#187 - The Long Game: Ron Rubin on Building Culture, Compounding Wisdom, and Finding Gold in Your Backyard

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I always had this dream to have a vineyard and winery someday.

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It took me about 40 years, but I was able to purchase a vineyard and winery.

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All right, you all, hey, welcome back for another episode of The Necessary Entrepreneur.

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I think we're going to be smiling the entire time.

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If it isn't good to listen to, just watch this guy because he's got smooth and clean lines
all over his life.

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I'm sure if we discover the past 55 years, I'm sure it isn't always built that way, but
the outcome seems that it seems like an idyllic place to be.

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So today's guest is Ron Rubin.

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He's the CEO of the Republic of Tea.

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one of the most distinctive and purpose-driven brands in the beverage world.

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Ron's also the author of Gold in Our Backyard.

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It's a book about leadership, culture, and discovering extraordinary value in places most
people overlook.

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His perspective on entrepreneurship is thoughtful, long-term, and deeply human, which
makes him the perfect guest for the necessary entrepreneur.

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Ron, welcome to the show.

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Thank you, I'm honored to be on your show.

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Um, I'm honored to talk to you, man.

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think this is going to be a nice, um, moment here for me to learn and for me to grow and,
to do some deep dives on what 50 years of building your dream.

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Yeah.

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Has been, um, you know, today, the newest thing is the Republic of T and your book of gold
in our backyard, but you've had three to four businesses.

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you've been an entrepreneur, a wife long entrepreneur.

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You've been an adjunct professor in MBA programs at universities.

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You've lived a heck of a life.

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Thank you.

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Can you break this married for 50 plus years?

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Can you break this life down into simplicity the way that your wife has evolved and what
you built?

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Is it simple how you can explain five decades of this life?

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Well, I think it's simple to the fact that I started with mentors.

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My dad was my mentor.

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And I think having mentors in your life, in your business, uh really helps, helps you
succeed.

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And I think that that, you know, if you, if you don't have any mentors who've been there,
done that can help bring you through, you know, I think that's really been a key for me

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all through my career and all through my life.

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The second thing is I read, I read a tremendous amount of books.

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I read business books and I'm reading about all these successful entrepreneurs and you
know, what did they do to make themselves successful?

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And I think, uh, I never received an MBA degree, but my MBA degree was reading over 1500
business books over, you know, my whole career.

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had a goal.

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of 50 books a year, a book a week, and I enjoyed it.

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I learned so much from their stories.

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So I think really to break it down simple is really having a mentor and reading, know, and
educating yourself.

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I can go on with some other, but that's simplicity at its best.

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Yeah.

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What do you think?

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I mean, imagine the lessons that you've learned from those 1500 books.

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How do you think that practically applies to the in and out of daily, the daily
environment, being an entrepreneur?

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I can take those lessons that I might learn in that book and apply them to our own
business, whether it's the tea company or the winery and, you know, and, and incorporate

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that business into, mean, that lesson into our business.

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And so it's really, uh, you know, one of the lessons I learned about having uh a
personality.

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profile tests for all the employees that you were going to hire.

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We never had anything like that.

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And I discovered that about this company called Caliper and we used it, we've used it for
the last 30 years.

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You know, I read about strategic planning, you know, people talk about it, but you know,
30 years ago, there weren't too many people talking about strategic planning, but I

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learned about strategic planning from reading in a book.

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And so what I do is try to apply the lessons.

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One of the lessons I just applied from reading a trillion dollar coach was low lights and
highlights.

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And when we have our board meetings, we always start with the low lights.

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Everybody starts with the highlights, but we start with our low lights.

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How did I incorporate that from a book that I read?

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So I think.

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taking little nuggets and applying them to your business or your life and uh is really
helpful.

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Do you feel that they've all compounded?

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the origin of the question is, do you pick one up and use it now and set it down and go
get another one or do they all compound?

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yeah.

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Yeah.

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Exactly.

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Just what you said, Mark.

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They all compound.

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You bring them in and then you use them for numbers, a number of years.

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We've, we've, we've used strategic planning for about 30 years.

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And when I bought the winery and never had a winery before, but one of the first things we
did was strategic planning for the winery.

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You know, the, uh I learned in a book about, you know, having a

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a byline or a message, you know, under your brand name.

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And we never had one at the Republic of Tea.

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And I learned that we should have one.

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had one, we created one, Leading Preveyor of Premium Teas.

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And that's what we're all about, Leading Preveyor of Teas.

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So I buy the winery.

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They don't, it's called River Road Family Vineyards and Winery.

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Doesn't have uh a tagline.

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And we come up, our team comes up with a tagline, a beautiful experience.

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And so we use that.

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We want you to have a beautiful experience, whether you come visit us or you try our wine
in your home.

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We want it to be a beautiful experience.

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And so you incorporate those ideas that you've learned and you can take them from one
business to the next business.

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Hmm.

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I bet that to you details matter.

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Sure they matter.

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So as I tell you why I know that details matter to Ron, I'll let you go into why they
matter.

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I opened up this awesome package that you sent us with your book and with tea in it, but I
opened it up and the packing, went, these are tea bags.

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next

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That is a detail down to the finite principle of what you're building.

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Thank you.

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Sure.

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We think about all that.

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You know, I read this book, uh, shut up and listen.

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Okay.

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And they talked about the last 5%.

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And it ended up what they meant is businesses get 95 % correct.

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What they do, they have the systems in place, but it's that last 5 % that's going to make
a difference.

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And so when we design.

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What you received is with the book, we had trouble getting the book, taking the book out
of the box.

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And if you look at that box real close, you're going to see there's a little place for
your finger to lift that box book out of, out of the box.

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Do you see that?

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Yep.

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So when we originally designed it, that wasn't there.

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And so what we call that the last 5%.

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So.

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I think business entrepreneurs and owners, should focus in on that last 5%.

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Should we focus on the last 5 % after we're in the business?

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And I asked that because I see too many people waiting too long to make it perfect before
they start, but maybe you would counter that.

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it seems like some people never start because they're worried about the last 5%.

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Well, I think you have to start any entrepreneur wants to start, but, um, I think you just
had to keep that in the back of your mind.

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Let's get 95 % correct first, and then we're going to move to that last 5%.

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A constant improvement.

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you mentioned before we jumped on, asked you about your travels and I mean, you get to
live in three different places throughout the year, but you mentioned about going to China

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and I'm assuming that was to find the best tea.

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tends to be in China and Taiwan.

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That's correct.

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Yep.

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What'd you take back from?

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I'm always interested in what I bring back from cultures.

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It could be another city within our country.

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It might be another country.

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It could be a continent away, but you can't go much further than Asia from where we are.

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Is there something that impacted you there that you saw that you could really bring back
to even grow and build a better life?

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Well, I did see and what made the difference in my life, in our businesses and also
personal life, was learning about feng shui.

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You know, the flow of energy, water and wind, placement.

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And I learned that in China.

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And I wanted to, I just fell in love with that concept.

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But the way I really learned about it was picking up as many books as I could read.

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about Feng Shui to understand.

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And then we were able to use a Feng Shui architect to design not only our home, but our
business, the Republic of Tea.

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We use a Feng Shui architect for River Road family vineyards and winery.

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And we have really tried to educate our team what Feng Shui is all about.

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And so the placement of uh just the colors that we use, the way the desks are set.

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The design, the flow, when you walk into the winery, it's a curved road, not a straight
road.

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I mean, it's just a, and we try to educate not only our team, but our customers.

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So I would say Feng Shui was really a life-changing learning lesson for me going to China.

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What do you have to do to be open-minded to embrace that and see those moments though?

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This applies to traveling, applies to business through growth.

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How were you positioned to recognize that and to be interested and take it away?

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Well, I worked for my dad for 17 years till he passed away and he had this expression,
gold in your backyard.

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And the expression that he used meant that when I came back to work for him in Southern
Illinois, I felt dad, there's no way that, you know, I'm going to have a, I have college

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friends that are, you know, went to Chicago, they went to New York, they went to LA.

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There's no way somebody.

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in Southern Illinois, you know, is going to be as successful.

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And my dad would say, there's gold in your backyard.

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You just have to dig deep enough.

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And so I think what he did is he helped Trami look for those opportunities.

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And you know where the opportunities are?

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They're in your backyard.

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What's that metaphor?

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What's that metaphor mean?

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What does it really mean?

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It really means look where you are today, successful, where you started.

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You didn't have to go to New York to be a real estate broker and become successful.

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didn't, you know, you took the opportunity that was right in front of you, right where you
were.

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And I think that that's what it means.

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Now today, a lot of the young adults, they go off to college and the last place that they
think that they want to come back is their hometown.

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I think it's the first place they should come back.

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It's, it's like, it's right there.

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Well, you know, I'm not coming back home.

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mean, we can't, we can't do anything.

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You know, I can't be successful back home, but you can be.

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It's right there in your backyard.

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You just had to dig deep enough.

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What, um, what's special about back home in Southern Illinois to you?

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Is this, I have, have a mentor person that I spend time with now that was a head me a
business.

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was from Cape, Cape.

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Yeah, sure.

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I in Carrow, Illinois.

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We would go to Cape all the time.

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But I think what's special, of course, is the people.

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I mean, they're hardworking.

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They came up on a farm.

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They appreciate.

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A lot of times we could leave the doors unlocked.

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It's just a small town.

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You knew everybody.

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Everybody tried to take care of each other.

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You know, it was a little slower pace, uh, not the big city, but, anyway, I just, it's
just calm, peaceful.

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Boy, technology's brought the big city to all of our doorsteps, hasn't it?

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Your hands, but I, I enjoy it.

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You know, my new assistant is Chad GPT.

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you all have a great relationship,

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We have a great relationship.

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know, I thank GBT every time I put in something and tell them how great they are.

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um Do they ever tell you something you don't wanna hear?

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Well, I think that they give me some information that I'm not agreeable with at times.

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I don't know if it's not that I don't want to hear, they, uh, you know, they, they give me
some, I have different opinions than they do at times.

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So what do do with it?

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How do you interact with it then?

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Do you keep going?

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Do you have a conversation?

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Do you leave it alone and come back?

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How do you interact?

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I think the interaction, what I've learned going to some seminars is the more detail you
can be and put in the information.

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It's like, uh, you know, that expression, what garbage in garbage out or something like
that.

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You know, it's like, if I could type something for maybe two or 300 words and really give
them what I'm searching for or what the answers I need or what we're all about, you're

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going to get a better.

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To me, it works better.

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I get a better reply.

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When you were an adjunct professor at St.

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Louis University, um when you look back on that time, what was your takeaway?

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I'm assuming you don't do that anymore.

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No, I don't do it anymore.

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Okay.

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What was your takeaway in your quiet moments, not outside of the students and you sit down
in an office.

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What was your takeaway from that time?

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Well, I think the takeaway was being able to teach students from someone that was
personally involved in business.

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For example, I talked to them about the importance of no debt, running a business.

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Then you can run your life with no debt and really talking about debt.

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We talked about innovation.

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I talked about the most, the finest business book ever written.

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Do you know which one that is?

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You're about to tell me.

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The little engine that could.

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love it.

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I think I can, I think I can.

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You know, I brought some, uh if you got a minute, I'll tell you a story from that.

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I brought some toy uh cars, know, railroad cars, know, the engine.

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And I gave them out to all of our students.

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And I'm sitting there just waiting, waiting.

221
00:17:07,079 --> 00:17:09,632
Now, do know what you did when you were...

222
00:17:09,632 --> 00:17:12,430
a little kid and you got a toy somebody gave you.

223
00:17:12,430 --> 00:17:13,546
I'm instantly playing with it.

224
00:17:13,546 --> 00:17:14,940
I'm you're playing with it.

225
00:17:14,940 --> 00:17:17,384
I'm playing Yep.

226
00:17:17,542 --> 00:17:20,583
And it's like, where did that go?

227
00:17:20,924 --> 00:17:22,814
That's what I'm trying to teach him.

228
00:17:22,814 --> 00:17:24,545
Where did it go?

229
00:17:24,585 --> 00:17:28,367
You know, and then I said, okay, you guys can unwrap it.

230
00:17:28,367 --> 00:17:31,207
I don't have to tell you to unwrap it.

231
00:17:31,207 --> 00:17:33,319
And then I'm waiting for him to play with it.

232
00:17:33,319 --> 00:17:35,170
Nobody's playing with it.

233
00:17:35,170 --> 00:17:38,451
Finally, we got one brave student starts playing with it.

234
00:17:38,451 --> 00:17:42,593
You know, he starts to do choo choo, choo choo.

235
00:17:43,674 --> 00:17:45,214
And it's like,

236
00:17:45,570 --> 00:17:52,494
You just see that you've lost that, you know, you lost that and I'm trying to bring it
back, you know?

237
00:17:52,555 --> 00:17:55,337
And so that was important.

238
00:17:55,337 --> 00:18:02,682
I also tried to teach them that, you know, if you're on time, you're late.

239
00:18:03,182 --> 00:18:08,986
And how important it was to be on time and then go out in your backyard, you'll read a
story.

240
00:18:08,986 --> 00:18:14,570
I'm not proud about it, but I set the guidelines that if you're late to my class.

241
00:18:14,892 --> 00:18:16,323
You're going to get fired.

242
00:18:16,323 --> 00:18:17,944
It's just that simple.

243
00:18:17,944 --> 00:18:20,985
Trying to teach them how business works.

244
00:18:21,306 --> 00:18:29,590
And of course we had one individual that came late that didn't have an excuse and he got
fired.

245
00:18:29,690 --> 00:18:35,193
And he said, well, I'm going to go to the Dean and you know, I can't graduate without your
credits.

246
00:18:35,193 --> 00:18:42,777
Well, I called the Dean first and I said, listen, you know, this is, this is where the
rules, this is, you know, business.

247
00:18:43,178 --> 00:18:44,588
If you want to.

248
00:18:44,736 --> 00:18:49,228
have him come back, it's not going to be in my classroom, you know?

249
00:18:49,368 --> 00:18:55,010
And the next week, everybody shows up about 10 or 15 minutes early.

250
00:18:55,690 --> 00:19:00,933
And then I let them out 10 or 15 minutes early, which they're happy about.

251
00:19:00,933 --> 00:19:13,998
But, know, trying to set a little discipline, trying to tell them what the real world's
about, telling stories, you know, what, no debt, learning, you know, just business.

252
00:19:14,018 --> 00:19:14,838
So.

253
00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:15,934
I enjoyed it.

254
00:19:15,934 --> 00:19:16,927
It was fun.

255
00:19:17,730 --> 00:19:19,014
Did, um...

256
00:19:19,581 --> 00:19:21,739
Do you know what that person became?

257
00:19:21,847 --> 00:19:23,165
Have no idea.

258
00:19:23,630 --> 00:19:24,802
That'd be interesting.

259
00:19:24,802 --> 00:19:28,892
But I know that there are some that were in my class that have been very successful.

260
00:19:29,144 --> 00:19:32,157
that stay in contact with that have a uh strong connection.

261
00:19:32,157 --> 00:19:40,345
um The of all these businesses, do you have a favorite one?

262
00:19:40,426 --> 00:19:42,999
It might be asking you like which one of your kids is favorite.

263
00:19:42,999 --> 00:19:43,379
I don't care.

264
00:19:43,379 --> 00:19:44,232
I'm going to ask the question.

265
00:19:44,232 --> 00:19:45,602
I'm allowed to ask whatever question I want.

266
00:19:45,602 --> 00:19:48,224
are what are one of, do you have one of the favorites?

267
00:19:48,696 --> 00:19:58,414
Well, when I, when I grew up, uh, and went to the university, Illinois, my last year, I
knew I was going into our family wholesale wine and liquor business.

268
00:19:58,654 --> 00:20:07,821
And an individual told my dad, Ron should go to the university of California at Davis and
study viticochrine and enology.

269
00:20:08,302 --> 00:20:15,808
And so my senior year, I drove out to California and studied viticochrine and enology at
UC Davis.

270
00:20:15,909 --> 00:20:17,970
And I fell in love with.

271
00:20:18,154 --> 00:20:22,498
Northern California, fell in love with the wine, wine country.

272
00:20:22,498 --> 00:20:28,322
fell in love with the product wine, my wife and I fell in love together out there.

273
00:20:28,383 --> 00:20:36,389
And it just became, I always had this dream to have a vineyard and winery someday.

274
00:20:36,910 --> 00:20:45,990
And what happened, it took me about 40 years exactly from 1971 to 2011, but

275
00:20:45,990 --> 00:20:49,632
I was able to purchase a vineyard and winery.

276
00:20:49,693 --> 00:21:06,685
And I think that that happened because I had a heart problem or issue that at age 60, that
really woke me up and said that nobody promises you tomorrow, you know, and you have to

277
00:21:06,685 --> 00:21:08,266
seize the day.

278
00:21:08,526 --> 00:21:14,430
And when I survived from this heart issue, I told my wife, I said,

279
00:21:14,508 --> 00:21:18,560
I want to start looking for that vineyard and winery out in California.

280
00:21:18,660 --> 00:21:21,562
So I guess, you know, I, I enjoyed that.

281
00:21:21,562 --> 00:21:24,443
I enjoy that business very much.

282
00:21:24,944 --> 00:21:31,467
I also enjoy the fact that our son, Todd is running the Republic of T now.

283
00:21:31,948 --> 00:21:35,720
So, you know, it's very proud of what he does.

284
00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:42,753
He's the minister of evolution and president, and he's done a tremendous, great job.

285
00:21:42,753 --> 00:21:44,344
Our daughter, Julie.

286
00:21:44,344 --> 00:21:47,938
She's an entrepreneur, she's a speech language pathologist.

287
00:21:47,938 --> 00:21:53,555
So, you know, I think for me, I think the wine business is something I dreamed about.

288
00:21:53,555 --> 00:21:57,689
I'm doing it now and I really love it.

289
00:21:59,064 --> 00:22:01,695
So you love both of your kids' businesses.

290
00:22:02,136 --> 00:22:02,756
I get it.

291
00:22:02,756 --> 00:22:11,622
um That churns up a question in me around this idea that...

292
00:22:13,534 --> 00:22:21,404
Once you own the winery, what is it as sweet as the pursuit of trying to own it?

293
00:22:23,418 --> 00:22:24,258
sweet.

294
00:22:24,258 --> 00:22:28,980
I think it was sweet because I set goals.

295
00:22:29,481 --> 00:22:39,445
And so there was an opportunity to look at that winder and say, you know, we're doing
about 20 to 25,000 cases of shipments.

296
00:22:39,685 --> 00:22:42,387
Can we reach 100,000 cases?

297
00:22:42,387 --> 00:22:44,747
Can we grow that business?

298
00:22:44,908 --> 00:22:46,778
And that's what our goal was.

299
00:22:46,778 --> 00:22:49,269
It took us eight years, but we made it.

300
00:22:49,310 --> 00:22:50,446
And so

301
00:22:50,446 --> 00:22:52,786
I think it was a big challenge.

302
00:22:52,786 --> 00:22:56,446
know, it's taking a business and growing it.

303
00:22:56,446 --> 00:22:59,106
So I would say yes.

304
00:22:59,646 --> 00:23:11,026
When I had the Republic, when I bought the Republic of T in 1994, my first goal there was
how fast could I pay off Southwest Bank in St.

305
00:23:11,026 --> 00:23:15,466
Louis, Missouri, the money that I borrowed to buy the company.

306
00:23:15,466 --> 00:23:19,946
And that took me six years, three months and 15 days.

307
00:23:20,014 --> 00:23:26,614
And since June 15th of 2000, the Republic of T's been a debt free company.

308
00:23:26,974 --> 00:23:34,874
And the winery, when I bought it, saved the money for 40 years, we became a debt free
company.

309
00:23:34,874 --> 00:23:36,974
And so why?

310
00:23:36,974 --> 00:23:43,114
Because my dad taught me that, you know, he taught me how to run businesses and how to
grow a business.

311
00:23:43,574 --> 00:23:46,694
You know, and we're talking about a small family business.

312
00:23:46,694 --> 00:23:48,418
I mean, I understand.

313
00:23:48,418 --> 00:24:00,018
You want to go public and I understand if you want to be on the stock exchange, but you
know, what makes up the economy in the United States, in my opinion, is all the small

314
00:24:00,018 --> 00:24:02,972
businesses that we have in the United States.

315
00:24:03,118 --> 00:24:03,978
Yeah.

316
00:24:03,978 --> 00:24:04,458
Yeah.

317
00:24:04,458 --> 00:24:09,898
Do you think a business, does it ever get to the point where growth isn't essential?

318
00:24:09,898 --> 00:24:14,798
So you built it from the 20, 20 to 25,000 cases to a hundred.

319
00:24:15,398 --> 00:24:19,110
Cause we hear this an out, like if you're not growing, you're falling behind.

320
00:24:19,470 --> 00:24:20,870
I think so.

321
00:24:20,870 --> 00:24:27,230
I think, uh, my three favorite words are sell, sell, sell.

322
00:24:27,310 --> 00:24:34,670
And I think it's top line revenue that really helps the day, you know?

323
00:24:34,670 --> 00:24:37,450
And so for me, it's always been a challenge.

324
00:24:37,450 --> 00:24:42,490
Now, how do we take that a hundred thousand cases to 200,000 cases?

325
00:24:42,836 --> 00:24:44,906
a man and speak and speak in my language.

326
00:24:44,906 --> 00:24:48,008
know, and so that's, that's where we are now.

327
00:24:48,369 --> 00:24:51,492
And we're going to, it's, it's not going to be a straight path.

328
00:24:51,492 --> 00:24:58,477
It's going to be kind of a zigzag path up and down, but you hope over time you're going to
reach it.

329
00:24:58,477 --> 00:25:04,762
So, you know, some years it's just, you know, COVID came around and what can we do about
that?

330
00:25:04,762 --> 00:25:10,247
I mean, you just have to realize, you know, it's going to have a big effect on your
business.

331
00:25:10,247 --> 00:25:14,710
And so then the next year you just try to continue to innovate.

332
00:25:14,894 --> 00:25:19,443
trying to look for opportunities and to grow your business.

333
00:25:19,443 --> 00:25:23,540
So I think growth has to be number one.

334
00:25:23,702 --> 00:25:24,602
Yeah.

335
00:25:24,622 --> 00:25:25,603
What have you done?

336
00:25:25,603 --> 00:25:35,355
COVID is a perfect example, but I bet over 50 years of business, there's been multiple
moments that you didn't foresee that were massively challenging, that you didn't have the

337
00:25:35,355 --> 00:25:37,106
solve prepared for.

338
00:25:37,566 --> 00:25:39,507
What do you do in those moments?

339
00:25:39,507 --> 00:25:41,587
What do you reflect on that this was the approach?

340
00:25:41,587 --> 00:25:43,308
Were they all different?

341
00:25:43,468 --> 00:25:50,250
Did you have to rely on a different set of skills or is it a singular approach that every
time something like that happened?

342
00:25:50,478 --> 00:25:55,679
Well, in the book, Golden Your Backyard, I have a lesson about pivot.

343
00:25:55,700 --> 00:26:03,042
I know you hear that word and it's kind of a slang word, but really in business, you do
have to pivot at times.

344
00:26:03,042 --> 00:26:07,623
I'm going to give you kind of a quick, real quick answer if you don't mind.

345
00:26:07,623 --> 00:26:10,904
You know, I write gold in your backyard.

346
00:26:11,224 --> 00:26:16,966
can distribute it, we can sell it, we have a warehouse, we can ship it.

347
00:26:17,202 --> 00:26:19,734
And we start doing that for six months.

348
00:26:19,734 --> 00:26:24,187
And I realized that I have to go to Ingram.

349
00:26:24,208 --> 00:26:26,249
I have to play their game.

350
00:26:26,270 --> 00:26:36,577
You know, if we want to get this book out there and distribution, I thought we could do it
ourselves through the Republic of T, but I learned no, not going to work.

351
00:26:36,578 --> 00:26:38,629
And so did I want to change?

352
00:26:38,629 --> 00:26:39,741
Not really.

353
00:26:39,741 --> 00:26:44,284
But I realized for the best, had to pivot.

354
00:26:44,284 --> 00:26:46,698
had to change, you know,

355
00:26:46,698 --> 00:26:52,741
So you see those things and you just go a different direction.

356
00:26:52,741 --> 00:27:01,806
Now, when I bought the Republic of T, we wanted to be a specialty tea company and not
mass.

357
00:27:02,167 --> 00:27:04,288
And so mass market.

358
00:27:04,288 --> 00:27:14,914
And so I think you come to a fork in a road that you're either going to be, in my opinion,
you're either going to remain specialty or you're going to go mass.

359
00:27:15,334 --> 00:27:18,277
And you can't do both with a brand.

360
00:27:18,277 --> 00:27:20,880
And we decided to stay specialty.

361
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:24,803
Now we've been a specialty company for over 30 years.

362
00:27:25,164 --> 00:27:27,647
You know, this is our 34th year.

363
00:27:27,647 --> 00:27:31,071
And so, uh, we're not going to change.

364
00:27:31,071 --> 00:27:32,221
We're not going to pivot.

365
00:27:32,221 --> 00:27:35,695
We're not going to, we're going to stay right in that lane.

366
00:27:35,695 --> 00:27:38,888
want to be, that's where we want to be specialty.

367
00:27:39,180 --> 00:27:39,991
Hmm.

368
00:27:40,193 --> 00:27:45,678
And I guess that's your own personal reasons, philosophies, what your goals are for the
business, how you make those decisions, right?

369
00:27:45,678 --> 00:27:54,118
Yeah, but we have 150 or more families that rely on their livelihood with the Republic of
T.

370
00:27:54,118 --> 00:28:04,398
You know, when I pull into the parking lot and I see all these cars, the first thing I
think about is, you know, your team that they're given so much time of their life.

371
00:28:04,398 --> 00:28:07,698
Why don't you have the strongest company that you can?

372
00:28:07,898 --> 00:28:12,918
You know, we want, we want to provide for these families.

373
00:28:14,198 --> 00:28:15,398
So anyway.

374
00:28:17,526 --> 00:28:25,970
Do you operate these companies with the same principles and values or do those evolve
separately within whatever culture is built?

375
00:28:26,050 --> 00:28:40,458
Well, at the Republic of Tea, we have a mission to enrich people's lives through premium
tea, education, and innovation.

376
00:28:41,178 --> 00:28:46,021
So when I bought the winery, we only had to change one word.

377
00:28:46,401 --> 00:28:53,845
We enrich people's lives through premium wine, education, and innovation.

378
00:28:54,165 --> 00:28:55,756
So we took the same

379
00:28:56,162 --> 00:29:04,170
DNA is the same principles and we applied it to another business.

380
00:29:05,663 --> 00:29:16,102
Do you think you could take that and your son, if he were to do it and continue on the
pathway, do you think you could apply this to almost any business or has it worked in the

381
00:29:16,102 --> 00:29:16,873
beverage space?

382
00:29:16,873 --> 00:29:18,464
Cause that's what you came up in.

383
00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:26,094
I think any business to the extent that I think education is a key and innovation is a
key.

384
00:29:26,394 --> 00:29:34,598
So not only do you have to educate your team, but you had to educate your customer and
then you have to innovate.

385
00:29:35,079 --> 00:29:43,143
The other thing I might say is I had a mentor tell me there's only three keys to success
in business.

386
00:29:43,584 --> 00:29:48,436
And I thought, wow, now that's, I'd like to hear about that.

387
00:29:48,492 --> 00:29:52,588
So Mark, do you want to hear the three keys to success in business?

388
00:29:52,588 --> 00:29:54,684
Not just me, you've got us all on pins and needles.

389
00:29:54,684 --> 00:29:55,976
We all want to hear it.

390
00:29:56,194 --> 00:30:01,297
Well, the first key is customer satisfaction.

391
00:30:01,798 --> 00:30:02,578
Okay.

392
00:30:02,578 --> 00:30:06,081
If you can't satisfy your customer, you're not going to have a business.

393
00:30:06,081 --> 00:30:10,944
It's all about satisfying your customer, customer satisfaction.

394
00:30:11,505 --> 00:30:16,067
The second key is employee satisfaction.

395
00:30:16,588 --> 00:30:17,509
Okay.

396
00:30:17,509 --> 00:30:25,666
Because if you can't satisfy your team, you don't pay them enough and you just don't have
the right fit and the right people.

397
00:30:25,666 --> 00:30:28,310
You're not going to have a successful business.

398
00:30:28,310 --> 00:30:30,794
So employee satisfaction.

399
00:30:30,794 --> 00:30:33,268
So you have to have customer satisfaction.

400
00:30:33,268 --> 00:30:41,310
have to have employee satisfaction and you're ready for the third key, final key, cash
flow.

401
00:30:44,782 --> 00:30:45,798
That's it.

402
00:30:48,290 --> 00:30:51,859
These are the lessons that you find in gold in your backyard.

403
00:30:53,518 --> 00:30:55,199
Why is cashflow so important?

404
00:30:55,199 --> 00:30:57,682
don't want to skip over the first two because those are fundamental.

405
00:30:57,682 --> 00:31:06,369
mean, I think here's, I think people listening to the first two, anyone who's even not an
entrepreneur, this term entrepreneur, that that's an employee that works in, they would

406
00:31:06,369 --> 00:31:07,790
agree with those two.

407
00:31:09,251 --> 00:31:15,517
The third is high level, C-suite, entrepreneurial, director level.

408
00:31:15,517 --> 00:31:18,399
They understand this, but not everyone does.

409
00:31:19,020 --> 00:31:20,601
Why is cashflow?

410
00:31:20,601 --> 00:31:22,178
Cause you didn't say profit.

411
00:31:22,178 --> 00:31:23,552
You didn't say gross margin.

412
00:31:23,552 --> 00:31:24,746
You didn't say net.

413
00:31:24,746 --> 00:31:26,920
You said cash flow.

414
00:31:27,340 --> 00:31:28,040
cashflow.

415
00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:29,652
A lot of people don't understand it.

416
00:31:29,652 --> 00:31:33,344
Entrepreneurs need to have a cashflow report every week.

417
00:31:33,344 --> 00:31:34,765
I get one every Wednesday.

418
00:31:34,765 --> 00:31:37,417
I've gotten it for a number of years.

419
00:31:37,417 --> 00:31:40,458
You know, it's the heartbeat of the business.

420
00:31:41,039 --> 00:31:51,967
You know, you have so many entrepreneurs I know today start a business, they go out and
they get a big sale from Target or whomever, Walmart or whoever it is.

421
00:31:51,967 --> 00:31:57,270
And then they need to go buy more material or more items, more supplies.

422
00:31:57,322 --> 00:31:59,544
And they're waiting for their money.

423
00:31:59,544 --> 00:32:01,845
They don't have any money.

424
00:32:02,847 --> 00:32:13,034
You know, they get strung out, you know, and it's like, oh, it's just, it's that cash flow
that that's the heartbeat, the energy of your business.

425
00:32:13,095 --> 00:32:16,718
And you have to learn what that's all about.

426
00:32:16,718 --> 00:32:24,063
And you do a cashflow projection for the next four weeks, you know, the money coming in
and the money going out.

427
00:32:24,584 --> 00:32:26,966
It's just the heartbeat of the business.

428
00:32:27,884 --> 00:32:29,419
That's on my mind.

429
00:32:29,419 --> 00:32:31,925
I can't tell you how many times a day.

430
00:32:34,414 --> 00:32:42,176
It's number one in the forefront of my brain because everyone on our team understands that
one and two have to happen or we don't have a business.

431
00:32:42,716 --> 00:32:49,438
But the third one is a separate parallel idea that if we don't have that, we don't have a
business either, but it's a total separate category.

432
00:32:49,438 --> 00:32:50,794
That's correct.

433
00:32:50,979 --> 00:32:54,110
But it is, you know what I've told people?

434
00:32:54,110 --> 00:32:55,770
said, here's how I can explain cashflow.

435
00:32:55,770 --> 00:32:58,481
It allows me to make my mistakes and keep going.

436
00:32:59,401 --> 00:33:01,922
just, it just does because

437
00:33:02,134 --> 00:33:03,795
It just eliminates the worry.

438
00:33:03,795 --> 00:33:13,844
allows me to take on more risks than almost anybody around me, because I just know the
lifeblood is I might, I'm not taking it for granted because I built the thing over years,

439
00:33:13,844 --> 00:33:17,797
but I see what's happening over the next 30, 45, 60, and 90 days.

440
00:33:17,797 --> 00:33:27,434
And I realize if these things don't go well, I realize that if we do spend money in this
area, I understand what's going to keep us going and moving forward.

441
00:33:27,915 --> 00:33:29,517
And I love profit.

442
00:33:29,517 --> 00:33:30,577
I do.

443
00:33:30,577 --> 00:33:31,018
Right.

444
00:33:31,018 --> 00:33:31,838
But.

445
00:33:32,014 --> 00:33:36,514
Profit's a short term distraction for the business.

446
00:33:36,514 --> 00:33:37,654
are you going to do with profit?

447
00:33:37,654 --> 00:33:38,454
What am going do with it?

448
00:33:38,454 --> 00:33:41,294
Go buy something, make my wife a little bit better.

449
00:33:41,294 --> 00:33:42,454
mean, reinvent.

450
00:33:42,454 --> 00:33:43,594
Yeah, that's fine.

451
00:33:43,594 --> 00:33:45,294
But cashflow is the wife blood.

452
00:33:45,294 --> 00:33:47,354
is the heartbeat and the blood in your body.

453
00:33:47,354 --> 00:33:52,174
If that's not working, doesn't matter what other organs going on.

454
00:33:52,934 --> 00:33:53,674
Right.

455
00:33:53,674 --> 00:33:54,030
Yeah.

456
00:33:54,030 --> 00:33:55,550
And you need to be on top of it.

457
00:33:55,550 --> 00:33:59,610
Just like you said, you know what the next two or three months are going to look like.

458
00:33:59,610 --> 00:34:02,770
And you need to get a statement every, every week.

459
00:34:03,070 --> 00:34:06,230
And you know, I preach preach cashflow statements.

460
00:34:06,230 --> 00:34:09,010
teach that and I taught that in my class.

461
00:34:09,452 --> 00:34:10,786
I had to learn it to your point.

462
00:34:10,786 --> 00:34:16,069
don't, it was important for somebody to hear today and hear that for you or listen to
their adjunct professor.

463
00:34:16,069 --> 00:34:18,924
It's important to hear, but until you're in it.

464
00:34:21,015 --> 00:34:28,488
You don't really know what it feels and what it looks like because I think also what it's
allowed me to do is it allows me to make the right decisions for the business.

465
00:34:29,029 --> 00:34:29,769
Right?

466
00:34:29,769 --> 00:34:31,340
What, what expenditures look like?

467
00:34:31,340 --> 00:34:32,690
Can we invest in this?

468
00:34:32,690 --> 00:34:35,011
Do we need to push that off till the next quarter?

469
00:34:35,011 --> 00:34:41,334
And then if you don't like where your cashflow is at, if it has limiting aspects to the
company, then make some changes on sales.

470
00:34:41,870 --> 00:34:48,762
There's a number of things in my book, the gold in your backyard that you won't find in an
MBA class.

471
00:34:48,762 --> 00:35:00,175
And one of the things I'd like to mention to you for your listeners and leaders to hear is
that I'm a big proponent of term life insurance.

472
00:35:00,855 --> 00:35:01,915
Okay.

473
00:35:01,915 --> 00:35:11,788
Especially if you're starting a new business, especially if you take on a lot of debt,
that you know, you can relatively buy term life insurance.

474
00:35:11,884 --> 00:35:18,658
that will help, you know, your family and God forbid something happens in case of
emergency.

475
00:35:18,658 --> 00:35:28,844
It won't strap your wife or whatever, whomever oh with your debt that you might've taken
on for, you know, being an entrepreneur.

476
00:35:28,844 --> 00:35:39,736
And for me, it was just, uh it just helps you sleep a lot better at night knowing God
forbid something would happen that this bank is going to be paid off.

477
00:35:39,736 --> 00:35:43,572
There's going to be enough money for our kids' college education.

478
00:35:43,572 --> 00:35:51,664
You won't have to worry about the mortgage on your house, you know, and your car payment
because of term life insurance.

479
00:35:51,766 --> 00:35:55,090
And I'm really a big proponent of that.

480
00:35:55,734 --> 00:35:56,115
for you.

481
00:35:56,115 --> 00:36:00,575
um

482
00:36:00,575 --> 00:36:05,068
bet, and I learned after having it, I couldn't get any further insurance.

483
00:36:05,336 --> 00:36:06,407
There you go.

484
00:36:06,407 --> 00:36:08,278
So make sure you have the heart problem.

485
00:36:08,278 --> 00:36:10,630
have the ability to earn a high amount of cashflow.

486
00:36:10,630 --> 00:36:12,191
That's great.

487
00:36:12,191 --> 00:36:15,103
What do you, what do you love most about business?

488
00:36:15,103 --> 00:36:16,234
What do love?

489
00:36:17,110 --> 00:36:20,712
Well, I learned it's a learning experience every day.

490
00:36:20,712 --> 00:36:22,292
learned something new.

491
00:36:22,393 --> 00:36:23,713
So it's exciting.

492
00:36:23,713 --> 00:36:34,368
It's, know, we're in the game or in the game of business, you know, or playing the game
or, know, it's just like, uh, anybody in sports, you know, what do they love about

493
00:36:34,368 --> 00:36:34,978
football?

494
00:36:34,978 --> 00:36:38,059
What do they love about whatever sport they might do?

495
00:36:38,059 --> 00:36:39,160
It's, it's a sport.

496
00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:44,582
It's a game, you know, I'm not a golfer, you know, and so, uh

497
00:36:44,731 --> 00:36:45,804
It's just exciting.

498
00:36:45,804 --> 00:36:47,239
There's a challenge.

499
00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:48,882
Keeps your brain going.

500
00:36:49,952 --> 00:36:52,533
I we said, I don't know if it was on the podcast or just before.

501
00:36:52,533 --> 00:36:54,945
I said, you said you work four days a week.

502
00:36:54,945 --> 00:36:58,387
And my response was, no, no, no.

503
00:36:58,387 --> 00:37:00,248
You work seven days a week.

504
00:37:00,308 --> 00:37:03,080
And cause that brain is always working and I'm open.

505
00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:04,360
Tell me if I'm wrong.

506
00:37:04,791 --> 00:37:05,723
It is.

507
00:37:06,412 --> 00:37:08,907
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

508
00:37:08,907 --> 00:37:12,733
All the quiet moments and the things happening that no one else sees.

509
00:37:12,934 --> 00:37:13,355
Yeah.

510
00:37:13,355 --> 00:37:17,512
What's your style of, do you feel like you have a style of leadership?

511
00:37:19,129 --> 00:37:30,850
Uh, style, you'd have to ask the, all the ones that work for us, you know, I think, uh,
trying to be humble, having empathy, taking care of your team.

512
00:37:31,090 --> 00:37:38,170
You know, I think that's educating them, you know, helping them grow, promoting from
within.

513
00:37:38,170 --> 00:37:39,910
I'm a big promoter that.

514
00:37:40,150 --> 00:37:44,806
Women, they rule, you know, women in your business, I think.

515
00:37:45,034 --> 00:37:49,837
I learned that early on, you know, we have women in leadership roles in our business.

516
00:37:49,837 --> 00:37:52,578
They, they're just fantastic leaders.

517
00:37:52,578 --> 00:37:56,340
They just, know, the guys, you guys, have to realize it.

518
00:37:56,340 --> 00:37:58,661
They're, they're coming on strong.

519
00:37:59,303 --> 00:38:00,117
You know who says that?

520
00:38:00,117 --> 00:38:02,761
One of the shark tank guys, Kevin O'Leary says that same thing.

521
00:38:02,761 --> 00:38:03,592
Really?

522
00:38:03,948 --> 00:38:04,441
Yeah.

523
00:38:04,441 --> 00:38:06,988
I pick it up from Kevin O'Leary, by the way.

524
00:38:06,988 --> 00:38:16,585
No, I think you probably built it yourself, but, if you hear the things you've built and
you hear successful people, they leave footprints and they leave receipts.

525
00:38:16,585 --> 00:38:17,936
That's the mentorship idea.

526
00:38:17,936 --> 00:38:18,267
Right.

527
00:38:18,267 --> 00:38:24,791
And so all it takes for me is to hear the same thing from just two or three really
successful people.

528
00:38:24,791 --> 00:38:26,792
And you have to go, okay.

529
00:38:27,373 --> 00:38:28,354
That must be a truth.

530
00:38:28,354 --> 00:38:29,254
Right.

531
00:38:29,375 --> 00:38:29,625
Great.

532
00:38:29,625 --> 00:38:30,435
Yeah.

533
00:38:31,076 --> 00:38:34,088
The, um, this book that you wrote.

534
00:38:35,182 --> 00:38:43,362
You know, you had this 40 year pursuit of acquiring the winery that started in 1971.

535
00:38:44,722 --> 00:38:48,802
Um, and then you were able to buy it in 2011 was writing this book.

536
00:38:48,802 --> 00:38:51,602
it a similar path and trajectory of a goal?

537
00:38:51,602 --> 00:38:53,126
Eventually you would.

538
00:38:53,998 --> 00:39:08,609
Well, what my goal was that each year I would write something down that really was made a
difference, know, something that stood out during that one year in business.

539
00:39:09,151 --> 00:39:18,297
And so over a number of years, I would accumulate these one-off lessons.

540
00:39:18,798 --> 00:39:23,542
And when I would give a uh speech,

541
00:39:23,542 --> 00:39:31,884
Like to the young presidents organization, YPO, I could take my 15 lessons and talk about
each lesson for two or three minutes.

542
00:39:31,884 --> 00:39:36,546
And Hey, that's my 45 minutes speech all wrapped up in one.

543
00:39:36,546 --> 00:39:45,888
And so I just, um, I had these lessons and so the goal was really, let's, let's put them
in a book.

544
00:39:45,888 --> 00:39:49,589
You know, so they'll, they're something to pass on.

545
00:39:49,769 --> 00:39:53,590
And I just think it took a.

546
00:39:53,590 --> 00:40:02,339
a number of years to write the book, but I had the lessons, you know, somewhat already
prepared, I guess, through my career.

547
00:40:02,882 --> 00:40:07,898
You know, one of the lessons I learned about is just a MedJet Assist.

548
00:40:07,898 --> 00:40:10,080
Have you ever heard of MedJet Assist?

549
00:40:10,338 --> 00:40:12,647
No, I'll say no.

550
00:40:12,647 --> 00:40:14,638
Something about it seems familiar, but so no.

551
00:40:14,638 --> 00:40:15,138
Okay.

552
00:40:15,138 --> 00:40:22,058
So MedJet Assist is a medical company that flies you anywhere in the world.

553
00:40:22,438 --> 00:40:26,298
Uh, if you have a medical event on a medical plane.

554
00:40:26,298 --> 00:40:27,218
Okay.

555
00:40:27,218 --> 00:40:29,958
I learned about that reading in Fortune magazine.

556
00:40:29,958 --> 00:40:30,898
signed up for it.

557
00:40:30,898 --> 00:40:33,258
was $300 a month.

558
00:40:33,258 --> 00:40:37,198
I mean a year, uh, to have this MedJet Assist.

559
00:40:37,358 --> 00:40:43,038
Well, the bottom line of it is when I had my heart problem in California, I needed to fly
to St.

560
00:40:43,038 --> 00:40:43,758
Louis.

561
00:40:43,990 --> 00:40:47,773
And it costs $60,000 on a medical jet.

562
00:40:47,833 --> 00:40:50,475
And my son called up MedJet Assist.

563
00:40:50,475 --> 00:40:51,606
They said, yeah, Mr.

564
00:40:51,606 --> 00:40:53,118
Rubin's all paid up.

565
00:40:53,118 --> 00:41:00,423
We'll send a jet and we'll fly you no charge from California to St.

566
00:41:00,423 --> 00:41:01,424
Louis.

567
00:41:01,464 --> 00:41:03,616
So it's in my, it's a lesson I learned.

568
00:41:03,616 --> 00:41:05,568
That was the most important lesson.

569
00:41:05,568 --> 00:41:08,810
So there's a lesson about MedJet Assist.

570
00:41:08,810 --> 00:41:13,994
So I had a friend of mine read the book and he said, you know, I never heard of MedJet
Assist.

571
00:41:14,190 --> 00:41:18,494
But my parents are going over to Japan for vacation.

572
00:41:18,494 --> 00:41:31,664
And I just went on MedJet Assist and I bought, I bought the insurance for my parents
because it gives me comfort to know, God forbid something happens to them in Japan.

573
00:41:31,945 --> 00:41:34,367
I can get them home on MedJet Assist.

574
00:41:34,367 --> 00:41:36,748
Thanks Ron for telling me about it.

575
00:41:36,949 --> 00:41:42,063
You know, and so that's really what a lot of these lessons are about.

576
00:41:42,063 --> 00:41:43,316
You won't find them in

577
00:41:43,316 --> 00:41:45,938
MBA school, but you'll find them in the book.

578
00:41:47,227 --> 00:41:59,001
What's this a crossroads of you being an adjunct professor and believing in education, but
the 50 most valuable things that you found to wrote down to write down won't be found in

579
00:41:59,001 --> 00:42:00,172
those places.

580
00:42:00,770 --> 00:42:02,866
What do mean they won't be found in those places?

581
00:42:02,866 --> 00:42:03,500
oh

582
00:42:03,500 --> 00:42:07,638
two or three of the lessons that you say are in the book that you say you won't hear these
in NBA program.

583
00:42:07,638 --> 00:42:13,044
You won't, but there are some lessons you probably hear in NBA program, you know.

584
00:42:13,366 --> 00:42:14,669
Yeah, but what about this?

585
00:42:14,669 --> 00:42:19,280
What's the, you know, what's the crossroad of that?

586
00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:23,542
It's not to devalue traditional education, but what's the principle in

587
00:42:23,542 --> 00:42:31,946
I think the principle is that it's a book written with somebody's been in there, played
the game, is playing the game, is current.

588
00:42:32,007 --> 00:42:40,291
And the lessons are uh from an active person who's really had experience running
businesses.

589
00:42:40,291 --> 00:42:52,718
Not just a, and there's nothing wrong with professors or teachers or whatever, but you
know, true entrepreneurship, you know, and I think that that's, that's the value, you

590
00:42:52,718 --> 00:42:53,260
know.

591
00:42:53,260 --> 00:42:55,465
Yeah, someone's been there done that.

592
00:42:56,376 --> 00:43:04,596
You know, 20, 21 years ago, I found myself in a night class at university here where I'm
from.

593
00:43:04,877 --> 00:43:14,720
And there was an adjunct business professor and one comment on one night led me to go
obtain my real estate license.

594
00:43:14,720 --> 00:43:15,674
Wow.

595
00:43:15,823 --> 00:43:17,291
That's powerful.

596
00:43:18,254 --> 00:43:24,174
And so when you started, when you, when you early on said about listening, obviously I
listened.

597
00:43:25,254 --> 00:43:25,474
Right.

598
00:43:25,474 --> 00:43:28,734
And then there's the action that you have to take from that.

599
00:43:29,854 --> 00:43:30,954
think you have to put both together.

600
00:43:30,954 --> 00:43:38,594
You have to listen in life, look for the mentors, listen to the people that have the
receipts that have the experience, but then you have to have the fortitude and the desire

601
00:43:38,594 --> 00:43:41,222
and the commitment to actually take action and make the thing happen.

602
00:43:43,222 --> 00:43:43,682
Yeah.

603
00:43:43,682 --> 00:43:44,062
Yeah.

604
00:43:44,062 --> 00:43:48,254
Um, as we wrap up, okay.

605
00:43:48,254 --> 00:43:50,885
think we're coming, we're coming to the end of, end of our time.

606
00:43:50,885 --> 00:44:01,330
Um, does, does this idea of legacy matter to you or what's it mean and does it matter your
legacy?

607
00:44:02,584 --> 00:44:04,255
I don't think about that.

608
00:44:04,554 --> 00:44:06,537
I guess it doesn't matter.

609
00:44:08,039 --> 00:44:09,350
name's not on a building.

610
00:44:09,350 --> 00:44:14,825
You know, I'd rather help others, help someone along the way.

611
00:44:17,036 --> 00:44:18,410
more about what you leave behind.

612
00:44:18,410 --> 00:44:18,910
Yeah.

613
00:44:18,910 --> 00:44:22,011
And, uh, right now it's all about saving lives.

614
00:44:22,192 --> 00:44:24,113
So how can we save lives?

615
00:44:24,113 --> 00:44:29,215
know, teach people CPR, have an automatic external defibrillator.

616
00:44:29,215 --> 00:44:35,638
They saved my life, giving back to causes that helped save people's lives.

617
00:44:37,326 --> 00:44:38,948
That's what you do with the other three days.

618
00:44:38,948 --> 00:44:46,156
um us about, we're all so fascinated about these wineries.

619
00:44:46,156 --> 00:44:47,697
What makes it special?

620
00:44:47,697 --> 00:44:51,341
What you love about your time in Florida, you love walking on the beach.

621
00:44:51,562 --> 00:44:55,325
What you love about being at the winery, you love walking the vineyards.

622
00:44:55,706 --> 00:44:56,687
What is this about?

623
00:44:56,687 --> 00:44:58,359
You love these walks in places.

624
00:44:58,359 --> 00:44:59,700
What's that about Ron?

625
00:44:59,734 --> 00:45:03,416
Well, I ran for 30 years.

626
00:45:03,416 --> 00:45:04,516
was a runner.

627
00:45:04,516 --> 00:45:05,456
Okay.

628
00:45:05,456 --> 00:45:09,258
So basically from age 30 to age 60.

629
00:45:09,258 --> 00:45:14,580
And then I had my ventricular tachycardia right after I had ran 20 miles.

630
00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:18,302
And then the cardiologist said, Ron, you can't run anymore.

631
00:45:18,402 --> 00:45:28,664
And I think the running time that that time just being alone, thinking, you know, just
taking in nature and

632
00:45:28,664 --> 00:45:32,457
just, gave you, gave me time to think.

633
00:45:32,576 --> 00:45:36,160
And I think walking provides the same thing.

634
00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:38,542
And then of course, exercise.

635
00:45:38,542 --> 00:45:44,046
I think it's, you know, your responsibility to be in good health if you're leading the
team.

636
00:45:44,327 --> 00:45:52,894
And uh so I think the exercise part is great for me and I'm no longer a runner, I'm a
walker.

637
00:45:54,460 --> 00:45:57,263
And you're enjoying every moment.

638
00:45:57,263 --> 00:46:00,197
Um, what is, uh, this book?

639
00:46:00,197 --> 00:46:06,765
It's the, it's the most recent thing, but the winery, mean, where, uh, you worked with
Ingram on it, but is it also on audible?

640
00:46:06,765 --> 00:46:07,967
Can we listen to it?

641
00:46:07,967 --> 00:46:09,236
Is it only read?

642
00:46:09,236 --> 00:46:10,949
It's on Audible.

643
00:46:10,949 --> 00:46:22,746
made an Audible and we're getting that set up now through Ingram to be on Amazon, but you
can buy the book on Amazon or at the Republic of T.

644
00:46:23,438 --> 00:46:24,083
Okay.

645
00:46:24,083 --> 00:46:26,276
The, did you read the book?

646
00:46:26,276 --> 00:46:27,581
Are you the audible?

647
00:46:27,850 --> 00:46:28,874
I read the book.

648
00:46:28,874 --> 00:46:31,124
Yes, that was quite an experience.

649
00:46:31,124 --> 00:46:32,128
It was fun.

650
00:46:32,128 --> 00:46:33,320
I enjoyed it.

651
00:46:34,456 --> 00:46:35,127
Tell us about that.

652
00:46:35,127 --> 00:46:39,474
That'll be our last wrap up here, but I want to, so we can go on Amazon, the auto will be
out soon.

653
00:46:39,474 --> 00:46:45,121
The Republic of T, you can find everything out about you and we'll put all the tags, but
tell us about the experience.

654
00:46:45,134 --> 00:46:55,422
My was that I wanted to read, uh, do the audible, but at the time that I had to do it, I
was in Florida.

655
00:46:55,863 --> 00:47:03,929
And so, you know, I'm thinking, you know, that's not going to work because they want me to
do it, but I'm in Florida.

656
00:47:03,990 --> 00:47:12,316
And so I go to Naples, Florida and sure enough, right there is go to my backyard.

657
00:47:12,357 --> 00:47:14,188
I find a studio.

658
00:47:14,232 --> 00:47:16,774
that does audio books every day.

659
00:47:16,774 --> 00:47:21,727
That's their business in little Naples, Florida.

660
00:47:21,848 --> 00:47:27,832
And so for about three or four weeks, I did my audio right here in Naples, Florida.

661
00:47:27,832 --> 00:47:30,444
Got to continue to walk on the beach.

662
00:47:30,900 --> 00:47:32,071
Mmm.

663
00:47:32,234 --> 00:47:32,695
Good.

664
00:47:32,695 --> 00:47:34,464
And you walked to the studio?

665
00:47:34,464 --> 00:47:36,848
I could, it was unbelievable.

666
00:47:36,848 --> 00:47:40,042
It was like, there it is, in your backyard.

667
00:47:40,942 --> 00:47:41,503
That's awesome.

668
00:47:41,503 --> 00:47:42,284
Good.

669
00:47:42,284 --> 00:47:46,798
Well, Ron Rubin, I appreciate the time.

670
00:47:46,798 --> 00:47:59,802
The Republic of Tea, I'm assuming, I looked at Dave, our producer here, when you guys sent
this, went, this has the feel of monthly subscriptions.

671
00:47:59,802 --> 00:48:04,416
This has the feel of high level elite tea drinking.

672
00:48:05,495 --> 00:48:06,344
rate.

673
00:48:06,998 --> 00:48:14,133
Is it, um, I'm assuming that we can get online and buy subscriptions and not just one off
and receive stuff in the mail consistently.

674
00:48:14,133 --> 00:48:15,503
I correct?

675
00:48:16,184 --> 00:48:16,945
Okay.

676
00:48:16,945 --> 00:48:18,766
He's like, somebody else is running it now.

677
00:48:18,766 --> 00:48:21,428
Um, well, Hey, this bank pumped.

678
00:48:21,428 --> 00:48:23,800
put my finger in the little slot so I could pull it out.

679
00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:32,956
But, I know that there's massive care and intention behind it because this hardback I
love, this is a fung shui.

680
00:48:32,956 --> 00:48:36,298
It feels like it's the, the binding is different.

681
00:48:36,726 --> 00:48:37,356
It's cleaning.

682
00:48:37,356 --> 00:48:41,927
There's it's so clean in the lines and the gold on top, just the experience of reading it.

683
00:48:41,927 --> 00:48:42,849
think is going to be fun.

684
00:48:42,849 --> 00:48:48,072
it's Ron Rubin, golden, your backyard lessons in life, leadership and the power of a
dream.

685
00:48:48,072 --> 00:48:49,974
You All right.

686
00:48:49,974 --> 00:48:51,954
Hey, thanks for the time.

687
00:48:52,975 --> 00:49:00,700
if I'm ever in Sonoma, I know a lot of people ask some stuff, but I'll probably try to
entry and say, I'm bringing a, I'm bringing my camera guys.

688
00:49:00,700 --> 00:49:04,081
We're coming to do a piece where we want a tour of the wall.

689
00:49:05,012 --> 00:49:06,611
We'd love to have you.

690
00:49:06,860 --> 00:49:08,152
When are you in Sonoma?

691
00:49:08,152 --> 00:49:10,724
from June 1st to November 1st.

692
00:49:11,438 --> 00:49:13,538
June 1st and November 1st.

693
00:49:14,118 --> 00:49:14,498
Okay.

694
00:49:14,498 --> 00:49:15,628
Sonoma here we come.

695
00:49:15,628 --> 00:49:17,865
you to have a beautiful experience.

696
00:49:18,368 --> 00:49:19,943
Okay, you're awesome.

697
00:49:19,943 --> 00:49:20,785
Thank you very much.

698
00:49:20,785 --> 00:49:23,968
And again, remind us the name of the the winery and the one.

699
00:49:23,968 --> 00:49:27,315
River Road Family Vineyards and Winery.

700
00:49:27,315 --> 00:49:28,488
River Road.

701
00:49:29,208 --> 00:49:29,759
River road.

702
00:49:29,759 --> 00:49:30,440
Yep.

703
00:49:30,440 --> 00:49:31,862
Thank you for the time.

704
00:49:31,862 --> 00:49:33,674
Enjoy your walks on the beach.

705
00:49:33,674 --> 00:49:34,712
The rest of the afternoon.

706
00:49:34,712 --> 00:49:35,972
Okay, thanks Mark.

707
00:49:35,972 --> 00:49:36,854
time.