Rick Elmore Shares His Remarkable Rise to Success

Kevin Harrington
Hi, I’m Kevin Harrington, an original shark from the hit television show Shark Tank and you’re listening to the underdog podcast

Pamela Bardhi
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of underdog. Today I have an incredible guest here with me, Rick, how are you, my friend?

Rick Elmore
I’m doing great. Thanks for having me on today.

Pamela Bardhi
Thank you so much for being here. My goodness. So I was reading your backdrop and I’m like, from NFL to entrepreneurs sounds like my kind of. I love it. And I can’t wait to dig into your story and kind of hear that journey from a personal perspective for you. One of the first things that I love to start with and it’s a pretty loaded question. But that question is what inspired you to where you are today, my friend,

Rick Elmore
My background is in athletics, I played college and professional football. I went to the University of Arizona from 2000 6000 template for the stoops brothers. Was pretty lucky had a pretty good career. There was a three year starter led the PAC 10 back then and multiple cats stat categories. My junior and senior year so had a pretty good career and then was drafted into the NFL in 2011. About my childhood dream, which was to be a professional football player was dead set on that from probably like 15 years old. I was gonna make it happen was pretty excited that I was able to do that played for three years.

But eventually I had to hang up the cleats and the shoulder pads. So once I got done like most athletes. it was kinda like what’s next I thought it was gonna play. I was like 30 have all this money and probably just opened a gym or something. But that didn’t happen. So I had to rewrite my story start over. and gotten to the corporate world for about six years had a tonne of success there as well.

My first year was Rookie of the Year or branch MVP. In the next five years, I was either 1% Top 1% or top five sales rep in our company. So really what’s led to my success over my career is a lot of the intangibles. hard work, perseverance, desire, passion, basically just outworking the competition.

What I’ve been able to do over the last, probably five or six years is develop a new skill. And that’s really just bringing the right pieces together to build a good team. That’s how I’ve been able to successfully build my startup. And I’m in like a tech software robotics startup now. So it’s been a pretty crazy wild ride. That’s

Pamela Bardhi
Amazing. My friend, thank you so much for sharing all of that, my gosh. So your childhood dream, I was gonna ask you what you wanted to be when you grew up. You already said it that you wanted to be a football player.

Rick Elmore
Yeah, I come from a middle-class family, lower middle-class family, I was the first person to go to college. So I felt that early age, I wanted to kind of change the direction or kind of lift us up. and help us or help our family kind of grow and really just set some really scary goals. You know, when I was a young kid, I was just like, This is what I want to do. my parents had made incredible sacrifices and done everything that they could to get us here. but I want to take us there. I’m still chasing that, you know, at 35 years old.

Pamela Bardhi
It’s amazing. That’s amazing. And where did you grow up?

Rick Elmore
I’m from California, just north of La about 3540 minutes and Ventura County. So one more year I’ve been in Arizona just as long as I was in California. so I’m almost gonna say that I’m more of an Arizona guy than a California guy.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s awesome. When did you use Arizona

Rick Elmore
just I got a football scholarship to the University of Arizona. So when I was 18 just came out here. Never thought I’d set roots here. But California was a fun place to grow up. But you know, start your life at 23 years old. I felt like that place was gonna be a little bit more chaotic and hectic. and add friends to living at home when they’re 30. You know, I was just like, stay out here and start my career here.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s amazing. Arizona is gorgeous. I’ve been to many Phoenix and I’ve also been to somewhere near there which I forget the name of the city. but it was absolutely gorgeous everywhere in Arizona is so beautiful. And the weather I was like oh my god. I see I come from Boston, Massachusetts, and we complain about whether 24 sevens

Rick Elmore
my stepdads from worse die just right out. Yeah. Worcester, Massachusetts. So it’s funny.

Pamela Bardhi
You said it right. Oh, that’s amazing.

Rick Elmore
Well, he doesn’t have the Boston accent. You know, unless he is around people with the Boston accent but I’ll just say Westar. but like when he’s around people who’s from there? Like yeah, I’m from West

Pamela Bardhi
So accurate. It’s so hilarious. Yeah, what I’m here for anybody who’s like not from here and they’re just like more Chester. I’m like, Oh, God bless you. You’re gonna get killed in Boston. Oh my god, I love that. No, Arizona is awesome. And I love the west coast. It’s a beautiful, beautiful place. Oh my gosh. So growing up you were in Cali though in your early days. And who was a big source of inspiration for you during that time kind of childhood years.

Rick Elmore
My parents, I didn’t really age with people I looked up to. they had hard upbringings. And to see that, they don’t allow that to affect our lives. they actually wanted to make our lives better. and make sure that we didn’t have our upbringings. I’m incredibly thankful for that. I couldn’t ask for a better situation. we didn’t have tonnes of money by any means.

But I had all the support in the world, all the love in the world. And they were very involved in everything that we did. They were small business owners, my mom was a medical biller. and then my stepdad was a contractor. So they allowed them to dictate your own schedules versus being in the corporate world. in the corporate worlds telling you where to be and what to do all the time.

So I saw at an early age, how important it was to have the support that we had. And that was a factor in becoming an entrepreneur as well. I saw my corporate career kind of climbing that ladder. And that was nothing I ever really wanted to do. Because I saw a lot of the senior management, they’re all divorced. they’re estranged from their families and family being so important. or as important as it was to me, I didn’t want that.

So I knew that, hey, this could be successful, and this could work out. But I’ve proved that I can be successful at a bunch of different things. So why not, you know, try to jump into the entrepreneurship world. And that’s why I took like the leap of faith. And it really started as an idea business school.

So this wasn’t like, Hey, I just I’m just going to jump into this without really any direction. I was doing my MBA at the time, this really started out as a project for school. And it just grew organically. And then I just felt comfortable. After about a year of research and testing. I jumped in. So yeah,

Pamela Bardhi
That’s super cool. Oh my gosh. So walk me through like your entire career, if you will. You had mentioned that you went to went to high school, then to college for football. You got a football scholarship for college? Yeah,

Rick Elmore
yeah. So I went to University of Arizona, I was a pretty good high school athlete. I had about I mean, I think I was about 60 division one offers, but I had a twin brother. And we were only gonna go together. So I don’t remember how many offers we had together. But I had a twin brother and University of Arizona was the school that offered us early and like first. we always like appreciated that loyalty is royalty to me and people who buy into me. and are with me along the journey are incredibly invaluable to me.

So that was really important that they came on. I mean, it was like literally the first day that they could offer us. they did so that was really cool. Yeah, I was an athlete and then my corporate career I got into medical device sales. I worked at Stryker, which was a top, it was like three or four medical company in the world there. so one of the largest medical companies in the world I got into. the spine ortho space, so I was doing like spine surgeries every day.

So I was like literally standing in surgery with these neurone orthopaedic surgeons. telling them like this thought that was like wild. was like you guys went to school for like, 10 years. I’ve been here for like four months, why am I telling you what to do? It was a cool, I liked him because like, it was challenging. like you had to be on your feet like you can get to be focusing on that surgery. and be ready before that doctor even knew what he was running into.
So you had like, before the problem happened. you had to be like two steps ahead and have like three solutions for him. because there was a problem in every surgery. So that was cool, but just wasn’t fulfilling for whatever it is. I don’t know what it was, I think you know, you have something that’s in you. and you don’t know it to be an entrepreneur at an early age.

As you go throughout your life, like the more things that you do. it just becomes more overwhelmingly obvious like you’re an entrepreneur. And I tried again, I had a friend that was wild. somebody who went to the same school as me. And he came to me like two years in my corporate career. He’s like, Hey, we’re launching this product out of Brazil. Like come help me do it.

So I went to like, basically like a startup. like medical company, which was a huge risk. because it’s like man like this. I’m so early in my career, but he like he made it sound like it was gonna be amazing. And it was it was a great ride. But I saw that startup experience from a medical company. I was like, I went from a Stryker world where our national like sales meetings. were renting out entire hotels, you know, like hundreds.

If not like over 1000 people in this room to our national sales meeting for my new startup medical company. It was like 14 people. So I was just like, What did I do? I just left like this massive company. and join this like little rinky dink. you know, company, I was like it was kind of crazy but had a lot of success there. I mean, it just again, it was all the intangible things.

Everything that I took from football I’d have to my medical career had nothing to do with being like the smartest guy in the room. it had everything to do with just literally out working everybody. I was willing to put in more hours early on in my career than a lot of these sales reps. they want to make, you know, 100 grand, and they don’t want to be in an office. And that was never like what I wanted to do, I wanted to be the best.

And I wanted to be like, number one on the team. I wanted to get better every day, like when I ran into problems that drove me nuts. if I couldn’t, like overcome them. So I obsessed about them until I figured them out. These are like the entrepreneurial things that like kind of stick out. You know, in case you’re an obvious entrepreneur. you just gotta like, figure out what you want to do.

You know, I wanted to know, like, I wanted to talk about marketing. I wanted to talk about sales, I wanted to talk about product development, about how we can get with my clients. I wanted to talk about, how can we help you be more successful by providing more value to you. not just like, hey, here’s my product, portfolio, buy stuff.

So I can make money, which is like most sales reps. I wanted to understand the whole business and how we can make the whole business better. like mindset, it just after like five or six years, and being held in a box. I was literally held in the box because I was a sales rep. This is driving me nuts, I knew that I want to do more.

So I went back into my MBA, I was just like, I feel it. it’s in my stomach, it’s in my heart. like I’m obsessing about this or something else. And that’s when I went back into my MBA and about a year into my programme. You know, I’m, again, I’m not the smartest guy in the room, like, I just wanted it really bad. I had to study for my, like entrance exams, like I failed them a multiple times. like I just wanted it so bad and just never gave up. I kept doing it and made it happen.

You know, a lot of people once they run into one roadblock. they give up, that’s not gonna ever help you be successful in life. like you’re literally a failure until you’re successful. you’re going to fail along the journey every step of the way. Because every part of the journey is new, and you’re not going to be an expert at it. you become an expert at, like studying and practising and repping and failing. and then you overcome it. And then you get to the next level.

That’s everything I’ve done. And that was like built into me as an athlete every year like you got better. just had to wrap it and get better. So yeah, about a year into my programme, I was in a marketing class. And this professor said something to me, that was just so profound. we’re going over all the success rates and marketing and everything was super nominal.

It was just like, email was, like 8% indirect mail was like 12%, and super low. And then he ends this three-hour lecture, saying, Hey, guys it works better more now. if not better than ever is a good old fashioned handwritten note. like no one does it anymore. mailboxes are empty, the open rates are about 99% relationships are going cold. It’s a great relationship-building tool.

And I was just like, Man, that’s a no brainer. But I have 400 client, how do you write 400 handwritten notes. So basically, that was where my entrepreneurial journey light bulb happened. And then my entrepreneurial seizure moment happened about a few months later, when I started testing this product idea.

Pamela Bardhi
That’s insane. I love that, Rick, I love that. And I love how it happens, like so organic, like these are the best companies that ever start. Like, they’re not the ones that you intentionally even try to bring to this world. they’re the ones that like, you have a problem. You solve it. And it just organically shows up in your life, right?

Like professor was mentioning, handwritten notes are like, huge 99% open rate. and then you know, you had an actual problem, because you’re like, hey, I have 400 clients. what am I going to, you know, what am I going to do here? So I absolutely love that you took like your pain point and created into a business. which is so cool.

Because sometimes people think, oh my god to create a business product or service, I have to be like this complicated. create this pitch deck and create, like the next Facebook of of the world. Like, it’s like, you just need to solve a problem.

Rick Elmore
If you can solve a lot of people’s problems. Those are the businesses that will take off, it’s these people. And you know, most businesses fail. There’s a book by Michael Gerber, it’s called the E Myth. And he goes over, like the statistics of businesses that fail by within the first year. it’s like 50% of businesses will fail before your one.

It’s like 85% of businesses will fit fail before five years, and then every business eventually will fail. Think about it, like our economies, business economy is only been around for like 100 plus years. do you think your business is not eventually going to be bought out. or you’re going to retire or times are going to change? Right?
Like, we went into the web world, web 2.0, whatever. the digital revolution from 2000 to 2022. Now we’re in the AI revolution, like it’s just a natural part of life. like your business eventually is going to end. Right because evolution, you’re gonna have to evolve with it, right?

So it’s just the businesses that identify a problem now and solve the problem. Now, those are the businesses that work out but you also got to think too. it’s like things aren’t supposed to be permanent. Like you’re supposed to, like level up every five to 10 years, and your ideas and your ambitions. and your goals are going to change every five to 10 years. like how I look at this at your five is completely different.

I looked at it five years ago, like, we’re building robots now, like we’re building automated systems. we’re doing industrial automation, I ever thought it was gonna be this. but like, what I wanted to achieve five years ago is completely different. than what I wanted to achieve now.

And as you walk down your path of entrepreneurship, like, your tunnel vision for your goal starts to open up. all these new skills, I don’t know what just happened. But all these new skills that you’re developing are going to like, open your eyes to all these different opportunities. That’s really what happened here. It’s just like, I’ve stacked all these new skills. I know how to build websites.

Now I know how to deal with code front and back and not do SEO. I know how to do marketing campaigns and how to track it. And new ideas come to life. So allow it to be a growing journey, don’t be so dead fixed on just that one specific goal. Because along that journey, new things are going to come new opportunities. you’re going to come new knowledge is going to come and you’re going to grow as a person. And that’s like the real, the real value of becoming an entrepreneur is this constant growth. like confidence that you’re gonna get from it invaluable. It’s really an awesome experience.

Pamela Bardhi
Absolutely. I’m totally with you on that. And I love how you just reflected on all of that. Regarding entrepreneurship, it’s literally constant growth. like you think that just because you have one business, and that’s it. I went from two restaurants to diving into like real estate development. And I was like, What the hell? What do you mean? Like, I have two restaurants like how am I meant to go into real estate? It doesn’t make any sense.

You know, you are. But one thing that I love that you did, Rick is like, you took this idea, and you execute it. And now five years later, you’re building robots. Like, that’s insane. But before we get to that portion of it. like how did you take that thought and that business idea from your mind. and really create it and execute it into a business? Because again, I tell everyone, I’m like the difference between those who are successful. great entrepreneurs are the ones who execute. So how did you manifest it into reality?

Rick Elmore
Yeah, so I’m a I’m a big, I mean, I wasn’t a super risk taker. I’m more conservative by nature. And I think that’s what’s been really good for me as an entrepreneur, the books good degree. it’s about when you’re taking any new risk in life, you’re going to. you’re going to try something new. It’s about doing the bullets and cannonballs. So you gotta imagine, like, you’re on a pirate ship. and you’re fighting another pirate ship, and you have one cannonball. that can save you guys.

So basically, like your wad of cash or something that’s going to protect your business. And before you blow that one cannon ball that can save your business, you got to do a lot of test shots. so test test, test test. line up that cannon and make sure when you’re going to make that big investment or send that one cannon ball. it’s going to everything that you needed to do to save your business are helping you be more successful.

So we’ve just done so much testing, and I’m so I’m so obsessive about this, I love it. I literally am in the warehouse at 11 o’clock, sometimes still, just because I’m so passionate about the product. So it’s really easy for me to sit there, analyse, brainstorm and try to improve this product because I love it. But that’s what we’ve done good. We’ve just mitigated our risks.

We’ve done tonnes of tests, you know, even when I kicked off this project for business school. before I jumped over two feet, I just kept testing it within my current business. or back then being a sales rep. And I just got such good results like my first mailing. And again, I’m a sales rep. So like I was always outbound knocking doors, making phone calls, trying to book appointments.

when I did my first mailing, I sent out about 500 handwritten notes. My quota every month was like 50 grand. And we saw a really cheap product. It was like 150 to 250 bucks to doctors. from that first 500 piece mailer, I had 20 Doctors call me back, which was rare. like if your clients calling you back, you’re doing something right? And these doctors are like, Hey, Rick, like, first off.

Thanks for sending me this handwritten note. Like that’s cool. Like no one does this anymore. This offer sounds good. let’s set up a lunch and talk about it. And again, I had a $50,000 month quota and I got $280,000 in new sales. 20 grand in commission and like six weeks. so like that’s when like the entrepreneurial seizure, nucular bomb, oh my god, this is it. I knew it was gonna work. Let’s go. And that’s what happened.

And the rest was I hate to say the rest is history because there’s been bumps and bruises along the way. in most entrepreneurial journeys, but it’s just test test, test, test, mitigate risk. the worst thing you can do is just go get a loan or go get an investor from day one. like because you don’t know, like, you don’t know if it’s gonna work. You don’t know how big it was gonna be I am. I am so thankful.

You know, looking back five years I chose to self fund this client fund this no loans. no debt, no investors, this company, this opportunities, it can be so big. And if I would have took that money early on and basically gave away everything. and not having the equity in the business. It probably wouldn’t have been worth all the stress and the heartache for those first four or five years. So just test and be my number one recommendation test and mitigate your risk. You know, so you can hear other storms early on,

Pamela Bardhi
I absolutely love that. Oh my gosh. And I love that you like self funded and you worked on risk mitigation the most. Because sometimes we think we gotta go like all in and it’s almost like I know. that’s that then move a little bit further with a state move forward with it. like you don’t have to go put all your eggs in one basket.

So that’s a lot of entrepreneurs and then that’s one of the biggest reasons why they fail. And speaking of like failures or challenges or anything like that. like what has been some of your biggest challenges throughout your journey. whether it’s your entrepreneurial journey or life journey. what would you what would you say? And how did you overcome?

Rick Elmore
You know, I think the biggest thing I’ve learned about myself and you’ll learn a lot of things about yourself. biggest thing I’ve learned about myself in last five years is how to be a better communicator. how to communicate your expectations early on how to get the right people on the team. When I was in this is one of my biggest regrets I think I’ve ever shared some podcast is like in my early days. like as an athlete, like I thought just hard work alone was going to be enough me just outworking everybody.

Cuz I was like, introverted, like, as an athlete. I just wanted to shut up, show up and shut up and show out. what unfilled, I just wanted to be quiet. And I just wanted to be the best on the field and let my my game do all the talking. But in the real world, you need people to be successful you need, you need a team. if you want to go far you go or you want to go fast, go alone. but if you want to go far, you got to go together.

And I think people need to realise that. So you know, being a better communicator, like when I meet people now. if it’s a business meeting, I clearly explained my expectations up front. don’t sit there and just say, Hey, I hope the best, I’m just going to try to be a good person to them. and hope they take care of me, and I’ll take care of them.

Now, you can’t do that. If it’s around business, you got to be clear, you got to be upfront. like, Hey, this is my expectations for this relationship outside of being a good person. and doing the right thing and helping each other out. This is my expectations. are we clear? Like, are you comfortable with that? do you agree with this, right? That way, it’s not like not understood.

And if I did a better job earlier with that, in my career in athletics, and in my corporate career. and I probably would have been way more successful. because being quiet and introverted, can come off in certain ways to your coaches or your upper management. like, Oh, that guy’s secluded, he’s doing himself, he’s not a team player, he just wants to do this, you know, versus if you’re a leader, you know, you’re a leader in that locker room.

You’re a leader on your team, and you can help everybody around. you get better, you’re 10 times more valuable than just being a good athlete or good sales rep. And, that was an extremely hard thing for me to learn. because I just thought, like, Hey, I’m gonna be the best, and that’s gonna make me this. it’s like, I gotta be the best, and I got to help the people around me be the best in order for really, for me to be the best.

So that was something that I learned through entrepreneurship. is you need a lot of help as an entrepreneur, like you really do. And if you can’t help your team, your vendors get better, like, they’re not going to want to be around. so it’s my goal now, to ensure that anybody that’s on my team, regardless if they’re a vendor, or employees to make sure that they’re getting better every single day.

Because they’re going to feel that and then they’re going to want to help you get better every single day. So I really challenge people to think about that. and how that applies to their lives and their business or their jobs. Because that will elevate your career faster than just being the best at what you’re doing.

Pamela Bardhi
Love that Rick, thanks so much for sharing that. I mean, entrepreneurship, challenges that it brings. And my god like the mental toughness that you’ve got to build for that. I mean, for you, you build it, they’re gonna find x, which is amazing. Built like that, like that determined mind. For me, it was in the restaurant world, you know, for in the restaurant world.

That’s exactly what I’m learning how to balance a million. put up a million fires, how to multitask and hold on to a million different things. and learning how to manage people and communication skills. It’s so interesting how every piece of the journey kind of paved the way for the next. and then like what we learned throughout that journey. It’s like, motivates you, but then what motivates your team? Right, like it’s a whole nother it’s a whole nother experience.

Rick Elmore
Yeah. That’s thing you got to figure that out. Like, if you look at you know, there’s a Dale Carnegie. when I first got into sales, my sales manager sent me to like Dale Carnegie sales training. And he was like the first person in like the early 1900s That got a million dollar salary. And I believe he was working on like manufacturing, and he knew nothing about manufacturing.

So he wasn’t the most knowledgeable, best person at the job. But what he was good at was getting people to believe in themselves. getting people to love themselves, the fine valuing what they’re doing. make sure that they felt important, which helped the company be better. I still listen to that book every January just to pick up little things that I may forget along the way.

Because the stress of building a business is, in some ways insurmountable. but it’s a mountain that you constantly got to be climbing, it doesn’t matter. if you’re one year in five years in or 20 years in, like, every year. it’s gonna be a new mountain, and you’re constantly. like literally climbing that that’s a good segue.

For me, it’s about building friends and building influences within the people around you learning how to remember their name. if you don’t remember the person’s name you’re talking to. that’s like, one of the easiest ways to get that person to put their wall down. like when you say, Hey, John, not like, Hey, man, how you doing?

It’s like, Hey, John, how are you, seriously one of the first within a microsecond to get that person to trust you. And like you, it’s just remembering their name. it’s like, that’s so simple. But it’s like, it’s so profound. Like, if somebody addresses you by Just Your name versus by like a slogan, or a slur or whatever. It’s just, it’s really powerful in business.

So I totally understand what you’re saying it is stressful. you’re putting out tonnes of fires, but constantly it is about the people around you and getting that team to believe in the mission. believe in the goal believe they’re trying to do it. Not. They have to do it to make money.

Pamela Bardhi
Absolutely, absolutely. You mentioned a few nuggets that you’ve had throughout your entrepreneurial journey. But for any entrepreneur who’s listening right now or aspiring entrepreneur. what would you say was your best little lesson or best piece of advice that you’ve learned throughout your journey?

Rick Elmore
Well, the communication,that has been a huge, like, life changing thing for me. I would say that, but I would recommend entrepreneurship for everybody. if you’re early in your career, especially because you can take those risks. But in the five years of being an entrepreneur is packed a 50-year corporate career into this.

learning how to build a business from the ground up. do marketing, sales, HR taxes, product development, product delivery, sales, marketing, outbound developing sales funnels, marketing funnels, doing ads. I mean, this is everything I was craving when I was a sales rep, like I knew it just had to go find it.

And I found this here. So I would recommend anybody to try this if you really feel it. but treat it like a job, don’t treat it like a hobby, or a side. a side hustle, because you’re not going to get what you need out of it. Or it’s not going to give you what you need out of it.

And yeah, we just say, really, it’s about getting the right people on the ship. learning how to be a good leader, communicate effectively. early on tonnes of podcast out there talking about effective communication. but yeah, I would recommend entrepreneurship to anybody, if you can handle. That’s because there is a lot of stress. But stress is a good thing. Stress is a good thing. It’s just you can’t let it overcome you.

What Would Rick Older Self Tell His Younger Self

Pamela Bardhi
I love that, Rick, I love that. And like this is one of my favourite questions, and I can’t wait to see what you have to say about this one. But what would your older self tell your younger self based on what you know, now,

Rick Elmore
Slow down, I have a three and a five year old, your just priorities change when you get older. And that’s why I’m saying your goals five years now, five years ago, we’re gonna be different than now. Because your life is gonna be different. Taking care of your physical health, your mental health, your emotional health, take care of the things that really matter.

You know, simply note it as a business, it’s my business passion. but it’s not my life, passion. you just got to slow down, things are gonna happen when they’re supposed to happen. the more you force it, the more stress you’re gonna put on yourself. the more anxiety you’re gonna put on yourself.

I mean, I used to just like, I want to be successful yesterday. like, I’m gonna get this done in a year. Enjoy the journey, that journey is the dream, like everything that I’ve learned is, is so fulfilling. and it’s so empowering, that I figured out and that is the dream. the destination is just the destination. there’s gonna be another mountain to climb after you get to that destination.

So learn to enjoy the process, learn to enjoy the journey, slow down. enjoy the things that around you. it’s really hard to separate personal life and entrepreneurship. because when you’re a business owner, it’s always on your mind. But really practice you know, if it’s meditation. there’s a lot of techniques to really get your mind away from the stress. just like sensory, like sensory techniques.

Like if you’re feeling really overwhelmed like by just like literally looking at something. like, say my keyboards in front of you by literally by looking at it and just touching it and thinking about it. you can change your mind second, and literally get your mind off the stress. because you’re forcing your brain to think about something and then you touch it.

Again, if you just smell something like you’re forcing your sensory to overpower the stress. because your brain is thinking about what it’s looking at smelling and touching. It’s like there’s a lot of techniques you’ll learn because the stress is always there. So Yeah, I would just say slow down, slow down, enjoy the journey. Because you know, the destinations can always change.

Pamela Bardhi
I love that Rick and, like now, where are you headed in the next like, three to six months. like what’s up in your world? And simply noted

Rick Elmore
yeah, you know, we’re in production of our robots. So, you know, I really am a firm believer in the problem we’re solving. the world is just getting more cold every day. the AI revolution is taking over now. And I do believe AI is gonna replace a lot of jobs. So relationships in business will always matter. Because at the end of the day, people have a choice when it comes to business.

Like there are no monopolies here. There are opportunities for competition. So competition comes down to having a great product, delivering great customer service, but also relationships. So I believe the problem we’re solving is going to be around forever. We just got done with a two year project of building our own handwriting robots are going into production. That’s a whole different, you know, Beast now.

Now we’re into additive and iterative. like manufacturing, which is this is all new working in China with injection moulding. we’re building our own motherboards. I have electrical engineering team of software engineering team, mechanical engineering team. So I’m entering a whole new world again. every year, your skill level, and everything’s gonna change because you have to grow.

You grow through what you go through. So we’re going through a whole new challenge, but I’m excited or excited for the future. You know, my goal is to sell simply noted someday. I do believe simply noted, can be a high eight, nine figure business. but it’s going to take some real money. I’ve again, I’ve self funded this thing, through customers, client funded. so I’m excited for the future.

But you know, the future is going to be a higher mountain, right. So there’s going to be more, more trails. To reverse, more tough territory. I’m gonna have to cut down some branches and make some new paths. But I’m excited for it. I’ve learned to enjoy this stressful process.

Pamela Bardhi
I absolutely love that. I can’t wait to hear all about like the next. You know, the next phase after these robots are done. we’re gonna have to check in in like, six months and say like, Hey, how are those robots do

Rick Elmore
that’s gonna change the industry?

Pamela Bardhi
Oh, man, I’m so excited for that. Oh, my goodness. Rick, thank you so much for being here today. And I’m sure there’s a tonne of people listening that are like, where do I find Rick. what’s the best way to reach you?

Rick Elmore
Yes, I’m on LinkedIn all the time. So I try to get back to anybody who reaches out there. It’s just Rick Elmore, e l, m o r e. Or if anybody’s remotely interested in learning about what simply what it is. or a handwritten notes platform. just go to simply noted.com Just how it’s spelled si MP l ey. noted.com. and request a sample kit.

we do a pretty good job of like sending this nice sample kit out. It has tonnes of writing samples and case studies. And yeah, it’s just a really cool product. What usually happens when people get it in their hands. No way was this written by a robot and then they call us and they talk to us about a project they need help with. So yeah, I would say simply no.com Or just connects me on LinkedIn.

Pamela Bardhi
I absolutely love that. Rick, thank you so much for being here today and for sharing your wisdom and all the beautiful things. Thank you. So that’s it for today’s episode of underdog. catch us next week, always dropping on Thursdays. And remember, if you’re interested in real estate, or want to learn how to create more money and magic in your life. check out meet with pamela.com and let’s chat sending you so so much love