What is it that you want to be known for? Do you know what you want your legacy to be when it is all said and done? Our guests today, Ravi Rajcoomar and Perry Gladstone talk about creating your Moment of Glory, why having mentors and peer advisors make a difference, and tips from some of their amazing success.
Connect with Perry and Ravi:
**The Moonshot Collective = https://www.themoonshotcollective.com/
ABOUT OUR GUESTS
Perry Gladstone and Ravi Rajcoomar are both business experts who have individually founded numerous successful companies. Together they partnered to start The Moonshot Collective (TMC), which helps purpose-driven leaders and innovators grow with the best. TMC is a global network of accomplished leaders and innovators committed to solving each other’s challenges, fueling each other’s development, and supporting purpose-driven organizations.
Ravi Rajcoomar is a ‘Heromaker’ whose life’s work is to work with individuals and organizations to create their MoG – Moment of Glory – and lasting legacy. He is a recognized leader in the brand strategy, experiential event, content, athlete, and product marketing space. He has produced award-winning sports marketing events and broadcasts on six continents for nearly every major action and adventure sport, from Red Bull’s live broadcast properties to the X Games and both the Summer and Winter Olympics. His experience has helped lead some of the world’s best brands to deeper engagement with their audience and clients including Red Bull, Polaris, Specialized, Clif Bar, WME and ESPN, not to mention several state and regional DMOs. He has earned ‘Organizer of the Year’ honors at the highest levels from the Union Cycliste International (UCI) and international media on both the road and mountain bike disciplines of cycling as well as Emmys, Event Marketer, Addy, and Ace awards as well as Sports Business Journal’s prestigious ‘Forty under Forty’ nomination. Ravi currently lives in Georgia, and currently serves as a Vice President for PeopleForBikes, the nation’s leading bicycle industry trade association.
Perry Gladstone helps leaders and leading organizations unlock their true potential by sharing his unique ability to see and articulate their greatest opportunities for success. Insightful, charismatic, and entertaining, Perry is a natural storyteller with a boatload of experience and success across multiple industries. As a confidential coach and advisor, Perry has guided powerful leaders, rock stars, innovators and disruptors and developing
countries around the world. In private consultation, workshops and his exclusive mastermind groups, Perry will deliver the clarity and insight your audience needs to break through any barrier and create the life and legacy they always wanted. Before formalizing his advising career, Perry founded ten influential companies in the action sports, entertainment and media industries. He is the author of the critically acclaimed, FAST & HOT; How To Open Hearts, Win Minds and Create a Better Life in Business, co-founder of the SOMOS Foundation of Costa Rica.
Sponsor
This episode is powered by Big Sky Franchise Team. If you are ready to talk about franchising your business you can schedule your free, no-obligation, franchise consultation online at: https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/ or by calling Big Sky Franchise Team at: 855-824-4759.
Transcription
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (00:00):
You’ve worked hard to build your business and now it’s time to grow. Welcome to the Multiply Your Success Podcast. I’m your host Tom DuFore, CEO of Big Sky Franchise Team and a serial entrepreneur. And the purpose of our podcast is to give you a weekly dose of inspiration and education to help you multiply your success. And the opening question for today is what is it that you want to be known for? Do you know? Do you know what you want your legacy to be when it’s all said and done?
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (00:33):
And our guests today, Ravi Rajcoomar and Perry Gladstone talk about creating your moment of glory, which is a really cool concept. You’re going to want to make sure you listen into the episode to hear that and why having mentors and peer advisors make a difference as well as tips and some ideas and some of their secrets to some of their amazing success in their career. And Ravi and Perry each have equally impressive resumes and building and creating top performing international companies. And they’re social entrepreneurs in several ventures. Most notably what we’ll talk about today with their international movement with The Moonshot Collective. Ravi is best known as a hero maker and Perry is known for helping leaders figure out what makes them tick. So tune in, you’re going to enjoy it. So let’s go ahead and jump right into that interview.
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (01:21):
Hey Tom, how you doing? Great to be here today. My name is Ravi Rajcoomar. I’m calling in, Zooming in today from Athens, Georgia outside of Atlanta. And I am part of TMC, The Moonshot Collective. Perry and I founded this group and an organization based for entrepreneurs that really want to excel and work with the best people. I have a long history in early two spaces, I care about bicycles, that’s one thing that really defines me. And the organization that I work with now is called PeopleForBikes. It’s the largest advocacy organization for bicycles in the world. And in addition, I have a long history in experiences, sports marketing experiences, consumer brand experiences. That’s really the sweet spot for me.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (02:05):
My name is Perry Gladstone, and likewise co-founder of TMC, The Moonshot Collective. I have a long history is a serial entrepreneur and a social entrepreneur. Started out with my first business at 13 years old, opened my first store at 15 years old. And always had believed that I needed to create my own reality and start my own businesses so I could have the experiences I want, which served me really well until I got to what I would say, a level of success, where I started being the smartest guy in the room and stopped asking for help.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (02:43):
And another thing about being young and successful, or at least young as an entrepreneur is there’s mentors all over the place because everyone’s older than you. And so there’s someone to learn from whether they intend to teach you or not. But when you get out of that wonder kids sort of phase. Again, if you haven’t learned to ask for help, it can be really restricting in a lot of ways. I went from action sports, which is one of the things Ravi and I have in common into media and entertainment and production into the aid industry. I’ve been working with governments in Central America and around the world. I’m back in Canada now after a long stint down south in the tropics and excited to make things happen.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (03:30):
Amazing. Well, thank you both so much again for being here and I love the social entrepreneurship. Just in general entrepreneurship with what you’ve done and what you’re going through. And one of the things that I found interesting in preparing for our conversation today is this idea about entrepreneurship isolation. And kind of it’s talked a lot about sometimes used as a little bit of a marketing pitch. It’s lonely on the top, but it is. So, I mean, there is truth in that. So I’d love for you guys just to talk about that and especially in today’s climate for an entrepreneur.
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (04:13):
Perfect. I’ll kick it off just for a little bit Tom. I think a phrase I like to use is leadership is lonely and it’s truly out there. The higher you ascend in a specialty or your organization or the business you build, the more isolated you become, right? There’s more pressure on you, the more team leading you do, the more eyes are on you to be successful. And you also, as you climb that ladder or ascend, there’s also less and less people that you think in your network really that have some of those same challenges or you think have those same opportunities that are there. So we really believe in whether a peer mentorship as a tool or an advisory board as a tool, but really having people on your team as it were to help you solve some of those problems that have those hard discussions.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (05:01):
I want to chime in here because this is so personal for me. I had created my first million-dollar business at 22 or 23 years old. And I thought I knew what I was doing. I thought it was a genius. I was just making snowboards and you know what? I may have done a good job at it, but it was right at the right time, I was behind the wave. The industry was taking off. I mean, you couldn’t help but make money. And one of my good friends who I went to high school with who was on the fast track to be a partner at one of the big five accounting firms, chartered accountant. I brought all my stuff to him that year, kind of dumped it in a shoe box on his desk and said, help me, it’s tax time, I don’t know what I’m doing.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (05:48):
He looked at me, he said, “You have a million dollars in sales.” I said, “Yeah.” He says, “You’re going to screw this up.” “What do you mean?” He’s like, “You have no idea what you’re doing, you’re way over your head.” And I think that this entrepreneurial spirit is such a great thing in a lot of us that are wired that way, appreciate it and want to celebrate it. But we also know that we can’t do everything, this rugged individualism idea that you’re going to do it all yourself, just isn’t true. And so to what Ravi speaking about, when you get to that point, let’s call it a point of maturity, when you’re really ready to be realistic about what your own limitations are. It doesn’t mean you can’t do anything. It doesn’t mean you can’t achieve all the success you would ever want in the world.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (06:37):
I mean, that’s what I do every day is work with people who are at that level, but it means you do have to learn how to ask for help, and you do have to learn how to support yourself in your very best role. And that’s maybe we’ll get into that deeper, but that’s why things like peer mentorship are so important. That’s why it’s lonely at the top.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (06:55):
Yeah, no, that’s a great point. And I can attest to that as my career has progressed. Just personally, every promotion when I was working for someone, it starts to become fewer and fewer people. And then you go into self-employment and then running a business and a company and building and growing, and it becomes fewer and fewer folks. You don’t know who to talk to. You can’t really talk to your fellow employees who may be some of them have been your friends as an entrepreneur, sometimes friends or family, but they’re not the owner or the leader as you put it. I like Ravi, how you said that, leadership is lonely and that’s true. So talk about what you’re doing with The Moonshot Collective and how you’re trying to help solve that problem?
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (07:40):
Well, The Moonshot Collective came out of a mastermind group that I had been running for about eight years. The quick backstory is what we’ve been talking about. I looked around one day and realized I don’t have any mentors. And it was almost shocking to come to that conclusion. So I set out to find, or to create and the mastermind is a very powerful one. To surround myself with people that I looked up to, that I admired, that had experienced that I don’t in a very trusting, confidential setting. So I set out to find those people and Ravi and I participated in mastermind group for years together. And we got to the point where we realized, wait, in our own network, just our personal connections there are so many people that need this, and we want to be able to help them get this kind of assistance and this kind of leg up really. Successful people like we’re talking about, where do you go to ask for help?Where’s a safe place for you to really try ideas out?
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (08:42):
So we sat down together and we decided, let’s turn this into an organization that really will make the world a better place for these kinds of people. And it’s been incredible. And we’re not trying to this thing. We don’t have thousands of members, it’s handpicked people. It’s curated mastermind groups, every single person that joins goes through an orientation process with Ravi and I. So we’re really very careful about it, but that’s what we call it TMC is all about, is curation of these peer mentorship groups. Enough facilitation to make sure everyone gets the time and attention they need. And there’s a lot more to it, but maybe Ravi you want to chime in and talk about MOG and Moonshots and all of that stuff.
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (09:26):
Yeah. Thanks Perry. And Tom, what I like about what we do, the real driving passion for me is having great people to work with. So we look for that, people that want to innovate and improve. And the third thing is really people we want to work with people that want to innovate and people you enjoy the work with, right? I want to work with these people. I want to have fun. We get to choose who we get to work with. So that’s really where I think it’s super important for us to think about. And some of the touch points that are really exciting for me are what we want to do in this world. Right. I like to call it the highest best use. It’s our legacy. It’s the thing we want to be known for.
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (10:05):
I call it the MOG, our Al Bundy for touchdowns at Polk High moment. What are you going to be known for? And then how do you actually implement that? And what’s that look like in your legacy? So these are some of the big picture things that we tackle along with that personal professional development at TMC.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (10:23):
Go ahead Perry.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (10:24):
I was going to say, this is one of the reasons why Ravi and I love what we do so much is because what we’ve created with TMC is exactly what we need to do in the world. Ravi is a hero maker. We use these terminology, we call it your super power. and Ravi’s super power’s a hero maker. And if you dive in his background, you’ll see hero after hero. He’s the guy behind the scenes, quite literally.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (10:48):
And and so when we talk about moment of glory and we talk about what are you going to leave behind? I mean, this is Ravi’s wheelhouse and mine is what makes you tick. I’m the guy that takes you through orientation, so you can find out exactly what you were born to do? What your superpower is? why it works? Where your mojo is? When you’re not working at your best, why is that? And the thing that matters most to me in the world is to understand that about you. So we both get to do our best work in the world together in this environment. And yeah, it’s just really exciting.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (11:23):
Well, thank you guys. I love what you’re doing and it’s interesting, a guest we had on here a little while ago, I’ve known him for many years in the franchise community. He’s built many businesses, built his own franchise company, sold it, now he’s leading franchise organization. And he talked about Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography. And I think it’s called the JUNTO or something in that regard, I forget the exact name of it. But basically it sounds like it was a mastermind group that he organized, some local friends or colleagues that got together once a week. And they talked about business, what was happening in the world and how they could learn and grow from one another. So as I’m listening to you talk, I’m thinking that stuck in my mind, because I’m just thinking about that recent interview, but is that kind of what you’re doing? I’m just curious.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (12:21):
It is Tom and it’s no big secret, right? I mean, the one that gets credit all the time is Napoleon Hill who wrote this book, I think it was 1944 or something. He followed Rockefeller around in these industrial lessons with the intention of figuring out why are these guys so much better than everyone else? Why is there them and then this huge gap? But look at this in every context, look at it in sports, right? Why are the best of the best? Why is there always a gap between them and the rest of the field? And a lot of it has to do with the fact that they surround themselves with other people who are equally as good, right? It pushes them. It makes them get better. You always play up to the company you keep. And again, like I said, this is no big secret.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (13:02):
You’ve heard people talk about this sort of quote around, you’re the product of the five closest people you keep around you. All these things kind of go back to this idea. So as Ravi said earlier, you get to choose. This is one of the core fundamental beliefs that we have is you do get to choose. And I don’t care if you’re in a big organization and you’re running a business unit, and you’re not the top dog. Or maybe you are a franchisee and you don’t get to set the vision for the product and those kinds of things, but you still get to choose who you surround yourself with and the kinds of choices you make on a day-to-day basis.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (13:42):
Go ahead, Ravi.
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (13:43):
Yeah, Tom, the way I look at it as well to add to what Perry said is you get to build your team. We all have a team that we get to use here. And whether it’s a book club of the month that you’re a part of, that’s your mentorship group, or it’s something more formal, or you’re part of executive coaching group. Whatever that is, you get the chance to build your team. And that team is there to improve what you do, right? You get to play up with the team. You get to try new ideas, you get to take risks. And that’s the strength for me that I really, really appreciate. I’m a team builder, that’s the way I like to do it. That’s how I actually use my process to build a team and make the results happen and share that stuff. So teams are really important, but you can replace team with group or mentorship and it can work the same way.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (14:33):
Yeah, I was just going to, so just to further that a little bit as I’m thinking. Let’s say I’m listening in, and this sounds great, guys. I’m an entrepreneur, run several companies. I’m interested what would a first step be? What if I’m interested in either The Moonshot Collective or maybe I don’t qualify for what you’re doing? What could I do as maybe some simple steps to go through, to get into this?
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (15:00):
So there’s a couple of things. The first is you need to make a decision and you’re alluding to the decision being made, but I’m a very strong believer in challenging your beliefs. So what I mean by that in this case is, are you ready? Are you ready to surround yourself with people who are going to call you out on your crab? Are you ready to try doing things a different way? Because as been said what got you here won’t get you there. So if you really ready, then that’s number one. And then after that, I would say, look for the people who resonate, who talk the way that you want to talk, or the kind of language that really feels right for you. There’s many teachers in the world.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (15:46):
I mean, the truth about teachers and mentorship and everything that we’re talking about is that the teacher shows up when you’re ready. And if you’ve watched any film, and any classics, Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. It’s all super clear when you’re ready the right mentor shows up. I’m an executive coach, this is what I do for a living. I help advise some pretty powerful people around the world. And the truth is I’m great for them if it’s a fit, but I may be the completely wrong, totally wrong choice for somebody else. So you need to get out there, you need to meet some people, and you need to talk about this and find out who is using this kind of language.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (16:29):
To get into the TMC, it’s not that it’s a big deal, but we do very carefully vet. You got to have a one-on-one with me first. We go through four weeks of orientation before you even get to meet a team of people or your mastermind group. So that’s our way of doing it. But I would say just start, it really doesn’t matter where.
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (16:50):
Yeah Perry, and the other thing Tom to think about is it’s okay to look at people you aspire to want to work with. Most folks out there, just taking a step back. Most successful folks have… Time is limited, but they do want to share that knowledge. So if there’s someone out there in an industry or a tangential space that you want to work with, it’s okay to ask them, “Hey, I’m doing this, I appreciate what you’ve done in this space. Do you have some time to have this conversation?”
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (17:15):
Because that sharing of knowledge, the higher you go in the ladder, the more they want to share as well. And I think that’s often an easy place to do it.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (17:23):
And let me add to that, because you’re so right Ravi, is asking for help because people do want to help. They really do. And the other thing, the secret to people is that everybody’s insecure. I wouldn’t have a job and a career, if that weren’t true. And so when you get past the facade you find out that we’re all human and we all need a safe space, so ask.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (17:50):
Yeah, that’s really interesting. And even thinking about all of the various, the clients I’ve worked with over the years and all but in their own right have been successful in their business and growth and what they’ve been doing. And you’re right about giving back. They talk about all the time, how rare it is. They’ll go to a lecture at some universities and talk to some college students. Or go to some philanthropy event and helping maybe some kids or the local high school or whatever, anything like that. And every time they said I always make sure I give them my personal cell phone. I invite them to please just ask and be available as a resource. And I said, maybe one, if they’re lucky out of 100 or 200 or more would come up or none out of it. It’s always amazing. And they’re willing to help, these folks are willing to help to your point, just to reiterate what you’re saying. So I definitely agree with you on that.
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (18:50):
Hey Tom, one thing… Sorry Perry. One thing I’d like to kind of challenge all of us with is, and it just came up in conversation. I was speaking to a senior person who I was getting some advice from and he challenged me to say, I’ll absolutely spend time with you to co-create this plan, but you have to spend time with someone else as well. So wherever we are in that funnel, if we’re asking for help, we share can also share that help, whether at the beginning of a career with a young person, middle of the career with a senior person. But if we ask for help, we should also share help. And I think that continues to perpetuate the mentorship and allyship promise.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (19:28):
Yeah, that’s true. And let’s not leave out the feels here. I mean, it feels good to give back. And part of the reason why, I mean, obviously ego is a part of that and that’s fine. But the other part of it is that, again, as human beings we need to be acknowledged, that’s part of the human condition. And so again isolating yourself at the top of the tower isn’t healthy.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (19:56):
Yeah, no, great point. And you guys said something earlier that stood out to me that I wanted to ask about. So you talked about the moment of glory, and so I just have to hear from you what that means to you. I was thinking about, I said before we move on I’d love to find out what that means.
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (20:17):
Yeah, Tom, it’s a big one, right? I use that example. It’s Al Bundy’s four touchdowns at Polk High. We challenge our members and many folks we come in contact with our members, what do you want to be known for? Not to be morbid here but when it’s all said and done, what do you want to be on that highlight reel? There used to be a show before our time that was, this is your life when you’d play that highlight reel. So at that banquet, at your gala, at your Emmy Award, what do you want to be known for? And what’s on that highlight reel? So we think in that direction, and this moment of glory concept is it can be something personal for you, it can be something for a foundation, it can be something for your kids, but it’s a real deep introspection of, hey, what’s that moonshot? What’s the thing for you?
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (21:03):
For us we use that example, again, of Al Bundy or if you want to climb Kilimanjaro, or if you want to go skydiving for the first time, or writing a book. Whatever that thing is, we can help you determine why it makes sense, why you want to do it, what you want to be known for, and then let’s go get after it. Let’s go on the journey to accomplish it.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (21:22):
So let me just tie some of this together with the greater overall concept. This is not a standalone. It may be an event. It may be something where we hand you the trophy at the end and that’s fantastic, but there’s a through line. And that is that this is part of what you’re here to do, right?
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (21:41):
It starts with orientation, so you really truly understand what that real purpose is. And then we translate that into this next level. I mean, first of all, once you have that understanding about yourself, what is your superpower? How do you go through the world? What can you not help, but do? Then how do you apply that to your business today? How do you build a business that supports you being your absolute best? Then what’s your moment of glory? What kind of acknowledgement or achievement do you want to have that trophy on the wall, have on the highlight reel? And how does that create a legacy that really serves you and your purpose? So these things aren’t isolated.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (22:20):
This is a great point to transition over to our formula for the show where we like to make sure we ask every guest the same questions. And so Ravi you get to go first. I’m just picking you because you’re on the screen there. So here we go. So you get to go first and then Perry will hop over to you. So the first question we like to ask every guest is about amiss or two that maybe happened in your career or professionally, personally, and something you learned from it?
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (22:49):
Absolutely. I’m going to have a pretty specific example. So I was the head of events and experiential marketing for Red Bull for a number of years. And that’s my wheelhouse, I really enjoyed that space. We had an opportunity early on to be the presenting title partner of this huge event that has grown to become, it’s Supercross, it’s motorcycle racing. The biggest motorcycle racing thing in the world. And we took a pass and that’s one, there’s not too many things in our Red Bull world that we take a pass on, that we have regret. And I’m only speaking for myself. So all my Red Bull colleagues who are listening, please don’t be mad. It was one that I wish we… There’s not too many in hindsight, but that was one I wish we would able to make that choice and move forward with that partnership. And yeah, that’s amiss. And it wasn’t a lack of trying. It was just the lack of timing. I think that’s really what it was.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (23:46):
Wow. And Perry, how about you?
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (23:48):
Okay. So rewind back to the mid 90s, let’s say, mid 90s. And just before… Well, it doesn’t matter. So I was in Whistler attending a snowboard camp, which was run by a colleague of mine, because I was in the snowboard industry. I founded a company called Limited SnowBoards, which went on to be the largest Canadian snowboard brand in the world, at that time around ’93. So I was in Whistler and I was hanging out at this camp in the middle of the summer. And I met Adam Yauch from the Beastie Boys, MCA, who was just there to have fun. And I was making this little project called the snowboard video magazine. This was like when video magazines were. Wow, what an idea, magazine on video. Anyway, it’s kind of stupid.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (24:44):
Anyway, I got to hang out with Adam a little bit and we talked and I interviewed him for the video. And he invited me to New York and he said, “Hey, this is cool, come some time and hang out and we’ll do stuff.” And I never took him up on it and I never took him up on it because I didn’t think I was good enough. I didn’t think I had something great. The Snowboard Magazine actually failed, didn’t happen. And I was embarrassed to get back to him, and I never did. And I regret that. I regret that I had an open invitation to be part of something that, talk about aspiring to, and yeah, I blew it.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (25:27):
Wow. Well, thank you both for sharing such specific examples. I know I can relate to similar stories in my career and personal where I say, oh yeah, I’ve had at least a few of those that I can relate to. But now the fun part too, let’s talk about, let’s flip it over on the other side and talk about a make or two and something you took from that. So let’s go say more to, Ravi, we’ll have you go first.
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (25:55):
Yeah, no problem. I’ll stick with my Red Bull theme because I’m feeling energized right now, and want to use that as our example. So I’ll preface it with, like I said earlier, I’m a team guy. It’s all about building the right team, the right group of people to move the ball in the same direction and really accomplish things. So I want to preface it that way. One of the things that I’m super proud of was, again, at a time at Red Bull, one of the missions of the company is to give wings, that’s the tagline, to athletes and ideas. So we’ve got some of the best athletes in the world, 350 of them at the time. And one specific athlete, his name is Travis Pastrana, famous motorcycle guy, and action sports legend.
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (26:40):
Well, we came up with a concept with him to set world records in multiple disciplines. So we did at different times, but we built a project around that over multiple years. So we were able to work with the best athlete in the world to envision what he could draw on the back of a napkin and change the world. So not just the world record, but something that would be in passion and record-setting for him and really part of his moonshot and his legacy. So we got to do years and years of moonshots with these type of athletes.
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (27:10):
And one year he was able to jump a motorcycle further than anybody else. One year jumped over the bay in a rally car. One year he did it in parallel with someone on a snowmobile. And we were able to take that property to other athletes. So pretty lucky, but pretty also something that I really enjoy. As Perry said as a hero maker. These are those moonshots and moments that really get me going. These are my go-to. And yeah, but they’re still happening today. And the phone still rings and we chuckle about things even now. So pretty pumped about some of those mates.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (27:45):
Fantastic. And Perry, how about you?
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (27:49):
Okay, so I’ve got two for you. The first was when I sold Limited SnowBoards and the reason why is because it was validation for me. That was my first real serious success, real money, and being able to sell it someone else bought in, it wasn’t just my own imagination. So that was a strong make for me in my career. But I think one that I’m the most proud of and it’s a little more recent is that my superpower is the ability to see the greatest potential, in things, in people, in stuff. So I can look at pretty much anything and see the best version of it. I now live in Toronto, but recently moved here from Costa Rica, where I’ve been for quite awhile. Costa Rica is famous for its beaches and its tropics and it’s all this stuff and believe it or not, there’s no National Lifeguard program, which is frankly negligent.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (28:49):
And in my community, we are seeing a lot of deaths both locals and tourists alike. I surf, I moved there originally to be in the ocean and be part of that community. I started lifeguarding with some other guys and quickly started to see what was needed. Anyway, the upshot of all of this is it took five years, but over the course of five years we created the first legal lifeguard association in the country. We got US ambassador behind it. We managed to connect a whole bunch of dots, all to culminate in a lobbying passed for the first time in the country that there is a line item in all municipal budgets for lifeguarding where it’s appropriate. So that’s a really big deal. And to me, even more important than that is that we created the model for public private social enterprise.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (29:43):
And I don’t mean to throw a lot of jargon around, but it doesn’t happen if you don’t package it up with a big bow and make it easy for everybody, especially when you’re dealing with government and bureaucrats. So we created it, we made this, we started the first grassroots organization. We developed the curriculum. We went to the coast guard and said, will you do us training program with us and make it certifiable, so we have your stamp, coast guards. And then we went to the fireman and we went to the police and we went to all these other government run type agencies and created the thing that everyone could rally around and use. So that’s what I mean by it’s public, it’s private. In this case, it was nonprofit, it’s social enterprise, but we created the model for that and I’m super, super proud of it.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (30:26):
Wow. Amazing. Both of you, thank you for sharing those just truly spectacular, inspiring stories, it’s incredible. Let’s talk about a multiplier, the show’s multiply your success and helping grow and go through this. This is my favorite question, I think, because we get the greatest diversity of answers and responses. So Ravi, let’s start with you and talk a little bit about a multiplier for you?
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (30:55):
For sure. The concept when you say multiplier that I like to use is really allies. Who are allies in your mission, in your messaging that can help spread, evangelize the thing you want to share? You want to think of what you want to share with them and how you want to make them feel as you build your multiplier. So I think those are kind of two things that think about. Perry and I like to call them vehicles. And I’m sure he’ll give us a good example in a minute of what that is. But the one I’m going to use because I’m thinking all Red Bull today, you got me all thinking Red Bull is we built a television network to be our biggest multiplier, so that is called Red Bull TV.
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (31:33):
And we wanted to share these great concepts, this great programming, these great athletic achievements to really inspire the consumer that would drink the product as an inspirational tool across a network. And this was started more than 10 years ago and imagine then as the beginning of kind of internet television and all that. And it’s grown to become, if not the most popular, one of the most popular action adventure endurance sport channels out there on the internet called Red Bull TV. So it’s inspiring, it’s fun, people can see it everywhere, and it’s 100X the audience.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (32:10):
Wow. Amazing. And Perry, how about you?
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (32:14):
So Ravi has me pinned here, but the language we use for this, we call this a vehicle. And my go-to example and where the name vehicle comes from comes back to my snowboard days. And the idea of a vehicle is this, before I tell you what it was. It’s can you create something that other people can drive, something that gets you to your goal, but you don’t have to be the only one driving it. And this is what we’re talking about here, right? That’s Ravi’s example and allies and other people and Red Bull TV is such a great example. So my little version of that circa 25 years ago is I had started this snowboard company. We weren’t getting any traction yet. We really were trying hard, but we weren’t in the big magazines and we weren’t being talked about, and we didn’t have a big name pro riders.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (33:06):
And so I created a magazine in Canada because this is where we were based. And it was an action sports magazine, skateboard, snowboard, about locals. And up until that point, there hadn’t been anything out there like that. Actually there was another small publication similar, but this was dedicated to the local scenes in the Canadian market. The response was incredible and it was immediate because everyone is into the sport. We’re all buying the glossy magazines. We’re seeing our heroes, we’re seeing these amazing pictures and all this big production stuff. You don’t get to see you, you don’t get to see your friends. And so when Vehicle Magazine came out, it was like, whoa, hang on a second, I’m part of this. And we had contributors and photographers and writers and people wanted to be editors and publishers. And it just took on a life of its own almost overnight.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (34:01):
So I called the magazine vehicle because, and here’s the reason why I started it. I couldn’t afford to be in the big magazines. It was $10,000 for a page at the time. I mean, it’s probably a lot more now. So we weren’t even capable of being in those big magazines. So when I started my own, sure, Limited SnowBoards was on the back cover, it was my magazine. And the joke was, it’s a vehicle for us. We were just like, call it out straight, hey, this magazine is a vehicle for our brand and our company. But what happened is it took on its own life and it became its own institution. It wasn’t long before Limited was successful, we could afford any magazine we wanted. But there was such a community and so much equity in Vehicle Magazine itself, we kept it going quite a while after. So that’s the idea, right? What can you do, talk about multiplier that other people can get involved and carry it around for you?
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (34:56):
Yeah. Thank you both. Truly brilliant, brilliant. I love what you guys have shared here. And before we go, the final question we like to ask every guest is what does success mean to you?
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (35:09):
For me, I might’ve mentioned before, truly enjoying what we do. Our highest best use trying to always orient towards doing that, working with great people. And for me personally, it’s always innovative. If I can have all those elements in there, it’s work-life integration. It’s all one in the same. If I’m getting up every day doing this thing that’s my calling, you never stop, in a good way. So that’s kind of the way I look at it.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (35:33):
And Perry, how about for you?
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (35:37):
Here’s how I think about success. I think success is fulfillment. It’s not that different from what Ravi said, it’s about doing something you truly love that gives you back energy. And I don’t think necessarily success is about the number in your bank account. I’m all for legacy and I’m all for leaving things behind and improving the world. In fact, I think it’s critical. It has to be part of the plan, but overall, if you’re not fulfilled, if you’re leaving it all for later, well later might not come. I just had a serious, serious bout with COVID. I’m not that old, I’m fit. I have a history of great, great health and no conditions. I just got my ass kicked so hard. Lung infection like serious.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (36:28):
My wife and I both got it. She was fine in five or six days. I was in bed for three weeks, and the doctor was calling me twice a day to see if I was still alive. It was not good. And I’m not trying to preach here. I’m just saying, you don’t know, we don’t know what’s ahead of us. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We need to be living our best life and we need to be living it now. And I absolutely 100% believe that you can do that today and have the kinds of things you want, and have the kind of life you want. So success to me is pursuing your greatest potential now. No crap about we’re going to do this when I’m retired, or 20 years. I have clients that tell me, well, I just need another $15 million in the bank. Like, what are you talking about?
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (37:11):
The fact that you even say that means you’re missing the point. You’re already beyond privileged to be in that position. So it isn’t about how much money you have in the bank. And this is for me, it’s a bit of a pet peeve too, right? When you’re goal oriented, you’re missing the point because you get to one and it’s just the next one. So today it’s to have a million dollars in the bank and then it’s to have five, and then it’s to have 15, then it’s to have 35, really? So it’s about are you pursuing your greatest potential? And is that your life? Is that your life today? And are you making that happen? And if not, it’s time to choose differently. That’s success, making that choice and making it happen is success.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (37:51):
Wow, truly amazing guys. And how can people find out more about what you’re doing and get involved and talk about becoming part of all these different programs, enterprises, things that you’re working on?
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (38:09):
So we love to meet people who are like-minded, people who believe that success is pursuing your greatest potential. People who have decided that they’re ready to make the kinds of choices that are going to bring them the opportunities that they really want in their life, they want to do their best work in the world. So if you think like that, if that’s a feeling to you, we want to talk to you. I want to talk to you. So you can get us at themoonshotcollective.com. That’s an easy way to sign up, there’s a little form. Email goes straight to me, there’s no one in between. I’ll call you and we’ll set up a time and we’ll chat. And you can look us up individually, right? Ravi Rajcoomar, Perry Gladstone. There’s lots of stuff out there on the Google. But hit us up at themoonshotcollective.com. Send us a little note and I’ll book a call with you, man, we’ll talk.
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (39:01):
We’d love to, this is one of the things we really enjoy the most.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (39:05):
Amazing and any final thing that either one of you were hoping to maybe share or get across that we haven’t had a chance to say before we go?
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (39:15):
Wow, well, you’ve actually given us some pretty good space. Thank you, Tom, this has been really fun. Ravi, how about you? You got something leave behind here.
Ravi Rajcoomar, The Moonshot Collective (39:23):
Yeah, I just like to reiterate a couple of things we said, three things, get an advisory board, whatever that is. If it’s your mom, if it’s a formal group, a mastermind group, get one, we all need it. It’s okay to take some calculated risks, risks make us better with the misses and the makes. And then the third one is it’s really okay to ask for help, ask for help as a mentor, as an ally, building your vehicles, people do want to help each other. So let’s all remember those things.
Perry Gladstone, The Moonshot Collective (39:49):
Cool. Mine is belief in yourself. Not that you get to have it all, but believe that you get to live your greatest life and you get to start that now, believe that you can make that choice.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (40:04):
Well, guys, I’m pumped up after this conversation. I feel like I just had a business owner therapy session here, and this was wonderful. So thank you for that. I can attest to it and I’m really grateful for your time. Thank you both for being here.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (40:19):
Ravi and Perry thank you so much again for being here. What an awesome interview. And let’s go ahead and jump into today’s three key takeaways. So takeaway number one is that leadership is lonely and Ravi and Perry both talked about this idea of rugged individualism, and how it’s a great asset to help you launch your business, but it can get in the way of growing your business by not bringing people in to help you. I thought it was a great takeaway there. Takeaway two, figure out your moment of glory. If you recall when Ravi and Perry were both talking about that, figure out what is it for you and how can it help create the legacy that you want to create. Use it as a tool to figure that out.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (41:05):
Takeaway number three, find a mentor. Perry and Ravi both talked about how mentors and teachers are all around you and to find one you connect with. And I really liked the point they made that mentors and teachers come in all shapes and sizes that it’s not a one size fits all. And when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (41:27):
And now it’s time for today’s win-win. So today’s win-win is a little bit longer than normal, but I loved when they talked about you play up to the company you keep, so find great company. Ravi and Perry, both talked about the idea of mentorship and working with mastermind groups. And certainly they talked about their work at The Moonshot Collective and how they’re helping business leaders around the world. But the reality is what kind of company are you keeping and how are they helping you to grow and be a better you. So the win-win is find and keep great company.
Tom DuFore, Big Sky Franchise Team (42:08):
And that’s the episode today folks. Please make sure you like and subscribe to the podcast and give us a review. Remember if you or anyone might be ready to franchise their business, please connect with us at bigskyfranchiseteam.com. Thanks for tuning in. And we look forward to having you back next week.
