159. Eric Konovalov | B2B Sales Secrets

Hello, Book Thinkers family, and welcome to our personal development podcast, Book Thinkers Life-Changing Books. During each episode, we interview one of the world's top authors, and as a listener, you can expect to discover new books, new mentors, and new resources that you can use to achieve more and live better. In today's episode, we have the pleasure to interview Eric Konovalov, author of B2B Sales Secrets. Eric is an entrepreneur, the founder of The Goal Guide, a B2B sales trainer, executive leadership coach, business consultant, speaker, husband, father, and host of the Relentless Goal Achievers podcast. As a young boy, Eric immigrated to the US from the former Soviet Union. He went through a lot of adversity and didn't let that stop him from dreaming big and achieving incredible success in his life. After serving 7 years as a Marine, Eric decided it was time to try something new and got into sales. He is now living a dream life and is on a mission to make you realize that everything you want is possible for you. In this episode, you'll learn about the importance of a coach's outside perspective in your life, how to improve your sales skills, why you should always give value first, how focusing on others instead of yourself can supercharge your growth and help you get over your fears, overcoming rejection, the keys to understanding why self-belief is critical for growth, And much, much more. Oh, and one more thing. If you hang around until the end, Eric has some amazing free resources he's given you to help you on your self-growth journey. Now get ready to learn and enjoy this incredible conversation with Eric Kanavolov. Eric, welcome to the Book Thinkers Life-Changing Books Podcast. We are so excited to get to know you and talk a little bit about your book, B2B Sales Secrets. But first, I wanna start off by reading something you wrote because I think it's pretty amazing and I think it was from a little while ago, so it'll be interesting to kind of get your reaction to what you wrote a while back.

Awesome.

Alarm set to 4. I can't sleep no more. My thoughts are screaming, get your ass out the door. There's so much to do and a world to see. Who can influence to follow me? There's nothing more precious than a purpose to live, to follow your dreams and help others achieve their goals and their wishes for their dreams to come true. Their purpose, their passion, and to help others too. My goal for today is to help someone else, to coach them, to guide them, to build out their plans, to learn about their highs, their lows, and their stance. If John Maxwell's correct, I'll taste significance. Let's make today great and let's do it on purpose, for life is too short to go through the motions. Today is the youngest you'll ever be. Don't waste any more time. Just follow me. Firstly, it is a great, great poem, man.

I can't believe you found that. That had to be— that had to be at least 8 to 10 years ago.

Yeah, I believe it was 2015 that, um, that you wrote this.

But yeah, it was—

when I read through it, it was just— I love poetry, and I'm kind of getting into poetry now, so it really, really stood out to me. And I wanted to ask a question about it. Which was, which is this: why is it important to you to have an impact on people's lives? And like, what started to get that into motion?

Man, great questions, Magic Luke. By the way, thank you, Nick, Luke, for having me. I can't believe you found that poem. Where did you find that, by the way?

LinkedIn. Yeah.

Wow. 2015. Yeah. So right around that time, I was, uh, I just got involved with John Maxwell. I signed up for his leadership development program because I sucked as a leader. I was, I was running a sales team at the time, and I was so bad that every time I had an idea, the sales team would run to the president's office and just be like, hey, can we get rid of this guy? Who needs him here? Couldn't connect to save my life. So I'm like, okay, join John Maxwell's program. And, uh, everything started to change. I began to implementing what I was learning. My leadership kind of skills went up. I learned what I really did not know as a leader. And right around that time is when I started my own company, The Goal Guide. So what was happening in my life was I was being surrounded by John Maxwell, other coaches, trainers, consultants. I mean, 90% of what I was listening to was leadership. I was reading his books, and, uh, I was up at 4 in the morning because I was writing my book then. Like my goal was, that's when I wrote it. It was minimum of 400 words a day. So the days I didn't write, didn't want to write, I had that goal. And I remember sitting there and this just, this poem just kind of flowed through me. Like I was just writing stuff down and it just, it just came out. That was not edited. That's the beautiful part. I still remember it, man. I still remember writing it. It was just flowing through me. And the reason why, like, your question is why is it important to have an impact? I think, I think it's in our DNA. Like, if you take a look at, no matter what you believe, right? If you take a look at the world, the, the universe, really nothing in this universe is created to serve itself. Everything has a purpose and that purpose is usually somebody else. So like the sun doesn't serve the sun, it serves the Earth. And I'm not sure the effect it has on other planets, but it gives us life, it gives us light. gives us heat. Trees don't serve the trees. They provide oxygen, they provide fruit, they provide, you know, I don't need to continue to go, just like us, right? So I think we're created to serve somebody else too. And that's why it feels so good to give, you know. It feels so good to make somebody's day, to add value to someone. Uh, those are the days that most people will find are, are the most beneficial. So I think that's why. It's just in our DNA.

Well, I appreciate you. I'll let you go, Nick. I just wanted to say thanks for sharing that. And like, I totally understand kind of being in that flow of writing poetry. It was just, it's something that really stood out to me. So thank you for allowing me to share that today.

Thank you for finding that, man. I forgot I wrote it.

You'll have to perform it for us on Instagram or something, Eric. So you mentioned that you were a bad leader. Every time you proposed something, they'd run to management and complain about it. So What do you think the biggest difference was once you started consuming the Maxwell stuff other than you have to be of service to other people? Like, what changed as you started to consume that information?

Yeah, if I had to pick one thing, I heard John Maxwell say, he said, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. And so at that time, I was a sales manager for Xerox, which is pretty corporate. And then I got hired by this small kind of mom-and-pop shop with like 4 salespeople, sell technology in the DC area. And I didn't get a chance to know them. I just had my own ideas, my own ways. I was the big shot from Xerox. I know how it's done. So you gotta, you know, it's my way or the highway. And that's not how it works. I found out very quickly. And so what changed was me taking everybody out to breakfast, understanding their goals, their dreams as a human being. You got so many options for places where you can go work. Why do you come here? What is it about this company that's kept you here for 16, 17 years? Like, and then I really realized who they were as people, what they care about, what their goals are. And then I could easily say to a sales rep who was, you know, struggling with her teenage daughter that I think she's an amazing mother, right? I can give those compliments that are genuine But that's where people truly connect. And when they feel like you care about them, which I truly did, then we're on the same page. When they understand that, hey, my goal here is for you to achieve your goals, like personal goals. Your goal is to— her goal, I remember we had a breakfast, she said, I really want to have a breakfast in bed. I want to open up an Airbnb. Not Airbnb, it was like a breakfast in bed, right? And I'm like, great, where? She's like, in Cape May. It's like, Awesome. So what do we need to do to get there? Now it's no longer, hey, we got to hit our numbers. It's like, what do we need to do to help you get your breakfast in bed open, right? And, um, that's, that's it, Nick. It's like any leader, when you first get a new job or take over a team, make sure you understand why your people are there, what drives them, what they care about, and align your vision with their goals. And I think you'll have a pretty strong Opportunity in front of you.

Would you say that that same thought process has helped you selling, not selling internally, but selling externally? Because you hear sometimes people buy from people they know, like, and trust. And it sounds like if you get to know your client's goals, you're in a better position as well.

Oh, absolutely. I mean, if you don't know your client's goals, what are you selling to them? You know, everything should be in alignment with what they want, 100%.

I'm curious to, you know, as far as sales goes, how can somebody, and this is a little more tactical, but how can somebody create a relationship with somebody when they're a salesperson? Because I know me, when I see salesperson in somebody's title on LinkedIn or whatever and they're reaching out, I'm instantly like, nope, closed doors, don't wanna talk to you. So how can people over— how can salespeople specifically overcome that?

Yeah, so now they're being sneaky, right? They're calling themselves solutions consultant and advisor and, uh, You know, I help so-and-so, whatever, right? Uh, but everybody knows it's a salesperson, and there's nothing wrong with it. You got to embrace yourself as a salesperson. Look, every— I think most people are going to be like you. They're going to have their doors closed because why? You think that they're in there to take from you your money and put it in their pocket. And then you get guys like Grant Cardone out there. I don't know if I should mention it, but I was watching— I like a lot of his stuff, but one of the things he's saying is like Every morning I wake up and I go out to see who's got my money. Like, that's cringeworthy, right? That doesn't give people the warm and fuzzies about the world of sales. And so what, what I, what I teach people to do in that case, how do you build relationship, is give. And so everybody says give. Well, how do you give? Well, salespeople, you're in front of business owners all the time. You're in front of— well, the good ones are— you're in front of your ideal clients' potential clients. You're in front of their potential business partners. It takes nothing to make an introduction, but in order for you to give and add value, you got to understand what's valuable to them. And so during the discovery meeting, it's okay to ask a question like, hey, you know I'm here because I conduct sales training, but the other thing I'd like for you to understand is that I'm in front of business leaders all the time. Help me understand a few things. One, What's one of your biggest challenges that maybe I don't even deal with, but have a connection who can help you with it? And 2, who's your ideal client? I'm always in front of others. Maybe I can make some referrals for you. And then when you start following through, like Nick, imagine if me and you had a conversation and then I send you 3 potential authors without asking for anything. Would you— would we build trust? Would we build rapport? Would you like me a little bit more than you like me right now? Of course you would. And so if we can align ourselves in helping others grow, however they grow, we increase our chances and build our relationship. But most people, they fail at that because they focus on themselves too much. They call what we have commission breath and customers can smell it.

Oh, commission breath. Don't have commission breath. I like that.

That's right.

Getting to kind of the basics of sales, you talk a lot about mindset and performance and things like that. And I love this quote that you have and it's, you'll never outpour outperform your self-image. Can you expound on why it's important to have a good self-image?

Yeah, I mean, that's like if you've been through any personal development anywhere and you've heard of the thermostat versus thermometer comparison, right? Your self-image is that thermostat. So let's compare that to the house. If your thermostat is set on $50,000 a year, let's say the way you were raised, maybe it was, you know, you guys came from a poor family. Your mom worked hard, dad worked hard, barely made, you know, ends meet. And that's how you view the world. That's how you think that life is supposed to be, just hard. Because a lot of people have that worldview. Well, your thermostat, your internal thermostat might be set on $50K. Like, I think making $50K a year is a lot of money. And you put in the blank, right? You could say $300K a year is earning a lot of money. Well, that's where your thermostat is set. And then to Bill Gates, that's nothing, right? So your thermostat is set there. You'll never outperform it. So people who believe that they are not attractive, not good speakers, not capable, will never be able to get up and speak or have enough confidence to go out and do a video. So it's important to work on yourself first, um, before you get out there and do anything else, because that's how you're going to show up. The world's— the world will see you the way you see yourself.

I know when I first started in the world of sales, I had very poor communication skills, and that was something that I had to overcome. So I'm curious, what are some of your favorite tips for people out there who know they want to get into the world of sales, They know they want to improve their ability to communicate, to articulate what's going on inside of their brains, and also ask better questions. Do you have any go-to recommendations?

Yeah, definitely. Uh, read as many books as you can, number one. Number 2, join Toastmasters. Toastmasters is a great club. It's inexpensive and you get to, you know, practice your speaking skills. Any chance you get, present. Take yourself outside of the comfort zone. Present as much as you can. You know, let the world see you with lives today. Just go live on LinkedIn and Facebook and just practice, practice, practice, and you'll get better.

Yeah, I went, I went to Toastmasters for a long time. And to give everybody some context, it's a small group of people. Every local area has them in the United States. And I think my Toastmasters community was sort of half young professionals and then half retirees who were looking for something to do every other week, which was also a lot of fun because they provided some really interesting constructive feedback and stuff when you're speaking. But I loved kind of drawing those cards getting put on the spot and being forced to talk for a minute about a new random subject. And I think that through exposure, you get desensitized to the feelings of anxiety in front of a room. So definitely a strong recommendation as well.

Yeah, I think, you know, I think people, people have this thought that everybody cares about them, right? Like, but nobody does. Like, if you, if you walk out on stage and you trip and you fall and your pants fall off, right? Like, let's just say that happens. Let's say that happened to you, the worst possible thing. 3 days later, nobody's gonna remember that. Like, that's just the reality, right? Yet we think that if we say an um on a video, or if my hair doesn't look perfect today, that so everybody else is gonna point that out. No, nobody cares. Everybody cares about their own bad hair, their own day, whatever they have going on. And so another thing I would add to improve communications especially if you get out there and you forget what you're going to be saying, is that go from me to them. Don't go out there like it's about you. Go out there because you truly want to add value to someone else. When I speak on stages, I pick like one person. Sometimes they're in my imagination. It might be a client that— who I work with one-on-one, and I just picture that one person. And when I'm on stage, I'm talking to them. I just pick one person, I talk to them, and it's all about giving them as much value as possible. Because even though there may be 100 people in front of you, it's one person listening to you at a time. It's not a collective 100. Same thing on social, it's one person at a time. So our imagination runs wild. Let that go. Nobody cares about you. Nobody cares what you look like. So just get out there, have fun, and be yourself, and you'll see the world come around.

I'd love for you to expound a little bit upon that because I know there was a time in your life where you were nervous to get on stage and it had something to do with 6th grade and getting up in front of class. So, I would love for you to maybe tell that story because I think we can look at you and be like, oh, this guy, man, he's got it figured out. Like, it's easy for him. But you actually had to overcome a lot of negative thoughts and beliefs about yourself in order to get yourself on that stage. So, could you tell that story about being in 6th grade?

Yeah, every day I gotta overcome these beliefs. So, um, I'm originally from Russia, so up until 10 years old I lived in the former USSR. My parents immigrated here. I came here in 4th grade. I spoke zero English, so I learned how to speak English from like Bugs Bunny, right? I used to greet people saying, hey, what's up, Doc? Um, so just picture that. So this guy here now, my English isn't that great now, but it was non-existent. I'm 43 years old today, so we're talking, you know, I don't know, 12. 12, 13 years old. So I'm sitting in class and the teacher asks everybody to read a piece of, uh, text. And this was social studies class or English class. I'm reading and the word Arkansas is on paper, and, uh, I've never seen that word in my life. And I read it the way normal people who are not from America would read Arkansas. Who the hell spelled Arkansas that way, but I wrote— I read Arkansas, and the class erupted. I mean, everybody started laughing. The teacher was laughing. I think the teacher was pointing and laughing at me. Well, in 6th grade, that's a traumatic experience. And what happens is, in your subcon— in my subconscious mind, there was a little program that clicked on that said, don't speak in public because if you make a mistake, they'll laugh at you. Well, here I am 20-plus years later. I never, um, never dealt with that, right? I didn't even know that, that I had that programming running behind in my subconscious mind. And every time I'm on stage speaking, I get, you know, my stomach is, is going nuts, my palms are sweaty, I'm sweating, my heart's beating like out of control. I'm a nervous wreck. But every time I'm done speaking, I love it. I love the feeling of being on stage. I could not figure out what that was. And, uh, working with a coach, it just hit me that it took me back to that 6th grade, that moment in time. And I'm like, oh, that's why I get nervous today. And until we work out our old traumas, man, they're gonna, they're gonna forever control your life.

Could you, uh, you know, you talk a lot about mentorship and coaches, and you're a coach yourself. Can you maybe talk a little bit about the importance of having a coach in your life, somebody that can help you bring out those past traumas and work through them?

Yeah, for sure. You can't see the picture when you're inside the frame, right? And so you just got to understand that we're all driving through this thing called life, and we got blinders on. We only know what we know. We only, we only see life from our perspective, through our experiences, through our circle, and it's very limiting. And so surrounding yourselves with other people who see life differently than you could potentially spread out those blinders and let you see things. What I love about coaches and mentors is that for that hour a week or whatever they dedicate to you, their whole goal is you. They're focused on you. And then now it's 2 of you focused towards one goal, and they're seeing things that I'm saying that I don't even know I'm saying, right? So like, for example, I was moving to Florida from Maryland, and I'm a big guy, I'm a big fan of journaling, right? I have a journal here. I like creating, I like using my imagination, creating kind of my future on paper. I do this exercise called Any Given Tuesday where I, where I write out like a regular day, but it's my dream day as if it's happening right now, right? So like, I'm so grateful that I get to wake up next to the love of my life, and I look outside and there's the ocean, and I I can smell the fresh breeze, right? Like it gets me in that awesome state. So I was writing all this stuff out and I was, I lived 30 minutes away from the beach because of my awesome day. I'm riding my motorcycle 30 minutes to get to the beach. And I didn't realize that in my biggest dreams, I still live 30 minutes away from the beach and not on the beach. You understand? It took a coach to ask, well, why don't you just— if you like the beach so much, why aren't you living on the beach? And that's where the thermostat comes in, right?

I was—

it was a— it was like a light bulb that went off, like, holy shit, my thermostat is set a little lower than I thought it would. I don't even think I'm worthy of living on the beach. And now it's time to do more deep work. So coaches will point stuff out that we just don't see.

Yeah, I love that. Do you have any— do you have any tips for finding a good coach or mentor in your life?

Yeah, just go to my website. Boom.

Perfect.

Um, look, in all reality, interview the coaches. Most coaches will give you a free session. Um, I certainly would. Spend some time with them, make sure they're a good fit for you. Make sure that, uh, you know, read their reviews, see what others are saying, figure out what results they've got for other people. There are way too many 20-year-old life coaches these days. So, and anybody can be a coach. It's such a low barrier to entry. Find out where their certifications are from. Now, I don't mind a 20-year-old who's just amazing at marketing on social media and they call themselves a coach. Yeah, let's do it, right? If you have some— if you know what you're doing, let's go. But that, you know, they probably don't have enough life experience to understand that It's not like if I'm coaching leaders, for example, and they have a challenge with a person at work. What I help them see is that they're— they don't see the whole person. They see the employee that shows up at work, and they have these tasks that they need to do. But what they fail to realize is that that person may have had a fight with their spouse, may have a dying parent, may have a sick child, may have All that comes to work. So if, if, if we can see the person as a whole and understand what they're going through, you can coach them better. Leaders in offices rarely see this point. 20-year-old coaches will never see that point. It takes experience and understanding and speaking with enough people who have tried to break through some of their boundaries Um, to understand what a person could potentially go through. So when you're picking out a coach, know what their life kind of story is, who they've helped, how they've helped. And, um, yeah, if they make you feel good, probably a good coach.

Yeah, I've sort of come to realize that a good mentor is somebody who has done what you want to do but has also successfully helped other people get there. And that's why the 20-year-old life coaches They probably don't have a lot of those testimonials on their review page, right? Like they might be living a lifestyle that you're envious of in some way, shape or form, but how often are they actually helping other people get there? So I think that's an important thing. And also we forget too that these books, right, they can be great mentors and great coaches. So let's transition a little bit to B2B Sales Secrets. Why did you decide to write this book and who is it for? Hello, Book Thinkers family. A quick word from today's podcast sponsor. Today's episode is sponsored by Audible. Audible is the leading provider of spoken word entertainment and audiobooks ranging from bestsellers to celebrity memoirs, business, and my favorite, personal development. And as part of Audible's partnership with us, we're actually offering listeners a free 30-day trial. This trial includes 1 credit good for any premium selection titles you'd like on the whole platform. So that's pretty much any book, including the one we're talking about today. About today. That book is yours to keep even after the trial is over. Now, this trial also includes access to Audible's Plus catalog of podcasts, audiobooks, guided wellness programs, and Audible Originals. You can listen all you want, no credits needed. Now, everyone on the Book Thinkers Instagram knows that I love physical paper books. There's nothing better than having a book in your hand, scribbling notes everywhere in the margins. I kind of tear those things up. But I've been completing an additional 20 to 30 books every single year using Audible by listening when I'm in the car, doing chores around the house, or while I'm on my morning walks or runs. You could take advantage of this free trial by clicking the link in today's show notes or going to www.bookthinkers.com/audibletrial. You will not regret it. Now back to today's episode.

Yeah, so this book is for people who are selling, sales professionals or entrepreneurs in the B2B space. So you're calling on CFOs, CEOs, directors of marketing, directors of IT in companies. This isn't, you know, you're selling windows and knocking on somebody's house door to door, even though you could probably use some of these things in this book. That's not my expertise. That's not who the book is for. I wrote the book because initially when I started my company, it was going to be all about sales training. So I wanted to put together, I wanted to put on paper like, what is my process for selling? Like, and then that opened up, okay, well, selling is one thing. That's the sales process. I call it the buyer's journey. But there are a lot of people who have, they got to get their mind right. So section 1 is all about how do you prepare? So first 3 chapters is how do you prepare for the day of sales or for your week? Section 2 is all about the buyer's journey from, you know, how do you research, how do you reach out to them on LinkedIn, cold calling, what your first initial meeting should be like, um, how do you present the proposal, what are the sections of the proposal, how do you do a follow-up meeting, what if they ghost you, right? All that. And then the third part is like, you know, I got 2 kids. You guys are fairly young. I don't know if you have kids or not. You do have kids?

Yes, I got 3.

You know how— oh, you got 3? You got me beat by one. So you know how like pregnancy, like your significant other is pregnant, you guys go through these 9 months and you think that's when it's over, but that's when it starts? Like, yep, like that's not when it's over, that's the beginning. Well, same thing goes for selling, right? The relationship building starts after the sale is made. That's when it truly starts. So the third part is, well, how do you become a magnet for new business? How do you get your clients to refer their friends to you after you've sold them? Like, what do you need to do to continue building that relationship? So that's the book, B2B Sales Secrets. Yeah, I hope that answers your question.

It does. Yeah, it gives everybody a little preview and I can resonate with the complexity of B2B sales. I came from a B2B sales software role prior to starting BookThinkers and going full-time with it. And I think people underestimate how complex it is when you're offering a solution in a business and there are multiple decision makers. Some of them have veto power, they're evaluating other solutions. And so there are a lot of moving parts and that's why I think you need to have a process defined like you're providing in the book.

100%.

Yeah.

I'm curious, and this is kind of back to you a little bit, but in May of 2017, you had a pretty big health scare. And I'm with your heart, and I'm just curious, like, how you got through that and your mindset at the time when you were going through that very traumatic event and how it may have, like, changed your thought about— your thoughts about the world.

Yeah. Wow. Um, so I had a birth defect. I had 3 of them actually, and I found out in 2017 I was gonna have to have open heart surgery or I probably wasn't gonna make it through the end of that year. And I think, you know, by that time I've been in personal development for 3 years at this point, nonstop reading. So I, I feel like that really helped me. I was very strong mentally. I remember my surgery was on Tuesday. I told the doctors I'll be home by Thursday. I was home by Thursday. Like, they're like, yeah, right, you're probably staying through the weekend. It was serious surgery. I was home by Thursday. They told me 6 months off. I was on my motorcycle in like 4 months. I was back in the gym doing pull-ups within 3 months. Like, I think being mentally prepared. Look, life is going to throw stuff at you, right? I mean, I've been, you know, from from coming to the U.S. from Russia, joined the Marine Corps, been in two different combat zones, been to Gitmo, started my own company. Like there's been challenges. Challenges are going to happen. That's kind of guarantees of life. Like you're not going to not deal with crap, right? It's how we deal with it. It's how we view it. And um. For me, it was just like another, another thing, right? I got this really cool scar down the middle of my chest, the keloid, and, uh, it's pretty thick looking. Um, so I get some cool, you know, stares from the little kids at the pool. That's okay. Uh, it reminds me of what I went through. What's interesting— I'll share this with you, Luke— what's interesting is at the time I was going through it, I didn't know if I was going to make it out alive or not. And, you know, I had these thoughts like, well, if I do make it out alive and I have a second chance at life, what do I— how am I going to change? Like, what am I going to do? And I wrote all this stuff out, like everything. I mean, I wrote out this huge list of all this cool stuff I'm going to do if I make it out alive. And obviously I made it out alive and I forgot about the list. Like, just went back to normal life, you know what I mean? Um, I gotta go back and revisit it. You just reminded me that I created that list. But it's so easy for us to write these lists and have these grandiose ideas And then just not take any action on them. You know, I did go skydiving, by the way, just 2 weeks ago. Conquered my biggest fear. That was fun.

I don't know if I can do that quite yet. That's something that's on my list, like skydive, but terrifies me. And with having kids too, there's always that thought in the background, what if something goes wrong? You know, I'm curious to know about your kids. You talked about it somewhere. It may have been on social media somewhere about starting a cotton candy business with your son. I would love to hear a little bit about that story and like why you decided to do that with him.

Well, he's— I mean, he was the most compelling. I think he was 8 years old at the time, maybe 9. He's 10 now. So I was in my— I was in this office doing work. He comes into my office, he says, Daddy, I have a business proposition for you. I said, okay, what is it? He said, okay. And I think this was his plan. He came up with this plan on his own because he wanted a cotton candy machine. Right? But I wanted to hear him out. This was genius either way you look at it. So I said, okay, what do you want to do? He said, well, you can be my partner and we buy a cotton candy machine, we make cotton candy, we sell it, and we'll donate some money to the homeless. I said, okay, I'll do that, but, uh, only if we can donate money to veterans. They can be homeless veterans, but I'd rather do it for veterans. He's like, deal. So sure enough, we bought a cotton candy machine, uh, made them business cards, created a Facebook page, started making cotton candy, and, uh, went into a toy store and sold it. We, we ended up donating like $700 or $800 to charity. It was really cool. And then my wife, who's a health nut, said, uh, you guys cannot be making cotton candy anymore. She's— she looked at the ingredients, she's like, it's got red dye, blue dye, all these things cause cancer. You guys cannot do this. You're trying to help the homeless, you're killing people. Like, okay, I said fine. Um, but it was a really, really good experience to see. I, I think I gave my kid enough confidence because we created thank you cards. So anybody who ordered, he had to write out thank you. Um, and I would— I mean, we shipped cotton candy to Germany, to California, like all over the states. What else did we do? Um, created shirts. So we went— the company was called Candy for a Cause. He came up with a logo. I mean, uh, my other son was making videos and posting them on TikTok. Like, it was really cool to work with, with the kids to do that.

Yeah, it's amazing. I just have, um, you know, I said 3 kids of my own, and I'm always trying to think of creative ideas for my son because he's always coming to me with stuff like, oh, I want to do this business, I want to do that business. So it was really— I don't know, for me it was inspiring to hear that story that You did that with your son and got like pretty good results with it. What are you currently like trying to cultivate in their, in your kids' lives? Like what are you teaching them on a daily basis to get them, do you want them to go to college? Do you want them to get into business? Like what's, what are you teaching them?

Yeah, I want them to do whatever they want to do. I don't, you know, I'm not going to control their life. I just want to be, I want them to be good people. I want them to understand that it's not just about them. I want them to be helpful and want to help others and I want them to be successful. and, and want to want to be successful. And so I'm not a big fan of college personally, but if they want to go to college, go to college, you know. If they want to go in the military, go in the military. Um, what they see with me, and I try to share this with them— my wife and I, we work together— I try to share as much as I can with them, right? So like when I post a podcast, sometimes I have them listen to it if it's a really cool guest. Um, when I'm doing something, they hear me on the calls. Like, I don't hide anything. I tell them like, hey, I had this business deal. I could have gone this way, but I went this way. What do you think of that? And we have these discussions. So, you know, I grew up without a father, so there has been— it's not like I have a blueprint to follow. I don't know what I'm— if what I'm doing is right or wrong. I have no idea. I'll tell you in 10, 15 years, however they end up. So, uh, today they're only 14 and 10. My oldest one, his dream is to play soccer for Barcelona. And the younger one, his dream is to be the richest man in the world. So every time, uh, you know, he's got such an amazing imagination that, you know, he's, he's talking to me about how his mansion is gonna have a soccer stadium up top and where his helicopter pad is gonna be and where his Lambo's gonna be. Like, it's awesome to see that. So I'm a firm believer that our ideas don't come from us, they come to us and through us, right? And so, and the spiritual world doesn't recognize age, right? Doesn't know that it's a 10-year-old thinking that or it's a 90-year-old thinking that. And so anytime he gets these ideas, my job is to cultivate them, right? Is to help to not like make sure he goes after it because some ideas are just, you know, it's here today, gone tomorrow. But anything that is in his mind that he wants to follow, I want to make sure that I'm fully supporting that. And what I'll never do is I'll never say, well, remember when you tried that and that didn't work, so this won't work? How the hell do I know what's going to work, what's not going to work, right? I'm just there to help him out, and I want to, I want to be that support system for both of them.

Well, it sounds like you're on your way to doing just that. But like you said, we'll see in 10 to 15 years. Yeah, I think it's, uh, I think it's really cool that you're cultivating sort of the powers of visualization and positive affirmations and opportunity, not victimhood, and those sorts of things. Oh, by the way, thank you for your service. You mentioned being a Marine earlier. Thank you for that.

Thank you.

As we get closer to wrapping up here, I have 2 final questions for you. So, going back to the subject of mortality and death, since we started with your younger years, we'll kind of wrap up with your older years in your list. I heard somebody say recently, imagine you were going to die tomorrow. Make a list of everything you wish you had done and then start executing against it because you probably won't die tomorrow. So that's something that I constantly think about. When you think about death after the surgery and everything like that, does it create more urgency for you? Do you try to consistently think about it? How does death play a role in your life today?

It did at that time. Nick, but once I got back to regular life, I wish it would, but it didn't. It did not do it for me. I hear people like, oh, I got a second chance and now I'm gonna do this, this, and they actually do it. Me, I kind of just fell back into— I think I fell back into a different routine. Maybe not, because like every year I set out like I, I'm challenging myself to do something harder. So like for example, this year I completely quit drinking alcohol earlier the year. And that was a big part of my life, being, you know, Russian-born. And I, uh, just ran a marathon last Sunday. So I looked at, you know, 2023 started, I'm like, what are the areas of my life where I'm weak? One was alcohol, the other was I'm not a good runner. So I hired a coach. And by the way, everything I thought I knew about running, it was counterintuitive to how I should actually run. Like first like 3 months, he had me running in zone 1 heart rate, just literally heart rate training. I didn't even know that was a thing. He's like, all right, you're gonna run 4 miles today, but your heart rate can't go above 135. I'm like, I walked down the stairs and my heart rate's above 135. What do you mean run? And so I remember running my first like 4 miles that he told me to run. My neighbor's looking at me. He's like, what are you doing? Are you walking? Are you running? What the hell are you doing out here? I was like, I'm like, man, shut up, you know. Uh, I'm sure I looked silly, but after a few months, I was not. I, I think at that point it was like almost a 15-minute mile, okay? This is how slow I was going. But now I can run a 10-minute mile and my heart rate's at 135, all because this coach helped me do that. I didn't know I could do that. So I finished my marathon, did it just under 5 minutes. My heart rate, I think, was at 145 to 155 the whole time. That's pretty awesome stuff. Um, so I don't know what it's going to be for next year. Maybe I'll, you know, train for a tri or something. My older one just now told me he wants to get into weightlifting, so I'm going to help him. Um, but yeah, every year now I just look for ways I can get a little bit better in different areas.

It's amazing, man. Good for you, and congrats on the skydiving too. So here's my last question. What book have you gifted the most over the last handful of years? And you can't include your own.

What book have I gifted the most over the past 10 years? So, man, I've given a lot of books. But I would say the one that comes to mind is probably Jesse Itzler's Living with a SEAL.

So good.

I typically give that book because of people who don't like to read. And I say, listen, if you just promise me you'll read chapter 1, that's it, right? And if they promise they'll read chapter 1, give them that book. And you can't put that book down. I remember being on a subway reading that book and I was just dying laughing. Like, I'm laughing out loud, tears coming out of my eyes. I'm in DC on a subway. So yeah, Living with a SEAL would probably be my favorite book to give as a gift.

Yeah. Jesse and David are both legends, that's for sure.

Yeah. Wow.

Well, I have 2 final questions as well, and then we'll let you get off. But the first one is, where can people go to find out a little bit more about you and connect with you further?

Yeah, so thegoalguide.com, that's my website. Relentless Goal Achievers, if you look at that on Facebook, we've got a Facebook community. Another thing, if I can send you guys a link, what I've created is, uh, I call it the Arsenal. Like, yeah baby! And in there we put a bunch of different tools in there. So there are PDFs on how to get better at selling. There is Martha Creachy, who's just amazing, um, at helping people set up home-based businesses, gave me like a 90-minute video that's— that lives in the Arsenal. And it's all free. There's probably like 15 resources now. On my podcast, when guests come on, they usually give me something to put in there. Um, Nick, I think you're gonna give me a part of your book that's gonna go in there. If, if, if I remember correctly, we had you on the, on the show before you had the book out. But, um, yeah, so if I can add any value to you, it would probably be through the Arsenal. There's a ton of free resources in there.

Perfect. Yeah, we can link all that in the, the show notes below for sure.

I'll get it.

All right. Thank you. This is my final, final question, and that is this: you pass away and all the courses, the books, everything that you've put out just disappears through social media. It's all gone. But you can leave the world with a single piece of advice. What would it be?

Everything you want truly is possible for you. That is the single piece of advice that I would give you. Everything you want is possible for you.

Gave me chills. I love it. Well, Eric, thank you so much for your time, for coming on, for sharing your wisdom and your story. We had a great time.

Hey, thanks for having me, guys. This was awesome. And you did such a great job, Luke. I can't believe you went back 8 years and found a poem I forgot I even wrote. You're awesome.

That was magic. That is a wrap. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of Book Thinkers Life-Changing Books. It would mean the world to us if you could write a review and share this episode with a few of your friends. I mean, these books truly have the power to change people's lives, and by reviewing or sharing our podcast, you're helping us make an impact. If you have any recommendations for future guests or any constructive feedback for us on how we can improve our show, Please feel free to submit a form on our website, www.bookthinkers.com, or send us a direct message on Instagram @bookthinkers. With that, I am signing off, and I hope you have a wonderful day. Don't forget, go read something.