[00:00:00] Luigi Prestinenzi: Welcome. This is the Sales IQ Podcast. My name is Luigi Prestinenzi, and I'm on a mission to help salespeople be the best sales professionals they can be. Each week, we'll bring you a different message from thought leaders from around the globe so we can help you master the art of selling.

Do you ever find yourself overwhelmed because you're spinning multiple plates at the same time?

This week we're joined by Waldo Waldman ex fighter pilot. Who's going to talk about some of the strategies that he used. To manage his mindset in high stress situations and how he's taken those strategies and adapted them into the business and sales world. This episode is brought to you by vanillasoft.com sales engagement platform.

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So do yourself a favor head over to vanillasoft.com. Sign up for a free trial and see why so many salespeople are closing more deals as a result of using vanilla soft. So before we get into today's show, guys just want to say, thanks again for subscribing. And for listening to this podcast, I do this to help you be the very best you can be.

Please continue to like rate and share wherever you listen to podcasts. And please don't forget to send me a message on LinkedIn. I absolutely love receiving those messages of gratitude and thanks. So please keep it. The last four or five months has been an incredible journey. I think for some it's been very difficult for others.

I think the found opportunity, your opportunity to spend more time with their family. Maybe get more balanced, maybe spend more time at home, do some things around the house. If all you wanted to do, regardless of what's happened. I think we've all been in a position where we've been questioning and found ourselves in a situation where we might not necessarily have.

The skills to work through. I know I certainly have, I've found it some days have been very difficult to navigate through, you know, homeschooling working from home zoom, fatigue. I don't know if any of you have been getting it, but I've definitely been getting zoom fatigued, um, constantly staring at the screen, lack of routine or trying to find a different routine or a new routine.

Um, and some days it's been quite stressful, some days have been quite. Some days have been great, you know, not having to sit in traffic and jump on the train and the hustle and bustle in the morning, but you know what? I actually miss some of that hustle and bustle. I mean, being on a plane and meeting new people and running face-to-face workshops in an actual room with PayPal and feeling their energy.

But what I love about this particular episode and what we're going to dive into is Waldo talks about his experience. Working as a fighter pilot and some of the high stress situations he found himself in and talks about what he's done or what he did to work through that and how he's applied that into his new world, into, into a new life.

So if we think about that, right, people keep talking about the new normal, the new normal, I think it's about adapting to change. And that's what I love about this particular episode. He talks about how to, how to adapt and what he did and what some of the strategies he used back when he was in those stressful situations and how he's applied it into business.

So this is an incredible episode for many of us who are looking for that extra little bit of help from a mindset. Walden is going to go in to give you some key strategies on how you can be the best you can be.

Welcome to the show Waldo.

[00:04:05] Waldo Waldman: Great to be here.

[00:04:06] Luigi Prestinenzi: Mate, I'm really excited to talk to you today, man. I've actually never, I've never spoken to a, you know, a pilot before on my podcast. So I'm really excited to talk to you about sort of how you started in the world of business, um, from flying, um, you know, from flying, um, fighter pilots or flight jets.

So mate, thank you very much for coming on the show.

[00:04:29] Waldo Waldman: Uh, it's my pleasure Luigi.

[00:04:31] Luigi Prestinenzi: Now, before we get into, you know, the topic of mindset, um, you know, performance and, you know, and building resilience and all those sort of great topics that you discuss, we'd love to know a bit more about, you know, how did you start, I suppose, not even in the world of business, but you know, where did your career start?

[00:04:49] Waldo Waldman: So when I was a kid, my dad was a mechanic at Kennedy airport in New York city, worked on the jumbo jets. Uh, the planes, he changed engines, just did everything. And, uh, he brought me to the airport with him along with my twin brother, Dave. And he said, we're gonna give you a little tour. Right. And I was probably 10 years old or so, and I'll never forget the smell of the jet fuel the rumble of the jet engines, watching the floating bird.

I was hooked and he sat us in the cockpit of that 7 47 jumbo jet. And I started to play with the throttle and the switches. And I looked at my dad. I said, Hey man, what's this place score? He said, it's the cockpit, Rob. It's where the pilot flies the plane. And so in an instant, I knew that I didn't want to fix the plane.

He's like my dad, I wanted to fly him. Uh, unfortunately for me, my, my dad, uh, my dad said, listen, son, you're, you're afraid of Heights. Probably not choice for you, but, uh, but I knew my passion at that time was greater than that fear. And, uh, I eventually applied to the air force academy, one of the higher, a difficult place to get into.

And if you graduate after four years, you get a college degree and have an opportunity to go to pilot training, which is what I did. And it opened up a whole opportunity for me for growth and a challenge.

[00:06:07] Luigi Prestinenzi: That's amazing. So you really found your passion at a very early age?

[00:06:11] Waldo Waldman: Yeah, I, I didn't, I loved planes and I, I made this commitment to fly, but then one of my guidance counselors when I was like in 10th grade or so about probably 16 years old.

Talk to me about the air force academy, the military, because I wanted to fly, but I didn't know about the military until that one. And so we shared, shared it to me and it was a very difficult place to get into. And when you graduated was very, very prestigious exclusive school and it was all about challenge, challenge, challenge, pushing yourself to limits.

And I've always been that way. And the academy brought it out and being a fighter pilot, obviously always was very challenging for me. And, uh, it helped me to grow. And that's part of why I love sales and business development and executive coaching. It's it's about pushing and getting better than you were yesterday.

[00:06:59] Luigi Prestinenzi: Yeah, I love that concept. I'd love to know, like, you know, when you, you talked about, you know, the challenge and fi overcoming fears to, to get into that sort of career, what was some of the early challenges that you really had to work with? That you know, that that was, uh, a must in order to become a pilot or

[00:07:18] Waldo Waldman: so the first thing is always a little bit of self doubt, right?

You any human being, you know, you're in that intense environment who EEG you're you're you, you, there's a failure rate. 3,500. Uh, of academy grads, pilots, fighter pilots wash out of the training. There's no guarantee you're going to have these wings. That's why the problem. That's why there a Velcro, by the way.

So a little bit of self doubt. Um, so I became an article about preparation. I became a knock about working harder things. Didn't naturally come to me a lot. I was a good. I wasn't a great athlete. I was a great outfielder cause I worked and worked and worked at it. And so, so, uh, so that was one of the initial initial struggles.

And then also the, the fact that flying fighters and being a pilot. It wasn't just about the technical game, knowing the technology and the machinery and all the weapon systems have to know this inside out, just like you have to know your CRM, your sales processes, your tactics, your tools that are available to you.

But it also had to do with the mindset that it took to get into that plane, because it was a lot of pressure, constant change, new technology updates. Your life was on the line of. Combat, but in training we pushed and pushed and pushed, and we had standards that we had to meet that you didn't meet those standards if you folded under the pressure, guess why you were done.

And so, so that was always in the back of my mind, you know, will I be able to handle the pressure? Will I be able to adapt to this high pressure environment where it's demanding? You've got a lot of competition and high standards amongst your peers and also where the threat is deadly. Right? This isn't a game plan.

Fido's was pretty serious. It didn't do your job, right. You weren't having dinner that night.

[00:09:16] Luigi Prestinenzi: Well, that's obviously to, to it's a lot more, you've got a lot more at stake, right. Um, you know, we, we work in sales. We make a mistake. Hey, that's one down. We lose one. There's another thousand out there we can talk to.

It's not as if you make a mistake in a plane and your life's over. Right. So. I mean, how did you work? Or like, what were some of the strategies that you employed to build sort of a level of resilience that helped you work pragmatically through some of the challenges that you were experiencing?

[00:09:43] Waldo Waldman: So, so number one, like I said, I, I I've, I've, uh, we have seen in the air force in the military, the more you sweat in peace.

The less, the less you bleed in battle. So training was so important and I took my training very seriously and I was always been, I've always commanded excellence for myself. I always had attention to detail. I always wanted to learn and grasp and grow. But what happens in any environment where we're learning?

I don't care if you're in sales, business development, in sports or in the military or running a podcast for that matter. It's about. Reaching out for help when you need to now specific attention to detail being maniacal about your preparation. And doing whatever you could before you got into that cockpit, you need every competitive advantage.

So I was maniacal about working hard. Like I said, it didn't come naturally to me. So I had to study Otter. And the reason why, you know, you talk about mindset and competence, especially when it comes to this. Before jumping into the cockpit of your day. If you do it, a virtual call sending out an email, following up on a prospect lead or reaching out, uh, as a, as a cold call, which I don't believe you should have a cold call.

You always bold. Yeah, because you're confident, you're both competent. You prepared, you did the research, you leveraged social media, you went to the press releases, you know, your technologies and tools. And so that ability to build confidence that inner Wayne man allows you to be resilient, allows you to say, I'm going to bounce back from this because I've contingency plan.

I've asked myself, what if the weather change? What if I get shot? I would, if my engine fails, what if I have an objection to price? What if this zoom call fails me? What if I'm late? What if I'm late for that meeting? I'm in, stuck in strapped in traffic. Do I have cell phones available? What are my options?

So that builds confidence. And for those that are listening or watching this right now, You've got to do whatever you can before the flight, before the mission to prepare to contingency plan, to build the competence and capabilities that will read that lead to growth and resilience. Um, and so that, that's a big part of building, building resilience and the last piece.

And I'll let you ask again, is knowing. That you may step into a situation where you're not prepared where you don't have a plan. Yeah. And when you prepare contingency plan, we chair fly, which I can go over with you, although you very important sales tactic that we use. I learned in the military chair flying and rehearsing is your resilience.

Because, you know, you've got somebody on your team, a partner, a coworker, or a supplier who can help you, who can give you the inside the acumen or the skill needed to prepare. And that builds more competence and courage to when you're going out there on a high stress.

[00:12:45] Luigi Prestinenzi: Yeah, that's a fantastic story. And I suppose, so from your, you know, from your perspective of the, the learning that you took from that preparation phase, were there ever any moments where you thought you went into we're going into something, even though you spent tons of time preparing where you felt under prepared,

[00:13:04] Waldo Waldman: there's always the sense of under preparedness, especially in combat, you know, I flew in Iraq.

Extended long night missions, 8, 6, 6, 8 hour night missions F uh, uh, Kosovo and Serbia, different weapon systems. Sometimes you didn't know what was coming at you sometimes you knew when you were taken off Luigi. That there were missile systems on your almost entire route of flight. You had to had your head on a swivel, know your technologies.

You're like, am I going to miss a missile? Is, are they going to sneak in on me? Am I prepared? Do I have the fuel? Right? Is my team prepared? That's why team selling teamwork is so important. Yeah. And so you can never under you. There's never enough preparation when it comes into this. But once again, I think.

The reason why we're confident and have resilience in the tr in the combat when it's real is because we put ourselves in these situations before the region actually training is so intense. There was nothing we experienced in combat that we didn't experience

[00:14:10] Luigi Prestinenzi: in training. Yeah. Okay. So that's where you can develop the competent, you know, you're competent, so you can be confident.

[00:14:16] Waldo Waldman: Yes. Yes. And, and we, we feel the pressure already. We pressure train. We don't, we don't listen to Tchaikovsky and Beethoven while we're practicing prepared under pressure, we're pushing each other. So by the time it happens for real, you'd be like, Hey man, I've been through this. I've been through the toughest scenarios.

So that resilience is built up inside of you allows you to adapt and stay focused. This is

[00:14:40] Luigi Prestinenzi: re you know, this is actually really interesting. So when you think about it, so you, you, you, you, your training is designed to enable you to really cope and cope under, you know, real, like significant pressure. Right.

Have you ever found, like, do you ever find yourself now where you find that your emotions are heightened and you struggle to maintain or make decisive decisions, or has that training that you've gone through, you know, for a number of years, Enabled you to be kind of manage your emotions with these.

There's

always

[00:15:13] Waldo Waldman: a tipping point leads you where your pressure and stress and anxiety is going to potentially take over. But I think the reason why I'm good under pressure, like on calls and I do keynotes all over the world, I've been to South Africa everywhere, you know, is because. I put myself in those situations and I have a very astute ability to get focused when I need to.

And this means being intentional, shutting off the electronics, preparing for this mission, I believe in myself, some breathing room, um, uh, knowing my technologies and tools, right? Knowing the plane, knowing the contingencies, uh, and knowing what's what what's, what's what assets I have available is very, very important.

You have to be focused. You have to avoid distractions as much as you can, because something's always going to pop up. You know, my kids running around upstairs, I've got my wife want to do this and that. Uh, I I've got, I've got a to-do list. That's so crazy, but we just have to block everything off and give out prospects, get back clients, give that wing man or wing them at hand our complete attention.

And guess what? That's called being a professor. Yeah, and I just can't tell you how many times I strapped it to that jet, you know, under the gun with a lot of graph going on in my life. But as soon as that mass came up and I hit that throttle, you were game on.

[00:16:41] Luigi Prestinenzi: So thinking this is, this is actually really relevant because a lot of people right now, like when we look at the unemployment rate in the U S and even where I'm, you know, where I'm from in Australia, it's, it's, it's every day it's getting harder and harder, right.

Um, people are living in an environment where we've never had training around. Look, we've never been locked down low. Um, you know, we've never had certain restrictions. And so when you think about, you know, how do you prepare for something like this? I think it's been very difficult for us to prepare for something like this.

Right. You know, in your career as a fighter pilot, you know, what was one of the most difficult times that you had to overcome and what did you do to help yourself through that, that process?

[00:17:18] Waldo Waldman: So, I talked about being afraid of Heights going up, uh, uh, uh, graduating the air force academy out of jump off at 33 feet high diving board.

If you didn't do that, you, you, you were, uh, you'd wash out of the air force. You wouldn't be able to go to pilot training. And so facing my fear of Heights was something very, very difficult for me, but I did it. I jumped, you know, on the opposite side of fear as growth, right? Yeah. So I knew I had to face that fear and jumped at 33 feet because after I jumped, I knew my life would open up for me.

And so many times commitment is only tested when the fun stops. Yeah. Your preparation is only truly tested when you're under the gun and pressures and you have a risk, you know, high risk situations, high stress. So I overcame that, but then three years into my 11 year flying career, long story short, I almost died in a scuba diving accident, uh, in the Caribbean.

I'd never been scuba diving before. Uh, I didn't prepare. I thought, Hey, I fly jets. What's so odd about scuba diving. Give me the mask. I'm jumping in the water. Right. But needless to say. Mask separated underwater. I inhaled a whole bunch of stinging salt water, fill my lungs. I freaked out couldn't move. I would use my arms.

I literally froze 30, 40 feet under the water and had a panic attack, worst experience of my life. And, and, uh, just got out of the water and said, I'm just never going scuba diving again. That absolutely socked. Right. But what happened was. A few days later, I'm back in the PA and the jet fly on a training mission, but the weather was terrible.

Thunderstorms lightning, uh, socked into the clouds. I couldn't see outside by jet. And I started, uh, had that same panic and anxiety that I had a few days prior. Wow. But instead of being 35 feet under the water, guess what? Now I'm 35,000 feet in the air strapped into this tiny. We realized I was claustrophobic.

I'm like, I got to get the heck out of this plane now. Probably not the best thing for a pilot to have shit. Bottom line is for the next eight years of my 11 year flying career. Every time I strapped it to that jet to fly, I had to face this uncertainty and doubt and anxiety, that anxiety, that, that threatened to hold me back from doing what I love more than anything else, which was flying that jet.

And I didn't quit. I didn't quit because my passion for flying was greater than my fear. And I didn't quit because. I wanted to overcome myself. I didn't want to give up on my dream. And so what I did was I, number one, I became, I learned about dealing with anxiety and phobia. I read up on it. I tried to become, present your head mind.

Can't think about multiple things at the same time. And I also got focused on my students. This was when I was an instructor pilot, before I was flying jets by. And I always got focused on my students and later got focused on my wingman as long as I got out of my head region. Yep. That's a nurse. As long as I got out of my head where anxiety and fear and doubt and uncertainty stay and focused on my team, my wingman, who can I help?

Who can I coach? I had to have their back, you know, we never fly solo. That's the name of my. We're not flying solo. I need to be a wing man to them back them up, call out the threats for them and guess what they are going to be there for me. They're going to check my six, my blind spot. Yeah. And this concept, concept of responsibility and collaboration and support distracted me from my fear and got me focused on service.

And. And I think when you look at it in life and particularly in sales, when it's all about value, it's all about service asking questions and getting out of your ego and not worried about the sale, but truly, truly trying to help your prospects out and your customers out just like I'm trying to get into the headset and mindset and the heart-set of your, of your, uh, of your listeners and you today.

Distract yourself from yourself. Get the heck out of your head and focus on what the needs are of the people on the other end of that phone, on the zoom call in that meeting in your life. And you will no longer be fearful because you're so focused on them and you're not focused on yourself and you become numb to your fear.

It doesn't go away, but it allows you to be present. And so. We got to really be thinking, what can I do to help I'm in a situation where I'm full of fear. I don't know what's going to happen today. I don't know if I'm going to be able to close the deal, serve my family, get focused on service. Who can you help get out of your head?

Get in that, that, that get in that zone. That's not the comfort zone. It's the killer zone. It's where you can commit to excellence every

[00:22:24] Luigi Prestinenzi: day. Yeah, that's awesome. And so, so what I'm hearing, you know, you made a decision that. You know, when that panic attack kicked in and when you almost had another one 35,000 feet in the air, you made a commitment to continue to focus on, you know, trying to not fix the anxiety, but build strategies to cope.

And make sure that that anxiety didn't take over your mind and distract you from, you know, where you're at. Because I think for me that the biggest challenge that I face the last couple of months is just a complete break of routine and feeling out of control. And I've had times where I've been anxious, you know, things a lot.

I'm like, what the hell is this making me anxious for? I've done this a thousand times. Why, why am I being impacted? But at this particular task. Right. And, and I've actually been reading the miracle morning last week. I went back to it. I read it. It's a great, and something that is really kind of had a bit of an aha for me.

It's, it's not that I'm not confident at a particular, you know, because I love doing what I do. It's because I've noticed that. There are factors. There are things that are happening external to my environment that I'm letting come into my mindset and it's distracting my focus. So I absolutely love and appreciate what you shared with me about how you've managed to maintain your control over anxiety.

Because I think that is a big challenge for people, right. Um, you know, you've gone from the known to the unknown. You've lost your job, um, or sale, you know, pipelines have dried up, you're spending less time at work. You're having less social interaction. Um, so I think, you know, many people would, would really resonate with what you've just shared with us.

So really appreciate that. Yeah. Yeah, you

[00:24:13] Waldo Waldman: got it. And, and it's, it's, it's so important because we're human beings. Here's so here's the thing about what I do when I coach folks, it's like, look, I've made every failure out there. I screwed up in the military. I almost washed out I pilot training for a little landing lights, which I almost died multiple times in combat missiles launched on me.

You know, I'm an entrepreneur. I was in sales before commission only eating what I killed, like. You know right now, my business is very successful, but it's dropped tremendously. Now we've got to eat. We got to eat our own dog food. Like we've got to be willing to say, who am I, what do I really represent?

How courageous and competent and fighter pilot mindset wise am I, am I just crap? And I'm just winging it flying by the seat of my pants, feds philosophize about it. It's. So you brought up something very important to each. And I want to really emphasis emphasize this for you, for your, for your listeners and your customers and people who are trying to find a strategy.

Your routines are important. You've got to, you got to discipline them down. I've got strategies. Every day. I write down my list. I'm disciplined. I wake up in the morning. I read something spiritual positive, feed my mindset in the right way. I work out four or five times a week. Get my blood flowing, not just to give myself.

More health, but because I know it's going to allow me to be more, present, more engaged, or more, more excited, and I'm more creative in the gym. I watch what I eat. And then finally, I'm very cognizant about who I spend time with at work and outside of work. And so I want to share a concept of lift versus drag.

You know, we all know that project to fly. Lyft must overcome drag. You've got to take this, this. Couple of ton machine into the air with that engine, but you got things hanging on it. You got bombs and weapons systems dragging it down. You got fuel and your jet thrust needs to lift that aircraft up in the, our dynamics are also going to lift.

And so to be maneuverable in this plane, you've got to streamline the aircraft, lighten the load. If you need to, if you're getting shot at and you got to maneuver away, you jettison all these bonds and all the things dragging you down so you can maneuver light, nimble avoiding missile. So when it comes to life and performance and mindset, And what I now phrased, coined the phrase heartset, because it helps your passion.

Cause you got to find things in your life that lift you up. Great people like you. I can tell you very positive Luigi you love helping people. Uh, my friends. The things that I listened to the music, you know, I, anxiety is always going to be there, but the music of relationships positivity, what we're reading, what we're working out, it drowns out the music.

But guess what, if you lower the volume of your positivity, the volume of negativity won't change, but it's going to become. Yeah. So, so be around the positive, be focused about it in jettison the negative relationships, the news, the media, all the crap that's dragging your mind down, watch what your disciplines are, and you become more nimble and resilient in your life and be able to help other people out.

Uh, so that's a really key component to, to, to realize in that, uh, you're not flying solo and sometimes those key relationships, those wing men, those men and women. Okay, fair enough to lift you up, not just with a mindset or a positive attitude or a word of gratitude or motivation, but maybe with an idea and a skill.

And a perspective to get you out of your funk, out of the clouds and into the blue sky kicking button, staying focused on, on the mission.

[00:27:54] Luigi Prestinenzi: Yeah. Now that's incredible advice. Obviously love it. I'm really, really engaged with what you're saying and I've, I've completely lost my train of thought because I'm just thinking about that.

And, and so mate, when, you know, obviously you're a keynote speaker, right? And you spent a lot of time on planes, national speakers association, going to events. The world's changed and all of a sudden these events aren't happening, right. All the events that are happening, a virtual, um, how have you gone sort of making that transition from keynote speaker on stage to now a virtual speaker?

And what does that meant for your business?

[00:28:29] Waldo Waldman: Right. So my, the live events obviously has dropped down tremendously, but fortunately I've been able to do coaching, excuse me, coaching with executives. I'm doing some B to C coaching for entrepreneurs, transitioning leaders. And so if you look at this jet, by the way, excuse me.

When the jets on flying they're in that. We tightened down the rivets. We were fueled the jet re retool the equipment and we get that jet in shape. And then there's also crew rest for pilots. We hit the gym. We study, we practice. We're not always at full power, pushing up the throttles in the air. And so what I've been doing with region, I've been very intentional about this.

I know that the sales are going down on my other programs, but I need to retool my business. My S 16. Yeah, I've been, I've been working on zoom. You know, you could see my office set up here and I could show you out. I got a 55 inch screen. I got, I do a lot of live events that I can create a much bigger atmosphere than it is here.

My audio is pretty good. I got a Yeti mic. I got some wireless stuff. I got all sorts of technology. I'm retooling this business and then creating backup marketing materials around this new pandemic on resilience, on anxiety, on dealing with change, all things that a part of my regimen and mindset based on my experience.

And so I'm retooling, I'm not worrying about the sale. I'm worrying about building, creating, practicing, building that inner confidence that happens on the ground. So that when I do get in the jet, I'll be able to deliver that value proposition hit my targets a lot better. So you gotta be willing to just say, you know what, I'm not making any money now, but I got to work on me, work on me, work on your, on your craft, your skills, your technology and tools, reach out to others, find out what they're doing.

And then. And most importantly, you got all that stuff together. You gotta market, you gotta ask for the sale, you got to reach out to people that know you love you, trust you, maybe your past clients and leverage people like you, who, uh, who build up, build a broader audience of my content. Uh, and then we make it a win-win right.

Usually

[00:30:45] Luigi Prestinenzi: that's important. No, that's awesome. And so, you know what I'm taking away from that. You know, something happened, external environment, it changed, fundamentally changed a big part of your business and your income stream. And you went to the tools, retooled your business so that you could adapt and pivot your offering to ensure that you found another channel of opportunities to drive.

And

[00:31:10] Waldo Waldman: then doing the, doing the virtual events, I'm doing them. I've done some in England. I've done some for folks in Australia. Uh, so even, uh, folks who are in South Africa want me to do a focus group with 20 or 200 at Sal suite, but I could do it because I have the tools and technology. And then finally doing the coaching, the online coaching, I have a program called ACE, which are 52 plus videos, three to five minute videos and worksheets.

Driving forward, your preparation, your sales, motivation, your resilience. So that's another offering. And I built that up by the way, the last two years. No. That I needed a virtual offering beyond just being on the stage. So you got to dig the well before you need it. Uh, so I was fortunate to have that already in place, but, uh, there's gotta be some discomfort.

There's gotta be some pain in the process and it's been, it's been uncomfortable for me, but it's been, I've been enjoying the challenge.

[00:32:06] Luigi Prestinenzi: This is really cool. You know, I think, yeah, I think so many salespeople from what you've just said, there's a little lessons in that, right. We can either sit there and blame and, you know, deny what's happening and justify why we can't pick up the phone.

Why we can't, re-skill why, you know, a whole variety of reasons or we can, except that, you know, there is. That's an opportunity in front of us. You know, we live in a world of abundance. I love that about Paul J. Meyer. You know what he used to talk about. We live in a world of abundance and it's, it's, everything's an opportunity.

Right. Um, and I think what you've just demonstrated true how you've pivoted your business is that, you know, you've actually. You're a product of the product, right? You've taken the opportunity in front of you. And you've actually probably created a far more sustainable business moving forward, because you've got multiple touches now to multiple different audiences and you can access people that previously you weren't able to access.

So that's, you know, I think there's some great insight there and I mean, sellers can take anything from anything, right. Or we all can. And I say, we all live by selling every one of ourselves, whether we like it. Um, and I think mindset plays a crucial thing. And you mentioned when you, you, you do a bit of coaching for executives and entrepreneurs, et cetera.

What's one of the most common things that you find that hold people back from being the best. They can be

[00:33:28] Waldo Waldman: the ability to ask for help. Okay. People have to be willing to take them masks. So. And be courageous to re to, to, to others and say, you know what? I don't have the answer. I don't have the, the tool, the skillset, the motivation to get through this.

Who can I reach out to, to lift me up when my wings are clipped or I'm having an engine failure, because, you know, especially in sales and entrepreneurs, you know, we build a business, we have egos, right? We don't want to show our, our, our, our uncertainties or, uh, insecurities. But being willing to ask for help.

And I say, ask with honor, you ask with honor, and this is why, you know, we build a relationship, you know, we connected with each other on LinkedIn. You asked me to be on the podcast. I got to know you a little bit and Hey, you know, what's build a relationship. Yeah. And so, so when you ask without her, it means you're appreciating the relationship.

You're saying thank you. You're a ways to help them. You're paying it forward. Maybe not with that person, but with some other wing man or wing man in your life, who's struggling. Yeah. And that's the beauty about, about abundance, because you may have a lack in one area, but you always have something to give.

And that really is about trust and being a wing man. And sometimes, you know, even with on a sales call or with a common customer, you may say, look, I don't know, I don't have the answer, but I'm going to find out and I may need help now, but I'm going to say. Seek and you shall find right folks, if you seek it, you shall find it.

But the key here is this is the most important part. The Weegee is that some people realize they need help, but they haven't done the investment in those relationships before those missiles engine failures and sales objections, and COVID nineteens happen. They're looking around and saying, I don't have wingmen.

Who can I call? And that's an eye-opener for a lot of people. Yeah.

[00:35:25] Luigi Prestinenzi: It's funny you bring that up, but we

[00:35:27] Waldo Waldman: can move forward. We can move forward by saying today's a day where I'm going to give, I'm going to give, give, give, give, give, build those relationships. So when that, when it does happen again, I'll have more teammates available, but you can start today.

Just give it away. I didn't mean to interrupt, Luigi..

[00:35:41] Luigi Prestinenzi: No, no, it's good. Just, just as in it, we've got a mutual friend in, in Larry Devine and he talks about your relationship funnel, right?

[00:35:48] Waldo Waldman: Yeah. Yeah. Great guy. Yeah, we spoken. San Diego just a couple of months ago.

[00:35:53] Luigi Prestinenzi: Awesome guy, man. I absolutely love his story.

I love his, you know, his methodology and what he's all about. Right. And I think, and he talks about the relationship funnel. He's like fill the relationship funnel first, you know, build, build human to human relationships. And I think you're right. That's so that's so important. And, and when I look back to one of the, you know, somebody that I interviewed that I was looking forward to interviewing for such a long time, a guy called Seth goes.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, he's book. Um, he gave me a book which is V for vulnerability. Right. And I loved it. I loved everything about it because I think, you know, sometimes. You're right in, in the world. Like I come from a European fan, I'm Italian family. It's all about, you know, we don't show emotion, we don't cry.

Like, you know, we have to be that, that certain persona. And I think sometimes it's okay to be vulnerable. Right. It's our turn to say, Hey, you know what? I'm struggling. This is tough. Um, you know what? I put my heart, like my heart and my sleeve. I put all that effort into that sale. I thought I had it. And it just, the last minute fell over.

I think it's okay to go. You know what? I'm disrupting. It's okay. To be upset. You know what I mean? Um, so look, I really appreciate everything that you've talked about today, but, but mate, before we sort of, um, sort of wrap up, is there somebody in your career that that's been a major influence and why?

[00:37:11] Waldo Waldman: Oh goodness.

You know that there's, there's a lot of folks out there who've uh, who've helped me. I have a saying, make your friends, your mentors and your mentors, your friends, make your friends, your mentors and your mentors, your friends. Yeah. I think what makes me successful in the, up on the big picture perspective.

And there are folks that I can, I could share, but I don't know if there's any one person, but it's just this conglomeration of amazing giving individuals who were always there for me. You I've nurtured relationships, not, not a lot, not like I'm not, I don't think everybody should be your winter. Right. But there are folks that I can call text any day of the week, any time of day.

And they will give me advice, inspiration, encouragement. They'll kick my butt, get me back in that plane. And so. So it's really like, like a, like a conglomeration of folks. But one guy that comes to mind is a friend of mine. Jeffrey Gitomer you wrote the sales Bible, you know, he's always, he's so seasoned.

He's he's an older guy now I've known him for almost 20 years, but we text each other. He brought me into his office when I was, when I was just starting out. We had pancakes together. He gave me advice, invested in me as a person, not because I was going to give him money. I didn't have a paycheck or a dollar sign on my.

He gave his wings away. And so I built this great relationship with them even get high gear Swanton, or of selling power magazine, you know, get hard power, a big magazine. He's coached me a lot. Uh, but, but, but the big thing is if you can, the way you build those relationships as being the time, but if the way you build those wingman relationships as being the type of Wayman that others

can come to.

Absolutely. And if you're open and receptive and help as many people out and you you're, you allow people to come to you for advice. And you're also willing to give it with love, not being weak, not being a yaysayer and saying yes to everything, but truly being assertive and tactful in your feedback because people need to be.

I think some people in all due respect deserve to lose a sale, deserve the lymphodepletion. They didn't nurture it. They didn't do the right steps, but then to say, okay, I'm vulnerable. I messed up. Let me get back out of that dungeon of despair and, and just get back in the jet and keep flying. So that's what resilience is about.

That's what mindset's about. It's not about just as much about fear as it is about, about courage. Yeah, it's not about perfect execution. It's about the perfect preparation and all those things have to keep focusing on those. And then knowing that you have a team behind you, you'll, you'll bounce back from failure and keep, keep striving for, for not, not being a top gun, but striving to be the best, not just to be the best, but the journey to get there.

That's what counts for top before.

[00:40:11] Luigi Prestinenzi: Yeah, it's such an awesome, you know, oh man, I love that because for me, I always say, you know, like when things don't go well, you know, when you have a ho like sometimes no matter how. You know, how much hard work you put into your pipeline and you, and you've ticked all the boxes.

Things just don't go to plan, right? Because it, you cannot control the sale. You can't control the customer saying yes or no. Right? You can, you can influence, you can help them. And, and often say, you know, I've coached a couple of incredible salespeople and there's one that comes to mind, you know, I've, I've coaching for a number of years and we've become sort of best mates.

And he had a difficult time. And I often said to him, you know, You've got to embrace the challenge to appreciate the good, right? Yeah. You've got to know because otherwise you don't have a real appreciation for, for what great is. Right. And, and with that challenge comes great. 'cause you get to learn about yourself.

You get to, you get to uncover things about yourself. You get to, you get to identify things that you might not like about yourself. You know, I've uncovered things about a lot about myself in the last two months. Um, I'm horrified that, you know, um, um, you know, I'm not going to lie. Like I'm looking at it going, man.

I thought, I thought, I thought there were elements of my mindset, which, which I had under control. But what, what it's taught me is I've got another opportunity to learn. I've got another opportunity to grow and be better at what I thought I was great at. It means that, you know what, there's so much more opportunity.

So, mate, I really appreciate your sharing your story with us and talking about, you know, building that mindset and resilience and, and for any of our listeners, where can they go to find you? And we've got to be of an offer that will we'll actually put, you know, put out there for an e-book, but where can they connect?

[00:41:58] Waldo Waldman: So, uh, if they Google Waldo Waldman, Waldo Waldman, uh, th there's you could find a bunch of videos and information on me there, and I'm on social media, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Waldo Waldman as well. Just connect with me there. Let me let, uh, let, let me know when you do that, you heard me on this podcast and then my website is yourwingman.com.

YourWingMan.com. Uh, and so there's a, there's a lot there. I'm on YouTube. I've got a, I got a YouTube page as well. If you like my videos or come up, uh, you know, fan or whatever, all that great stuff. Uh, because there's a lot of folks, you know, what I love about this industry is auto carrier. Um, the coach or on the speaker, you learn so much from, from different people.

I don't care how experienced or inexperienced you are to beautiful thing. Um, and then I mentioned about getting my I'm giving everybody a free download to my, uh, New York times bestseller, never fly solo. It's a, it's a New York times wall street journal bestseller. It's 20 bucks on audible, 20 American bucks, but I'm giving it to all your listeners for free.

Awesome. And if they go to my website, you are winged man.com forward slash. And Fs Nancy Foxtrot Sierra like never fly solo, your all.com forward slash nfs.com. Put your email in, I'll send you a. So the book, the download, and you can share with anybody you want. And then also I'll, I'll send six, three to five minute coaching videos on building resilience in your life, on how to retool, how to avoid distractions, stay focused and more courageous.

And, and especially during times of change and uncertainty, which we surely are going through these days.

[00:43:34] Luigi Prestinenzi: Well, that's awesome. And we'll put all that in the show notes for our listeners, and might've want to say thank you so much for, for coming on our show, sharing some incredible wisdom on. And I appreciate the content that you share and the contribution you're making to.

[00:43:48] Waldo Waldman: You got it. And I appreciate your enthusiasm and energy to it. It's obviously love what you do. And we're never going to have a time like this most like in our lives to truly humble ourselves and find out weaknesses and vulnerabilities and re refuel and retool what's important in our life and our passion.

So in that sense, it's a, it's a blessing for all of us and they, we all, we all, uh, stay healthy and, uh, and make it through to 2021 and get back to businesses.

[00:44:14] Luigi Prestinenzi: Yeah, well, thanks, wingman.

[00:44:18] Waldo Waldman: You got it. God bless you, Luigi. I really enjoyed today.

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