From modeling to bull riding to monitoring couple’s relationships using an app, serial entrepreneur, Sean Rones, talks about his latest passion and he shares his top tips for how to be a successful entrepreneur.
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Transcript
Sean Rones: Hi, I’m Sean Rones of Life Couple, and we’re talking about five tips to be a successful entrepreneur and you’re listening to The Brand Journalism Advantage.
Sean Rones: Episode 437.
Sean Rones: When you think most of the people listening to this podcast are trying to be successful; what good is success if you’re not sharing it with your family and the person that you potentially love?
Announcer: The brand journalism advantage, the podcast that teaches the power of storytelling to increase business by attracting, engaging and influencing consumers. Now it’s time to think like a journalist with your host brand journalist, Phoebe Chongchua.
Phoebe: Hello brand journalism community. I’m Phoebe Chongchua.
Sean Rones: Thanks for tuning in to the brand journalism advantage podcast. Here we go with the inside scoop on today’s show, Sean Rones, we are talking about how to be a successful entrepreneur. Now let me tell you a little bit about Sean. Sean has been a serial entrepreneur since 1995. He founded a tech startup called Talentscape way back when. It was just web 1.0 it was basically I’m assuming a website that created a matchmaking site for the modeling industry when he was 35 years old. Instead of taking up golf in San Diego, he became a professional bull rider and he landed himself on the cover of entrepreneurs, startup magazine. Sean also created the Life Couple platform, which is what he currently does today. We’re going to learn a little bit about that and it basically helps people address relationship challenges. Kind of like I’m a Fitbit for your relationship, right Sean?
Sean Rones: Well this is very cool. Welcome to the show. So Sean, you know, I know we go way back friends for a long time and I remember the bull riding. That’s quite amusing. And, and one would think that that would be the icebreaker. You know, we always kick off the show brand journalism community with an icebreaker. Today, of course, we’re talking about how to be a successful entrepreneur. Sean’s had many careers. So this makes sense. Your icebreaker is that you were a model. I remember those days. So tell me a little bit about that. What was that like? Where were you modeling?
Sean Rones: I was modeling in different countries, but mainly in Los Angeles. And it came about due to the fact that at the time I was looking to make money in the easiest way and it seemed very simple to smile and get in front of the camera. And it was very, very simple as far as the things that I like to do. Cause as you can see, I’m not wanting to sit still. So it was an easy way to make some money to fuel and fund some of my entrepreneurial endeavors.
Sean Rones: Ah, right. Well, fun career. But obviously one that, that changes with time and Sean moved on to other things. So brand journalism community, we’re going to talk about some of those different careers that he’s had, what he’s learned and he’s gonna give you some top tips that are really relevant to becoming a successful entrepreneur. A lot of people give up. This is all about perseverance, staying focused, staying with it. But before we go into that, you know, I can’t just say that you landed yourself on the cover of entrepreneurs startup magazine on top of a bowl and leave it at that. What in the heck was going on with that? Why bull riding?
Sean Rones: Well, first of all, I went to entrepreneur magazine and asked them to do a story on me and they told me that they might consider, but it would be way in the back of the publication. And I told them that I would like to take my horse cause I also had a horse and I trailered it from Del Mar to right off the four Oh five, five freeway. I was in my full cowboy gear and I wrote my horse into their building and then basically told them that I’d like to be on the cover of the magazine. And I was in full chaps, full cowboy gear and sure enough, that’s what landed me on the cover of Entrepreneur magazine. Plus obviously my startup, but going into their physical location in a riding a horse was what I decided to do.
Sean Rones: Oh man, that, that is just so funny. I love that story. And you know, it’s, it’s doing the things that make you stand out, right. That is really important.
Sean Rones: Yeah, I mean, they did say that they might arrest me, so I did push the envelope. But standing out is definitely something that I strongly believe in.
Sean Rones: All right, well I’ve got a quote for you I’d like to get your feedback on. I think it’s perfect for this episode. It goes like this, you have to see failure as the beginning and the middle, but never entertain it as an end. What are your thoughts on that?
Sean Rones: To me it just resonates because not trying and not getting back up to me is the ultimate failure. When I was bull riding, the thing I learned the most is that every time I fall, and obviously every time you ride a bull, you’re gonna fall, you’re gonna have to dust yourself and get back up. And so to me, that quote resonates in my persona and my bull riding actually further created that motto in my mind.
Sean Rones: I couldn’t agree with you more. You definitely have to dust yourself off. And the way I look at failure is it’s how you learn to, during those weak moments, during those valleys and then get back up.
Phoebe: [6:02] You know, I’m just coming back from a trip to Palm Springs. Every year I hike to the top of San Jacinto and, man, does it kick my butt. It’s, it’s a tough climb. You know, it ends up being about six to seven hours by the end of the day. And, it’s not toasty, toasty warm even though it’s in the summer. Because the temperature obviously is cooler due to the elevation, but it’s tough and sometimes I feel like quitting and I push through it and it’s kind of, you know, this, this physical experience. Maybe like your bull riding that I use to fuel my entrepreneurial path and to really say, Hey, this is the stuff I’m made of. If I can do this in the physical arena, then I can do it in the mental arena and keep pushing through those tough times. So, super good. Do you have a success quote or a tip that you want our audience to remember?
Sean Rones: [6:59] Well, I’m going to quote Teddy Roosevelt, the man in the arena. And it goes like this. “It’s not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who earns and who comes short again and again because there’s no effort without the error and shortcoming. But who does actually strive to do the deeds? Who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spent himself in a worthy cause? Who at best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. So that is the place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Sean Rones: That’s something that I kind of live my life by. It’s, you’ve gotta be in the arena. And if you’re not in the arena, then to me that’s in my mind failure.
Phoebe Chongchua: [8:14] Love it. I love it. So brand journalism community, you don’t have to commit that to memory. It will all be in the show notes that ThinkLikeAJournalist.com Under Sean Rones’ page. So look for it there, but takes us way back, Teddy Roosevelt. But certainly I’m a good one to live by. So Sean, we, we’ve talked a little bit about, you know, web 1.0, which he created matchmaking for the modeling industry, which made sense because you were doing that. It always seems like you’re doing something that you know, involves a little bit of your personal life too. All the way through bull riding and now to life couple, which we’re going to dive into a little bit more and you can share with a little information that for our audience, but take us to a moment in time, tell us a story about your career, highlight that moment that you’re just so proud of.
Sean Rones: [9:07] I think right now the moment that I’m proud of his life couple because, and I don’t want to get into the details, we’ll get into that later. But the reason why I am proud is that I’m actually doing something that will change the universe and then I get personal satisfaction from a lot of the other things that I’ve done in the past. They were obviously something that I enjoyed doing. And again, I really strived on doing things for, you know, a financial gain. But what I’m doing right now, I’ve taken the focus out of just financial and I’ve put it into the social impact and how I feel strongly that I can do something that will actually change the world and they change the way we address things. So I’m very proud of what I’m currently doing right now with life couples.
Sean Rones: So tell me a little bit more about it. How, how does it work? Is it an app platform? What exactly does it do?
Sean Rones: Well, what it does is it actually monitors where you’re currently at regarding some key indicators, your intimacy, trust, conflict, and your overall relationship, health, and communication. And what it does is in a playful gamified way, it gives you a score in these areas, in your overall relationship. It asks you to invite your partner, your partner does the same. And then instead of you both basically addressing and reading things and trying to do things without accountability. The platform intelligently knows areas which we call growth areas that it gives you fun tools and activities, video content that you can explore and you can work on. And then from there it monitors and tracks how you’re moving. Call it both of your indices in a positive direction. So it’s, it’s a fun way and it’s an exciting way to work. We’re looking at yourself in an individual or in a couple aspect of your life.
Phoebe: It’s fascinating. So does it, let’s say you need a therapist or something like that, you want to go seek some expert help. Does it connect you with people or offer up suggestions for your area?
Sean Rones: Absolutely. You hit it right on the head. Most of us, when we’re looking for a therapist, we go in a lot of times blind and we don’t know the areas that maybe we need to focus on nor do we know the therapist that’s best suited for our personality. So the platform monitors and then asks if you’d like to do a deeper dive and then it knows which therapist in your area or in your state could best suit exactly what you’re trying to achieve. And it gives you the opportunity to in fact on your own integrate with one of those therapists. And then when you walk in day one no than you know, an MRI or an X-ray that therapists can pull up your dashboard, see exactly where you both are at and then work on areas that are determined to be growth areas. And then if you get homework, which most therapists do, the therapist can actually just quickly drop down select. And then on your mobile phone, you can actually get a homework assignment. And the best of all, it’s got all the accountability built-in. So your partner is not the one nagging, nor is the therapist asking whether or not you did your assignment or not. The platform is there to actually act upon in an accountable way and get you to do what you’ve set off to do. And that’s be a better you.
Phoebe: Super, super cool one. You know, when you think about it, you’re monitoring everything from your credit score. You know, we go on and we check that and see which accounts have been opened up and we’re, we’re doing that, you know, some of us daily, weekly or your home security systems. So why not be monitoring where you’re at with your relationship? I think that one is one of the most important and yet it’s the least looked at from, you know, an analytical perspective.
Sean Rones: I agree 100%. And when you think most of the people listening to this podcast are trying to be successful; what good is success if you’re not sharing it with your family and the person that you potentially love. So I think that when we look at our health and we look at certain things that affect our health, a lot of times people that are in a relationship or in a struggle, it takes its toll. And I can speak, you know, personally and know that you know, every time I get back up, one of the things that helps me get back up is the fact that you know, I really want to do something for my family and do something that’s going to make myself and my family feel like, you know what, this is, you know, worth the risk. So I, I find, I find the family is a very strong driver and there’s nothing really that promotes to do something like this.
Phoebe: [13:57] I love that this is a career highlight. It’s also what Sean is currently working on and Brand Journalism community. You’ll be able to go to think like a journalist.com Sean Ronis, his show notes, and we’ll put a link to the website. You can check it out, you can download the app there. But I gotta turn the tables now. We got to talk about as every entrepreneur has those moments in time when it just didn’t work. We know that those are the horror stories yet they help us grow. So take us to a moment in time, tell us the story about when it didn’t work and how you picked yourself up and then dusted yourself off and turned it around.
Sean Rones: [14:34] I have had many things that I invented over the years, but one that I invented that really resonates, that didn’t work was the K-Cup® holder called coffee and coffee was a product that you’re Keurig K-Cup® coffee machine actually sat on top of and when I developed and designed and invented this, I invented it with the understanding that I can obtain a premium price. And what I found was is that the consumer can only bear certain price. And that even though I could personally afford K-Cup® holder at this price point, the consumer across the country could not. And then when I looked at what the retailers were asking me as far as margins go, the retailers wanted 60 points or 60% and this needed to retail at a certain price point and I developed the ultimate product.
Sean Rones: It didn’t pencil out. So the failure that I learned was, is that sometimes you have to basically do a little bit more research and figure out what the market will bear and put in the factors of what retailers were at this point looking to make as far as margin and getting on the shelf and then see if this works or not works. I focused in on the fact that I thought it would look great in my kitchen, therefore everyone would think the same and it’s still to this day I believe that. But what I should’ve done was, is really thought about manufacturing something with a little bit less cost involved. And I didn’t do that. And with that in mind, I did get the product in a Target and a lot of retailers. But unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to lower the price because I had too much in the materials. So it failed.
How to be a Successful Entrepreneur
Top Tips [16:27]
Phoebe: Right, right. I get it. Sometimes we have this perfect vision and we customize it so much for ourselves, but then it’s just not a sustainable, you know, financially to mass market it and mass produce it. So good. Good lesson. Well, this episode, all about those tips to survive and become a successful entrepreneur. You’ve heard it throughout, Brand Journalism community, but we’re going to dive into Sean’s top tips. So just briefly take us through each one cause I know you’ve got five of them. Run through it real quick.
Sean Rones: First, I think, don’t second guess yourself. We have that little voice in the back of our head that we’re programmed to question whether or not we’re good enough or this is the right decision. Don’t second guess yourself. You know the answer. Power through that voice. Second experts may not be experts unless they’re relevant to what you do. I know many people that talk about all the success stories they’ve had, but it’s not the success. It’s multiple success stories. So do not buy into the fact that someone was successful. They can then give you insight. Look for people that know your space. Be careful about friends’ advice. A lot of friends will give you really good advice because they don’t want to hurt your feelings. But look for friends that will be brutally honest with you and give you some advice. Sometimes you don’t want to hear this but it is important in the startup world because every friend thinks you got something great.
Sean Rones: Momentum. I believe that every day you’ve got to have some form of momentum. They use the term, keep your feet moving, always do something each day that moves the needle. Never be stagnant and sit, still. Make things happen. And then last, and I think the most important run with people that are faster than you. Hang around people that basically can keep the pace if not faster than you ever imagined. Meaning successful people or people that are connected always focus in at times on those people and try to keep up with them because if you keep up with them, then you’re going to be a lot closer to getting to the end game. Or as I consider, you know, putting up some, you know, wins in the column of the startup world.
Phoebe: You know, that last one is really important because there’s another way of saying it and it goes something like the five people you hang around to determine your success level, the five closest people rather who are in your inner circle. What are they doing? You know, are they successful? Are they moving in the right direction? Are they, you know, if you, if you want to be a better skier. I remember the days when I was skiing all the time, I skied with some of the best. That’s what you have to do. When I wanted to become a newscaster, I went and sought out the people in the industry who I could mentor under. And it’s no different in entrepreneurship. You literally can find these people and there’s so much more accessible today, which is what’s really cool. Certainly, when I became a newscaster, you had to go and meet them in person.
Phoebe: Today you can Skype with them, you can, you know, FaceTime them. You can connect with them on Instagram. And a lot of them, you know, will answer and take your questions. I’ve heard in the show, I’ve done about 450 episodes, brand journalism community. You can check those out at ThinkLikeAJournalist.com. But in all those episodes, almost every single entrepreneur has told me that they’ve sought out somebody and reached out to them and most of the time they’ve done it via social media. So have you found that to be a tool that you’ve used as well?
Sean Rones: I agree 100%. You know, social media is to help me. Right now the people that I’m really focusing on hanging around or at least trying to get some advice from are sometimes people that I just actually listened to their inspiration. So even though I might not have met them, I listened to guys like Gary Vee, Eric Thomas, Eric is actually a big influence on where I’m currently striving to be as far as success. I listened to a lot of success podcasts and I listened to a lot of things like what you do with your, you know, what we’re currently doing and it really helps me if I don’t have someone around. It helps me to basically be constantly, you know, moving forward or running faster. So sometimes I might not have that person, but you could definitely tune into a show like yours or tune into these other people and learn a lot.
Think Like A Journalist — What would you do to save this company? [21:16]
Phoebe: All right. I know you’re going to have something creative with this just from where you’ve been. But here we go. You’ve been hired to help an ailing company, Sean. It’s about to financially collapse now. Its reputation’s already shot. You’ve got a month, $1,000 budget, a smartphone, and a laptop. How do you begin to turn this company around?
Sean Rones: First and foremost, I would use content and I would create a video. Something that I hope would go viral and I would basically explain the mission statement of the company and why it’s so important for everybody to jump on board. And I would get everybody that I could potentially help promote this in a call it, you know, growth hack way to be posting this onto their Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn or whatever social media that they’ve got. And I would create a movement to resurrect this company and give the reasons why, as Simon Sinek says, if we have a “Why”, I think that it’s important that we let people know and if we let people know the why people will gravitate because there are so many people out there that want to be part of something. And if you take the thousand dollars, you know, I always say that you know, in order to create a campfire and get people around, it starts with a spark or even a match. So I would take the thousand dollars and I would basically start with a match, create the spark, and then start creating the people that can start to gravitate towards the movement and then get everyone around the campground. And then from there, once they’re around the campground, I would save enough money to then really start moving a lot of the call it last amount of money in the way of getting people to start really now watching. I want to call them, you know, the results of what I just mentioned.
Must-Have business tool [23:10]
Phoebe: Love it. What is one piece of technology, video, multimedia equipment or an app that you just can’t live with?
Sean Rones: Yeah, I think probably the thing that I couldn’t live without would be definitely my smartphone. I mean my smartphone is something that I’m constantly looking at and I’m constantly trying to see exactly. You know, where the platform that I’ve built. Is that
Recommended media [23:32]
Phoebe: One book, documentary blog, podcast or internet channel that you’d like to recommend?
Sean Rones: Oh yeah. I would say, Gary Vee. Gary Vee would definitely be the one person that I listened to a lot. Early Gary Vee though, not current. I pull up some of the old stuff that he’s done.
Expert Predictions [23:47]
Phoebe: So the year is 2025 which we are closing in on rapidly now. What will the world look like and what is your best advice for businesses to thrive and have a competitive advantage in the marketplace?
Sean Rones: I believe that the world is smaller than we ever expected and from a global standpoint, don’t underestimate other countries and the ability to go into these other countries and I call it create a groundswell. So you might be trying to get your product or your service or whatever it is working in the US which you’ll find is, is that there are other countries that are a lot easier to penetrate and you can build momentum and as you build momentum you can take some of those small wins and start chipping away at what needs to be done in the United States. So in 2025, I believe that more and more people are going to understand that the world is, is not as big as it once was and the more and more technology becomes more advanced with five G and the way speeds are going to go almost in real-time. I believe that that is the focus of where anybody listening to this should really think about countries that one might think are like not important. You wake up one day and they could definitely change your balance sheet.
Phoebe: Well, I couldn’t agree with you more. You know, it’s really looking at how globally we’ve become so much smaller. And I think a lot of that is related to the development of the internet development of, you know, the different apps that are useful that bring us together. So certainly a lot to look at. You’ve offered a lot of great information. A lot of success tips that’ll help anyone who wants to become an entrepreneur. Maybe you’re sitting on the fence and you’re looking at this and thinking, I don’t know. Do I have the right idea? As Sean said, don’t second guess yourself. Go with your gut. But do get that relevant expert advice and mentorship that you need.
Wine, Dine, and Play [25:45]
And before we close out the show, I always like to ask my guests, is there a place you’d like to wine, dine, and play?
Sean Rones: I love going to hockey games. I mean, I’m not, I love it. I love hockey. Hockey really is my winding down. As far as playing goes, you know, I love active sports, but for me, the one thing that really gets my mind off of business because a lot of times wherever I go, I’m always thinking I’d love to sit and, you know, go to a hockey game and just I’m in awe. I mean that’s, that’s, that’s my sport. That’s, that would, that would’ve been my dream if there was anything that I would say I wished that I ever got to in the level of success to me, we’ve been a professional hockey player. Well you were a bull rider so that’s something true
Phoebe: This is great. Thank you. It’s been a pleasure. I love what you’ve shared with us on The Brand Journalism Advantage. Thanks for being on the show.
Sean Rones: Thanks for having me.
Phoebe: Hey, Brand Journalism community, you know that you can find all the valuable information in the show notes. All you have to do is head on over to ThinkLikeAJournalist.com and in the search box type in 437 and this interview and the resources mentioned in this episode will pop right up.
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Learn more about Sean Rones
Life Couple is aiming to be one of the most disruptive companies in the world. The app was recently featured on TechCrunch Disrupt SF Startup Battlefield
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