Special Guest Expert - Richard Villasana: Video automatically transcribed by Sonix

Special Guest Expert - Richard Villasana: this mp4 video file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Brian Kelly:
So here's the big question. How are entrepreneurs like us who have been hustling and struggling to make it to success, who seem to make it one step forward only to fall two steps back? Who are dedicated. And driven. How do we finally break through? And with that is the question. And this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Brian Kelly. This Is the Mind Body Business Show. Hello, everyone, and welcome. Welcome, Welcome to the Mind Body business show. Oh, my goodness. We have Mr. Richard Villasana waiting in the wings. He's in the green room and he's literally scratching at his monitor saying, Let me in now. I want to be in now, but we're going to hold off for just a little bit because I want to introduce to you what this show is about. For those of you who've never seen it or heard of it before, it's The Mind Body Business Show, as you can see. And the reason it exists is because of the very title of the show is What I found after studying successful people for a period of about ten years or so is what I found were three common traits that bubbled up to the top for successful people being the key word there. And they were the very name of the show. Mind, body and business mind represents mindset. And to a person, these individuals had developed very positive, powerful and most importantly, flexible mindsets. And they're all these are all things every one of us can do and help develop in our own lives. Body literally means each of these successful individuals took care of their body, literally like nutrition and exercise and then business multi multifaceted in this area. And that is these individuals had mastered the skill sets necessary to build a successful business and to keep it growing and thriving and scaling. And what what kind of skill sets do they master or what are we talking about with that skill sets like marketing, sales, team building, systematizing leadership? I mean, I could go on and on. In fact, Richard has a strong marketing background, and marketing is one of the most powerful skill sets one can ever develop because it's the lifeblood of any business.

Brian Kelly:
And the thing, though, is to master any one skill set, just like becoming an expert, It can take thousands upon thousands of focused effort and time. And the good news is you personally don't have to master not even every skill set I just mentioned, because there are quite a number more if you just mastered one. And it's one of those that I mentioned in that little set just a moment ago. If you master just one of those, then you're set. You can then leverage that skill set onto the others. And what is that one skill set mean? Does anybody want to know? Do they want to put in the comments like, Yeah, I do, because if you don't, I won't tell you. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. That one skill set is. Leadership. And you might say, Brian, I'm a solopreneur. I don't have a team. How can I learn about leadership? You learn by leading yourself and developing a culture within your own company as if you are telling yourself and giving yourself tasks, creating sops and systematizing and becoming a leader. It's there's never the there's never a wrong time to start if you haven't learning to be. And then books read books about leadership and you will then be prepared when your team starts forming. When you start bringing on help, which I highly recommend everyone does if you don't have help. Wow, what a game changer it is to get that first one. You you will just be so happy you did it. So with that very successful people also I found to a person were very voracious readers of books. Many of them were authors like Richard Villasana is. We'll talk about that. But they're very voracious readers of books. And with that, I want a very briefly move over to a segment that I affectionately call Bookmarks.

Announcer:
Bookmarks Born to read. Bookmarks. Ready, Steady. Read. Bookmarks brought to you by reach your Peak Library.com.

Brian Kelly:
Yes, there you see Richard Peak, Library.com right there. And real quick, word of advice, if I may, and that is you're going to be seeing and hearing about various resources during the course of the show. I know Richard has plenty. He's got a book that you can go get and read. What I implore upon you to do is rather than click away or open up a browser tab or go checking it out while the show is going, while you're listening to it, even if you're listening to the recorded version. Rather than do that, I would ask that you instead write them down, write down these resources like reach your peak library.com, write it down and then you have a list of resources and then go visit them after the show is over. And why do I say that? It's like, Brian, come on, I want to have fun. Well, you're going to have a lot of fun. The reason is, is because the magic happens in the room. I would hate for you to lose focus on what Richard is saying on that one magical nugget, that knowledge bomb that he drops that could change your life for the better forever. If you are off focused on something else like looking at Richard Peak Library.com while the show is going on. So I'd ask that you do that. This is for you, not for me. And by the way, I'm running this whole thing. I mean, Producer I wouldn't say star. Star is Richard. Richard is the star, but I'm a cast member. But I also take notes during the show myself while running the show. So I never ask anybody to do something that I myself personally wouldn't do. And this came about as a result of speaking from stage live in front of people where there would be times. This was back in the early days where I noticed that a member of the audience would get up and walk away. And I know what I'm my presentation is about and I know I'm giving them the juicy part right then. And I'm thinking to myself, Oh no, they're going to miss the most valuable part of this presentation. That could help them a lot.

Brian Kelly:
And so I began realizing that I need to help people to understand before they have a seat that, hey, look, you want to stick around, the magic happens in the room, that all important text or that bathroom trip isn't really that necessary. Is it going to be something that could possibly keep you from reaching that level in your life that you so richly want and that you deserve? So we don't want that to happen. That is my soapbox moment. I'm getting off and stepping off of that right now. And so Richard Peak Library, real briefly, I myself did not read voraciously until about 11 years ago at the ripe old age of 47. And a little pause there, because you're doing the math. You probably have it now. Yes. And that's okay. These are a list of books that I have personally read and I vet. So these are books that have had either a profound impact on my business life or my personal life or both. And that is oftentimes the case. And these are in here in no particular order whatsoever. You'll see a big clump of Grant Cardone because I read a bunch of his all at once. I read every book he wrote, but they're just in here kind of in the order I read them. So just scroll through it, find the one that jumps off the page, get it and read it. You don't have to get it from this website. This website's not here to make money. This website is here to provide you a resource. Those buttons go to Amazon and so you can get it there or you can get it at your favorite bookstore. Wherever you get your books, go get it. Just find the title you want and start reading or continue reading if you've already been doing it. It is a absolute life changer and it's a minimal cost. You could literally go to the library and do this for free if you wanted to. Do you remember those things, Those things called libraries? Do they even exist anymore? I don't even know. But anyway, we're going to have some fun tonight. And speaking of fun, speaking of, this is going to be a great, great show because Richard is doing something.

Brian Kelly:
He's heading up a, um, an effort that is phenomenal. And I'm going to stop yakking and bring him on right now. What do you say we do that? Let's bring on Mr. Richard Villasana Yeah.

Announcer:
It's time for the guest expert spotlight savvy, skillful, professional, adept. Trained. Big league qualified.

Brian Kelly:
And there he is, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, it is the one. It is the only Richard Villasenor. Woo hoo! Yes! Woo! Welcome to the show, Richard. How are you doing, my brother?

Richard Villasana:
Doing fantastic.

Brian Kelly:
Oh, my gosh. And look right behind him. Right over his left shoulder is his wonderful book. We will get into that a little bit. Do Harm. Ooh, ooh. I love that. I love that title. It's got the no scratched out. If you're not watching this live, why not? You should be because you get to see all this great stuff. You get to see Richard's beautiful smile. You get to see his book cover, all these great things. So if you're not watching live well, we'll we'll tell you about that here in just a moment. So, Richard, I want to introduce you formally to start off the show and then we're going to do what I call a little bookkeeping or housekeeping. It should be called bookkeeping because, you know, a couple of ad spots and then we'll dive deep into what it is you are all about. Everyone can see right there under your name. You're the founder of Forever Homes for Foster Kids. Richard Villasana like I just said, founder of Forever Homes for Foster Kids, is a leading international expert on immigration issues and foster families, a proud Navy veteran. Thank you for your service, Richard. He has been featured on CNN International, Associated Press, ABC TV, Univision, Wish TV, Costco Connections, and The Washington Post. That's just a few, huh? That's pretty awesome. For three decades, his nonprofit has worked with government agencies across the country. Richard has an amazing track record of finding family members living throughout Latin America for foster and immigrant children to give them a permanent home. He is the author of the new book Do Oh, I Misspoke, Do No Harm. It's just crossed out. I like that. The graphic about the immigrant children's separations and this country's foster care crisis. Oh, yeah. And here's the one thing I really want to point out real quick, Richard, if I may, is that Richard has a deep, deep marketing background which helped him, I'm sure, in many ways to help spread the word and grow your organization to help foster kids. Would you say that's a true assessment?

Richard Villasana:
Oh, absolutely.

Brian Kelly:
And that's fantastic. So people might go, what does this have to do with business? Just everything. What does life have to do with business? Just everything. I mean, business and life are very similar because business is about relationships. I mean, would you agree with that, Richard?

Richard Villasana:
Oh, that's critical.

Brian Kelly:
Yeah. And so many people want to just blast out 30,000 emails and think that they'll get it. That used to work actually for about two decades ago. It doesn't anymore. But you know what did work, even when that worked, was relationship building. You know, it works today no matter what other marketing system does or does not work, relationship building. It's the common denominator throughout all time. Have you found that to be the same?

Richard Villasana:
Well, that's actually how we're talking now.

Brian Kelly:
Exactly. Absolutely, man, That's a great point, you know. All right. I'll do that later. So real quick, we're going to take a quick break. And I want to do this now so that I can concentrate on Richard and you can concentrate on him throughout the rest of the show. So sit tight. We're going to pay some bills here for just a moment and we'll be right back. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right there. Hey, if you're watching the Mind Body business show live right now, then you will have the ability to win a five night stay at a five star luxury resort of your choosing. Compliments of the big insider secrets. What is it? It is a five night vacation stay to one of many destinations across the world. You can see as we go through this very quickly, there's some in Branson. Daytona beaches are in the United States, all over the United States, New Orleans, San Diego. There's also Mexico. There's also the UK. I mean, it just keeps going on and on and on. Australia. At the end of this show, you will be given the ability to enter, to win. You must be watching this live. If you're not watching live, then head on over to the mind body business show.com and register to receive automated notifications when we go live next time. And you can also participate in this incredible, incredible prize. So come on live and you do not want to miss a moment because of our incredible guest experts. And if you're struggling with putting a live show together and it's overwhelming and you want a lot of the processes done for you while still enabling you to put on a high quality show and connect with great people and grow your business all at the same time. Then write this down carpet bomb Marketing.com then head on over to it after the conclusion of tonight's show. Carpet Bomb Marketing. Saturate the marketplace with your message and to get a free lifetime membership to a phenomenal resource called the Peak Club. Your free membership will include instant access to deep discounts on major software services and top shelf training courses that you need to run your successful business.

Brian Kelly:
Think of it as your entrepreneur Discount house. Catapult your business to the next level. Sign up for free now and get a hotel discount card with $200 just for joining. Then go and grab your deep discount. So write this down and then after the show, once again, head on over to reach your peak Club.com. All right. Now let's get back to the show. Good gracious. Let's get back to the show already. I don't know who that was yakking for so long, but now finally, we get to get back to the star of the hour, Mr. Richard Villasana. And so, Richard, what I want to open up with is, you know, the title of the show is Mind Body Business Show. And I like to open up with a mindset question, and that is you've been through it. You've been around the block, you have been an entrepreneur, you've been a business person, have a marketing expert. You now are head of a wonderful nonprofit that's helping foster children around the world. And I'm just curious, so when you you know, I can only imagine that you run through trials and tribulations along those paths that not every day was perfect. I bet not not a single day was perfect because as entrepreneurs and having this kind of responsibility and everything that we do, there are a lot of lot of speed bumps along the way. I'm just curious, when you are getting up in the morning, you know, given all that that's going to hit you head, head in the face, the whole day long, What is actually motivating you? What is keeping you driven? What is keeping you Just determined to continue to move forward and help more people each and every day.

Richard Villasana:
Say for what I'm doing right now. That's the children. I'm really focused because I know that when I'm at my best and doing my best and my team and I have a team, I don't want anyone to think that the success that I have achieved and I have achieved a lot of success. But that's because I've had great people with me and they have supported me and my dream and my mission. And that mission is to get as many children as possible who are in foster care, us foster care to get them out of that system and back with family members. And knowing that I can make that difference for a child. So it gets me up every morning, keeps me up till sometimes three, 4 or 5:00 in the morning. It's just it's my caffeine.

Brian Kelly:
That just speaks of what a beautiful person you are. And oh, Lauren Taylor West says, Hey, Richard or Hi, Richard. Great to see you on the show. Oh, she kept going. Great to hear about your show through Richard Yeah. Thank you, Richard. You said the word, Richard. Fabulous book title in On Point. I agree. Thank you, Lauren Taylor West. Yes. And we love comments. Bring it on. And appreciate that response, Richard. It was definitely I mean, someone wouldn't embark on doing what you're doing unless there was a true love and a passion to help others and you're helping people that really need it. I mean, foster kids, they're looking for a home for parents, somebody to help bring them up. That's that's a huge responsibility for anyone to take. And you've done that. So kudos and appreciation, mad appreciation for you for doing that. Um, and how many kids I know you stopped counting at a certain point, but you've helped you and your organization have helped a large number of kids. What would you what's a guesstimate at this point if you had to guess, I know you stopped counting at a certain point, but what would you where would you say you're at right about now?

Richard Villasana:
Probably 13,000 families and children that we've helped, you know, reunite and bring together.

Brian Kelly:
That's amazing. And on behalf of all of them, thank you. I mean, look at that. He serves our country, the United States in this case, and he is now helping. It doesn't matter what country they come from. They're all human beings and they all need love. They need upbringing. They're they're alone. They have no father or mother figure. And you're helping them to at least get that bridge, bridge that gap. And that's that's amazing. And my gosh, what a blessing for them. And I'm sure that's got to be fulfilling when you make that, you know, that connection occur and they land and they find a new home.

Richard Villasana:
It isn't a story just to kind of pull this all together. Yes. So this is one of many cases, but one that was, in a way kind of fun. We got a request from a county, and that's how we get these cases. Counties, nonprofits, the federal government agencies across the US will bring cases to us. And the reason they do that is because we specialize in something called family finding and the foster care system. So let me take even a step back to explain what's what is that? So when a child comes into foster care, if there are relatives nearby because they've been removed from their parents. So if an aunt or a grandparent is nearby, the agencies are happy to let the child be stay with them. But sometimes it doesn't happen. Maybe there are the one group of relatives who are in California or Montana or Georgia, and the rest of the family is somewhere else. And so when that happens, the agencies are required by state and federal law to do something called family finding. And it's a simple but powerful concept. So it's got three parts. Number one, you make a list of all the relatives. And then number two, you find all the relatives and get their contact information. And then number three, you notify all of them. Hi, little Johnny, or little Maria is in foster care. Would you like to step up and take them in? And if you find enough relatives, that's the whole idea. Not 1 or 2, but you find dozens if possible. Someone's going to step up and take in that child. Now. That's what happens in us. We're really good if the families are all in the US. But let's be realistic. If you're on the West Coast, you've probably got people who have relatives in Asia. If you're on the East Coast, we're talking Europe. North might be Canada South. Well, we've got all Latin America. That's where it gets tricky because these agencies, when they have kids who are Latino and or they have relatives in Latin America, everything's in Spanish or Brazil, it's in Portugal. And so now they don't have people who speak Spanish or Portuguese standing by.

Richard Villasana:
And even if they do, if they've taken a couple of months or a couple of years of college Spanish, they may not be able to read the documents at a level that they can pull out the information. And that's what happens. So this. Agency and Wisconsin contacted us, said, look, we have four kids in foster care. Two are little and they've been adopted by the foster parents. Hey, that's great. But they had two older kids. And those two older kids required that the agency do the family finding. But the father was in Mexico and he was also indigenous. Which meant he Maya, spoke in a different language than Spanish. So it was getting really messy, really fast. And honestly, the caseworker was like, you know, we go to court in 30 days. I'm trying this. I don't think it's going to work. Didn't say that. But you can read between the lines. She was not on board with this. It was probably something her supervisor told her. Do this. Contact this person. We got 30 days. See what you can do. And what they anticipated was that they'd go to court in 30 days and then the judge would say, nothing's happened. We'll wait four more months. And that had been happening for a year that these two siblings had not been adopted into the family with the other two for a year. And this is not uncommon. Got the case, got back to 30 days. It took our information to the court. The judge reads it. Everyone's standing by waiting for him to say, okay, we're going to kick this down the road. He says, this is great. I love this report. I love the information here. This is so complete. In the report, we said, look, we did not find the father, but we found two relatives that are probably relatives. And he said, okay, this is good. There was some problems with that particular father. He had come across the border three times, given three different names, two different birth dates. And the judge said, you know what? We're not even sure if we're finding the right person.

Richard Villasana:
But since you did such a great report and gave us such detailed information, you have fulfilled your family finding obligation for these kids. The court rules in their favor, get the adoption going. And they were adopted in two months.

Brian Kelly:
It's sweet. So then it worked. You got them placed and and was flashing your website up there. I want to make sure people get what that is before we go any further, because this show is also on audio podcast. We're on 35 different podcast platforms as well, and the website where you can go to help out Richard's organization, nonprofit, correct.

Richard Villasana:
Nonprofit.

Brian Kelly:
And it's there to help people, help kids. And like you said, he's got a team It's forever homes for foster kids.org and it's all letters there's no numbers so forever homes for foster kids.org and you can donate as you probably saw there if you're watching the show I hope you're watching live and you you can actually donate, you can do fundraising, you can help Richard's organization out. And it's not just about helping Richard's organization out, as he will attest. It's about helping the kids. That's what it's truly about and it's about helping the families. And so great, great stuff. I appreciate all of it. Um, well, since we're here, uh, do you have a story about a particular child like that really sticks out to you that you can remember that had a profound outcome? Maybe it started off pretty hard. I don't know. Whatever comes to your mind, I'm sure you got plenty of them. I can only imagine. Uh, I would love for you to share that with everyone watching and listening, including yours truly, because I haven't heard them either.

Richard Villasana:
So one of the ones I definitely remember was that we had a case with three girls, their sisters. There were four, eight and ten. And because of their age, they couldn't give a lot of information to the caseworkers and they were able to share that. They had two aunts living in Chicago and that was about it. They could say, I have Auntie Beth and Auntie Maria, but that was it. And so they could not find these two aunts, but they had information on relatives that were living in Mexico. So again, they came to our organization, said, Can you find them? Sure. Took us three weeks. We found the relatives, gave the contact information to the caseworker. So on a Saturday, she's got an interpreter with her. She's calling down to Mexico and she gets an uncle and she's talking to the uncle. And during the conversation, she says, By the way, do you know anything about two aunts living in Chicago? And he says, wait a minute, a few seconds pass and a woman gets on the phone and the caseworker introduces herself, explains why she's calling and asks the same question. Do you know anything about two aunts living in Chicago? And she says, Well, of course I'm one of them. They had flown down that week. We're having coffee in the living room.

Brian Kelly:
That's awesome. Yeah, we might know a thing or two. Oh, wow.

Richard Villasana:
Caseworker went ballistically happy. She said, 17 years. I've never had anything like this happen. Never. And of course, when they explained it to the aunts, they said, Of course we'll be back in two days. Let's make it arrangements. That's where the girls are right now. They're with their two aunts that could not be found in the US. We had to do it by finding relatives in Mexico who then found relatives and found these two aunts. And that actually happens a lot.

Brian Kelly:
Major victory story. Thank you for sharing that. So now you can see those of you watching and listening, you know, where any kind of fundraising dollars would go. They are doing their research, three weeks of hunting this down and they found them in such a great way by reaching outside of the United States, going to Mexico, turning over, turning every stone they can possibly do. And that's that's phenomenal. What a what a great ending to those kids stories it was to more than one. One child.

Richard Villasana:
Three sisters.

Brian Kelly:
Three. Wow. Oh, my gosh. That is. You know, I needed this today. This is good news stuff. I love it. I know there's probably bad news stuff, but I love the fact that, you know, you have 13,000 or more families. Oh, my gosh. We got some great stuff from Lauren. I want to put that up. That's amazing, Richard. What a wonderful. Yes, What a wonderful legacy of impact you and your entire organization are having. And then she also said this would be a great mission for corporate sponsorships. Well, I think he's got a few of those. That's we saw that on his website, I think, and maybe he'll get some more as a result of this. But I see BJ's Restaurant, the Home Depot, Office Depot, Sprint, Olive Garden and Vons so far. Who else wants to jump in? Who else knows a corporation? Let's get this done. And then she said, That's so cool. What a small world. Yes. If I need two aunts, Yeah mean, my gosh. Thank you, Lauren Taylor West, for engaging and participating. Love that makes it so much more fun. Um, and if you have a question along the way, feel free to throw that out there as well. Anyone and everyone watching and listening. All right. Um, fantastic. So I'm judging by the fact that there's this book over your left shoulder that you authored that you're probably yourself an avid reader. It seems to happen that way. Authors typically are big readers as well. So before and I do want to showcase your book, but before we do that, is there another book that you might be reading right now that really is you're finding Man, I want to I want to get this out. I want other people to see it. Or maybe there was one previously that really sticks out either way. Something that you would recommend to others.

Richard Villasana:
The ultimate sales machine by the late Chet Holmes. That book was I've read that book so many times and just the information. Chet was a master marketer. He came up with incredible ideas and ways to get the word out, to build and develop businesses, taking them from, you know, okay to phenomenal to national level, successful and. I read that because of the instruction for me as an executive, also for things that we can be doing as an organization. And I will say this, a lot of people, when they hear the word nonprofit, they kind of think, no money, hobby, you know, they don't think hard core business and they could be right. There are some nonprofits, sadly, that do come into it and they're heartfelt and they have a real vision, but they don't have any of the business acumen. And so it fails and they run out of money or they just can't get the support or they can't get the word out about what they're doing. And ultimately, again, they fail. We work very hard to have a focused mission statement to be focused on what our brand is, to talk to people. We have 62,000 people following us on Facebook compared to most businesses. We're a gorilla. So just because we say nonprofit does not mean that we are not looking at business and sales and marketing and publicity and getting out there to do all those things that are vital for a business person to be doing to be successful.

Brian Kelly:
And are you finding most of your organizations? I don't know if I want to call it income, but your resources are coming by way of donations and other entities, or are there other ways for people to for for you to raise money besides just donations? I have no idea. I'm curious.

Richard Villasana:
That's a great question. So donations? Absolutely. Any nonprofit will tell you money coming in through donations is always critical. And we have done that. And again, we have leveraged the power of social media. People can start fundraisers on Facebook, takes less than two minutes and they can spread it out and get their friends to do it. There are agencies out there, companies like Wells Fargo. If you're an employee, you can go to someone, put in donation time and they will actually cut a check. And I'm not talking a check for $20. They'll cut a check for thousand, 2000, $3,000 and send it to your favorite charity. So a lot of people are with a company right now that has something like that because these companies realize people are looking for social investment. They're looking for companies that are not just take, take, take, but are sharing with the community, want to be part of the community. They gravitate towards those companies and they are responding. So it's actually up to the workers now to engage with their HR department or to find out what are these services that they can do. And we've also had people donate their car. There's a great program so easy, they do all the legwork for them, pick it up, cut the check, and a portion goes to us. Those are just a few. And volunteering. We have lots of volunteers who are helping us and it's all remote so they can do it from the comfort of their home. They don't have to worry about traveling gas, all those things we hate to do. Now that Covid is over, nobody wants to jump in the car, though, and drive someplace and fight for parking. You don't have to worry about that. Problem solved. So those are just a few of the ideas. And actually, there's a chapter in my book that talks about all the ways that people can help a nonprofit, whether it's mine or someone else's, to help that nonprofit to succeed and to do more.

Brian Kelly:
Now, let's let's segue to that book real quick, if you don't mind grabbing that and we'll bring it up center screen so folks can really see it. There it is. Do no harm. The US border child tragedy continues. So say a few words about your book and what it's about, and you just did a few right there. But.

Richard Villasana:
The book has two parts it. In 2020, the federal government was getting stuck with a problem. In 2017, the former administration tried something and what they tried was to anytime someone crossed from Mexico into the US. Even if there were families, they would separate the children from the parents. And the problem with this was, number one, we didn't have any place to put these children because they had never done this before. We didn't have a lot of places to put the parents, and many of those parents were deported. And then we had all these children then who were still in the US. They stayed and they went into the federal foster care system. And they looked for relatives in the US and they often found them somebody it could have been the other parent could have been an uncle, an aunt could've been a friend of the family, and the child went to stay with them. Okay. But they're still wanted to reunify. That was something that was passed June 20th, 2018. Then President Trump signed an executive order saying we are going to reunite all of these families. And that number has grown to over 5000 families. And today we're talking 2023. That means some of these kids have not seen their mom or their dad for six years. And they're still working on this. So in 2020, the federal government got stuck. They had some cases that they could not solve. The best nonprofits out there and they were doing good work, could not crack these cases and find that parent. And they came to us and they came to me and said, Can you help? We said, Sure. So in March of 2021, for the last two years. We have taken on the worst cold cases. I'll give you an example. And this is in the book. This is what I write about. We've worked cases where they gave us the name of the parent. One other identifying piece of information. And told us that they lived in Honduras. Oh. That was it. No state. So this is I want you to find Brian Kelly. And he lives in the United States.

Richard Villasana:
Okay, good luck with that. Or we want you to find Brian Kelly lives in California. Better not. Great. Yep. Or they could have said, We want you to find Brian Kelly Lives in sand. Sand? What? Well, sand. That's all we got. San Obispo. San Diego. Which San are we talking about? I've worked those cases. We closed them all. Well, we worked those cases with those kind of parameters and little information name spelt wrong, even the first names backwards and still, you know, Billy Bob, Bob, Billy. We really I have seen stuff that I had not seen. I've been doing this for almost three decades. I've seen stuff with the federal government that I have never seen as far as bad information coming up in spelling and bad names, everything. So the book talks about those separations, talks about the struggles the federal government is still having, trying to get these kids reunited. And what does this have to do with foster care? Well, here's the problem. You've got kids going to a sponsor who could be a parent or an aunt or uncle. But they're non-citizens. That means no health care. They could be at the mercy of a landlord who wants to rip them off, who can do anything they want to because they're non-citizens. So those people are in a poverty situation. Guess what happens to people in poverty? A lot of times abuse, neglect, and those are the things that get kids into foster care. We now have immigrant children who are in foster care and those agencies. Just like before. Have no idea what to do. Can't read the Spanish. Now we're talking about speaking indigenous languages like Akateko Mom. K'iche. We're going way beyond bad. This is getting into terrible territory with these children in the foster care system, with the problems that foster care has right now. And they're massive, massive problems that we have in foster care right now. We are in crisis. And the book talks about all of that, from homelessness to sex trafficking. Wow. But it does talk about solutions. There we go.

Richard Villasana:
You can't have a good story without a good ending. And there are good endings. There are stories about those kids just like the three girls. Success stories, how we made a difference for these kids, how their lives are now completely changed. For the better because we were able to work their cases, find those relatives, get them into a family life. With their relatives completely change everything. So the book ends with hope and serious and practical solutions on how we can fix this.

Brian Kelly:
I love it. How can people get your book? Where is it?

Richard Villasana:
Amazon. They can go to Barnes and Noble. They can pretty much go anywhere. We are everywhere. But if they want to do it fast and honestly right now, they could go to Amazon $0.99, get the Kindle version, and the biggest thing people could do get the book part of the proceeds go to the nonprofit. So you're helping a foster child get reunited and leave a review. That is so important to any book is a review. Leave us a nice review. Give us five stars. Let us know what you think and you'll be helping not only one foster child, but other foster kids by getting the word out there so people understand These kids need help. They deserve our help. They are our future. And this is an easy way to help a child.

Brian Kelly:
I love it. And I love your your humble approach to it. The 99 cent version. I'm going to be the the host saying go get the most expensive hard copy. What are the most expensive option is so that he can use more to pull you know pour into the organization. And yeah, the reviews are very important because that gives more visibility. And then as they make more sales, of course that's more money to them. And then you get a very valuable resource, the book itself. And so once again, that's do no harm. Do you still have that in your hand? Just hold it up one more time and.

Richard Villasana:
Oh, absolutely.

Brian Kelly:
There we go. Let's see. Let's get this big screen here. Yes. And get that so beautiful book written by a beautiful man and appreciate the fact that you knew to end it on a high note or at least put in the high notes. So it's not just this woe is me all the way through. It's great to make people aware of the horrible things that are going on and so that hopefully that will spur people to either, number one, get out there and help you do some fundraising for your organization. And number two, maybe to go out and do something themselves directly, maybe write to people in our government and see if we can make some things happen in a more expeditious manner. And I think people truly to the core want to help is just, you know, things have gotten out of hand and focus and priorities have changed to things that probably aren't as, um, human related than others. I don't know how to say it the best way without stirring up a lot of controversy here. But anyway, don't want to get into the politics at all. Um. That is fantastic. Uh, my goodness. Oh, Lauren Taylor West has been busy. I love it. She has a three part, actually. She has a question about nonprofit. So she, she. Great. Lauren Oh, this is awesome. I want you to take over as the host now so I can just sit back and relax. I love it. I truly do. All right. Here's her question. Lauren Taylor West says, excuse me, as a nonprofit owner, what are three key steps you would recommend to someone who wants to start their own nonprofit? All right. Very astute right off the bat, Lauren, about three key steps, not one, but three. That's that's like marketing. I love that. Great, great stuff.

Richard Villasana:
So when you're starting out, number one, I would be looking at someone who's doing something similar. Find a model. You don't want to reinvent the wheel. And that's something that people in business, the smart business people don't go out and try to come up with a brand new, untested, you know, concept. The easy way is to find someone who's doing something similar in some place else and you do it. So look for organizations, let's say that you're doing working with the homeless. Find organizations in other cities in your state because that will help you with state laws and probably restrictions, requirements that they have to have. So be specific to where you are and see what they're doing. Look online, look at their literature, see what you can pull from that and model your idea after what they're doing. That would be number one, so that you're not spending all your time trying to come up with something brand brand new. Because let's face it, they always say this in Hollywood, all the great movies we say, there's only 12 basic ideas. Boy meets girl, girl meets boy, girl meets whoever. And we got these 12 ideas and that's where we get all these movies. Same thing happens in nonprofit and with business. Look around, see what you can do to put your personal twist to it. And that's the second part. What can you bring to the table that will make this better? What makes what you do better. So in my case, it was having 25 years of working as an international marketer in Latin America. That's why don't do Asia or Europe. I have dealt with every Spanish speaking country in Latin America plus Brazil. And so that lent itself so easily to what I'm doing. I already knew how to talk to government agencies. So for you, you will look at what is that skill set you can bring that will make this really work. And then number two, you do want to work with your local business entity, at least at the beginning. You may not want to say you're starting a nonprofit, get some business advice, do a business plan, or don't do a business plan.

Richard Villasana:
You know, there's lots of conversations about that. But at least get an idea of what you want this thing to look like. How are you going to raise money that's really critical for a nonprofit? How are you going to raise money? Because as much as we have the heart to do things, the world runs on cash and the nonprofit still has to run on cash or in-kind. There's only so many computers you can get. So again, look for a model that you can copy. A nonprofit is already functioning. Look at what you're going to bring to the table that's going to make it special and then number three. To build on, number one, look at what you're going to have to do to set it up. Find some other social media accounts like we did with Facebook so we can model them, look at ways that you can grow and opportunities so that you can get more people. And that's something that was really key that Brian said. We all need support and don't be a one person show. It'll kill you. Get more people to help you expand that dream. Your dream deserves to have people help you get them in there. Make that dream grow. Get that mission going. Um.

Brian Kelly:
Uh. Love it all. Yes. Oh, my goodness. Smart bombs. Knowledge bomb bombs of wisdom. That is the definition of Mr. Richard Villasana. Right there, ladies and gentlemen. You heard it right here. And love. You were just ready. I mean, you knew the answer the moment you heard it. This was not a scripted question. And that just spoke more volumes about you, Richard, in my eyes, about the depth and breadth of your experience, your knowledge, your wisdom. And so appreciate that. You know, and a lot of people you're so right that they think, um, nonprofit is kind of a hobby, not seriously taken. And for reasons that you mentioned already, that some do that, but it's anything but. If it's going to be a successful one and what you're doing must be a successful one for helping all of the families and kids to to, well, the kids to get a family if they don't have one. And to get that leadership they need in their lives growing up. And thank you, Lauren Taylor West. She's dropping the links to your book on Amazon in the comments. It's a very long one. I'm not going to put up on the screen because no one will be able to type that in. So yeah, I recommend you go to Amazon and search for Do No Harm by Richard Villasana. It's Asana. For those of you listening on podcast and definitely check that out. And she also put up the book by Chet Holmes, The Ultimate Sales Machine. Thank you for doing that. Lauren to this is something I often recommend that and I've do I've done so many of these shows with so many amazing people like you, Richard, and they all are. Most have recommendation either singular or plural of books that they have read that they really found profound. And this is what I do if I haven't read it yet. The second I'm done with the show and we go off the air and we're done with our little debrief and we call it a night, I'm going on to Audible and I'm looking for that title. I'm putting it in my library because whenever someone of your stature and others that have been on the show recommend a book that is immediately, you know, that's the sign to go go get it and read it.

Brian Kelly:
Because if it is that profound, you've read it several times. I mean, as you were talking about it, I was like, good Lord. And I don't even remember if I've read that book. So that that if I have, I need to go read it again. I've heard of Chet Holmes. I know they I know the name. I probably have it at my library somewhere. I've probably read it, but I'm going to go back and read it again if I have it. Either way, it doesn't matter. Thank you for that. And my recommendation to everyone else is to do the same is just go get the book. Don't even hesitate. And with Richards, of course, get the hard back. Do you have a hardback version?

Richard Villasana:
Oh, yes, that's. That's right. Here. Yep. Hardback.

Brian Kelly:
Yep. Get that one because it costs the most. Because most of the money will then or more money will go to the organization that's helping these kids. And I'm being totally serious. Put as much as you possibly can even if it's $0.99 that please do that as well. Don't feel ashamed or anything by that. And then for sure leave a review on Amazon for Richard Villasenor's book. Please do that. Do no harm. You cannot go wrong with that. Appreciate that. Oh, my goodness. I got I'm looking at the clock this Why does it always fly so fast? It's an hour long show and it's over. Like we're not there yet. But, um, so, you know, you're, you're very passionate, you're very driven. You've been doing. How long has this organization been in existence? I don't think I've asked that.

Richard Villasana:
Three decades.

Brian Kelly:
Holy smokes. So that tells me so many things. I mean, you love it deeply to be still. I mean, it's obvious the passion is just oozing through your pores as you're talking about it. For you to be that passionate about something like this or anything for 30 years, that is very telling. Do you think it's important for entrepreneurs, for business, whether it's profit or nonprofit? Is it how important is it to really truly love and have a strong why behind what you do?

Richard Villasana:
Oh, that is so critical because it is so easy to let the data of these things just drag us down and to worry about them. One of the things I do tell people is we hear about this Do what you love. I don't think people explain that very well. It comes to do what you love. It is we all have a gift. We all have something we do super well and easily. And that's usually where things go sideways. We do something so well and easily. It could be baking, it could be design, it could be programing, it could be locating people. That's my special gift, looking at information and being able to see. Information that no one else sees. But it's right there. But I see it. And so it's finding that gift and then developing that gift because that's something else. Brian, you have said before, it's not just having a gift. It doesn't stop there. We're I'm not this successful with the work I do because I didn't learn how to manage people. I did because I did not learn how to do even more, to find more resources to locate. People didn't stop at one. There are some countries I have got 20 to 30 resources. I could go to any one of those. That might be the key to getting us to find a father or a mother living in that country. And so number one, finding that. That passion. The thing that you do well in accepting that it has value. And that gets us to number two. You may have to get creative with it because sometimes that's the problem. You got this great gift. We just need to package it, right. And that's where mentors and other issues come into play because they can see where that gift will fit and how you can package it so people will resonate with it so that you can actually make money with it. And that would be the other part, because if you don't have that passion, you're going to hate it. There are so many people make a lot of money and what do we hear about them? They get into drugs, they get into drinking, they do suicide. All these things that we're thinking, why Yeah? Because they weren't doing their passion. Something was off. And that's what we don't want here. We do want to embrace the thing that gets us up in the morning that makes us go, I can do it. I make a difference and I'm going to make that happen. And so I don't think about worry about getting up in the morning. People ask me that. I'm like. How could I not get up in the morning to go help a child to change their life? It's a Of course I've got to do it.

Brian Kelly:
That is it right there. And thank you for clarifying all of that, because one of the things people think is like, well, and I just had this chat with another individual on my show two days ago. I don't normally do Tuesday nights, but we did. And we brought this very topic up. And it's not about it's not that you're going to find something that you absolutely love to the point where you never have a part of your day. That just kind of sucks. But, you know, arduous tasks that you don't like doing, not nothing, but could be farther from the truth. So, I mean, Richard, for you is every day smooth, easy sailing and just you love every every single aspect of what you're doing toward that passion. Like all the the the horrible repetitive tasks that have to be done that are just like, God, I don't want to do this, but I know the outcome and it's worth it to get through this, to get to the outcome. Do you find that to be true in your daily life?

Richard Villasana:
I'm so glad you asked that question that way, because I was talking to a really good friend of mine and I'll say his name, Ben Bill Taub. And he said, you know. I want you to think about this. How do you do the things you really hate but have to get done? He said. You can tell a lot about a person by the quality of how they handle the things that they don't love to do, but they have to do. And I have thought about that ever since because I've thought that's right. Making those return phone calls, getting those emails out the door, following up with someone, they may be things we love or we don't love. Or it may be there's someone that we'd really like to chase after, but there's other people we need to communicate to. All of those little things you just mentioned. They're part of the job. No one's going to love every second and every day of what we do. But that's where the passion comes in. You got the passion. Quick story. I was going to give a talk at Lamar University close to Houston, Texas. I got there and I told them pretty much the answer right here. I said, listen, I got lost. It was raining Texas rain. And this is where you can't see ten feet in front of you. And they had roadblocked off. I'm in the middle of nothing. It was like, I don't even think we had really at that time. I'm calling people up so they could get on the Google and said, I'm here now. I could have turned back people and said, You know what? I'm not going to make it. I said, No, I got on the phone. I'm calling people. I finally got one of my assistants to guide me in and said, I'm here. You're going to have roadblocks. You're going to have detours. You don't let those throw you off if you have a goal. They said, I'm here today to talk to you and tell you that's what makes you successful.

Brian Kelly:
There you go. I mean, that's that's it's so valuable to know this because a lot of people, you know, a lot of people are giving these pitches about and 111 industry that comes to mind that does this often. I used to own a company or co-own one in this industry and it was network marketing and they would basically say, Oh, just sign up and then sign up three people like you and sit back on your hammock and drink an umbrella drink, and it's just going to fall into place. And it's interesting because there are some that are wildly successful in that industry, but there are very few percentage wise, and that is why they are sold a myth that it's super simple and only those that were super successful, I knew them. They worked their ever living butts off. Nothing comes for very little effort. Nothing comes in return usually. And even those that win say a lottery ticket, well, they weren't they weren't prepared for that kind of money. And they usually self-sabotage and throw it all away anyway. And so it takes time. It takes effort. It takes. I love what you were you were bringing up learning how to manage people. People don't think about that when they start a business profit or nonprofit. It's like, I'm just going to go do what I do. Good, period. And that's like, like you said, that long list. But managing people is typically not something anyone is that great at right out of the chute until they've gone through the, you know, gone through and read books and worked with people and practiced it even on themselves. And what kind of manager do you want to be and what kind of culture do you want to have your business? There are so many great things that go into it. I love every aspect of it. The SOPs, developing documentation so that your team knows what to do and when to do it, how to do it and repetitively. So many things that go into it and mentor you. That's the number one right there is get a mentor. You need eyeballs outside of your head looking in at your business to give you that different perspective from a different lens.

Brian Kelly:
Because I've done this, How many times has it ever happened to you, Richard, where you're in your own business, you're doing your own thing and your organization. You're trying to figure out how to get that next marketing thing to work. And then someone you talk to and they say, Oh, that's easy. You just do X, Y, Z, and you're like, What the heck? How did how come I didn't think about this? I know my business better than anybody. Well, that's happens time and time and time again. And then the reverse is true. You'll you'll be talking to someone else, Richard, and they'll be asking you questions and it'll just come off, roll off your tongue like nothing happened. So it's so important to have that external set of eyeballs and brain to give you that different lens viewpoint. Is that something you found to be true in your walk?

Richard Villasana:
Oh, absolutely. Listen, again, it doesn't matter how passionate and how gifted you are, you have to develop the gift. And that is one gift. And you say this at the beginning, we can master one thing, but just because we master one thing doesn't mean that everything else isn't important. We need all those things around us. So we're not great at publicity. We need someone who is. If we're not great at management, we need someone who is. I've got someone right now, wonderful person who is great at organizational administration. I love her because she is coming in and helping to fix and kind of clean things up that have been going on. And so I'm always looking for those people and everyone should be looking for those people, those mentors and coaches, and be willing to pay for some of this and find the one that resonates with you, that will help you and will see your vision. That's really key to not just because they're successful, but they're successful and they see your vision and can help you expand that and grow that. Absolutely. You just you don't have a restaurant with someone who's a great cook. You got to have someone up front. You got to have someone who takes care of the customers. You have to have someone who counts the money. You need all those things. You just can't be a great cook. Yep.

Brian Kelly:
Advertising, marketing, everything. Absolutely. Totally. Totally. Yes. You are phenomenal. You have such a great background and so wise. And the your organization, which I'm going to bring up again is forever homes for foster kids.org. They are blessed to have you as the the ringmaster the head man who is leading the charge and with all that talent and skill and I love how you brought it up. It's like, yeah, isn't it interesting that those things that come so easy to us that we're so good at, we tend, each one of us individually, to supremely devalue that. Like someone like if you were to charge money for it, you did. Richard You could charge a lot of money because it's a it's a very incredible skill that you have and you have many of which but the fine people, my gosh, you could be a private investigator and make a lot of money by outsourcing your services there and things like that. And as business owners, we always way undervalue and way under price our what we do. And I just want to throw it out there to let people know, like whatever you're thinking right now. At least double it, maybe tenfold it as far as what you're charging, because it's what is easy to you is exceedingly difficult for other people and they will pay for it and it's worth it. If they pay more money, they have more, um, more. Um. What's the word in the game? Uh, I forgot the word.

Richard Villasana:
The game.

Brian Kelly:
Skin in the game. Thank you. And the more skin in the game they have, the more seriously they're going to take that relationship with you. And, you know, it often happens that when you offer a service, there are things that the customer, the client, must do in order for the outcome to be successful in addition to what you provide. And so it's important to have skin in the game for them so that you can be assured they are going to complete those steps because they have a pain point. They paid money and they want to get their money's worth and that's another good reason. I'm going way off on the beaten path. So we're almost at the end here. And I hate to say that and I like to end every show with one final question I have not forgotten. We're going to do the prize giveaway right about now. But before we do that, Richard, I like to close every show with one very special question, and it's something I started doing this. This show's been running almost five years. I cannot believe that. But I started doing it kind of randomly. I would ask this question and it just started hitting me that the answers were so profound. I said, okay, that's it. I'm going to end every show with this question from now on. And that's what I do. And it's extremely powerful and profound, and I just can't wait to hear what your answer is going to be on this question. Before we do that, though, I did promise and here it is, we're going to do the prize giveaway when I put this on the screen once again, write it down. Do not go to the website yet. You can go after in fact, do it after the show, after we sign off and say, so long, then go to this URL I'm about to put up on the screen and enter to win a five night vacation. Stay at a five star luxury resort. Here it goes. I'm putting it on the screen. Write this down you want to go to after the show is over, Rip Scott. I am forward slash vacation, all lowercase and rip stands for Reach Your Peak.

Brian Kelly:
That's my company, R.I.P. Dot. I'm forward slash vacation. That's where you want to go. Once we sign off and we will have our team randomly select a winner. I hope it is you. Who am I talking to? All of you. So with that. Oh, let me see. Thank you for sharing your talents, Mr. Villasana from Dolores Nera in LinkedIn. Thank you, Dolores, for coming on and joining us. I hope you're entering that vacation stay prize. That'll be awesome. And Richard, it is time to wrap this thing up. But this is going to be one heck of a wrap up. The greatest thing about this question, Richard, is there is no such thing as a wrong answer. It doesn't exist. It's impossible. There is no failure. There's only success. So wouldn't that be nice if that was the case? Growing up in school and high school, that you just cannot fail no matter how you answer it. But this is real life. But in this case, it is true. There is no such. In fact, the exact opposite is the case because the only correct answer is yours. And why is that? Is because the answer will be very unique to you. That is why it's such a profound question. I know it's a lot of buildup and you're probably going, Holy moly, what the heck is this question already? Just get it. Spit it out. Are you ready for the big question? Richard Villasana.

Richard Villasana:
I am ready.

Brian Kelly:
Of course you are. Of course you are. All right, here we go. Richard Villasana, how do you define? Success.

Richard Villasana:
For me, success is doing better every day and every day. That is exactly what I do. I set my own bar. I don't look at other people's bar. I don't look at what they're doing. Because I had my own bar. And if you listen to some of the best people who are out there, the people who've achieved the highest levels in their profession, they'll all say the same thing. They're competing with themselves. They're not competing with someone else because their bar may be too low. And so am always looking to push my bar up higher, whether it's personally, whether it's physically to stay in better shape, whether it's reading books and expanding my imagination, my creativity, the way I do business, the way we're able to help someone. For me that success. And yes, it's great. If we could bring in a boatload of money to some things will do that. Others won't do as much of that just because what we're doing. But, you know, I can be at peace. Knowing that I am using my gifts, my talents, to help kids in my particular case. And if I can do that and keep doing that and expanding that out for me, that is my success. And for someone who's listening to that, I would say take that and apply it to your own life and say, okay, what am I doing that I can improve on? That would make me really feel like, Wow, I'm really kicking it this week. I really nailed it today. This was a nine out of ten. Fight for that team. Try to get that extra oomph in there. And that's what success is all about. It's passing over the things that happen in life the detours, the bad days. It's stepping back. That's okay. I do that. I don't have perfect days every day. I don't have perfect weeks. But success for me is I keep coming back to it. I'm consistent, I'm persistent, and I'm doing the right things. Not just doing things, but I'm doing the right things that are pushing me up the ladder and moving me closer to doing more of what I want to be doing. And if I'm doing more, if I'm helping more kids, I am succeeding. If I'm getting another child reunited with their family, I am succeeding. I can live with that. I am happy. I am at peace. And that for me is success. Is having that peace in your heart and soul that what you're doing. Is doing something good for someone and doing something good for you too. And there's nothing wrong with doing something that will help another person and still fill your heart and your soul.

Brian Kelly:
Mhm. You know, we have to end that with a glorious bomb run. Oh yes, Yes. What a way to close out the show. The amazing Richard Villasana. I'll tell you what, you are an amazing man. I appreciate you. I appreciate what you stand for. Everyone, please, please go to forever homes for foster kids.org. Donate whatever you can help him to set up a funding campaign. Also go to Amazon and purchase Do no Harm. The book by the one and only Richard Villasana and all of these different mechanisms will help to feed his organization the valuable resources they need to continue to find and locate the family members of of children who have been separated for whatever reason and get them in the arms of those who love them and care for them and give them a good home to start the, you know, restart their lives all over again and for the better. Thank you, Richard, for everything you do. Is there any last parting word of wisdom you'd like to present or even a different way to connect with you if that works for you? I mean, I'm going to give you the mic for the last few seconds.

Richard Villasana:
You can find me on Facebook. I will personally respond. Go to the website. If you've got questions, I'll be happy to answer them. And just think in your heart, whether you help my nonprofit or someone else's nonprofit find a cause that you care about and help make it happen. Help make that change. That can happen. For whoever it is, whether it's the homeless, whether it's adults, the elderly or children do something. It will fill your heart and your soul. And that's there's really nothing better than that. So that's pretty much all I have to say.

Brian Kelly:
Couldn't agree more. On behalf of the amazing Richard Villasana, I am your host, Brian Kelly of the Mind Body Business Show. And until next time we meet, please go out there and do two things. Everyone. Number one, serve more people like Richard does and help more people through your business, through your personal life. And number two, above all else, please be blessed. That is it for us tonight. We will see you again next time on the Mind Body Business Show. For now. So long, everybody. Have a great one. Thank you for tuning in to the Mind Body Business Show podcast. At the www.TheMindBodyBusinessShow.com. My name is Brian Kelly.

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