Rob Balzano: Check-6 Foundation | The Business Blast Podcast #232

Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.

Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Rob Balzano with us. He's the founder and president of the Check Six Foundation. So welcome to the show, Rob.

Thank you, happy to be here.

Thanks for joining us. We'll dive in. The first question I have for you is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?

Uh, best story for me is probably, uh, in my upbringing. My father was, uh, originally from Italy. His father was a prisoner of war in the war, so my dad was, uh, the only one around during World War II in his family. So he worked on the ships, and long story short, basically a dumb ship from Italy, uh, came to America and, and made basically the American dream for himself. So what I learned from him is that in no Doesn't matter what your background is, where you come from, you can always be successful in life if you work hard, try hard, and continue to improve yourself.

And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?

So from the nonprofit side, what I found is that you have to be passionate about what you do. For the nonprofit side that we do, people want to help. And what I found, it's our job to get with those people that want to help, show them what we do and how they can help, and basically inspire others to help veterans in our case and children battling serious illnesses.

And what's your best piece of overall business advice, and not necessarily industry-specific?

Sure, that would be to never give up. And when we think one door closes, there's another door that's opening. It may only be cracked open, so I find that if you have that opportunity, you've got to push that door open, keep pressing forward. Things in life don't always end up the way we think, and usually it winds up being better than what we thought.

And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?

That would be to start as early as possible with being on a track to just be the best version of yourself that you can be. I feel like I got involved and started learning, really learning about myself as I got older in life, and I wish I would have started a little bit sooner with just really trying to learn as much as I can, really broaden my horizons, get outside of my comfort zone, and really raise the bar on what I hold myself accountable for.

And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?

The key to happiness, I believe, is when you can combine what you love to do, what you're passionate about, and what you're able to— what we call it a job, a career. And if you can bring those two pieces together, almost like a three-spoke side, you know, I see them your personal life, your family life, and your business or work life. If you could have a great balance between the three, And really, you go, go to work every day and love what you're doing. Come home and love your family you're with and just, and love yourself for that. That's the key to happiness.

And what's the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?

Uh, the best book I've read is by Simon Sinek, uh, and he wrote two books, but the one I prefer and the one I really like is called, uh, Start With Why. And he talks about how important it is to really understanding your why, whether that's in the business world or personal life. And if you start with why, everything else kind of comes into place.

And what's your favorite quote and why?

My favorite quote comes from Winston Churchill, and it goes like this. He said during World War II, to each there comes in their lifetime A special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour. And I first heard this quote, it's probably been about 15 years now, and it really resonated with, with kind of how I've progress and live my life where I never want to be the limiting factor in my progression or anything I can do to help others. And so that whenever I'm a little bit in a slump or, you know, not really in a place where I want to motivate myself, I think of that quote and it really lets me get motivated and realize, hey, there are— I always want to be better than the day before. So I set the bar pretty high for myself. And always learning, always trying to improve myself and really seeing, making a difference in other people's lives. And that's what I found with our foundation.

Thank you so much for coming on, man. The last question I have for you before we let you go is where's the best place for people to find you online?

You can find out more about our nonprofit called the Check Six Foundation at www.checksix.org. That's C-H-E-C-K-S-I-X. ECKtheNumber6.org. And our mission is to provide aid, assistance, experiences, purpose, inspiration, and hope to military veterans and children battle serious illnesses. And personally, you can find me on LinkedIn if you search Rob Balzano and my former life call sign. You will see BALZ, B-A-L-Z, in there as well.

Awesome, man. Thank you so much for coming on. We appreciate it.

All right, Tyler, thank you.

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