Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Speaker A: Welcome to from caving in to crushing it, the podcast for those who find themselves immersed in adversity and choose to write their story instead of having others write it for them. I'm Drew Durani, and I'm your host. Today's guest is Ken Rusk. Ken Rusk is a best selling author, entrepreneur, and motivational speaker who defied odds by achieving Wall Street Journal bestseller status with his book Blue Collar Cash. Even during the pandemic's challenges. He hosts the podcast comfort, peace and freedom, where he imparts wisdom on personal and professional fulfillment. Ken's impactful course, the path to a successful life, empowers individuals to overcome obstacles and create their own success stories with a unique journey that boasts multiple appearances on Fox and friends, Tucker Carlson Tonight and America's Newsroom. Ken's insights have been featured on Forbes, USA Today, Epoch Times, Fox Business and New York Post. Notably, Ken's achievements are rooted in his unconventional path as he takes pride in his lack of higher education, his diverse accomplishments including being an honorary commander of the 180th Fighter Wing group and earning multiple awards like top workplaces in Ohio, Better Business Bureau, ethics awards, and more than a dozen franchise of the year honors, Ken's entrepreneurial flair shines as the founder of Rusk Industries, a growing portfolio of construction companies with revenue above nine figures. Collaborating with notable figures like Tony and Jarek Robbins, Tucker Carlson, and Evander Holyfield, Ken is actively shaping future american leaders committed to giving back. He supports organizations like Make a Wish, tunnel to Towers and Ronald McDonald House, and he teaches at boys and girls clubs and junior achievement. With a wealth of experience spanning over four decades, Ken Rusk continues to inspire through speaking engagements on workplace culture, life, design and entrepreneurship.
He is working on his next book, which deals with how small to medium sized businesses can create the type of culture that attracts, inspires and retains great employees, all while driving your business to new and greater heights.
Enjoy the show. Ken Rusk, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate this.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: Drew, thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here. Let's rock and roll.
[00:02:56] Speaker A: Absolutely. I want to thank Nick Hutchinson and his colleague James for the introduction.
It meant a lot to me to hear that, that I could have you on. And in doing my research and reading about you, I am impressed about what we're going to talk about because there are so many things that in life we're told we are supposed to do something. We supposed to do it a certain way and it's a myth. And we weren't given this maliciously. This advice. It's from families and generations who passed down and were given that advice.
I really would love you to let us know about the defining moment in your life. Whether it was a tap on the shoulder or the two by four upside the head that really allowed you to ask yourself and say to yourself, Ken, there's a better way to live, and I'm going to live it, and here's what I'm going to do.
You have that readily available, all those defining moments?
[00:03:53] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a couple. There's one in business, and then there's also one in my personal life. In my personal life, I was probably about six or seven years old, and I had had. I had been born with what's called a cleft palate, and I had all kinds of facial deformities. And from the time I was, you know, in preschool to the time I was in five or six, seven years old, eight years old, you know, you get bullied. I mean, you just get brutalized. Kids are. Kids are just mean. You know, they just are. And so I remember at one point, I was surrounded by a bunch of friends, and this bully came up, and he said to me, he goes, you know, who's hanging out with the little monster? Right? And I just remember that I said, you know what? I can continue to cower, or I can throw this back at him and just hope for the best. So with humor, not with punches, with humor, I said, you know what? You're right. I am a scary monster. And I, you know, and the rest of the people laughed at me, and they looked at him and they said, you are such a jerk.
And they kind of turned on him. And from that moment on, I was like, well, I guess humor is going to be the way to deal with these things in my life. And I've been kind of doing that ever since.
[00:05:10] Speaker A: Oh, I love that story. And you're right. There's something that humor just releases different chemicals that anger or physical fighting does. And I love that story, and that's gonna be inspirational to a lot of kids who do get bullied, because I've seen it. And the humor, you know, I wonder what made you at that age come up with the humor piece and not the fighting piece.
[00:05:35] Speaker B: I was just kind of tired. I was kind of tired of being looked down upon. I was kind of tired of being. I was never really shunned by anyone. But, you know, you're walking around the hallways with your books over your face, and it's just, you know, I had a lot of surgeries a lot of scarring and a lot of, you know, all that kind of recovery stuff. So it was, you know, it was tough, but I just decided, you know what? If I'm gonna, if I'm gonna get, if I'm gonna get back in control of this, I'm gonna use self deprecating humor. Like I didn't make fun of himself.
[00:06:07] Speaker A: Yeah, right.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: And it just seemed to click. And I think I've been kind of doing that ever since, using humor as a way to get through things. And I would encourage anyone to do it because it is, it's a risk, okay? Any kind of humor, telling a joke, anything, is a risk, there's no doubt. But that's kind of the genius in it, too, because you get to elicit a reaction from other people, and when it hits and when it works, it's just a wonderful experience. So I decided that was going to be my way. And again, I still do that to this day.
[00:06:40] Speaker A: I love that self advocacy is important. And they were not expecting you to be humorous, and that's the beautiful thing. You caught them by surprise and they had a really natural reaction, and it was a great lesson for you. So that's a beautiful defining moment. And now the professional one. I'm curious to hear about the professional one. See if there's any pattern between the two.
[00:07:01] Speaker B: So when I was younger, I mean, I always had jobs. I was twelve years old, I had a paper route, I worked at a bakery, I worked at a bowling alley. I mean, I did a lot of different things. And one of the reasons I did is because, you know, I had four brothers. We were all under the age of nine at one point. And so we were a very tight knit group. And my father didn't have a lot of extra money at the time. He was working at a grocery store, making $14,000 a year. And so he could do so much for us, and he provided us a great life. When you don't have a lot and you're young, you don't know it. You don't know what you have or don't have.
[00:07:35] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:07:36] Speaker B: So there is a lot, you know, of. He kept the roof over our head, he kept us fed, and he kept us, you know, doing things outside, which kept us busy and kept us, you know, doing things and having fun. But if I wanted something more than that, I had to go out and get it. I had to find a way to control what I, what, you know, if I, if I wanted that new aluminum bat. Cause I played a lot of baseball yep. I had to go out and find, you know, $40 or whatever it cost me to buy that thing. So I had to go find work. And I would find work. I save my money. I had the bat in my mind the whole time, and I thought, wow, this is pretty cool. If I can see something that I want and I kind of put that out in front of me, then all I have to do is try to find a way to go get that thing through work or time or whatever it was. So I learned very early on to control my own, I should say wealth building, rather than letting someone else do it. I wasn't going to let life just happen to me. The typical path, you go to high school and you get good grades, and then you get a scholarship and you go to college and you get a degree, and then you get a job, and then hopefully that job pays you well. Oh, and then you can start living your life. I did it the opposite way. I said, well, let's figure out what I want my life to look like first, based on all these little wins I had, had, you know, the baseball bat and my first used car, those kind of things.
[00:08:56] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: Let's figure out what I want my life to look like first, and then I'll go after it in any way that I can.
I guess that was the moment where I realized that you are in control of your own wealth building. Certainly don't rely on other people to do it for you.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: I love that. And what you were taught is about delayed gratification as opposed to the immediate gratification that happens nowadays where as far as information or stuff you want, kids can do it like that and the parents are going to give it to them. Or online, you get the Amazon package the same day.
There's something too delayed gratification that creates a very solid work ethic or a solid work ethic that creates that delayed gratification and then that anchors you in that feeling.
[00:09:39] Speaker B: Well, and I think the best part about delayed gratification is that word anticipation.
[00:09:46] Speaker A: Okay?
[00:09:47] Speaker B: I look at it this way. So I think everyone, every one of your listeners is probably at one point planned a vacation, right? So for me, I'm going to the beach and I'm planning it in spring break time, okay? That's four months away. So then it's like I'm thinking about my feet in the sand. I'm thinking about the smell of the Coppertone suntan lotion. I'm thinking about the palm trees. I'm thinking about the breeze, the ocean crashing into the sand. I'm thinking about my drink. I'm thinking about my music, the hotel, whatever, right?
[00:10:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: Well, if you can draw that picture in your mind, and every one of us knows how to do that really well, then why can't you anticipate everything in your life? Your first car, your first house, your first relationship, your first cherry or give back moment, whatever it might be? So I actually think that part, the anticipation, is almost as good as the realization of some of these goals. And there's, there's just, there's just a cool thing, knowing that there's something out in the future and you're working your way toward it, and you just got to kind of breathe and get there, and then it's going to be cool. So anticipation to me, on a bunch of varied goals is really the way to live?
[00:10:57] Speaker A: No, absolutely. And the anticipation, and you use just in that example now, you use visualization to enhance the anticipation, to really fortify that desire. And visualization is huge. It's free, right? We can do it every day and everything. And actually, I do see a connection now between professionally and also as a child, you used a lot of visualization that Batman was visualization.
And the small wins that you said is very important, too. Most of us don't celebrate small wins, for sure. And I think the fact that you were able to do that in both professional and personally in a younger age than a lot of us, I think, has helped you contribute to your success now, especially with the fact that, you know, you took control in both of those situations. In the situation about the bullying, you took control by using humor. And then in the business thing, you took control by going out and earning money to be able to earn the purchase that bat. So I think there's a lesson there that you taking control, we can all take control of our thoughts and our words and our actions, and a lot of us don't think we can.
[00:12:14] Speaker B: Well, I can tell you that if you're not taking control, you're giving it to somebody else.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:12:19] Speaker B: That's just a fact. And you might not even know who that person is.
You know, get busy living or get busy not living. Right? You've heard that people say that.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: Absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:12:29] Speaker B: The thing about, you know, me happening to life versus life happening to me, I've always been very mindful of that. I always thought that that was something that, that I kind of espouse. And the interesting thing about visualization, I'm glad you mentioned that because I'm like, I just so respect the power of visualization. And the fact that it's free, it requires no training. But I just learned recently that there's a science behind it. And I think that's the really cool thing about it. People think that when they visualize something, they kind of mindfully attract themselves to it. Okay? And that's true, but there's actually a science going on in your brain that most people don't know about. And believe it or not, I just learned this from Jericho Robbins, who's the son of Tony Robbins. And the cool thing about this is the more you see something, like, if you put a brochure, and I've done this, put a brochure for anything you want on the wall, see it every day, the more you look at that thing, the more these little neurons go. They fire faster and faster in your brain to the point where, you know, you heard of reticular activating systems and all that. Well, the more you see it, the closer those neurons get to the point that. Where they become almost one conscious stream of thought. And the cool thing is, once your brain does that, it actually tricks your body into thinking it already owns that thing.
[00:13:51] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:13:52] Speaker B: So now it puts you in this involuntary subconscious mode of awareness, of actions, of opportunity, to go get that thing. Whether you like it or not, you're going for that thing. And I think that's the really cool part about that. People don't get. They think, well, yeah, I guess if I focus on something, I'm gonna eventually get it. No, if you obsess over something, it's gonna come into your life.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: Right.
[00:14:18] Speaker B: I just think the power of that, again, it requires no college, requires no training. It's free. And the people who do it well live incredibly amazing lives.
[00:14:27] Speaker A: Absolutely. And no, and I thank you for sharing that, because many people do not know the power of the brain and how.
How believing that something is going to happen, the brain only knows what we tell it, you know, and that visualization, and that increases the anticipation, which increases the desire. And so I love that. And, yeah, and I mean, even Tony Robbins, his dad talks a lot about involving all the senses, right? He does those incantations where rather than an affirmation, the incantation, because that just. It stimulates the good chemicals in your body. And you're smelling it, you're feeling it, you're tasting it, you're touching it. I mean, there's so much to that. And we can all acquire it. Like you said, it doesn't take. It doesn't take money. It just takes time and effort.
Yeah.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: And I think the beautiful part about that is, you know, you can start to learn this at any age.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:15:29] Speaker B: You can literally, you can think about an aluminum baseball bat when you're twelve or 13, or you can think about, you know, your house when you're 35. I mean, it doesn't matter when you decide to turn this light bulb on, as long as you do turn it on, because again, I really feel bad for people who live these if then lives where they have all these ifs in a row, and then they think, okay, well, now then I'll be happy. Well, that's crazy. Why wouldn't you start with what happy looks like first?
[00:16:01] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:16:02] Speaker B: And then walk your way slowly towards that eventuality. I mean, you know, you don't mindfully walk the streets looking for a beach. You have the beaches there.
[00:16:12] Speaker A: You walk toward it. Yep.
[00:16:14] Speaker B: And you know what you're going to feel like when you get there. So I just think that if we, if we, we all do this anyway. I mean, just, just getting from, from the time your feet hit the floor on your bed to the time you're at work, you visualize 20 or 30 things. You know, what you're gonna eat, what you're gonna wear, how you're gonna get there. Do I need to get, I mean, you visualize all these things.
[00:16:36] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:16:37] Speaker B: Why aren't you using that same power to visualize your future? Because there's just really no other way to do it.
[00:16:44] Speaker A: Yeah. And I agree 100%. And a lot of it is the way we're trained in life to think. Right. We're trained to, if I have this, then I'll do this and then I'll be this.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:16:56] Speaker A: That's the opposite. The order of manifestation is the complete opposite. It's, you be right, you do, and then you have and then the do piece. You don't put pressure on yourself. You put pressure on the process that you put in place to go, you know, be the person and do the person the way you want to go. It's just unbelievable how the brain works.
[00:17:15] Speaker B: Yeah. There's a thing, and there's another big word that I hope people use a lot more often, and it is proact instead of react.
[00:17:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:26] Speaker B: When you go through life, it's cold outside. I react. I put on a sweater. Okay, the clock is near 08:00 I'm reacting. I gotta get in my car and go. Somebody, when I get to work, is gonna tell me what to do and then I react. And I have to do that thing.
[00:17:41] Speaker A: Right.
[00:17:42] Speaker B: So all day long we are reacting to stimulus. We gotta shut that down for a minute. And we need to start trusting the proactive thoughts in our mind, because if you don't, you never get to things like spontaneity, you never get to things like creativity, you never get the things that like wonderment, curiosity, joy. You never get to any of those emotions because you're just in this prison of reacting to things all day long. And so that's why I really want people to take away from this is, you know, be careful that you're not, you know, just flowing with the current without saying, wait a minute, I got a boat, I got a motor, I can go wherever the hell I want to go. Okay. I can do whatever I want to do, right? And I think if someone could say, okay, how am I going to proact today?
[00:18:32] Speaker A: Yes. Okay, I love it. Proact.
[00:18:34] Speaker B: Let's try that and just, just see.
[00:18:36] Speaker A: Where it takes us now. And Ken, it's true, the critical thinking has been taken out of the youth. And then as we become adults, we don't have the critical thinking. And you're right. Proact versus react. What that does is allows us to take risks.
We don't take risks. Think about what we've been conditioned in when we're supposed to eat, right? We're supposed to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast at eight, lunch at noon, dinner at six. Well, breakfast is just breaking a fast. And the human body, when we're kids, kids eat when they're hungry, right? And all of a sudden then we're told, oh, no, now you're an adult. And we go into this mode of what we've been taught. Oh, now I'm an adult now. But even as a kid, we as parents are conditioning our kids to do it around the educational system, right? And then they're conditioning us to do stuff. So we are almost conditioned not to try to heal ourselves.
[00:19:35] Speaker B: Well, what's the hottest, newest, most healthy trend you can do right now?
Fasting. Right?
[00:19:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:42] Speaker B: Not eating those three squares every day.
[00:19:44] Speaker A: Right.
[00:19:45] Speaker B: Trying to find a way to get your body to, to enjoy the injury of hunger, injury of stress, to get your body to react to that, to become tougher, that have your immune system get better, have your growth hormones boost, have your metabolism jump. You know, we're learning that hunger is healthy.
[00:20:09] Speaker A: It is.
[00:20:10] Speaker B: And that's what drives me crazy, is you just, you kind of slowly just walk this walk towards another meal. And it just doesn't have to happen that way.
[00:20:19] Speaker A: No, it doesn't. And we can even go back to what you talked about anticipation.
If we let allow our body to do what it's designed to do, it's natural anticipation. It's organic. It just.
So a lot, lot is coming out of this conversation, Ken, and I appreciate it. So let's take you from those two defining moments, how it's kind of gotten you to.
I want to get back to that decision because we talk about your dad and what he did for a living. And I'm going to assume were you one of the first who could have gone to higher education in college and chose not to. I love that part of your life that I'd love to hear more about.
[00:21:04] Speaker B: So when I was 15, my high school shared a fence with an industrial park. Lots of businesses in there, very busy hustling and bustling. And there was a hole in that fence that we used to always cut through to go to the carry out after school. That's kind of what we did back in the day. And I just remember walking through these industrial parks and seeing these businesses going crazy with, you know, people and a equipment and things moving around. And I thought, you know, that's. That's cool. I wonder what they do there. I knew someone that had worked at one of these companies, so, you know, basically it was like, what are we doing while we're digging ditches and we fix old, wet, smelly basements? And I said, well, I think I'm qualified to do that.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: I love it.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: So during, you know, I wanted my first new used car, right? I wanted to take my girlfriend out for pizza or go bowling with my.
And so I just remember, I said, well, I'm going to do this. So I worked in the summertime, you know, working around these basements using a jackhammer and mixing concrete and digging ditches and stuff like that. And then in the winter time, when I was still in high school, I'd work in the office after school.
[00:22:05] Speaker A: Okay?
[00:22:05] Speaker B: So I kind of got a good idea what the front and the back of the house look like and how they ran.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: Right?
[00:22:11] Speaker B: When I was 18, my boss came to me and said, hey, I know you're 18. You're thinking about college, you're thinking about whatever, but I am going to open up franchises of this company around the midwest, and I think you'd be good at doing that. So just so you know, I'm going to give you that opportunity. So I went to my father, and I said, my father didn't go to college either, but I said, what do you think? And he said, well, it sounds to me as almost like you get to open companies from scratch. You get to use other people's money. You get to make mistakes on other people's dimes. You get to hone your skill on, you know, a program that's been kind of proven already. You just have to replicate it. That sounds to me like as much business school as business school would ever teach you. So I was like, you're right, and I wanted to do it. So for the next four years, I lived in Columbus, in Cincinnati, in Chicago, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And we opened these companies from literally dirt. We had to build the walls, and we had to get all the contractors in to do the phone systems and the equipment and everything. And then we had to hire the place up, get a bunch of people in, buy a few dump trucks, and then move on to the next one. So that was pretty cool. I did that for four years. Got tired of living out of a suitcase, which a lot of people do.
[00:23:27] Speaker A: Right?
[00:23:27] Speaker B: And then settled down in Toledo, Ohio, in 1986. Started with about six people, and I think we have over 200 today, so it's been a hell of a ride.
[00:23:37] Speaker A: Oh, Ken, I love that. And big hug to your father, because you think about what the trajectory of your life would have been correct if dad said, I didn't go to college. You're the first opportunity to go to, like, a lot. This happens a lot to people, and they pride themselves on being the first in the generation to go to college, which is a beautiful thing. The fact that your father allowed you to follow your dreams, because he could have easily shut that down.
[00:24:05] Speaker B: Sure.
Sure. I can tell you that he. Even if he did talk. Even if he did try to talk me out of it, I probably would have bucked it, because I.
[00:24:15] Speaker A: You would have.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: I think I liked this other path of me, experimenting, opening businesses.
[00:24:21] Speaker A: You know what I mean?
[00:24:22] Speaker B: I thought. Because I always thought I'd like to work for myself anyway, right. You know, this is a great way to learn, so.
And we did. We had a blast doing it. We had a lot of fun. And, you know, it's funny because a lot of people will ask me, don't you regret not going to school? Don't you regret not being in the. In the whole. You know, the life where you're living at college? And that wasn't in the cards for me anyway, because that was way too expensive for me to live at school. My dad couldn't afford to do that.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:24:51] Speaker B: But the answer is no, because I got to be honest with you. I've been. I've been very blessed. I've been very successful, and I mean, eternally grateful for all of it, but nobody ever rolled up into my driveway and saw what I've accomplished and said, wow, man, what degree do you have? I mean, exactly.
[00:25:06] Speaker A: It's not the first thing. Yeah.
[00:25:08] Speaker B: They might say, how'd you grind this life out? And I'm certainly happy to tell them that story.
[00:25:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:14] Speaker B: But, you know, I guess I have a nephew who's, or I should say have a niece who's a dermatologist. Fantastic. But she went to school knowing that she was going to be a dermatologist.
[00:25:28] Speaker A: Big difference.
[00:25:29] Speaker B: She had a subject she wanted, she took the classes, and she had a job waiting for her on the other side. Fine. I'm not anti college. If you're going to come at me with a knife to get me to work on my shoulder so I can get back on the golf course, I want you to know everything there's to know about a scalpel before you come in.
[00:25:46] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:25:48] Speaker B: Same thing goes with a teacher, an engineer, an architect, whatever.
But if you're going just because someone tells you you have to and you don't have something specific waiting for you on the other side, man, there's a whole lot of more efficient, lot less costly ways to start your life off, that's for sure.
[00:26:06] Speaker A: Absolutely. And, yeah. So agree wholeheartedly. And more likely than not, I wouldn't have agreed five years ago because it was ingrained in me that this is what you need to do. Having my two older sons kind of buck the system because it wasn't for them. And me, kind of through my wisdom and experience of what I've gone through, softening on my, my stance has allowed them to do things similar to what you're doing. It's very important. I mean, I. I wish in this society, they'd push for the gap years, take two, three years out of high school, find out what your passion is. Because if you have a passion and you can monetize that passion, and it's not a job. Right.
And so if that was the norm, I think we'd have a lot stronger adults and we'd have people who will be able to find their way a little earlier in life because I know so many people who just go into college because they're told to do it undeclared major. They graduate not knowing what they want to do or the job market sucks or whatever, and they're still trying to find their way, and then they're struggling because the cost of living and buying a new home and all this kind of stuff. Yeah. And I think there is going to be. I mean, I know how much money is made with the universities and all that, but like you said, if people know what they want to do because they want to do it, and it requires a license or a degree or a certificate to get that. And you need schooling for that. Absolutely. But the school of hard knocks is as important.
[00:27:42] Speaker B: First off, you're a pretty good dad yourself for allowing them to doing what they're doing, and I'm sure they're going to be successful.
The thing about what's happening with colleges now is there are these many colleges that are like, accelerated, but they only have the actual, like, I'm not saying this for surgery, but they only have the surgical part. That's all you learn. You don't learn the whole twelve years of everything else that you don't need.
[00:28:10] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:28:10] Speaker B: So they're working on skills like computer skills, cybersecurity, coding, all those kinds. I mean, Apple hired half of their people two years ago without a college degree.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:28:22] Speaker B: They wanted them to know what they wanted them to know, not what everybody else did. So.
[00:28:27] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:28:27] Speaker B: You know, I think, you know, I wrote an open letter, it's on my website, to parents. And I said, I get it. You know, you birthed your child, you clothed your child, you raised your child, you fed your child, you know, you sheltered them, you taught them what you could teach them. And now for some reason, society is forcing you to say, I'm not done as a parent until they have a degree on the wall.
[00:28:50] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: That has never been true in the history of society, I can tell you that. You know, that's not your badge of honor, okay? Because I know a kid that went to college, he didn't want to. He wanted to be a carpenter. Now he's got this bland business degree. He comes out with 100 grand in debt. He's making 32,000 at a car rental place. And his buddy, who is a carpenter, is now knocking down 150 grand a year, no debt. And he's got this money and he almost thinks, like, I've been, like, you know, I've been criminally misled in this whole process.
[00:29:31] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:29:32] Speaker B: Because here I am, 100 grand in debt, and how am I ever going to pay this kid? You know, carpenter guy has got a brand new pickup truck and he's bought his first house and he's well on his way. This other guy is trying to pay off debt to something he's never going to use. And I do. I mean, it's not criminal, but it's cruel.
[00:29:52] Speaker A: It is cruel. I'm with you.
[00:29:54] Speaker B: Lead these people down this path. And that's why I was on, I was on Fox and friends the other day, and I said they should have some type of, I don't want to say culpability, but they should have some type of connection. If they're going to take your money and you don't have a very specific degree, then they need to be part of the risk for the student loan. And also they need to be part of, part and parcel to getting you a job.
[00:30:26] Speaker A: Absolutely. It should be job placement. Part of. Yes.
[00:30:29] Speaker B: And there's enough jobs out there that they can get every one of them a job if they want to agree. So the problem is it's, you know, graduating class of whatever, 2023 onto the next class. Forget about the ones last year.
[00:30:42] Speaker A: They do. Yep.
[00:30:43] Speaker B: And get the money. So it really is a shame. And that's why I'm doing this, because if I can help one kid go, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute. You know the $400,000 swing, right?
[00:30:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:56] Speaker B: I could put 50 a year into college for four years and come out in debt up to, up to 200,000. Or I can start a job right now making 50 grand four years from now. That's 200,000. On the plus side, that's a $400,000 swing by the time you're 23.
[00:31:12] Speaker A: Absolutely. Yeah.
[00:31:14] Speaker B: So if I can get one person off the path of that and onto the path of prosperity, then I think what I'm doing will have been worth it.
[00:31:23] Speaker A: I agree. And I wholeheartedly support what you're doing, Ken, because think about it, the better late than never. I agree with that. Because who's to say they, if they want to go to college now, they've got money that they've earned, they're choosing when they want to go.
What's wrong being 40 years old and then going to college? I would much rather you enjoy it more. Yeah, right. You enjoy life more.
[00:31:51] Speaker B: You know. You know more about life. You would enjoy it more, that's for sure.
[00:31:55] Speaker A: Absolutely. Ken, this has been absolutely wonderful, and I thank you. And, you know, the audience certainly has the essence of Ken Rusk right now.
Guys, everybody, audience. If you want to get in touch with Ken, go to kenrusk.com. And he also supports an organization, veteransuccess.org dot. Did I get that right?
[00:32:18] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:32:18] Speaker A: And if you want to check out any of the social medianrusky official would be where you can find him. Before I get to my last two questions. Ken, please tell the audience what you're specifically what you are doing now to help others. And you have a book coming out, too, if you'd like to talk about that. We'd love to learn about it.
[00:32:39] Speaker B: Yeah. So I wrote a book called Blue Collar Cash, and it came out three years ago, and it became a bestseller last fall. Thank God. Again, very blessed and very grateful.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:32:48] Speaker B: Who knew that anyone would want to listen to what I had to say?
[00:32:50] Speaker A: I love it.
[00:32:51] Speaker B: What it does is it kind of talks about what we talked about today in the perspective of someone 17 to 24 who's just kind of starting out, okay, trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives. Now, the second book that's coming out is going to be from the perspective of the boss, the owner, or the manager. How do I create a culture where I can attract that guy or I can attract that gal and keep them there and have them realize that they're working for themselves first and me second?
[00:33:23] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:33:23] Speaker B: If they're winning, I'm winning. Okay. It's a beautiful partnership. So that's the other book that I'm working on, the. The course that I built. I'm really proud of it because, you know, a lot of times you. Someone will read a book and they'll put it on the shelf and they'll go, man, that was an awesome book. But then they don't take any action.
[00:33:41] Speaker A: Exactly. The implementation. Yeah.
[00:33:43] Speaker B: They call that shelf help, not self help, which I think.
[00:33:46] Speaker A: I love that.
[00:33:48] Speaker B: So this course actually forces you to take the book and change your life this afternoon, like. Like now, not tomorrow, not next week, but like, today, right now. And it's called the path to a successful life. And it's on. It's on the website as well. And I'm really proud of that because it. It. First off, I. It's dollar 179. You get a free dollar 25 book with it, and it's $150 to change your life. I donate a lot of that money to charity anyway.
[00:34:17] Speaker A: I love it. That's a bargain, man. Even if. Wow.
[00:34:20] Speaker B: So it's just a great way to say, okay, I'm done. I'm taking control of my life, like, right now. So I'm doing that. And then with the veterans organization, we're going to give that course in my book away for free to gold star families and their kids and people that are in the military that are coming out and trying to figure out what they want to do.
[00:34:41] Speaker A: Oh, that's wonderful, Ken. That's wonderful. I've got a lot of people who are helping the veterans. So if you do want to meet people to spread that word, I'd be more than happy to introduce. I got plenty of them because that's where I. I'm gonna be putting my time and effort and volunteer work with the veterans.
[00:34:58] Speaker B: I mean, you can go there and donate $10 if you want to help. One soldier is $179. You can donate $10 and help the cause.
[00:35:04] Speaker A: So beautiful. We'll promote that.
So, Ken, what's. Do you have a name for the second book coming out yet?
[00:35:13] Speaker B: We're messing around with the word cool boss, which is blue collar rules from a white collar world, so.
[00:35:19] Speaker A: Yeah, I like that. All right, well, let me know when the pre order and stuff is going to be, and I'll definitely come back.
[00:35:26] Speaker B: And talk to you about it.
[00:35:27] Speaker A: Absolutely. Well, Ken, two questions to ask you before we head out.
[00:35:31] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:35:32] Speaker A: So you have the opportunity, sitting down with seven to ten year old Ken and to give him advice about life. What would you tell him?
[00:35:39] Speaker B: I think the first thing I would tell him is what we talked about earlier. Believe it or not, at such a young age, you're already in control of what your future looks like. You just have to start dreaming about it. You just have to start drawing it out. You have to take your crayons and need you to draw, you know, your favorite car, your favorite house, your favorite pet. What color? I mean, what kind? A dog or a cat. What color, what would you name it? You need to start visualizing how you think your life is going to look like going forward. And believe it or not, I did this at a very young age. So some people say, well, that's too young to ask them to think about that. It's really not because they know what's cool in their own little world. They know their favorite color. They know their favorite sports team. They know their favorite food. So just keep going on that. What would your favorite house look like? What would your favorite, you know, your favorite give back moment? If I gave you $20 and you had to give it away, who would you do? What would you do with it? You know, what's your favorite sport? What's your favorite hobby? What's your favorite health moment? Start to really draw that out and keep dreaming about it between, because you're going to be 15 before you know it and have to start making some decisions, and you want to make those decisions based on what that picture is in your mind. So that, that's. That's what I would say to a six or seven year old.
[00:36:48] Speaker A: I love that advice. I just heard a quote the other day. It says, if. If your dream is the seed, then visualization is the fertilizer.
[00:36:57] Speaker B: Absolutely, 100%.
[00:36:59] Speaker A: And I love that. So thank you for.
All right, so now switch hats. You're sitting down with young Ken, the young entrepreneur, young businessman, and you want to give him advice about business. What are you going to tell him?
[00:37:12] Speaker B: What I'm going to tell him is there's no heroics in working 70 hours a week, even though people think there is. Okay. You know, you come home to your wife or your husband, and you're like, oh, man, you beat your chest, and you're like, I fixed this. I changed that. I built this. I motivated that. I screamed at this guy for that. I did all these things. I am the shell. Answer me and look at me go, okay. That's the quickest way to burn out and mediocre results. So here's the controversial part. As a young entrepreneur, your goal should be to surround yourself with intrapreneurs as quickly as you can. These are people that aren't willing to take the risk that you did, like me buying 40 dump trucks, but they want to feel like they're running their own show. So have them do that with and through your company. Allow them to share in the profits of what happens from their efforts. Allow them to control, allow them the decision making authority, and become irrelevant as quickly as you can to your own company from a mechanical standpoint. That way you can float above the company in a helicopter, tear the roof off, look down, and see where you want to plug yourself in. So the irrelevant entrepreneur is the most powerful entrepreneur you'll ever be. And again, the only caution is it asks you to drop the ego. Okay, this is.
[00:38:33] Speaker A: There's the controversy.
[00:38:34] Speaker B: Yep, gotta drop that. But it doesn't matter, because when, when they all win, you win in the end in a big way. They will help you take your company way further than you can take it yourself. So I want you to think about being as irrelevant as you can, as quickly as you can.
[00:38:50] Speaker A: Oh, I absolutely love that. The irrelevant entrepreneur must, must throw away his ego, right? I love it. Ken, thank you so much, man. Well, you've added a lot to my life today, and I'm grateful you're in my life. There are reasons why certain people meet certain people. I got to thank Nick and James for introducing us. Ken, keep doing what you're doing. Wonderful human being, man. You've got a wonderful story. So looking forward to reading both of your books and loved learning about you and how you are making the world a better place, my friend.
[00:39:23] Speaker B: Well, thanks Drew, and good luck to your sons and I'd be happy to come back anytime. Obviously you and I love talking about this stuff, so I'd be happy to come back anytime.
[00:39:31] Speaker A: Sounds great. Appreciate it. All right, be well everybody.
Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe and give us a review to help others find it I'd like you to answer this question. Are you living the life you want to live, or are you living the life others want you to live? I'd like you to think about that for a second because I strongly suggest you live the life you want to live. If you want to learn more about what I stand for and my services and how I'm able to help many men get out of their own way, please go to my website at www.prophetcompassion.com.
Feel free to also email me at drewrofetcompassion. I'd love to have a conversation with you. Take care of yourself and choose to write your own story instead of letting others write it for.
