Focus On Talents: Ron Earley's Journey to Building Wealth and Intentional Family Relationships

🚀✨ Welcome to Pathways with Amber Stitt! In this episode, we dive deep into the inspiring journey of the highly successful entrepreneur, Ron Earley, also known as "The Sales God." 

🏋️‍♂️🔥Join us as Ron shares his transformative story—from dropping out of college and facing unexpected challenges in the fitness and construction industries to building a billion-dollar empire with Automation Empire, now known as Greywolfe Investing.

Key Discussion Points:

- How Ron Earley earned the title "The Sales God" 🏆✨

- Overcoming obstacles at YouFit gym and shaping the entire state of Florida for the gym chain 🏋️‍♂️

- Early entrepreneurial ventures: Selling Pokémon cards and organizing events as a kid 🎴

- The balance of work and family: Intentional relationships, parenting, and managing technology use 📱

- The rebranding of Automation Empire to Greywolfe Investing, aligning with family values and legacy 🏛️

- Building community, selecting business partners, and emphasizing wellness and personal success in entrepreneurship 🌐

- Ron's physical and financial challenges, including Amazon mentorship and hurricane relief efforts 🌪️🚚

🌟💫 Ron Earley's story is not only about business success but also about intentional living, family values, and overcoming life's significant challenges. 

🛠️📈 His dedication to creating systems and automations in business, along with his personal anecdotes, offer invaluable insights for both budding and experienced entrepreneurs.

Listen to the full episode to learn:

- How Ron and his wife navigated financial setbacks to achieve substantial profits 💰

- The vital role of personal branding in building trust and a strong business image 🤝

- The impact of intentional company culture on employees' well-being and personal goals 👫

- Ron's hands-on approach to community support during hurricane relief efforts 🚚

💵🎯 Don't miss this captivating episode filled with practical advice, heartfelt stories, and entrepreneurial wisdom!

👉 To watch this episode: https://youtu.be/9tjYkkf8B-8

To learn more and to connect with Ron:

- https://www.greywolfeinvesting.com

• LinkedIn:
  - Personal: (28) Ron Earley | LinkedIn
  - Greywolfe Investing: (28) Greywolfe Investing LLC: Company Page Admin | LinkedIn
• Facebook:
  - Personal: Ron Earley Facebook
  - Greywolfe Investing: (1) Facebook
• Instagram:
  - Personal: https://www.instagram.com/salesgod?igsh=a3B2Y2tmdmdja3U5&utm_source=qr
  - Greywolfe Investing: https://www.instagram.com/greywolfeinvesting?igsh=bHYzeGxsNno1cHN1&utm_source=qr

Stay Connected:

👉 Amber Stitt's Website: http://www.AmberStitt.com

If you enjoyed this episode, plea

📻 Thank you for tuning in to Pathways!

🔗 Connect with Amber on Social Media:

• AMBER’S INSTAGRAM
• AMBER’S LINKEDIN
• AMBER’S FACEBOOK

📲 Be sure to visit Amber's website:

www.AmberStitt.com

And remember, let's take action today!!!

Transcript

Amber Stitt [00:00:00]:
Hello and welcome to Pathways. I am your host Amber Stitt, and today we welcome Ron Earley. Welcome to the show today, Ron Earley.

Ron Earley [00:00:07]:
Thank you so much for having me, Amber. It's very nice to get a chance to sit with you today.

Amber Stitt [00:00:11]:
Ron, you are known as "The Sales God". So like, we're going to unpack this because I think a lot of people would love to be in your position, having multiple million dollar companies, maybe more now by the time I re-read your history. So tell us how you coined this title of "Sales God". Where did this come from?

Ron Earley [00:00:29]:
This actually came from an older gentleman that I was sales training to. When I was in my younger twenties, I was given an opportunity and I ended up, like every entrepreneurial story, drops out of college, or doesn't go to college, and you want to make sure that you capitalize on every opportunity that's given to you. And I knew that if I left California and left Pasadena Community, I had this whole plan. I was going to go to UCLA and I wanted to get my exercise science degree. And I ended up getting offered a job back in Florida for this gym, YouFit. For the time, they were doing really, really great. I don't even know if they're around anymore, but they were doing very, very well for themselves. And it just so happens that after going through this long explanation of explaining to my parents why I was dropping out of college, why I wasn't going to be there, and how I can make money doing the same exact thing, if I finish those four years without having to do it...without debt, they had a hard time wrapping their head around that and just unfortunate circumstances...

Ron Earley [00:01:20]:
Sometimes you gotta find a way to get through the grit. I was there for 24 hours before my director, which is the guy that gives these assessments, fitness assessments, and associates, the clients with the trainers, he got fired. So I quit college, moved across the country again, worked there for 24 hours, and I had no way to get clients because that guy was gone. And unfortunately, in the company, you needed an exercise science degree in order to do those assessments.

Amber Stitt [00:01:44]:
Now we're back to that, right?

Ron Earley [00:01:48]:
Right. So it was very unfortunate. And there's twelve gyms in our district. We're the only one without an actual district trainer, their director at the time. But our gym ended up having the highest accumulative sales within one gym and we were the only one without a director, which indirectly drew a bunch of attention to me because I needed a way to make money. So I just walked the gym and I floor pulled a lot of people. And long story short, within a few months, they ended up creating a position inside the company where you no longer needed a degree. You could train, and you could get promoted into that position called EIT.

Ron Earley [00:02:18]:
And within a year, year and a half, I ended up training the majority of the state of Florida for all their gyms. And I was the guy that was half of everybody else's age in that position, teaching them how to sell. And that created a lot of problems and a lot of difficulties, because for you to be a person that breaks the rules or changes the rules inside a company, you got people that are doing a job for 10, 15, 20 years longer than you, and then you come, and now you're their boss, and you want to teach them something. They have a chip on their shoulder, and like, "What's this guy going to teach me?" So it was a very interesting shift, and me trying to figure out how I was doing, what I was doing, being able to learn it, so I could reteach it and get in front of a group of people that didn't want to be taught. So it was very interesting, you know, I ended up shaping this whole entire state, every one of our gyms, we ended up hitting goals, and I made a name for myself in the company, and I had this older gentleman, and every time I come in...coolest dude in the world, he had a nickname for everybody...And I walked in one day and he's like, "It's The Sales God." And I'm like, "I actually like that."

Ron Earley [00:03:12]:
It's got a ring to it.

Amber Stitt [00:03:12]:
Yeah, I'll take it.

Amber Stitt [00:03:14]:
Wow. Oh, yeah. Keep going.

Ron Earley [00:03:15]:
Yeah, literally within that month...I mean, we'd always do these group meetups every two weeks, so all the gyms would get together in one place. And just because of that one guy, that's just what everybody started calling me. And it stuck for a little bit and it got let go after I left the gym. And I haven't really thought about it a lot, but for the social media presence thing, this is a really good handle, I think, to bring that. It's catchy.

Amber Stitt [00:03:38]:
That's a bit of your origin story, but I've met you and talked with you before, and I just remember some interesting transitions into the company that you have now, present day, Automation Empire, that we can potentially touch on. Because I was thinking "The Sales God" came in after the fact and was attached to the $1.4 billion plus revenue. But I guess you gotta start somewhere and learn, right? So after all of this time, working through hitting record numbers, seems like it's in your DNA. Has this always been something that you just thought, "I'm probably always gonna be some variation of an entrepreneur. I'm going to own a business or two or more." Was that always a thing for you, mentally?

Ron Earley [00:04:21]:
I had this conversation with my mom a week ago, which is hilarious. I have a very good, healthy relationship with my parents, and they have a great relationship with my kids, and I'm very grateful for that. But we were laughing about some of the things I used to do as a kid, and they were always good about having friends come over for birthday parties, and at the time Pokemon cards were that... It was the hot thing. Like, when I was in 4th, 5th grade, and you didn't really have printers. People still xeroxed then. That was the thing.

Amber Stitt [00:04:49]:
Ron, I'm old enough to know about that, right?

Ron Earley [00:04:52]:
I know that some people, I can tell this story, too, and they understand, and then other people might not get it. And I remember riding my little Python bike up to this Publix that we had not far, and it was like a dime, ten cents to make copies. And after my birthday party, I had duplicates of all the same cards, so I made my own price sheets, making ten of them, passing them out on the bus. I remember my dad sitting down with me and wanting to know what I did, or who I stole from, or if I was involved in drugs. It was a very serious conversation. I came home with $240 in the fourth grade.

Amber Stitt [00:05:24]:
Oh, my gosh.

Ron Earley [00:05:25]:
Yeah, it was. That was the very first, we'll call it, entrepreneurial or job flipping thing, and I don't even know why I did it. I guess I just did it for the fun of it. And we had little extravaganzas like that my mom helped me put together after that happened throughout school, so I don't know. Maybe it's just always been in my DNA and my blood. I just.

Ron Earley [00:05:44]:
At scale.

Amber Stitt [00:05:44]:
Yeah.

Ron Earley [00:05:45]:
Something way bigger than I thought that I ever would have created.

Amber Stitt [00:05:48]:
Do I remember this correctly? That was your father also an entrepreneur?

Ron Earley [00:05:51]:
Yes, in the simplest ways. He's business owner, owned a construction company, and he was one of those people that worked through. I don't want to say just going through the ropes and learning how the tide turns inside a company, but he knows everything that there is to know about building a house, and construction was always his avenue, and that's where he was able to get a job. I was supposed to be the first person in our entire lineage to finish college. And that didn't happen. I think that's part of the reason why there was a big confliction between me and my dad when I first left.

Amber Stitt [00:06:17]:
Sure.

Ron Earley [00:06:18]:
And him running a business like this, like pouring concrete and laying block, it's very hard on your body, and it's stuck in. Now, I don't mean this in the worst ways, but it's just the caliber and quality of people that work in that job. When it comes to dependability, it's very difficult. So a lot of times you get stuck working in the job, you can never work on it. And that's a lot of the reason why you never really wanted me to make my own business. You didn't know any different. Just, you can only communicate what you know. It's hard to communicate what you don't.

Amber Stitt [00:06:42]:
But that being the groundwork of what you've experienced younger, do you think had anything to do with your love of building out a framework and automation, like automating things, process?

Ron Earley [00:06:51]:
It did when it came to sales. Ironically, one of the hardest things in the world that I ever did was figure out how to create a system and then teach people how to speak in written word. Nothing is more difficult than teaching people how to talk by putting it in text. It's one of the most unorthodox things in the world that you put yourself through. It's easier to teach people to talk by talking. It's kind of like you can't really teach somebody how to swim by reading it in a book. You got to go do the act.

Amber Stitt [00:07:17]:
Yeah.

Ron Earley [00:07:18]:
I can tell you all the right things, but you're not going to figure it out until you go execute.

Amber Stitt [00:07:21]:
Yep.

Ron Earley [00:07:21]:
So trying to put those things into words became very difficult, and creating systems around that even before, when I was teaching those older people that we were talking about, you know, twice my age, you got to create types of systems that create a flow that have the outcome that you desire. If you don't have a system, then you're just throwing things at the wall and hoping that they stick. And now, if you don't have frameworks, nobody else can really do what you need them to do. Systems make or break any business, and you can tell the quality of a business based off the systems that they have implemented.

Amber Stitt [00:07:49]:
Hmm, sure.

Ron Earley [00:07:50]:
One of those things that I learned very early on, I don't think that that's changed. I just think that the more intricate the business becomes, you need to have more systems in place, and the better that you can simplify those systems, the better outcome you're going to have.

Amber Stitt [00:08:02]:
So would you say that you have this. I don't want to call it, "rags to riches story," because you had, from what I can understand, pretty awesome family, but not the traditional route of go to college, and then intern, and then...I feel like sometimes the common denominator with entrepreneurs are we don't really want to work for others and we will dabble, but figure out our own path. And can you share with the audience just part of the early days between you and your wife? I think you guys were married at the time, just getting things going after the gyms.

Ron Earley [00:08:33]:
It was terrifying. I don't know that I would consider it rags the riches either, even though it was very much rags at one point, I tried to do everything right, again, you know, younger twenties. I was making a very large six figures at an early age, but I spent all my time away. I was never with her. We wanted to do things together and travel and at a very early stage in our relationship, my wife let me know that she had some medical issues and we weren't going to be able to have kids. So we always thought we'd make money together and we travel and we'd do these things. And it got to the point where I was, I was hitting a ceiling in the company, and again, not spending any time at home, so I don't really know what I was going to grow into from that point.

Ron Earley [00:09:08]:
So it was a mutual discussion of, if you're making them this much money, how much money can you make yourself? If we start our own thing, and we didn't know what that thing was at the time, I just knew that I had $38,000 set back. If I moved, we could put a down payment in a house, I'd be able to furnish it. And within 48 hours of quitting that job, four years later into our relationship, I found out that I had a baby on the way, which we were in denial for like the first 30 days, I'm just like, no precaution for four years, period. And then all of a sudden...you want to talk about impeccable timing, bad time to leave a job, horrible time.

Amber Stitt [00:09:42]:
I'm not mad about it, but right now?

Ron Earley [00:09:45]:
Yeah, it was definitely, you know, it was a blessing, but at the same time I was like, okay, I gotta buckle down. I gotta figure this out. And it's kind of like what you said, it depends on what you know and what you go through. And I knew that what my dad was in, was booming in construction because we had one of the fastest growing cities in the US. Sarasota was taking off at the time. And in any entrepreneur book that you read, you talk about solving problems, bridging gaps. Every single concrete pouring person needed somebody to finish, polish, or put some kind of finish on top of concrete, which they hated doing. You could charge a premium price for it, because now I have a reason to fix the service or, you know, put a cap on a service, and I need to make a name for myself doing it.

Ron Earley [00:10:28]:
So I walked door to door for a little while, and I sold, like, these nicer garages, so things weren't cracking due to the humidity in Florida. And you don't want concrete to go bad. And I wedged my foot into some of these other concrete companies, and I wanted to stay away from using my father to do it. It was very much me wanting to do it. He didn't want me to do it. I remember temporarily, until we could find the right place that we're gonna stay. My parents were okay with me staying in one of their spare bedrooms until we would put the deposit on the home. And we're gonna furnish it.

Ron Earley [00:10:55]:
Any person that's in business right now, you know, you need two years of business history to take out a loan. Like, the bank will turn you down.

Amber Stitt [00:11:00]:
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Ron Earley [00:11:01]:
It's always been that way. It's terrible. I also didn't have the best credit in the world. Cause I wasn't raised in a place where that was really even important until it was important. And I had a breakthrough. There's this Thursday where I talked to this contractor, and he's like, "Listen, we're building Boca Grande. Very expensive city. If you want the whole entire subdivision, I'll give it to you."

Ron Earley [00:11:21]:
It was something like 70 or 80 units at the time.

Amber Stitt [00:11:23]:
Wow.

Ron Earley [00:11:24]:
I remember telling my wife I can't keep renting a grinder or I need to go buy one if I want to take all these on. But if I do, I'll make four times the amount of money. And it only take me four and a half months to do it if I get the equipment. So my uncle quit his job, told him I had the breakthrough for us, had this whole thing figured out, and I'm pulling this $24,000 grinder with this really P.O.S. $1,200 truck. Could have broke down at any point, smiling ear to ear, because I had this thing figured out. On a Monday morning, as soon as we pulled up on the job site, I found out the contractor got fired.

Amber Stitt [00:11:54]:
Wait a minute. Is this like a repeat from the gym?

Ron Earley [00:11:57]:
Sounds similar, doesn't it?

Amber Stitt [00:11:58]:
Yes.

Ron Earley [00:11:59]:
Wasn't the best situation in the world to be in, because now I'm sitting with this expensive equipment that I can't use and I can't return. I can use, but it's not door knocking material. I have 80 jobs now sitting in front of me. Plus, my uncle just quit his job to come do this with me. Now, it wasn't anything he held over my head, because obviously he was there with me. He went through it with me. It wasn't the greatest feeling, you know, in the world. But like any other gym rat before I went home and I had this very difficult conversation with my wife, I remember taking my pre workout and not really thinking about...at least not at the time...

Ron Earley [00:12:30]:
Where do you put yourself in places that other people that don't work traditional jobs are, and during what times? Because no one at 11:00 a.m. is at the gym on a Monday that has a nine to five job.

Amber Stitt [00:12:41]:
Yeah.

Ron Earley [00:12:42]:
And I was there, and I just had this guy that was just, like, nagging. And at the time I still was prep ready, and I was very much into bodybuilding, and I just wasn't in the mood to have conversations with...Obviously, given the situation.

Amber Stitt [00:12:55]:
Trying to let off some steam and just work through the issues at hand.

Ron Earley [00:12:59]:
It was like he was annoyed that I didn't know who he was. And his phone kept going off over and over. Like, man, you should really get that. And he's like, "Oh, no," and turns his phone around and shows me he's selling on Amazon. And every time his notification was going off, it's because he was making a sale. Now, I'd done eBay flipping in the past with my wife, so we knew it was, like, side hustles, some money, but it wasn't enough to where you could live off of it. What he showed me, though, it was more than live off money.

Ron Earley [00:13:24]:
It was like, "Okay, this is serious." After he went into this explanation and showed me the back end, he's like, look, man, I do this thing every single weekend, Friday through Sunday. This is my social media profile, Friday through Sunday. So that. Right, so Friday, Saturday, Sunday, three days, three days straight. Mentorship, and there's follow ups, but that's all the hands on part. And for $10,000, he'd teach me how to do Amazon mentorship.

Amber Stitt [00:13:45]:
Well, I just, "Hey, wifey, here we go. Can I spend 10K?"

Ron Earley [00:13:50]:
"You remember that $24K that you just trusted me with that I was gonna make money with?"

Amber Stitt [00:13:55]:
"So it's a team. It's a team effort. We gotta do it right, babe?"

Ron Earley [00:14:00]:
It was rough. And I think this is why. It's also, it's really funny when you hear certain people talking about they quit when it gets tough because there are certain things that are going to work in your favor and you're going to think that they're going in the right direction. And you can weigh out all the pros and cons and you should always place your bets where the odds are high, stacked in your favor. I could not have foreseen that contractor getting fired. I still don't think I made a bad decision.

Amber Stitt [00:14:25]:
Yeah, right, exactly.

Ron Earley [00:14:27]:
But I had to do my best to flip that thing because I very much made that $10,000 investment. And we started making money, and making money very quick on Amazon. And this is one of those things like they teach in courses. You know, there's like some crazy statistic where only 12% of courses are ever finished that are online.

Amber Stitt [00:14:46]:
Yeah. Someone else I just talked with said something similar to that.

Ron Earley [00:14:49]:
Yeah, it's just a bad rap about how they don't work or how they're fraudulent. How could they work if you don't do them right?

Amber Stitt [00:14:56]:
I mean, I'm sure you see this working in the gym, too. You know, there's forfeiture on memberships. People don't show up. I mean, you got to do the work.

Ron Earley [00:15:02]:
That's it. It's the wildest thing. And I know he didn't because I would have written it down, but I remember letting him know, I think it was 10 or 11 days, maybe 12 days into selling. I sent him over my store sales, I sent him a screenshot for what I'm doing. He's like, "Hey, man, you need to slow down." Like, "One: just spent all my money. I'm not slowing down any time soon." I just borrowed a credit card because I ran out of the last $2,000 in capital that I had because I blew right through it buying the products to flip for inventory.

Ron Earley [00:15:25]:
And literally that very next day, I got hit with what's called a "velocity review" in Amazon and they held my money for 62 days. So I went from $38,000 to broke, broke, broke. Couldn't get access to any of my cash. And so much broke that I was like, negative in dollars because now I'm sitting on borrowed cash and messing up a credit card.

Amber Stitt [00:15:43]:
Is this as a way for them to catch spammers and different bot type activity?

Ron Earley [00:15:48]:
Yeah, like any other business which I'd ever really viewed it this way, because, I mean, I did everything right. I guess it's just what, in consideration, it wasn't taught. You have to have validity, so there needs to be positive reviews, there needs to be delivered products, quality checks, and then they make sure you're a quality seller before they... They're not going to let you sell $30,000 and pay you $30,000 if they don't know your quality.

Amber Stitt [00:16:07]:
Okay. And I'm assuming there's got to be some parameters, like Instagram must have those. So in order for you to be on marketplace and buy something, because you always wonder as you're scrolling, I'm just going to buy this. And you do that quick impulse buy, you always wonder, "Is this legit?" So there's obviously some parameters behind the scenes, but again, you have these obstacles.

Ron Earley [00:16:25]:
Yeah, I mean, we all do, but...

Amber Stitt [00:16:27]:
You're doing the work.

Ron Earley [00:16:28]:
There has to be a vision that's conducted, and then you need to have a plan of action along whatever it is to complete that plan. Like wherever that goal is, where that lies. Using the word goals. I feel like everybody talks about setting goals.

Amber Stitt [00:16:41]:
Sure, whatever form they might be, but it's more of that framework. But then having that, you have the passion this whole time to get after it.

Ron Earley [00:16:49]:
Right. My biggest deterrent, honestly, out of all of it, is I don't like the internet theme thing. I just had my son. I went to this 10X growth con thing, this Grant Cardone thing. Everybody knows who he is. I don't need to explain to you guys, the real estate mogul, but I remember walking through this event and it really threw me off guard. And this is after I had got into, you know, now teaching people how to do Amazon. I was with Tommy, the guy that taught me Amazon.

Ron Earley [00:17:11]:
He started automating. And I had people approaching me wanting to take pictures with me. I didn't know who they were. I knew like a year ago I was broke, so I'm not like some internet celebrity. And it made me very uncomfortable. Uncomfortable to the point to where I remember just posting up on...honestly, it wasn't even a nice trash can...just wherever I could break away to go change my social media handle.

Ron Earley [00:17:30]:
Cause I didn't want it being my name anymore. I knew that if people approached me that I didn't know. They now call me Rone, not Ron. Slight change. But I would immediately know the difference.

Amber Stitt [00:17:40]:
Sure.

Ron Earley [00:17:41]:
And that was like my hesitation. So, you know, we did this pullback. One of the guys I did Amazon training with, I ended up starting a sales and marketing agency with. I knew the space very well and other people were coming in the industry and I just figured, you know, if I teach you guys how to sell this thing, I don't mind if you show your face on the internet. I just don't want that for me and my family. Sales and marketing agency blew up, and it did very, very well. And one of us had ended up having to become the face. And lo and behold, I found my way right back there again.

Amber Stitt [00:18:08]:
Yeah, it's a tricky one because I know that you got a really tight knit family and people like to see us as a family unit, doing well, and we want that for others. But then again, just putting yourself out in the limelight, it's like, are we doing this? But it's almost like the relevance of today's society is to be able to have that face recognition.

Ron Earley [00:18:29]:
I mean, how are you supposed to build known trust with all the things that people...too many people are being taken advantage of. And as much as you don't want it, it doesn't matter what you do. You could do all the right things regardless. You're always going to get hate. People are always going to point a finger. It's one of those hurdles that you want to get over and with what's accessible, it really is. One of the only ways to actually build something that's fortified is to have a personal brand attached to it.

Amber Stitt [00:18:54]:
Now, after you've gone through all of this, I feel like you've always given back. But let's tell the audience about your story during post hurricane in Florida. What you did. Cause you're a tough guy, but you're a nice guy. I already know that, but I want everyone else to know.

Ron Earley [00:19:09]:
I don't know how I necessarily feel about the first part. I hear that a lot, but I am. I was raised in a family where you should take care of other people despite of what happens in the world. And if someone doesn't do it, then no one's going to do it. And I just happened to have like, this crazy 6 wheeled vehicle at the time in case I've ever seen a Jeep Apocalypse. It's a cool story, too. I ended up giving that away to one of our local firefighters, which was pretty awesome. And at the time, I needed it.

Ron Earley [00:19:37]:
Like everything was underwater. Like no one had power. So much so that there were airboats that were getting people out of houses right before they collapsed. It was very bad. So for two or three days, we delivered food and generators and fans, and it was just constant back and forth of trying to get into the city, it was just constant destruction and part of what Automation Empire even did as a donation to help do more. Because what I already took out of my own pocket felt like I didn't make a dent on what was going on in that city. And just happened to catch wind with one of our other investors and what we were doing, which talked to the mayor in Sarasota, and we were awarded the key of the city for business donations into helping rebuild the city.

Amber Stitt [00:20:19]:
I can't even imagine in Arizona we might get a haboob. Yeah. The stuff that happens in Florida is pretty intense.

Ron Earley [00:20:25]:
I don't think they've ever had a hurricane that's ever moved that slow. They've had ones that have been as destructive, but this one was like a couple miles away from Category 5, but it was only moving at 8 miles an hour.

Amber Stitt [00:20:35]:
I think I remember hearing, was this the one? I think even Cardone was trying to bring water in with his own planes, but you just couldn't get it in. You couldn't get in.

Ron Earley [00:20:44]:
We had just opened up a warehouse down in Bonita Springs. It's really crazy and lucky the way that it happened. It was only that pocket that somehow the hurricane moved around. It's the only part of Fort Myers that didn't get touched.

Amber Stitt [00:20:55]:
Wow.

Ron Earley [00:20:56]:
Half of Fort Myers is gone.

Amber Stitt [00:20:57]:
Yeah.

Ron Earley [00:20:58]:
Oh, not just, you know, some damage, like, there's none there, but everything around it, gone. Sad.

Amber Stitt [00:21:03]:
How many weeks, do you think, until it was like, to a point where you're just. It wasn't overwhelming.

Ron Earley [00:21:08]:
I believe it was somewhere around September when it happened, and I think uncomfortably tell you that I know that the majority of people that suffered loss in a house didn't get to celebrate Christmas at their house. And I still don't think that some of those houses were even repaired.

Amber Stitt [00:21:23]:
You know, I think I remember that because we had members trying to get to a conference at the end of September from Puerto Rico and on up, and people just couldn't come.

Ron Earley [00:21:30]:
It sucks seeing people go through that just sucks.

Amber Stitt [00:21:33]:
Yeah.

Ron Earley [00:21:34]:
People with young kids, too. It's like, what do you do if you're in that position? Yeah, it's a tough pill to swallow, but again, it's one of those same things. If there's something that you could do, you probably should do it.

Amber Stitt [00:21:43]:
Probably should do it. Now, let's close up here with you talking about business and legacy. Is there anything that is a good takeaway for people to consider within, even if they're not an entrepreneur, but they're listening to us today that they should be paying attention to, that you've incorporated as core values for your family.

Ron Earley [00:21:59]:
My biggest one, and this has been a very big push for me, especially lately. Not that long ago, we got involved with the National Association of Wholesale and I got involved with government wholesale and I'm in these rooms with these guys that are making billions of dollars and I don't feel like I belong in the room because I'm not there making billions annually, billions over time. It's, again, you know, it's impressive moving in wholesale and freight. But the struggle that they had was trying to figure out how to build culture inside a company and across the board. Whether it's just trying to keep a good relationship with your wife, good relationship with your kids, good relationship with the people inside of company. You should be intentional with everything that you do.

Ron Earley [00:22:38]:
Intention matters, like going a little out of your way because you want to, makes all of the difference. Like making sure, like the employees inside your company, they have personal goals along with the business goals. Most people, they set these business goals up because they want them to grow within the business. They can do more, but it's equally important to figure out what personal goals are, how you can help them achieve them. Because whatever happens, they're outside of life. Regardless of what you say you should or shouldn't do. You always bring that inside of business, period.

Amber Stitt [00:23:03]:
That trickles down into your family. If you can instill that in a culture, then they can bring that into their homes. They're not coming home, you know, exhausted and unhappy, hopefully.

Ron Earley [00:23:12]:
I had this depiction of what I feel like balance is, I don't think balance is everything on a...it's not an hourly scale. It's not, I spend, you know, 6 hours of work and then 6 hours home and then 6 hours of sleep. And then whatever I'm doing outside of that, it could be keeping my kids involved in what I do in work and working 8, 10, 12 hours sometimes. And then when I do come home, making sure I leave my phone inside my truck. Yeah, leave it there. When I come home, they have my 2 hours of undivided attention.

Ron Earley [00:23:36]:
Only dad's attention. You know, we're reading, I'm giving them a bath. We're bringing out with my boys the tables, ladders and chairs and fighting, wrestling. We're doing our thing. Right? They got dad's time.

Amber Stitt [00:23:47]:
Yeah.

Ron Earley [00:23:47]:
And it might not be as much as I want to be able to give them. And I might be tired, but I make sure that they get it and that intention matters. Intention is everything. Same thing with your relationship with your wife or husband. You know, set up date night.

Amber Stitt [00:23:58]:
Pay attention, and the kids are watching. I know that if I'm trying to grab something really quick and I have my phone, but then I am picking it up, putting it down, bath time. My daughter can say, "Hey, mom, can you put your phone on? I don't want you working right now." It's really cute. You know, she's paying attention, but cute not so much if she's thinking that something else is more important than her, especially when it's her time. So try to instill with her too. Like, today's a work day, a school day. There's gonna be different mornings sometimes than that weekend.

Amber Stitt [00:24:24]:
And she's identifying it, and then it's, of course, like teaching. The reason we're working is because we need to have certain things to survive, et cetera. But yeah, they're watching. And I think it's funny when you're maybe not as responsive to people on like, a friend level, because when you set stuff down after work hours, during dinner, plus to the bath time, I don't want to be responding to people. So it is an interesting thing, but I think it's...we have to unplug more. Even though technology really is part of our day to day. We have to get back to humanity.

Amber Stitt [00:24:55]:
Focus.

Ron Earley [00:24:56]:
That's it. And I don't know that it's a complete solution, but it's just something that I've offered out as a piece of advice that's worked for me and I tell the employees here. I can't talk on the phone throughout the day, all day. And every time that you send out a text message, you're going to get a response. But I'd rather people pick up the habit of me sending through gratitude texts in the morning and try to get that one response out rather than have time. Because now I have these exceptions where I don't have my phone. No, the only time, all of them is probably in the morning, and it's better than not. And I'd rather retain that by doing something, than nothing.

Amber Stitt [00:25:27]:
Yeah, I do better when I can have my phone attached to my computer or my keyboard, and then I can scroll through and say, "Who did I miss?" And just kind of look at the inbox, if you will. Yeah. And I'm better off in the morning with coffee, alert when my daughter's at school. And I can focus on those responses and being timely. So you can kind of build the habit so then your evenings are more clear for your family. Well, let's tell people how to find you.

Ron Earley [00:25:50]:
I want to make sure that I make a note really quick. Before we do, we talked a little bit about legacy. I'm making a very big move starting January 1st. So, now that my children have been integrated into the company, I'm going to go through a rebranding of changing the name of the company. Automation Empire's...

Amber Stitt [00:26:04]:
Talk about it. All right, what's happening?

Ron Earley [00:26:05]:
I bought Automation Empire and I've started creating and building something that is legacy driven, and I want it to be attached to my family. So I'm going to name the company after my two sons. So I've been thinking for the longest time, like what logo, what animal, what they have, you know, attached to Automation Empire and I couldn't really do it, but with this, Grey is. Greyson is my first son, and then Max...Maxwell Wolfe is my second one. So I'm going to name the company Greywolfe Investing. That rebranding's already taken place, and it's just something I want to be able to pass down to them.

Ron Earley [00:26:37]:
So this whole culture thing I'm trying to cultivate, it should all be intertwined. So for now, yes, Automation Empire, depending on when this gets streamed. But after January 1st, Greywolfe Investing. And we'll be back. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, you'll find us.

Amber Stitt [00:26:51]:
Love it. And it comes full circle through the journey of what's important. Yeah, I do like when it can actually fit in and family values are part of it as well.

Ron Earley [00:27:00]:
Yeah, I told you how we are here, and I want the investors to be the same way. I think last time that we had a chance to speak, it was a week or two prior to that, I had 80 investors in town and it's about being able to create community. I get sick and tired of hearing entrepreneurs talk about, "Show me who your five friends are, I'll tell you who you are." They don't tell you how to get the good friends or where to be to do it. So join groups that create things like this. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there, but they do exist, and I know that they do because I'm building one.

Amber Stitt [00:27:24]:
Yeah. And we talk about focusing on community here on the podcast. I mentioned in another episode, pick your partners. You can. You get to pick who you want to do business with. You're not forced to do things with your family members and just the friends you grew up with. No, you can pick your business partners.

Amber Stitt [00:27:39]:
Let's do this and build that out. And have fun.

Ron Earley [00:27:41]:
Yeah. That's the way it should be.

Amber Stitt [00:27:43]:
Yeah.

Ron Earley [00:27:44]:
If not, why do it?

Amber Stitt [00:27:45]:
Well, you're an inspiration, and hopefully everybody gets to make their first million at some point, right?

Ron Earley [00:27:52]:
It's on the table for everybody, so it's a lot easier than you guys make it out to be, I think. Sometimes just don't overcomplicate it. Create a plan. Backtrack. Write it down. I'm serious when I say write it down, it's different when you think about it versus when you see it on paper.

Amber Stitt [00:28:05]:
I think when we first met, too, talking about wellness and just really creating that there's buzzwords of health as wealth and all that. But I think even with a culture within your businesses, it's very important to keep being mindful of how you're treating your own self, too, because that's where success can come from. And being relentless like you are and going through the journeys.

Ron Earley [00:28:24]:
Yeah. It's where the best stories come from.

Amber Stitt [00:28:27]:
Mm hmm.

Ron Earley [00:28:28]:
No wisdom is created unless you have those experiences, so...

Amber Stitt [00:28:31]:
Well, I really appreciate you being with us and then being, I don't know for some of the first to hear about this rebrand, but we'll be linking up how to find you under the new name, so I really appreciate it, Ron.

Ron Earley [00:28:41]:
Thank you, Amber. It was nice talking to you today.

Amber Stitt [00:28:43]:
You too. See you soon.

Ron Earley [00:29:02]:
You as well. Bye bye.

Amber Stitt [00:28:46]:
Thank you for joining us on this episode of Pathways. For more information about the podcast, books, articles, the blog, and so much more, please visit my website at: www.AmberStitt.com, and remember, let's take action today. Thank you for listening!