them.

We have to separate personal and professional. And that's why I created the Performance Booster Framework. And that is a system and a process that you can follow to really engage them, develop them, and obviously keep them. So.

How vital would you say it is to be doing both sides of it? What are the downsides of doing one over the other instead of in tandem?

Yeah. So, I mean, I think to me, when you look at it like, if you're pounding somebody with strategies and the techniques and the like, how do you like all the little nuances of doing something? That's great, but we're so much more focused, especially the younger generation is so much more focused on impact. So much more focused on. On how can we help not only ourselves, but the organization and other people where it's different than before. We want to know, why are we doing this? As a younger, why am I doing this? Why do I want? What's my why? Right? And then the organization, if they're not focused, the organization has to say, why are we doing what we're doing? So the younger generation can say, hey, I'm doing this not only for my purpose, but because I'm able to make a bigger impact on others. There's a cause that I'm following, there's a mission that I'm following. And that's where a lot of organizations fall short, is even though they may help them professionally, there's no cause, there's no mission, there's no purpose. And it's really hard if you want to make an impact, if you don't even know how you're making an impact. So that's one of the biggest areas that I see falling short. And if you want to keep people, you have to help your team find their purpose, but you also have to show them the impact that they're making, and they have to be able to follow something.

I've heard that you can't be a winner in one thing and a loser in another. What are your thoughts?

A winner in one thing and a Loser. In another. Interesting. I mean, I don't know how to take that. I would say I'm kind of like the person where I hate losing more than I do winning. So, like, when we go on the competitive side of things, like, I'm. I would much rather not lose than win. I know that kind of sounds iffy, but, like, that's something I think about, is like, I hate to lose more than I love to win, if that kind of makes sense.

It absolutely makes sense. Why don't you tell us about how you use that thought process to get on Ole Miss?

Oh, man. Well, when I had the opportunity. So I didn't actually come out of high school and just get an opportunity at Ole Miss, it didn't work that way. My goal is a little.

How come?

Go ahead.

How come? I thought that's, you know, all successful people, they just want to do something and they sign up and that's it. There's no hard work. Yeah.

I mean, obviously.

So.

All right, that's a really good point. Because anything worthwhile, anything that you have to strive and push yourself towards the field, the competition is absolutely fierce. Like, I don't know how else to say that, but it is absolutely fierce. And so I believe the fact that I wanted to. I didn't want to lose so bad. And obviously, I have my why and purpose, and we can get into that. But, like, I didn't want to lose so bad. I wanted it so bad that, you know, even though when I came out of high school, I didn't go directly to Ole Miss, I went to Jacksonville University. It's a small school in Florida. And my first year there, I was actually cut. I was actually cut from the school. And in that moment, Mario, I had a decision to make. Right. I could quit, throw in the towel, or I could say, you know what? I'm not going to lose. I'm going to follow my heart. I'm going to follow what it is that I really, really, really want to do. And from a relationship that I built when I was 12 years old, I started building with a man named Kyle Strong.

My hero. He's absolutely. I mean, he was my hero at 12. He still is today. And when I got cut from Jacksonville University, so I met him when I was 12, broke my arm. It's funny. Adversity leads to this. Broke my arm. And I met Kyle. He was a personal trainer at the time. And after that personal training session, it was about three months, we went our separate ways. And as I was going into my senior year of High school, I was walking up the steps into the film room, and I saw a man drawing plays on the board, a coach that I had never seen before. And when he turned around, it was Kyle strong. And I was like, kyle strong. And where'd you come from? And just like that, he was right back into my life. He was a new coach on the team, and we continued to build that relationship. And he saw my love for the game. He saw how I cared about the team. He saw the intangibles. And I broke my leg during my senior year. And again, he got to see how I handled adversity. He got to see how much I actually cared about the team. The love for the games, the support, he. And a year and a half later, when I got cut from Jacksonville University, I found out that Kyle actually had just gotten an internship for the football team at Ole Miss. And I called Kyle and I was like, kyle, can I get in? Can I play football at Ole Miss? And without any hesitation, he said, richie, if there was one person that I would help get in, it was you. And it was actually three weeks till school started, and he was able to get me in academically. And literally one tryout. I will say this. The point that I want to make with that is that you don't have to be this extraordinary talent. The reason that I ended up getting that tryout is because I had Kyle, and it was because he went to the coaching staff and he said this. He said, give Richie a chance, and here's why. He's not the most talented, he's not the biggest. I promise you that. And he's not going to blow everybody away. But what he will do is he'll make everybody around him better. He'll make the team better. And the coaches said, you know what? We'll give him one one hour tryout. And that's when it all began.

So with the perseverance in heart, it's gonna win every time.

Yeah, I mean, I really. I truly believe that. I think there's. There's obviously things that can happen, right? Like. And I like being real. Like, one of my goals was to play in the NFL, and I didn't achieve that goal. But the person that I became along the way has allowed me to do all, has allowed me to write a book, has allowed me to open a gym, has allowed me to be here on this podcast, allow me to speak with some really big organizations and have the opportunity to impact other people and help other people. And like I said, you're going to achieve everything. But perseverance will take you and create you and develop you into a person with very little limits. And there's obviously everybody has limitations. There's always things that are going to hold us back from achieving certain things. But the person you become is so much more powerful and will allow you to even make bigger impact in other areas that you didn't even know at the time. And so that's a big point that I think is really important to understand is I can't sit here and say that. And just in real, like, I do believe perseverance will take you places you will never imagine and you'll make bigger impacts because your doors will open up. But I also am a realist in saying there's certain things obviously that even with perseverance, you won't achieve. But just know in your mind that the person that you become is so much more powerful and it's going to open up other doors that are going to allow you to do some amazing things. And that's one of the biggest learning lessons that I took probably.

Mario.

I would, I would have to agree with you because I've done video as long as I can remember and this wasn't even the way I'm doing this now, wasn't even a thought in my mind. And we were actually producing other people's shows and I was like, not yet, not yet, not yet. And then it clicked and it had everything to do with me being ready for it. Not the technical, whatever you want to call it, because plugging in lights, cameras and microphones isn't that difficult, but the perseverance you need in the stick with it, Ness. I mean, you're going to get knocked down, whether it's on the football field, in business, in life or whatever. But are you going to get back up again?

Absolutely, 100%.

Why don't we talk about your book? How has writing the book helped your business?

Yeah, so I think the book, to me, in all transparency, it really hasn't been this, like I wrote this book and all of a sudden my life's changed. It's just the reality for me. And I know there's some people who've written books and, and their life has changed drastically and that just hasn't been what it is for me. I think it's definitely how I look at it is it's helped a lot of people and I look at it as something that can open doors. But I wouldn't say that for me personally, the book has been this, you know, dramatic, you know, life changing kind of thing. I think personally it's been great because, you know, for me to be able to say after failing fifth grade with dyslexia and ADHD and being told I couldn't read, read and write, to me, it was a big accomplishment, and I'm happy. Proud of it. But I wouldn't say it's been this, like, you know, it's exploded my business or anything like that. I think it's been something that. I know that after an event, you only have a short period of time to keep people engaged and to continue that impact. And I think that's one thing that it's done is it's. It's really kept that impact going, and that's something that, to me, is more important. So. Yeah.

Well, I appreciate it when you gave me a copy of yours and signed it after the event. And I know that other people have too. What kind of success stories and transformations have you heard from people who have read it or seen you speak from your clients? Tell me about some of the breakthroughs you're creating, not just for yourself, but for your clients. Yeah, so let me an audience.

That's a really good question. So what are some of the breakthroughs that I've been able to create for clients? And I'm actually on Insta right now, and I love. Here's the thing with speaking. Here's my favorite part. People ask, what's your favorite part? My favorite part of speaking, Mario, is literally after the event, when I get to speak to you. Right, Mario, When I spoke with you, when I get to speak with everybody who comes up and shares their story and shares their pain and shares their struggles. And I have an opportunity to say, hey, like, let's talk through it. What are your next steps? Right? Because in a presentation, we talk about where you are and how to get to where you want to go. We talk about next steps. But everybody personally has their own things. And getting the DMs on Instagram and getting the interaction with people after the event, the hugs has just been amazing. So I'm gonna give you two examples. I'm gonna give you a business one. I spoke with a company called Cinnaron center on Candela. Now it's just Candela. But I went and spoke with them, and they were struggling to hit goal, right? They were at 76% of goal. This was a sales team. They're at 76% of goal. And not one team in the company had ever been above 86% of goal. And they couldn't get above 76%. I went and spoke and we did a few things, but we really, really honed in on their individual purpose, the company's purpose, and how it all meshed together. And then we really hit hard on goals, on individual goals, on team goals, on company goals, and not just like professional, but personal. We hit a lot on pain management. So, like, we have fear of failure, we have fear of rejection. We have fear of what people think about us. Huge one. So, people, here's the thing, Mario. It's not fear that holds people back. It's the pain that fear causes them that holds people back. And I truly, truly believe as human beings, we are designed and engineered to avoid fear. We just are. We're designed to not fear. Excuse me, pain. We're designed to avoid pain. And if we can learn how to manage that pain and how to break through that, man, the sky is absolutely the limits. So we spent some time on that and then the persistence piece, of course, and the next quarter. So in one quarter, they went from 76% of goal to 96% of goal. And that was one of their biggest. Oh, my phone just went great. That was literally one of their absolute biggest defining moments for that team and for the company. So that was really, really powerful. And just to work with the.

Director and the manager and just have an opportunity to really get to know them. I'm still connected with them. I'm connected with them on social media, and it's just awesome to watch their progress and see what they're doing. And then.

On the youth side of things, I spoke at. At an event, and I had a girl come up to me with a plane. And I'll never forget this, she came up and she had said that people were telling her that she shouldn't enter this art fair and that it's not worth it, you're not gonna win. And after the event, she was crying and telling me that's really, truly what she wanted to do. And she said after the presentation, she decided that she's not going to worry about anybody else thinks, and she's going to go and do it. And months later, I receive in the mail, I still have it. I don't have it with me in my hand. And it was signed by her, and she said, thank you for everything, by the way. I won first place at that fair for the whole state. So that was really cool. And it's just stories like that, you know, you have the. The tangible, I guess, analytics or metrics that say, hey, we're here, we're here. And then you have that personal side where you took somebody who completely, you know, has bad circumstances, doesn't have people that are support them, and you completely shift their mindset, think about that one hour, and changes their life. And I don't like to use the word change, Mario, but I like to use the word improve. And I. And it improved her life, and now I think she's gonna go on to do some more amazing things. So those are. Those are some cool stories. But, I mean, I get the DMs and the messages, and I put them on the site, and they. They're just so amazing. And that's my absolute favorite part.

Well, I am. You're bringing back the experience I had when you were on stage, and it was an awesome one.

Thank you.

And I'm glad you're still doing what you're doing. It's been great to watch you grow since we met and stayed connected and everything. But I can personally say where I was in my life compared to now. This is literally a dream come true, because even before I started the show, you were one of the first people that said, I'd be honored to. And I was like, this is kind of nuts. I wasn't ready for it. And it was the worst year of my life. I had just lost dad, and it was not fun. I was trying rebuilding.

Yeah.

And you were the first one I heard that year. And I was going.

Yeah, it is possible again. It is possible again. And then just like I said in the intro, you being so down to earth and just chatting afterwards, and we were talking about her books and speaking and just different stuff. It kind of reminded me, like, you do this for people, too. It might not feel like it right now, but you are, you know, give it another day.

I've watched you too, Mario. Like, it just being connected on social media, and that's. I love being connected with people, whether they're in the audience, the person that hired me to be connected with them and watch their growth. And I've seen you, and I see what you're doing with your podcast, and I. And I look and I saw before Reach, I wanted to see who you've had on your. And I was like, wow, this is really impressive. Mario is. I was extremely impressed, and I've watched you grow, and it's just awesome. And congratulations to you. First of all, you're doing awesome, and I'm honored to be a part of it.

Well, I do appreciate it, because all I've wanted to do is reach more people like you. And this was another conduit and it just clicked for various reasons and I have no doubt and there's someone you could ask later that night after I saw you, I was talking about you the next 24, 48 hours. Showed them your book and everything. And I was a little upset because they were supposed to see you and they weren't there in the daytime. We went back at night. But it set the tone for all of last year. Yeah, without a doubt in my mind. And I do appreciate it. So enjoying this now and for anyone that is, this is their first experience with Richie. I think you're seeing that he's awesome and you should definitely check him out, out in person at one of his events if you can. I'm going to go back to the book before I ask you about videos, but for anyone wanting a copy of the book, where's the best place they can get one?

Yeah, absolutely. So a great place, easy place that you can go is Amazon. Just type in in spite of the odds. You can just Google in spite of the odds and it'll come up if you want a signed copy. The best place to go is just richiecontardisi.com and you can go to shop. There's a quick little order. You can go through there and then submit some of your information and then I'll be able to write you a personal message, sign the book and ship it to you that way too.

Excellent. So you're talking about the books and the transformations. Let's talk about the video that we see each other doing. How has video made an impact on your business?

Yeah, I mean, I think video is huge. And I look at, I look at a few things. One is obviously nobody is going to hire me without seeing video footage. So that's number one. I think the other big impact is just being able to take presentations, hundreds of presentations, and cut up those presentations and be able to share them and share them. So you're trying to constantly find ways to inspire and help other people. Right. That's. That's the bottom line. Right. So that's another way that it's helped me and something that I've kind of done and dabbled in, but I'm really honing that in is obviously we have the offline stage, which is where you saw me at an event speaking, and I think that's awesome. But one thing that I really haven't done a lot of and I'm going to, moving forward, and I've done them before. I think I've done maybe five to 10 podcasts but I think podcasts are awesome. I think summit, online summits, but just have the ability online to be able to connect with people and share insights and share things that will help them in their life is another great way to connect with people. So this is kind of a newer area that I'm really tackling in on. So the videos obviously are great on the website, the videos sharing content and then this video side of things like podcasts and summits. Online summits, where you can really put together some great content and share with people where they can watch them in their pajamas. Right.

Yeah, it's great. I tell people all the time that we have all these unlimited resources. We got super high speed Internet now and you can reach anyone from all over the world. One of my goals with the show is to have people fly people in, in studio, hang out in person, you know, that would be awesome. The downside is that's a lot of time, it's a lot of travel. It's logistics, this, that the other thing. Anyone can grab a phone or a webcam. Yeah. And connect with anyone around the world. And I don't think people realize how powerful that is. Even five, 10 years ago, you'd be spending thousands of dollars an hour just for bandwidth, let alone the professional equipment. You know what I Learned for television 2005, for broadcast, the cameras were the cheap. One was 35 grand. That's not like entry level by any stretch for even a big business. Some of them were $85,000. Now it's pick up your phone and it's in your pocket, you can talk to 10,000 people. It's pretty cool.

It's. I mean, I mean, you look at people like Pat Flynn and these guys, I mean, they got in one podcast, they're able to connect and impact hundreds of that. Like a stadium. Alabama football, 102,000 people in one podcast. So it's pretty cool. Really powerful.

It's pretty amazing. I was talking to him a couple of weeks ago and he's doing some big things with video in his new studio.

I bet. I mean, I know he's.

Yeah, there's so much you can do. I mean, that's a whole other thing. But I'd be happy to connect you with someone for virtual summits also.

Yeah.

If that's something you're looking to do. There's so much potential and I appreciate you for sharing that with us 100%. So we're going to jump to the imperfect action round right after we thank our sponsor. Why every business needs a book including yours. Would you like to save five plus hours with every prospect? Generate more leads and profit in your business? Now visit businessbookchecklist.com and learn how you can implement this in your business today. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we are back with the imperfect action round. Richie, are you ready to take imperfect action?

Let's do it.

So the first question I have for you 60 second rapid fire is what is the fastest path to the cash?

The fastest path to what?

What is the fastest path to the cash?

Impact, give, impact and give. If I were to give, put it in two words. Make a big impact and give.

I like it. Number two, what is the biggest problem you see your prospects making and the fastest way they can fix it?

The biggest problem that they're What?

What is the biggest problem you see your prospects making and the fastest way they can fix it?

Developing their younger workforce into the best versions of them, into peak performers, into all stars. And the fastest way to create all stars, peak performers and impact players is by following the performance booster framework. I've seen it over and over. It's much faster and it's much easier and it's a proven system.

Number three, what is the best way to maximize customer lifetime value?

So just keeping customers long term, I think the biggest thing is staying connected with them. I think that's a big thing that I've noticed is the more I'm staying connected to my customers, whether that's social media or providing them value in different ways, that's how you're going to keep them. Whether it was with the gym or with speaking, whatever I can do to keep providing them value long term and help them in different areas as a consultant or a coach or just someone providing them value, that to me is super powerful and people are going to consistently want more as long as you're actually helping them.

That's a good answer. And it segues into what you were telling me before we went live. Don't you have a little gift you want to give expert authority world?

Yes, I do. Of course I have a gift. Come on. I absolutely do. And so what you can do is you can go to relentlessrichy.com booster and what I have there is for people, for organizations who want to engage and develop their younger workforce into peak performers who never want to leave is not only the performance booster framework, but actually how to go through and implement it and create those younger all stars. So that'll all be there.

Fantastic. I'll make sure that makes it into the show. Notes.

Awesome. Cool. Thank you.

Last Question I got for you. What is one of the best books you could recommend?

The best books. Okay. Getting Things Done by David Allen. I've got so many inspirational books, like, so many amazing books. Right. But there's one book that literally. And I know it's a productivity book and it's not a perform and there's so many great ones. But that book, when I read that book, allowed me to get what most people get done in one day. I can get done, or excuse me, most people to get done in two days. I can get done in one day. Following Getting things Done, their system, their process by David Allen completely changed how I function and work in so many different areas. They're like, how do you own a gym but you're on the road so much. Like, how is that humanly possible? Well read Getting Things Done by David Allen, and you'll see exactly how.

That's fantastic. And it's all about that time leveraging, right?

It is, man. Everybody has the same amount of hours every. I don't care who you. You have the same amount of hours. Yeah. You may have more people on your team and different things, but there was a time I had nobody on my team. Right. So I really, truly like all the. I think the mindset is super critical. There's so many areas that are critical. But that book in alone, if we're talking about books, completely changed the way that I. I function and operate in so many different ways. So highly recommend it.

Well, I appreciate you for sharing that with us and for sharing everything you have. It's been an absolute pleasure and I'm excited to showcase you here. Thanks for sharing.

Absolutely. Mario. Really, really honored to be a part of the show.

Well, I greatly appreciate it and I know Expert Authority world is getting a lot out of this, so there you have it. We have another great episode. I'll see you tomorrow. Right? Here we go. We have another great episode. I'll see you tomorrow. Tomorrow. Whatever.

It's tomorrow.

Yeah, it's Tomario. I'm just gonna leave this, I think. All right. This has been great. This is fun. I'll see you on the next episode. Have a great day and God bless.

See you later. Mario.

Why every business needs a book, including yours. Would you like to say five plus hours with every prospect generate more leads and profit in your business? Now visit businessbookchecklist.com and learn how you can implement this in your business today. Hey, thanks for listening to today's episode. I hope you got a lot out of it. I know I sure did. If you haven't done so already, I invite you to subscribe to the show and also be sure to check out eainterviews.com for complete show notes, the full interview video experience, links to the resources we mentioned, and more. Have a blessed day and I'll see you tomorrow.