Podcast Transcription

Melina: Welcome to “Flippin’ Off,” a purpose-driven podcast about flipping houses and making a difference.

Well, good day, everybody. Good evening, good morning, whatever time it is that you’re listening to this. I am Melina Boswell, co-founder of New Wealth Advisors Club. And today, in the studio we have a very special guest with us, one of our students, Mr. Bruce Redmond. Say hello.

Bruce: Good morning.

Melina: Hi. And so I have with me Oscar.

Oscar: Hi there.

Melina: And Tim.

Tim: Hi.

Melina: I wonder if the audience…do you guys wonder like how do we decide who’s gonna be sitting in the studio? And a lot of it has to do with the relationships that we have with the guest. It has also to do with like who showed up today. So…

Bruce: I’ll drink to that.

Melina: So did he…well, one of the things that I felt has been important is as part of the club, the New Wealth Club, is introducing you are highlighting different members of the club and their stories because I think it’s important for people to hear your stories. Because I know everybody can relate to everybody one way or another. And so Bruce, has a really, really cool story and you’ve had a podcast, we recorded together before.

Bruce: Yes.

Melina: Yeah. And that was you, and me, and Dave, right?

Bruce: Correct.

Melina: How long ago was that? Do you remember?

Bruce: I wanna say that was in the beginning of 2016.

Melina: Okay, so yeah, it was…

Bruce: It’s been a few years.

Melina: Yeah, yeah, it was early on. Okay. Yeah. Isn’t that funny? And, you know, one of the reasons that I thought it was important to interview you or to highlight you then is because you’re somebody who sticks out in terms of uniqueness, and also your love and compassion and…not compassion, passion, I think, for the community, for the club as a whole. And, you know, we’ve been working with you for all these years. And there’s always been a question in your mind about what your role is in terms of the club. So, you know, you know how to do a business, great, you know how to make money, great, you know how to flip a house, great. But there’s always that question that’s been floating around in your mind. And it’s something that I’ve really appreciated because it’s unique because not everybody has that question floating around. Not everybody is called to lead and to serve in the club, especially with the way our organization is created. It’s so unique.

Bruce: Yes.

Melina: Because it runs on volunteers, it runs on like what do we, you know, we’re still redefining right now, like, what is new wealth? And so I think I posed that question to you. And I believe that’s how this conversation started that I said, “Wow, you really need to share that.” So, let’s back up a little bit. The conversation that we had started because you walked into the conference room Monday and you said, “Look.” And you showed me your brand new…

Bruce: Patent.

Melina: The patent.

Bruce: My patent was approved.

Melina: Yeah. But it’s a natural like patent.

Bruce: Yes. Yes.

Melina: And so it was really cool. And so, that got us having a conversation about how the patent…how you arrived, so why don’t you share first of all a little bit, if you would, about how you created the patent. Like, where you were working, that kind of basic…

Bruce: Sure. So I got involved with a startup company, I built some walls in their facility when they first got started, and as they tried to solve problems they would design things and I’d go out and build them and they wouldn’t work, so then I would build them myself and make them work. And I’d cure the problems and develop the products that we were trying to do. And I got better at solving problems and doing that, and built myself into a position where I used my skills, right? I used all my hands, my abilities, things that I was good at and got better and better and earned money doing that. But then I wasn’t able to fill the role of the person I was supposed to be at that point. You know, as I grew up in the company and I developed, and the company grew, my position grew. And as the position grew, responsibilities came with it that I couldn’t handle, handling the employees, things like that. So I stayed with the development of products, things like that.

Melina: Machines.

Bruce: The machines, they didn’t talk back, they didn’t have feelings, they didn’t misinterpret what I was saying. I could deal with that. I could deal with the oil and grease. I couldn’t deal with people. And so that’s, you know, I just kept concentrating on things I was good at, you know, working with my hands, developing and solving problems.

Melina: So you built a filter, in essence, right? That’s the simple…

Bruce: Yeah, I call it a smart filter. It’s a chemistry filter in which we can separate a compound of interest out of a liquid. And so you would put a liquid through it and it would create a chemistry handshake, so you’d collect the compound you were looking for. And then you could release it, and capture it, and quantify it. And it’s, you know, it’s not a particle size filter, it’s a chemistry filter.

Melina: Yeah. So it’s a very intricate machine or device that you built that nobody had ever been able to accomplish before.

Bruce: Well, they were able to do it in a different way. This was a much smaller particle size where we can get them more accurate reports per billion, not just some samples. So it was a much more accurate test. We could do it more cost effective. But then also I developed a series of workstations where the chemist would use them and use our product on these workstations and be more successful. And so we slowly eliminated problems where they would cross contaminate or things like that. So we slowly developed the process by eliminating issues and concerns.

Melina: Right. So, Bruce is obviously a process guy, like he’s a problem-solving guy. So then he thinks that, so as you developed these processes and invented this filter, smart filter, you basically found yourself as a part owner of this startup.

Bruce: Yes, yes. Because in the beginning, it was a startup, there was no money involved, or the very little money. And, you know, I built the walls, and I assembled the lab, and I assembled the equipment and the machine shop area, and I said, “When you have enough work for me to come in, I’ll come in and work for the day.” And so I would do that, a day here a day there. And at some point, I got really sick and I spent like seven days in intensive care, and I almost died and I decided to go full time at the company at that point. They didn’t have a lot of money, and so it was a very low-hourly rate, but they paid me in stock options. And so, Tom, he was a chemist, but he was not very good with his hands. So, because I was the mechanical person and doing all this, he paid me in stock options.

So, over the first few years, I had earned about 10% of the company, 11.5% by the time we sold it the first time. So my first partner that I partnered with had a heart valve problem and had a stroke. And so we had to sell the company. And so we sold the company to our biggest distributor, who only sold the products that I made. He created himself selling these products. And so now he comes in to buy the company and he says, “I’ll give you the same ownership if you help me pay it off.” And I said, “Okay, great.” And this was in 2005, so in 2007, it was fully paid off and so he awarded me 5% of the company and said, “You can earn 5% over the next five years as an earn out.” And then he also gave me the option to purchase up to 5% of the company at the going rate which was like 30,000 per cent or per share. And so that was how we moved forward at that point. And that was all designed to build the company and make it grow to sell it.

Melina: And what was the end plan? Oh, so the end game was to sell.

Bruce: To sell the company and that was always the goal. So we were chasing the carrot from day one. So, it had been…so I started in ’93 so this is 2007, so by the time 2012 comes along, we’re getting offers on the company and the offers are big. Because we had double digit growth every year after year, and…

Melina: And your smart filter really worked.

Bruce: It solved a lot of problems and companies were interested. So we were getting offers. When Phil purchased the company, he got it for $3 million, when Tom was was sick. And so now, we’re getting offers for $18 million, $20 million, $30 million. And Phil’s like, “Okay, now, we need to start getting serious about selling.” But all the offers didn’t take into account the growth that was happening in the meantime. So we started to get more serious and we hired somebody to help market the company. By now, the numbers are really getting up there, and Phil’s interested. And he was always very cautious about saving money. But we hired somebody and we offered them $5 million to do something. And I didn’t know what.

Melina: Yeah, lovely, that’s awesome. I love it when that happens. So good.

Bruce: Yeah. So things were going well, we’re developing a whole new set of patents, a new version of all these things. We’re solving all the problems and the person that we hired turns out…I think he was hired to get rid of me because I was worth too much right at that point and I didn’t realize it at the time. And I found myself, as I’m working on all these patents and really solving the issues, I’m being written up for stuff that happened years before and I’m threatened to be fired, and I, you know, all the signing of all these documents that are going back and forth for the new set of this demand, the new rules and regulations, and all the updated everything. In the process of all that, somehow this contract took precedence over that contract, so I lost that incentive, my five years didn’t start way back then, all of a sudden it starts the beginning of the next year, you know. So all these things are now disappearing and I couldn’t understand it because I’m still working on patents, I’m doing all this great stuff, and it was a season change and I didn’t understand it. I felt very blindsided, very confused. Didn’t understand what was…

Melina: So you end up quitting.

Bruce: I left the company.

Melina: You left the company.

Bruce: The doctor…the doctor said…

Melina: The doctor said, yeah.

Bruce: “Don’t go back,” and so at that point I had to walk away from the company, and just my losses at whatever they were.

Melina: Right. And so then there was basically an agreed upon payout.

Bruce: No. I lost all my incentive. What I was able to retain was when I purchased my stock option, I wrote stock purchase on the check, so that…

Melina: Thank God.

Bruce: …that’s what I retained. So my investment, I retained.

Melina: Got it. So, you got your investment of the company you built.

Bruce: Yes, my investment went up 2,000%.

Melina: Nice.

Bruce: So that was a nice investment. It was the best investment I’ve ever had.

Melina: So then, you know, so fast forward. So you leave the company, you take some time and then you start looking for what am I gonna do with my life?

Bruce: Yeah. I was totally lost because, you know, at the time I was 56. I thought, this was my retirement. I’ve been working for 25 years for this. This was the care and this was, you know, we’re figuring out where we’re moving to, what we’re buying, you know. To have it all of a sudden the end without understanding why I was very confused and lost. And really didn’t know what to do. I had a prior, you know, prior experience in construction. So I went out, I got a real estate license and passed that test and I was waiting for the license to show up when I answered an ad for the club. So that’s when I then found New Wealth.

Melina: Got it

Bruce: Or New Wealth found me. I’m not sure how that worked out.

Christian: Hi, this is Christian Rios. As many of you know, I have been a member of New Wealth Advisors Club for over seven years and got started when I was 17 years old with absolutely no real estate experience. One of the biggest lessons I have learned from being in the industry is the need for authentic relationships. If you’re looking for an actual team locally in Southern California with all the resources needed to close deals, register for one of our free workshops by visiting www.joinnwac.com. Thanks for listening to the “Flippin’ Off” podcast.

Melina: So this is really great because, so then, you know, the last few years you’ve had a lot of…there’s been so much that’s happened for you.

Bruce: There has. I’ve really tried to pay attention to, you know, I think we all come to New Wealth on a different journey. And I think that people may be see different things when they walk in the door. Real estate definitely being one of them. And I saw the real estate and I saw it in a different way than normally I had in the past. I was thinking that the real estate license was gonna give me a discount on purchasing a house, and that’s how I was gonna make the money you work. I knew the numbers didn’t work on TV the way they were doing. I thought that was gonna be my edge in and then I listened to Melina’s classes and started learning a different approach to real estate, which I thought was a beat approach. I like that, but I don’t know that it was necessarily something I was jumping into at that point because I still didn’t know what I was trying to do. I did see a bigger opportunity than the real estate, but I didn’t really know what it was at that point. I didn’t know what it was. I saw something, I liked it, and I knew that I needed to keep coming back to maintain it until I could figure out what it was, you know.

Melina: So, fast forward to just, you know, I don’t know, about a month ago, three weeks ago, whatever it was, and me, and Oscar, and Tim are sitting in the, we call it the bubble, conference room at the club. We’re sitting there and Bruce walks in, and he has this big smile on his face, right? And he’s like, “Look what I got in the mail.” And so it was your patent.

Bruce: The patent was finally approved.

Melina: The patent actually approved and they sent it to you.

Bruce: It was approved the day after my mother passed, which was kind of interesting, and it was…

Melina: We felt like it was your mom giving you a nod.

Bruce: Yes, I really did. Because it was, you know, years after I applied for it. Something did make sense.

Melina: Something happened. Yeah.

Bruce: Came in out of the blue. It doesn’t change anything. The company owns everything, I don’t get any benefit out of it. What I get out of it is just the satisfaction of knowing that I did it. It was my idea, you know.

Melina: So because what you shared then was…would you share what you shared with us then? Like, what that meant.

Bruce: Well, I’m not sure what…

Melina: What I want you to tell is how you said that, like, you looked at the patent and what that represented, what it could have represented to you financially and what it ended up…

Bruce: So financially, if I had stayed with the company and the company did sell because it sold like six months after I left the company and it sold for $60 million. So, I actually lost.

Melina: Is that a lot?

Tim: Is that a lot.

Oscar: Is that a lot?

Bruce: After tax, it’s still a lot.

Oscar: Let me say it’s a lot a lot.

Melina: It’s a lot a lot.

Bruce: So it could be a life changing thing. And I know that and I think where I was going at the time was…if I had collected that money, if I had stayed on the path that I was on and collected that money, I would have been more of the person that I was. And I was very…I was missing a lot of things, I was very hollow in a lot of ways. And I didn’t really understand that, and that’s sort of what I’ve learned over the few years that I’ve been at that club. And where I am now, three years later, knowing what I know and having done the internal work and really evaluating myself, I honestly believe I’m in a much better place today than if I had collected the money and going down my other path. And for that I’m very grateful and very grateful to you, and for the club, and for what that has allowed me to see and grow in that area.

Melina: That statement to me was just…

Oscar: Yeah, just… So it’s a powerful statement, right? And obviously, I see the emotion in you as well. People don’t get to see that through podcast, but how that can land for someone, right? That’s looking at the club as, that’s my way to go make some serious money. Which it can be, but then to hear someone say…

Bruce: “It’s not about the money.”

Oscar: Right. You know, to say that this would have made me this other person, but I’m so happy with who I am today. And okay with the fact that I didn’t get like half of the a lot, right? Or whatever that would have been.

Melina: It’s a really powerful to me. It was a statement that just like pierced me and so I said, like, that needs to be shared. So did you wanna add something?

Tim: Yeah, first, as you know, Bruce has been around for a couple years now. Like, our relationship has gotten from very surface to it’s gotten more in depth. And I’m always, always inspired by Bruce and the things that…like, there’s always something new that you didn’t know about Bruce. Some other level of brilliance or some other level of just some other level. I don’t know how. And he says things like that and he’s probably the best at giving really good analogies, you know, submarine analogy and an onion analogy, and just great stuff, right? And at the same time, you have that and then you have somebody who identifies himself as introvert and very cerebral, but then you have these brilliant moments that isn’t necessarily bad, at least not from my perspective. So, I think one of the things that I’m interested in in this conversation is, a lot of what you said was, you know, you talked about who you were and who you would have become, but we don’t know what that is. And you’re talking about who you are and who you’re happy to be. But we don’t know who that is. Based on this conversation or if I’m listening to this, I’m interested in if you’re open to share some of that. I mean, I’ve been around and I’ve seen who you’ve become and the rest of us have, but I think it’d be valuable from a podcast listener’s perspective to hear who was Bruce and who would that $60 million Bruce be versus who Bruce is today? And what was that path? And what role did New Wealth have in that if that’s…

Bruce: Sure. It would have been a 6 million not a $60 million, Bruce.

Tim: So you would have been the $6 million man.

Melina: With bionics.

Bruce: Yeah, yeah. Well, I think the biggest thing is, like you say, being a very much on the surface. I grew up moving around a lot learning that, you know, relationships go away that, you know, there’s no need to build relationships or friendships because you’re gonna move anyways. And so it was a waste of time. And so I always worked with my hands and did other things. And since I’ve been here, I’ve been able to really see the value in communication. Learning how to talk to people, how to actually relate to somebody on a real level, which I don’t believe I ever really have before. It’s been very, very superficial. It’s been, you know, go away I’m working on machines. You know, if it came into a personal conversation. I have a fire I gotta go put out right. I just, you know, smoke bomb is kind of your word for it, you know…

Melina: Yeah, throw smoke bomb and run.

Bruce: Yeah, yeah. And that’s just always how I’ve been. I’d run away and take the easy way out. I knew I could go fix it with my hands and that’s was the easy way, not necessarily the difficult way. And when I came to the club and I listened to your class, and every time I go to your class, I repeat, I always get something new. I’m so glad that you allow us to do that because it’s a, such a growth process to be able to do that. But I’ve learned how to go listen to people. So in the beginning, just knocking on doors just to be able to listen, and then, “Oh, crap. I don’t have the patience to listen. Okay, now I got to learn the patience to be able to listen. And, oh, and I have to pretend that I care, that I am compassionate,” right? So it’s all this stuff I got to all of a sudden learn. And so, okay, it’s a good exercise to go through. But I understand now how the real estate, you become a better person in order to be better at real estate. And that’s really what it is. It’s going and doing all these little tasks and learning how to do them and get better at them.

Melina: Would you describe, because Tim made reference to the submarine analogy, but I it’s probably the best analogy, I think, for you, especially, would you describe that?

Bruce: Sure. So you have a submarine, and, you know, a submarine’s got, you know, 175 guys on it. And go hide under water for six months, eight months, whatever. On that submarine, you have all kinds of systems, and components, and valves, and pumps, and gears and…you know, things that are making it a functional place for people to live, right? You got food, you got bathrooms, you got all the services to make them work, right? And I’m good at all that kind of stuff. But if you turn around and look the other direction, you got 175 people with voices, and opinions, and…

Melina: Feelings.

Bruce: And feelings and emotions and trying to, you know, I never knew how to talk to those people. So, I was always facing the motors, not the people. So, it’s all those people skills that were missing for me. And I didn’t really realize it until it was one of your your curves in one of your classes and every time I look at it I see it in a different way. First it’s the emotional curve, and then it’s like the blueprint to get out of here, and it’s a blueprint of who I am.

Melina: The blueprint to get out of here. It’s getting way too real.

Bruce: It is.

Melina: I hate looking in that mirror.

Bruce: But that’s how I realized that, you know, we take all the things that we’re good at and we put them all together and that’s what makes us successful because we’re doing those things and the rest of our life is all in the depressed area. And that’s the sucky part. And so to me, you know, looking at my success was, it sucked in access and it’s that void and the opportunity to see what that void is and learn and fill that void. Just what I saw in the club was not knowing what it was. I saw that that’s where I needed to go. And so that’s why for me it’s just keep coming keep, you know, it’ll kick in. I’ll find my niche. You know, it’s all good, I’m not worried. I’m just…I’m blessed, I’m grateful that I can have this opportunity to learn and grow. With excellent people that, you know, from day one, it’s always felt very trustworthy, very comfortable coming from a place I didn’t want any partnerships I didn’t want to deal with anybody, I didn’t wanna, you know, I didn’t trust anybody, I didn’t understand any, you know, what happened.

Melina: For good reason.

Bruce: Yeah. And I felt comfortable at the club. I still do. I feel very comfortable at the club and I want everybody experience what I experienced coming there.

Melina: Thank you, Bruce. It’s great.

Tim: You took me back to we had a conversation, you were sitting in my office and we were talking about all that stuff of I have to care. I have to pay attention, I have to deal with their emotions, right?

Melina: I just want the numbers, please. Just give me the numbers and the two by fours.

Tim: I got so in my head that day, right? I’m like, :Is she really saying that to me? How do I get in my head?” I don’t know if you noticed it, but in my head, I was like, how I deal with this guy. What do I say to him? How do I get it? And we had a good conversation, all that and hopefully it helps. But now it’s like, ah…

Melina: You know what you said? Bruce was really telling me here’s what you said the way you described the submarine the first time here’s what you said. “I didn’t even know that the 175 people were even there.” Let alone thinking about them. You’re like, “I don’t even acknowledge they’re there.” Like nothing. There’s people there? What? Yeah. Yeah. So that’s great. So I guess the takeaway from today’s podcast is that people matter. People matter. Every single person matters. And so, Bruce, you’ve been a huge blessing to us, too, because I know other people have experienced the same thing that you have, but you’ve just done such a great job at articulating it. And I think for me, the most powerful thing was really having…when you said those words to me, like, “man, I’m just so glad I didn’t actually get that money because I wouldn’t be who I am today.” And it just like hit me in the face like a shovel of, you know, just shocking and like you have no idea how much it inspires and encourages us. It tells us, right? We’re doing the right thing. We are on the right path. We are living out our purpose. We are doing exactly what we’re called to do. So, thank you. Thank you for that.

Bruce: And money is, you know, I’ve had money, and money is good.

Melina: Money is great. Absolutely. I like having it too.

Bruce: I’m just saying if I had received it without doing any internal work or changing who I was, I would have just squandered my life and just been a waste. And that’s the difference. I get to be somebody and hopefully change some lives now and make a difference.

Melina: Well, you already have. You already have.

Tim: So what just hit me right, first I was gonna say earlier was, you’re walking validation, right? Of what we do. That’s the first thing, but what you just said is it just hit me that so many people are looking for that money and don’t realize that you have to be prepared to be able to handle that money, right? So what you just said is so key and people should rewind it and listen to it, rewind it and listen to it because that is absolutely truth that everyone that we’ve dealt with or worked with, has to go through that exact same journey. And I’ll say the severity is different for everybody, right? Depending on your background, but that’s absolutely the journey that everyone has to go through to understand that I need to become who I need to become and be that person in order for all these other things to take place. And without doing that, then nothing else could ever take place because I’m not ready for it, right?

Melina: Boom. Yeah, that’s exactly right. And guess what? Our journey is a very special journey. And it’s not for everybody. It’s not for people who are totally money-driven. And that’s what I tell people the minute they walk in the door, right? If you’re gonna put money over a person, like, if you’re gonna decide that a dollar bill is more important than a person’s life, then this is not the place for you. So, thanks again, Bruce. Thanks Oscar and Tim for sharing today. And, all right, New Wealth is out.

I’m Melina Boswell, your host of the “Flippin’ Off” podcast. I really hope you enjoyed it. If you did, we’d love for you to subscribe. Give us a five star rating and tell your friends all about us. You can find more episodes of the Flippin’ Off podcast on Apple podcast, Spotify, Google podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever else you like to listen to awesome podcasts like these. If you like what you’ve heard, we’d really appreciate it if you follow us on Facebook and Instagram and tell us the stories that you’d like to hear.

Tim Jackson is our senior producer. Luke Jackson is our editor. Brothers. Josh Mauldin is our producer. Sound design by Frequency Factory. Our executive producer is Mind & Mill. This was all created by Dave Boswell for New Wealth Advisors Club.