Episode Transcript
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 0:01
Once upon a time, there were 10s of 1000s of makers struggling every day they build for hours and hours, but they didn't ship and they didn't earn enough income. One day, the no code wealth podcast came to help them find a way. Because of this, these makers became founders and live the lives they deserve. Because of that, these founders live lives of abundance, freedom, and creativity. That's what I'm really all about. Hello, my name is Aziz and from being a poor boy born to a single mother in North Africa, with no opportunities, just sheer hard work to failing multiple startups, yet learning a whole lot to barely escaping alive the war in Ukraine, even living as an illegal immigrant. I've lost everything twice. And now, I'm rebuilding my life one more time. 1% today sharing the wisdom of luminaries of interviewed on this podcast from Google executives to Amazon, Microsoft, Forbes, Technology Council, Harvard Financial Times, Goldman Sachs and even a priest from the Vatican church. Everyone is welcome, here. So let's begin. My guest today is Eric Melchor. Eric is the host of the fun StartUp podcast, innovators can laugh, he works as a partnership ambassador at bonjoro. Eric describes himself as a mediocre tennis player, he is a Texan expat living in Romania. Eric, how are you today?
Eric Melchor 1:52
Aziz is I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 1:55
I'm excited about this. I'm looking forward to explore your mind and your thoughts and everything. So is there something that you're thinking about these days, that's important in your life or an insight, you're trying to apply more of a problem you're trying to solve or something that is demanding your attention again, and again. And again.
Eric Melchor 2:20
Yeah, I would be more time, more time to do the things that I'm passionate about. And those things are spending quality time and activities with my kids, growing my podcast, making it better. And then also just doing really good quality work for bonjoro, which is a good startup. And it's a job that I love. So it's just finding that time to do all these things to the level that I want to do them in.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 2:46
Thank you. And let's go deeper into this because I love one of my favorite essays is Berkner Bairstow hustle Bertrand Russell's in praise of idleness, which is from the 1930s. And he speaks about how the more machines we have, or nowadays, the more technology supposedly we should have more time. But we end up with overworking, even more multiplying our work needs because of those technologies, machines and all that. So I'll ask you a simple question that I have been thinking about a lot, which is this is it, that the standards that are demanded of us because of the technology and the elevation of the ability to do work are much higher, and therefore, we need more time to reach those, or the technologies are not delivering on their promises there being some kind of like entertainment where I know some people, they learned some productivity methods, and they spend more time optimizing the method, then use it. What's your perspective on this?
Eric Melchor 3:53
I think it's the latter. I think people just had this inability to focus now because they have all these interruptions, they get these notifications on their phone, and they get you know, all of a sudden, they go down this rabbit hole of scrolling on something on an application or maybe they're on Twitter or Instagram. And so I think it's the latter as ease.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 4:14
So if we already know the problem, why is it so difficult to solve?
Eric Melchor 4:20
Well, I think it's a pretty easy solution for people who are just really focused on one thing, right? Whereas somebody who is trying to maybe do a side hustle, in addition to doing who has a job in addition to being a parent now that's where it gets a little bit complicated because you just don't have the kind of hours that you would if you were just really doing one thing, you know me I'm juggling four different things, parenting, podcasting, my job, and then also another project that I really don't share, but it's close to my heart. And so it's just that's what Where the struggle comes in and the obstacle, your obstacles come in.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 5:04
Thank you, that makes me think of the Parkinson's Law, which is that any task you have will expand to fill whatever time you have it in. And therefore the logical conclusion based on that is to literally limit the time you will spend on those specific activities or, like a wonderful, wonderful book is called The now habit, where he says schedule time with family fun time, first in your week, and then the rest, put it for work so that you're not every day looking forward to even more work, you have some exciting sprinkled things all around? What do you think about this?
Eric Melchor 5:42
Now, when I'm not, I definitely think that you need to schedule a fun time. You know, what are the things that I do is, at least once a week, I make it a point to try to meet with friends engage with friends, it's very, very important because for me true wealth is an addition to not just income, but true wealth is the number of personal relationships that you have good quality relationships, good friendships. And so I do like that approach that you are making time on your schedule to spend time with family and friends. So I definitely agree with that. You know, once a year, I schedule a trip with just me and my my buddies, friends that I've known for years, that if I didn't schedule this trip, chances are I could probably go an entire year without seeing them. But it's a good trip. It keeps us all engaged. It keeps the friendship tight friendship type, we all look forward to it. And it's it's, it's just strengthening that friendship and those bonds that we had developed over the years and making sure that they're still there that they just don't, they just don't evaporate over time, because of the lack of not being able to see each other. So I agree with that statement.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 6:52
Thank you. I want to speak about relationships and all that because it's very important. But still, I want to stay on that point a bit more. Maybe it's a redundant question. But it's a different angle on the same thing. Should we have everything, because I remember someone and I said, Come on said, the day you'll die, you'll be as busy as today. Which, like, look, work never ends, working out never ends. Whatever it is time with family, you can always add more. It's a never ending thing. So should we go for this idea of exceptionalism where you should have some amazing everything in every way, or should we satisfy which is to have good enough and everything so that we will have balance in a way that doesn't burn us out?
Eric Melchor 7:45
I definitely think that, you know, we should be satisfied with what we have. It's it leads just to greater happiness, you'll be content in life, you'll be less stress, less anxiety, you're not in this rat race to, to try to, you know, get some achievement or some goals accomplish. But if you are content where you are, if you can, if you can, at least every night before you go to sleep, and jot down two or three things that you're grateful for. At least that's what that's what I do, it's one of the things I do for my life, then you'll find out that you actually have a really good life, a very happy life, if you can be if you can learn to be satisfied and content with what you've accomplished, or where or where you are right now in law in life. So that's what I think.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 8:34
Thank you, I still believe that's much harder to do than just to imagine, because this is my belief, we live in a society that of course wants to progress. But because of that, there is this pressure for people to aim to be or to overwork to never be satisfied. Why? Because individually, most people will fail. But on average, if you will succeed, and those will change society. And the future is like in entrepreneurship, where 98% of the people who fail basically and waste time and money while 2% They become unicorns and the next, like big shot or whatever, who brings the next innovation and to the marketplace to society to the economy. That's good compared to if everybody was satisfied and never tried to go for the exceptional, therefore how to fight being in the matrix where every string is pulling on you like a puppet, whether it's social media or whatever, in order for you to do more to work harder to never rest to sleep negative two hours a day.
Eric Melchor 9:49
Yeah, yeah, I think you know, depending on where you are in life, I mean, if you're in your 20s or 30s You should be ambitious. You should be working Getting 60 plus hours a week, right? At least, at least that's how I feel. But when you are when you do be have a family, when you get a little bit older in life, you realize, okay, what do I really want out of life? How do I care? How can I design my life for happiness? And that's the point where I'm at right now. I looked at my life, and I thought about, okay, what, what don't I like doing? What don't I like? And I just put everything on paper. And so I look back. And I think, okay, I don't like being in traffic, you know, spending a lot of time in traffic, right. So I changed, I changed that right now I can walk my kids to school, I can take a little scooter or walk to the kosher space, it's so much, so much relief, and so much less anxiety than I had previously. Right, I changed where I live. So now, now our bills are almost cut in half. And we're not really worried about paycheck to paycheck or living, you know, living paycheck to paycheck, we can save a lot more. So I am at the stage where I've designed or I am designing my life for happiness. And I think for most people, that that never, that thought process never really occurred to them. Or if it does occur, it's occurred to them, it happens too late in life, they can't really do much about it, because they're tied down with their career, they don't feel like they can make a change in their career, or their living situation, maybe they feel stuck, and that they have high expenses now, and they've got to stay in the same job in order to cover those expenses. So I feel very good where I'm at right now. I mean, I had a change, big change of career moving into SAS, about a year ago, coming from a real retail electricity background where I worked for large companies, and now I'm at a startup. So it's been very drastic changes in my life over the past two years. And I, I'm just so much happier than I, the person I was in whatever the situation I was just a little over a couple of years ago. And so I'm not as ambitious that I used to be, but I in a way I still am. Because previously, I didn't have this opportunity to work on a side hustle, this podcast that I'm growing. And now I am I'm meeting all kinds of new people developing all these new friendships. And even though it's not a good place where it is right now, I still want it to grow, I still am a little bit hungry. So my mythology of what I do with that ambition, what I do at that time has changed. I used to be a very self reliant person where I would try to figure the answer myself, I would go read as much as I could, I will listen to different podcasts, I would really focus in on trying to solve it by myself, whatever the solution was, or whatever the the hurdle that I was trying to overcome. Now, I think back and I think, Okay, I've got this obstacle in my life, who can I reach out to, to help me. So I'll give you an example right now. My podcast downloads, they've kind of stalled, they're no longer growing. And so instead of the of the of the person that I used to be, instead of like, trying to figure it out and think, Okay, let me work on the marketing on the copywriting, how I position it, how are distributed. Instead, I actually reached out to other podcasts, podcast hosts and said, Hey, how about forming a little podcast peer group, we can just get together on a call discuss things that are working for you, different strategies, different tactics, you know, we all share our insights. And this has been a tremendous help for not just my podcast, but I think for everybody that's a part of the group. And so it's a different, it's a different tactic that I'm doing now versus what I would have done years ago. You know, just trying to just try and accomplish everything and be self reliant. So I felt like I've grown a growing a tremendous with this approach, and who I am and trying how I focus on on different tactics. But anyway, I'm running off on a tangent there, but how I've designed my life now is a great point in my life where I am in so I kind of forgot the original question here. As always, if you can help me out.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 14:15
No worries. I have other questions. I noticed you mentioned relationships three times in the beginning, you spoke about the importance of quality relationships in your life. And then you spoke about trips with your buddies every year in order to keep and maintain those relationships and now how podcasts and is a source of new relationships and alliances and friendships for you. So what's your thought or perspective or theory of friendships? How do you network and how like, not me, but I'm speaking for my audience. A lot of founders know a lot of people, but they either don't dare or don't know how to or anything, either. Ask for help. or find a way to build a relationship that is helpful to both? Or whatever it is, can you share the way you do it?
Eric Melchor 15:08
Sure, absolutely. I mean, my thought on friendships a friendship to me is somebody that I can reach out to, and I can entrust with a very important task. Maybe it's like, Hey, I've got an emergency I can attend, I've got to go go to, can you watch my kids for a couple of hours? Right? If that person, you know, is more than willing to do it, if it's somebody that I trust to reach out to, to me that that is a friendship. Right? So I think people will sometimes people get confused between acquaintances versus friendships, you know, acquaintances is somebody that you know, you'll go out and maybe have lunch with or get together with go to their birthday party or whatever. But are they truly a friendship? I mean, are they going to be there for you in a time of need? And so I really like taking the time of developing a friendship. How do I do that? Well, you know, give you an idea. When I started this podcast, I started reaching out because because I interview startup founders, I really focused on Romanian startup founders, because after all, I'm living in Romania. And during the interview, and even after the interview, if it was somebody that I just felt like I clicked with who I felt like this would be a good friendship, then I made it a point to let's put a date on the calendar, let's get together over the weekend, let's get together over dinner, or whatever. And after interviewing probably 20 Different Romanian founders, I can say, a good seven or eight of those have become really good friendships, people that I see on a consistent basis. Now, people that have gotten to know me and my family. And, you know, they're friends now. And that has made the experience of living abroad living in a foreign country so much better, because now it's not just my wife and her family that I've gotten to know. But it's these other people that I've gotten to know I've gotten to know their families, I've gotten to know their backgrounds, their stories, and it's just made the experience so much better. And so that's one way I develop friendships. And the other way too, is on Twitter or LinkedIn, you know, because of COVID, you don't really get out as much and go to these, these different events and personal events. And so anybody that I've gotten a chance to engage with repeatedly, I will actually invite them to just a virtual coffee shot, and get on a zoom call with them, get to know them a little bit better talk to them, you know, in real time, and a few of these, you know, a few of these people, I would say, Wow, I would really love to meet them in person if there's the opportunity to and actually, I'm going to meet one person in a couple of weeks, my wife and I are going to Spain for a wedding and one of these people that I actually met over Twitter, we're going to have lunch with her when we get there because she lives in Madrid. And so that's that's the other way. How I how I develop these friendships is just inviting people to a virtual colleague coffee, who have I had a chance to engage with over over social media.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 18:12
Thank you. This is really interesting. And you mentioned also the jam or the change from working, I think you you mentioned in electric or the electric field to SAS now, is this correct? That's correct. How? What's your perspective on size? Do you believe it's the future? Like what's your whole thing as well as something very important? You spoke about having much more stability now that you work for a startup, etc. But by definition, startups are risky, they can go bankrupt any moment. They're not like a corporate or blue chip vein. So how do you handle that? Or you don't even think about that?
Eric Melchor 18:59
Well, I don't I don't really think about it. Because in in Texas where I worked, and I worked for large, even large retail electricity companies, even some that Republican traded, being in a director role where I had teams, well, in Texas, it's your employer collinear can lay you off without no reason. And that's what actually happened a couple of times in my career, walked in one day, found out 30% of the company was being laid off and had to sit in a room with HR in them let me know in some way other other staff know that we were no longer you know, employee that it was our last day had to witness my one of my colleagues who was on my team who was seven months pregnant, you know, cry right next to me and ask the question, you know, what's gonna happen with my insurance because I'm pregnant. And so I've been in that situation before and again with COVID happen when the company made some, you know, drastic cuts in realize, okay, we're probably not going to hit ourselves quota, let's lay off some people. And so I've experienced that multiple times. So being at a startup, sure, it's risky. But hey, I've already experienced that going to work. And and Oh, Eric, this is your last day, by the way. So it's, it's like I've been there done that I don't have any, any fear of something going wrong, and all of a sudden, I no longer have a job. Does that make sense as ease?
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 20:33
Yes, I understand that. In the US or like you mentioned in Texas, there is that ability to just lay off someone, so you're used to it. And that makes me also think because I was speaking to someone else. When you're dealing with startups, especially you don't know the average or the salary or whatever is happening. It's not like those companies, where you can have the blue glass door or whatever websites telling you. How do you know, it's not only for you, but I know people who are side hustling in an awkward community, and they get jobs and startups. And then they think, am I getting underpaid for all the work? Because I don't know about you. But many startups here begin in one position. And suddenly, you end up with 3.5 jobs, that you're responsible for things by a lab. So how do you know you're getting paid fairly? How do you negotiate? Do you negotiate the salary? How do you ensure because all startups, of course, will try to save on salaries in order to hire more people or spend more on marketing or whatever, but there is this black box where you don't know how much they're paying anybody, and sometimes even events. And this is a funny story where there was someone who was working very hard. When I joined some startup, I said, Okay, I want the same salary as him. And they were like, Oh, that's so nice. He's an investor, so he doesn't get paid at all. And I'm like, Dude, you're trying to abuse me. So they were saying, well, he will get paid when the company like, gets sold, or whatever. That's why he's hustling so hard for it. And so let me know your perspective on this.
Eric Melchor 22:14
Okay, well, I understand where the founders that position that they're in, right, you know, they have a goal to get to a certain amount of ARR, or MRR, and they can't afford the high salaries, they can't afford the high salaries for the talent that they're seeking. So I understand that. And so that's where I feel like, you know, anybody who joining a startup that's going to be in a role where they have a responsibility to be, you know, to drive revenue, to help the business grow, they should get some sort of equity in their compensation. And so that's, you know, that's one of the reasons that you would take a lower salary is because you're getting that equity. And so that's, that's the position that I'm in. And I think that every year or you know, after at least the first year, you've got to work your butt off and prove that you're, you're an asset for the company that you're there, you know, to drive growth. And if that happens, and if the company if the feeling's mutual, then you should get more equity. That's, that's how I feel about it, Aziz.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 23:25
Thank you so much. And you spoke about being in a different phase in your life, if you could go back in time and give yourself a piece of advice in your 20s or whatever, based on what you know now, or if you were 20. Today, in 2022, what piece of advice you'd give yourself that will make a big difference.
Eric Melchor 23:48
Wow, I was I probably your area, everything in life is funny, it's not linear. I didn't have my first real job until I was in my early 30s. Aziz. In fact, I left for New York City, I think at the age of 27. And I started a non paid internship, I waited tables, I started grad school, you know, 28, and living in New York City. And I had really nothing to show for it for for the age that I was. And my first real gig, you know, was making very minimal salary at a small agency. But everything worked out. Everything worked out. I years later returned to Houston and making a very good salary for a number of years different really retail electricity, but I don't think I would have gotten to that point. Had I not taken the risk of going to New York City, and really taking a big chance and trying to make it there and get into marketing and advertising like like I did. So I'm not really sure what I would tell myself when I was 20 The only thing I would probably tell myself is those investment books that you plan on reading, read them a lot sooner, you know, let's go ahead and read them now, because I didn't start reading about finance and investment until I was probably in my 30s. When I read those books, and my, you know, when I was 20, I think I'd be in a lot better position than I am right now, in terms of in terms of finding financial. So that's what I would what I would tell myself my, you know, the 20 year old, but everything is has worked out pretty good. I've designed my life, you know, just to be a lot more happy and a lot more stress, you know, stress free, and it was a big, a big risk that my wife and I took moving to Bucharest, and in 2020, and the first year was a big struggle, because I didn't have a job here, we were living off one salary. And the kids were often home at the same time because of COVID restrictions and that and so you're trying to freelance and trying to get a job or do some work for clients, and you're trying to watch the kids at the same time. And it was it was probably a rough point, you know, in our in our lives, but just you just kept at it, you know, kept looking at the positive things. And over time I landed a role that is very well suited for me with the company and colleagues that I love working with. It's a culture that I love being a part of, I've got a lot more flexibility, I do feel that I work probably three times as hard as I did when I was in corporate because in corporate, I could probably work 20 hours and got all my work done. But here, it's like I can work 5060 hours. And there's still so much to do, as you said, at the start if you're working you know 334 different jobs. And it's always busy. There's there's always ideas, and there's always not enough time to execute, execute on those ideas. But I love it. I love it. It's fantastic. And they actually enjoy that I have a podcast on the side. And I'm actually able to kind of combine the two sometimes where I have a a startup founder that actually complements their service or product complements bonjoro. And so we'll collaborate on marketing activities, and do co webinars together or email marketing campaigns together. And it's been very, very fruitful. Those times that we have done this. So everything's been working out great. I would say the past year, and I think the future looks looks promising.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 27:38
I love this. And so for all the listeners who might be curious about your podcast, or might be interested, can you share? What's the idea? What can they expect? Where can they find it? And I'll make sure to write one of the links in the description.
Eric Melchor 27:57
Absolutely. It's called innovators collab. They can find it on wherever they listen to podcasts, really, but Apple podcasts and Spotify or they can just go to innovators can laugh.com I interview in a very fun and conversational style startup founders based out of Europe. And I like to look at it as it's part business story Park meditation, and also Park comedy show, because we do have fun. We have, you'll find out quirky things about various startup founders, but you also learn about what they're going through which struggles that they've had to overcome and what it is that they're trying to achieve with their with their startup in the long run. So you can again, you can find it innovators can laugh.com and check it out every week. Every Thursday, we dropped the show.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 28:50
Thank you, Eric Ries was my privilege. It was my honor. It was such an enriching conversation. And I wish you a great day.
Eric Melchor 29:00
All right, you too as always. Thank you
