Kris Safarova  00:45

Welcome to the Strategy Skills podcast. I’m your host, Kris Safarova. And our podcast sponsor today is StrategyTraining.com. If you want to strengthen your strategy skills, you can get the Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies. It’s a free download to be prepared for you, and you can get it at firmsconsulting.com/overallapproach. You can also get McKinsey and BCG-winning resume, which is a resume that got offers from both of those firms. And you can get it at firmsconsulting.com/resumePDF. And lastly, you can get a copy of a book we co-authored with some of our amazing clients. It’s called Nine Leaders in Action. And you can get it at firmsconsulting.com/gift. And today, we have with us a very special guest, Dr. Eric Cole who is a former CIA agent and hacker, cyber security expert, tech entrepreneur, best selling author, and he is working with some of the top organizations, some of the most successful individuals in the world. And I’m just so glad to have you Eric with us.

Eric Cole  01:51

Pleasure to be here. Thank you.

Kris Safarova  01:54

So let’s begin with your origin story. What drew you into the world of cyber security? This is not something that most kids dream to become cyber security expert and eventually, what drew you to the CIA?

Eric Cole  02:08

Yeah, so the important thing is to put in context, because I started my journey in 1985 and if you put in context, 1985 the World Wide Web didn’t exist. Google didn’t exist. Amazon didn’t exist, right? iPads didn’t exist. It was a completely different world. But in 1985 I’m finishing high school, and I want to major in architecture, and a family friend is sitting down with me, and he goes, Eric, everything’s moving to computers. Why don’t you go in and major in computer science, and then you can go in and do whatever you want. And I love math and science, so that seemed like a good idea, but I’m sitting there in college at New York Tech in my second semester, and at that time, computer science was really electrical engineering with a few programming so I’m sitting through physics and calculus and Fortran and hating life like I did not like physics, and I’m not doing well in these classes, and I’m sitting there going, is this what I really want to do? So something told me, it was a Thursday afternoon. I’m in Fortran class, and something told me, you have to go to the co op office today. You have to go today. Like, it’s like, I believe there’s this inner voice and like, this thing came over me, and I get out of class at 330 It’s raining. It’s a 10 minute walk, right? So the universe is testing me. And I’m like, I have to go today. So I show up at the co op office at 405, they close at 430 I’m soaking wet, and the receptionist looks at me and goes, How did you know? And I go, how did I know what? She goes, every two years, the CIA recruits on campus, and they’re coming tomorrow. We have two seats left. Do you want one now? This is the crazy thing, if I actually thought about it in hindsight, like interviewing with the CIA, I would have been nervous, I wouldn’t have slept, I wouldn’t have done a good job, but I was young and naive and didn’t really understand what was at stake, so I just show up the next day in a suit that I bought the night before and just really casual, not really understanding what’s at play. Did so good at the interview that they gave me a package, and then they flew me down to Washington. I went through the polygraph in the background, and they offered me a position, and they said, Okay, you get to choose where you want to work. So there was Office of Security, there was networking, there was all these different divisions, and everybody said, Eric, networking is the future. I’m like, but I like this cyber security, but this is 1990 and they’re like, no, no, Eric, cyber security is a fad. It’s not really an issue going networking, but I believe sometimes you have to listen to your own voice. And I went in cyber security and started going in seeing, how do we secure systems? How. Do we protect systems and realize the only way to do that is by breaking in? So then I began a career of being a professional hacker for five years, understanding all the in depth components of cybersecurity.

Kris Safarova  05:12

And I am not surprised at all that they hired you on the spot. We have just met, and I am just blown away by your energy and your kindness, and despite the fact that you are literally one of the best in the world, in your field, in the entire world, you’re just such a warm, kind, open person. So thank you for being the way you are. So tell us more. Once you started on this journey of becoming a hacker, how hard was it and what were some of the things that really shaped you into the person you had today?

Eric Cole  05:45

So to me, I one of those that I I love understanding how things work like, but my mom always jokes with me that when I was little, she couldn’t leave me in a room alone, because I would take things apart, like, like, she tells a story when I was six years old, she comes back, and we had a lamp that had a lot of screws and dumps, and I basically took the whole lamp apart because I just wanted to figure out how it works. I was always inquisitive and always sort of that geeky. So to me, this was the ultimate opportunity where I basically could dissect down routers and protocols and how they work and how they operate. And then one of my gifts, I call it my superpowers, is I am very good at pattern analysis, identifying and looking at patterns. So what I started doing is saying, Okay, what do all vulnerabilities or weaknesses have in common? How do they all work and how do they operate? And that’s how I was able to build frameworks and today, how I can help companies come in, and what would take, typically, a team of five people and six months to secure a network. I can often do in weeks or days, because I can very quickly see what the patterns are, see what the exposure, see what the weaknesses. And my whole thing is, most people, when they’re solving problems, and in cybersecurity, they treat the symptom. If you just think about in our life, what do most people do if they have a headache? They take aspirin. Well, here’s the problem. That’s not doing anything to fix the problem. To me, if I have a headache, I’m getting blood work done and I’m understanding what the root cause issue is so I can fix it. So to me, that’s how I approach securities. Instead of putting band aids on it and just installing software, let’s figure out what the root cause problem is, and if you fix the root cause, then all the symptoms go away very quickly.

Kris Safarova  07:35

And the pattern analysis, what could you share about the way you approach it that allows you to do it well? and maybe even we can extrapolate it to other pattern analysis that we need to do as leaders to navigate very challenging world.

Eric Cole  07:51

So pattern analysis is recognizing that there’s commonalities in how you do things. So if I’m going to break into a computer, I’m going to have to go in and find a system that’s vulnerable. I’m going to have to find a weakness, and I’m going to have to exploit an individual so now, when I go into a client is the first thing we do is minimize the exposure point. Like if you look at most companies, they have so many servers, so many systems, so many exposure points, that they’re trying to patch or secure those systems. But the reality is, what if we minimize the footprint? What if I go in and reduce the number of servers, reduce the number of exposure points, and then make it harder for the attacker by reducing the attack surface? So it’s sort of that, that same mechanism in life or in business is when I build businesses, I go in and say, Okay, what are the weaknesses? What are the commonalities? The commonalities with most businesses, they don’t actually protect their intellectual property. They don’t actually realize that their means and methods and how they do things are actually things that need to protect it and secure. So what I’m a master at is I don’t build 100 million dollar companies. I build companies that are eight or $9 million in revenue, but have a nine or 10x valuation. So now I like, I have all these friends are like, Oh, I have a $80 million or $100 million company, and they’re driving old cars, they’re living in a small apartment. And I’m like, you don’t look like you’re worth $100 million and I’m like, oh, no, I’m not actually worth 100 million. But that’s what like on paper. Everyone plays these games like you’re seeing now, which I crack up with Elon Musk and all these he loses $80 billion in a day and then makes 40 billion I’m like, That’s not real. Like, like, like, you go in and say, Elon’s the richest guy in the world? No, no, no, he doesn’t have $80 billion in the bank, right? It’s not real liquid cash. It’s all sort of this artificial perspective of reality. To me. Cash is king. So it’s all about, how can you actually have a very high net worth? So what I’ll always do is I’ll build companies that are maybe only doing seven or $8 million in revenue, but by protecting the intellectual property, using security as enabler, where we protect and secure our client data, and we actually make it worth a lot more, and we have subscription services and reoccurring revenue. I can then take that $7 million company and sell it for 60 or 70 million, and if I own 60 or 70% that now you walk away with sort of 30 or 40 mil. So to me, it’s all about recognizing the real thing in a business is you make money on valuation and exits. You don’t make money by running the business like if you try running a business for 30 years, you’re going to get tired, you’re going to get exhausted, and maybe you’ll make a little money. But if you build something that can be sold at a high valuation, and you walk away with a big piece of the pie, that’s where you start building generational wealth, and you can really start making a difference in the world.

Kris Safarova  11:02

That is very true. Talk to us about protecting intellectual property. How can people be better at it, entrepreneurs, business owners?

Eric Cole  11:11

So to me, there’s really two types of intellectual property in your business. One is what we call sort of the hard assets, which are copyrights, patents and trademarks. Most companies don’t realize it’s not very expensive to go in and have a trademark on your logo, have copyrights on key phrases and have patents on your key technology, and that’s what differentiates you. If you go in and just walk across a parking lot, you go in and how do you recognize a high end vehicle by the logo, right? If you look at it from a side today, a $30,000 automobile from the side looks just as expensive as $100,000 The difference is, when you look at the hood, whether it has a BMW or it has a Lamborghini, it’s the logo or the trademark that differentiates from the competition. Why does somebody pay $3,000 for a Gucci purse? Because it’s got Gucci all over it, right? It’s got the logo. So if you want to have a unique business that differentiates you. Need to have that logo trademark. I laugh at so many companies. They’re making 30 or $40 million in revenue, and their logo is not trademarked. They don’t have a unique differentiator in the market of how people can distinguish you from your competitors. So just go in and think of what are your assets, what are your unique logos, your phrases, your trademarks, and what is your unique way of operating? And then just start creating a portfolio of intellectual property, because that’s what ultimately, when you’re selling companies, they’re going to look for, that’s how they’re going to evaluate your company. And then the other thing is trade secrets. These are things on how you do business processes, how you operate. Once again, we sort of take it for granted, but the way you operate and run a business is actually unique. Now here’s the question, do you keep that internal? Do your employees sign non disclosure agreements? Are you actually going in and when you work with clients, before you disclose to them how you do your business. Do they sign an NDA? Do all of your reports actually have business confidentiality written on it cannot be distributed because this happened to one of our clients, where they have this amazing reporting methodology, and they’re delivering these reports to all their clients. But guess what? They had a copyright on it, but they didn’t have a business. Proprietary trade secret marketing. Do not distribute. So all of their clients started giving it out to their competitors, and now their competitors came in and are replicating their same process and same methods, and they have no protection, because guess what? They treated it as public information. This is what a lot of business owners don’t recognize. You can have unique ways of operating and doing business, but if you don’t actually secure and protect it and limit and control distribution, it’s viewed as public information, and anybody, including your competitors, can take it and use it against you.

Kris Safarova  14:21

What do you think will now change with the rise of AI and all the technology advancements when it comes to cyber security and protecting intellectual property? What should we understand that even leading thinkers and executives and partners at major consulting firms, what most of them do not understand, that they should?

Eric Cole  14:42

So AI is not going away. And you see all these debates and everything else is, and I’m sort of a little middle of the road. I think you have the extremist where some are like, AI is a fat and it’s going to go away. And then you have other folks where I. And I think this is hysterical, where these super rich people like AI is going to replace humans. Now here’s the reality, a computer cannot have feelings. A computer cannot have emotions. A computer cannot sense those things. So yes, a computer can respond to my questions and answer them like a human but watching your expressions where you’re smiling, I can tell when you’re connected and like we’re having a really nice conversation. A computer can’t do that, a computer can’t feel sad, a computer can’t feel happy, a computer can’t express love. So I think we got to be careful where routine, mundane, predictable tasks AI can replace, but the human component or the bedside manner, you can’t. So for example, I forget who it was, but somebody like one of the top richest people in the world basically said that most medical jobs, like doctors and nurses, are going to be replaced by AI because it’s very predictive. Like if you go to an emergency room, they’re going to take your temperature, if your temperature is above this, they’re going to give you the it’s a very prescriptive method that’s very predictable in how they operate. So yes, you can train a computer to do that. You can train AI that can take your temperature and based on statistical data, run it through an expert system and say, you need this medicine or that medicine Absolutely, but if you have a patient that’s sick or that’s terminal, you need a doctor or a nurse that has compassion, that can actually hold their hand and say, I understand. I know this is hard for you. I know this is difficult, but I got your back. I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and we will make sure your child or yourself is taken care of. That is something that AI can never replace, and that’s what we have to realize, that we need to embrace, is we can’t ever give up that emotional human contact when we accept AI as an acceptable form of communicating instead of a human. That’s when we become computers, and that’s to me, what’s dangerous. If we let computers turn us into computers, yes, then human civilization can be at risk. But if we recognize that we’re not going to turn into computers, I’m not going to accept interacting with the computer as a replacement for a human. Then AI has a huge benefit, like to me, where I love AI is I go in every morning and I plan out my day, and I do a virtual brainstorming session with who I think is one of the smartest people in the world, who’s one of the smartest people in the world that knows me better than myself. Me. If I want to find out how I operate and what my weaknesses are and what my strengths are, I know that better than anyone else. So what did I do? I created an AI engine that’s trained on all my books, all my webinars, all my podcasts and everything else. And here’s what I do. It’s the craziest thing I load. And this one I’m not doing. But when I do calls with my clients, we record all of our calls and I put them all into the AI engine. And then every morning, I ask my AI engine that’s trained on me, okay, what were the biggest weaknesses, and how I showed up yesterday, and what is one thing I need to do differently today so I can better perform for my clients. And guess what? AI can do that pattern recognition that I talked about quicker and better, and it can tell me what those weaknesses are. I can go in and say, Okay, look at my revenue, look at my profitability, and where should I focus my marketing effort? Where am I getting most of my clients? I want you to look at all my paid ads, and I want you to look at the ones that are converting and the ones that aren’t converting. And I want you to tell me what are the unique aspects, and I want you to create new ads that would convert at a higher ratio than my current ads and AI can do all of that. So if we use it as a strategic tool to help us run our business and be smarter, it’s great where AI could get dangerous is, what if I take that AI engine that thinks and acts like Eric, and what if my customers can get a hold of that. So now, instead of paying Eric a large amount of money to come in and consult What if they can go in and ask the AI engine and get the answer quicker and faster. So to me, we have to be very careful with who’s using and who’s controlling and who’s managing my AI engine that thinks and acts like me is a trade secret. It’s secured and encrypted. It’s limited access. No one else can access it, and anybody that even comes close to it has to sign NDAs and restrictive access. So it is a weapon and a tool, but I am not going to share it with anyone else if that AI engine becomes public and. People can use it to replace me. That’s when things get really, really scary.

Kris Safarova  20:04

That is very true. And you’re not concerned at all that it will leak back into the LLM. I guess you have it completely separately on your system, so it cannot train the LLM.

Eric Cole  20:17

Exactly. And that’s the thing is, I keep it separate and isolated, so it’s not going to ever be part of the public element or components of that so, so you can keep it a separate learning machine, because once again, it’s our brain, and we don’t let anybody have access to our brain. So if we’re going to create a duplicate of our brain, we better secure and protect it in a similar manner.

Kris Safarova  20:38

That is very true. I am confident that you would be successful in any business. It’s not just your knowledge of cyber security, it’s a lot of other things, how you see the world, how you follow your intuition. Most people, when you were young, I’m not saying you’re not young now, but when you were a student, that story where you went and listened to your intuition and went and had that interview with CIA. Many people would not listen. They would just brush it away. But you listened. What are some of the key things you think you do differently from other people that allow you to be successful and impactful beyond average level?

Eric Cole  21:19

You say there’s a couple of key principles that I sort of live my life by and run my businesses on the first one is let data drive decisions, not emotions. To me, everything has to be driven, driven by data, because we can get very emotional, like I have this great idea that I think is awesome because it’s passionate to me, and I love it, and I think it’s really important to me, but nobody really cares about it. And I do this. So I go in and I generate large amounts of data. So if you go to my social media, I give away a ton of free information, and a lot of people like Eric, why are you giving away so much free information. You should charge people for it? And I go, No, no, that’s my research. So what I’ll do is I’ll post articles on ideas and things that I like and are important to me, and then I look at what the response is. Like, the other day, I had this idea, like, it was so passionate to me on mindset and how things work. Like, I thought this was the coolest idea on the planet. I put it out on social media. It got three likes and no comments. So guess what? I could try to sell that, but I let data drive decisions and go. Nobody cares about that. There was another topic that I thought was boring and I didn’t think was really important. It got 1000s of like, 1000s of comments, 1000s of interaction. So what I do is I use data to figure out what is the real problem or thing that’s of concern. Because here’s the thing with business, if you can find a problem that is causing enough pain and you can solve it that’s costing them less money than the amount of pain you can have a successful business. So it’s always going in and figuring out what that is. And the second thing I always do is I believe communication is critical. But here’s what most people miss. Communication is not talking as much as you listen. One of the things I always remind people of is we have two ears and one mouth. Maybe the universe is telling us that we need to listen twice as much as we talk. So when I’m in a conversation with a customer, and this is so bizarre and it’s so counter, when I’m on a sales call, what do most people try to do? They want to talk the most to their customer and sell them. I take the opposite approach. I want to listen a lot more, because the more I can listen to my customers problem and ask better questions, the better I can solve it. So when I’m on a sales call, I have two rules. One, I need to be talking half the time that I’m listening. So if I go in and I look at the first 10 minutes of the call and I talk for eight minutes and the client talk for two minutes, that’s a failure. If on the first 10 minutes, I talk for one minute and they talk for nine, that’s awesome, because I need to get data and information my second rule I never speak about a solution until I ask my customer at least three questions. So when I get on a call, I don’t start selling, I start asking. So why do you take this call? What is your biggest need? What is your biggest concern, what is your biggest problem? Tell me more. Tell me more is my favorite question. Tell me more. What? Why is this such a big issue to you? Why is this such a big problem? Why are you willing to spend money on solving it? And the reality is, if you ask enough questions, two things will happen. One, the customer will be sold on your so. Solution, if you ask the right series of questions, you can get the customer to figure out that your solution is better than anybody else’s, and you can actually sell them without actually selling them. So that’s my other key rule, is listen more than you communicate, and try to always figure out what their biggest pain point is and position your product to be the best solution for solving that pain point. That makes a lot of sense.

Kris Safarova  25:27

And what did you learn about listening to your intuition from that time when you were in school and you listened to it and then throughout life? I’m sure you got some guidance along the way. Anything you learned about how to get more guidance in critical moments.

Eric Cole  25:44

So the trick that I always use is if I am not sure, so when I I’m a very big fan of you need to make decisions quickly, with the caveat that you only make a decision when you have enough information or data. So here’s my rule, I will never ask somebody what decision I should make, like if I’m going in and looking at, should I sell my company, or should I invest in this new technology, or should I launch this new product. The only person that knows the answer to that, that I trust is myself, but I also know that I might not have enough confidence. So an example is somebody just offered to buy one of my companies. I wasn’t sure if I should do it or not, which means I didn’t have enough data. So what I did is I went out to my friends and my colleagues and my coaches. I didn’t ask them, should I sell the company? What I asked them is, do you think that the market is going to increase or decrease over the next six months with all these new tariffs and everything happening. And would you wait on increasing the net worth of your company, or would you sell you think companies net worth are going to increase or decrease based on the stock market? And I get that data, and then I go to another friend and say, Okay, do you think there’s other companies that would be interested in my company? Do you think that I’m just this unicorn, or do you think I should solicit or go out to other companies and see if I could get higher bids, and they’ll tell me, oh no, Eric, I think you should do that or this. And then once I have enough data and enough information, I then make a decision of whether I should sell the company or not. So to me, we don’t we shouldn’t ask other people for should we make a decision? We should ask other people for data to increase our confidence. So now, when we make a decision, we know it’s the right decision.

Kris Safarova  27:50

I loved what you said. When you’re not sure, it means there’s not enough data. You need to do some research. And I think that is brilliant. I think often people make a decision when they’re not sure where data is easily accessible, and they can make much more informed decision if they just do some research.

Eric Cole  28:08

And exactly, if you look at and this is where I sort of, I don’t buy in tradition, the traditional sales, I buy into what I call ethical sales, which is this, customers should only make the decision to buy my product when they’re convinced it’s the right solution. I still enforce them. I know the game. I went through sales training, and here’s the sales game. You get somebody on the phone, you go in and create enough urgency that they feel like, if they don’t buy today, they’re going to miss out. Listen, I’m only going to give you this price for the next hour. If you don’t buy now, it’s going to double in price. It’s going to be this, it’s going to be that. And I create this scarcity pressure where I’m like, I almost force them to buy the product, because they feel like they have no other choice. But then what happens a day or two later, when they think about it, they’re like, oh, I shouldn’t have bought that product. And that’s when they give bad reviews, that’s when they ask for refunds, that that’s when they go in and they trash you to everybody because you force them to buying a product that you knew they didn’t need or they didn’t want. So to me, I’m all about where, if somebody’s trying to sell me on something, I have a simple rule, I will never buy anything that’s over $500 without thinking about it for 24 hours. If I’m buying a car, if I’m buying anything, and they’re like, Eric, this deal is only good if you buy today. Well, guess what? I’m gonna go to somebody else, if you won’t honor this price for 24 hours, so I can actually think about it and actually gather data and make sure I’m making the right decision, then I don’t want to do business with you. So my general rule is, and I tell my customers this if you’re not sure, if you’re not sure whether this coaching program is good for you. But. Let’s have a call tomorrow, and what? Here’s one of two things will happen, either they’ll show up to the call tomorrow and I’ll close them because they’ll realize it’s a need that they have, or they won’t show up to the call, which means they weren’t a good fit, and I’m happy with that. Now traditional sales people go, Eric, you’re crazy. Never let the person off the phone without making a sale. I’m like, No, that’s how you get frustrated. Customers. My goal is customers for life. I want my customers thrilled and happy. Here’s the reality, if I can’t convince you to buy the product, and you wait 24 hours and you decide it’s not a good fit, guess what? I didn’t do proper market analysis. That means that was a bad customer. And I don’t want to ever close a bad customer. What I want to do is figure out, how do I tune my marketing to get better customers so they’re buying without high pressure sales to me, high pressure sales leads to bad business. Low pressure sales leads to customers for life.

Kris Safarova  31:00

I 100% agree with you when I speak to clients, I don’t do sales calls, but sometimes you speak to a client before they join kind of as an exception, and I always focus on what is best for them, and also is it a good fit for us and our other clients, and that intention of doing what is best for everyone and what is best for this potential client. I think that is powerful, and I 100% agree with you that you definitely don’t want wrong person joining or becoming your client.

Eric Cole  31:34

Another thing that is sort of weird in sales is when I’m on a sales call, I’m vetting the client to see whether I want to do business with them, and I’ve had cases where people have been frustrated with me because we get done and they’re like, Eric, you sold us. We’re ready to sign a contract. And then it’s an awkward moment, but I look at them and go, Listen, I’ll be honest with you, you’re not a good fit. I don’t want to be mean, but I know that if we enter into this agreement, it’s going to end badly, because we’re just not aligned what you’re expecting from me, I can’t deliver, and you’re going to basically be frustrated and upset, and I don’t want to do that. So I know you want to do business with me, but what I’d rather do is give you another one of my competitors that might be a better match for you. And that’s like, people look at me like, I’m nuts. That’s that how you do business. I’m like, that’s how you run a business. That’s ethical, moral, and you’re happy and enjoy it. I never am frustrated my business. I’m loving life because I know what my mission is. I know who my ideal customer is, and if you’re not an ideal customer, I’m going to recognize that and walk away, as opposed to force a bad deal just to make a dollar.

Kris Safarova  32:45

100% agree with you. I just yesterday, the day before yesterday, had a coaching call with somebody who is a long term member. Have been with us for very long time, and they about to launch this amazing clothing brand, and they wanted us. He was asking if him and his wife were asking me if they should use our system that we developed for our own business and then made available to clients where you can run the type of business that we run one of our business which is basically authority based business. And I told him, No, this is not designed for your type of business, and you should look at what your competitors are using the companies that you’re going to emulate, and then that will be a better fit.

Eric Cole  33:26

We’re very similar. That’s why we get along so well, because you we look at things the same way as we want to have a customer that wants and needs our product, not that we’re forcing it on them and basically putting a square peg into a round hole.

Kris Safarova  33:39

Exactly. And it again comes back to this intention that you want to do what is best for this potential client. And if your product or service is not best, then you should definitely not recommend it. And then the second point, as you and I both mentioned, is if it is a good fit for you as well, the next thing I want to ask you is, how do you manage yourself? Are there certain success habits in your life which allow you to stay sharp and energetic and healthy and high performing individual and highly impactful individual?

Eric Cole  34:11

So first and foremost, my number one priority that i It’s the first thing I do every day. It’s the last thing I do every day, and it’s a non negotiable as I take care of myself, because what we don’t realize is, if our body is not an optimal condition, if we’re not in optimal health, there’s no way we can perform at the level that we need to perform. People look at how intense I am and how much I go all day, and like Eric, how in the world do you do that? It’s because I’m obsessed with my health and my nutrition. I get blood work done every two months. Because here’s the reality, if there’s anything wrong with your body, you will know about it within blood work, blood work is the first thing that changes. So I get that done. I get my brain scanned every year. I get my heart. Checked out on a regular basis. People think it’s nuts, but here’s the reality, it’s in an optimal shape, like I just got my results back from my brain scan, and there’s a few little minor things that, guess what? It would not have shown up in how I act or behave for probably another year, but by the time I started behaving in a bad way. It would have been such a big problem, it would have been hard to fix, but now I’m catching it early. I make a few little changes in nutrients, a few little changes in my diet and cardio, and I’ll get my brain back to an optimal rate. So to me, I don’t want to run at 70 or 80% which is most people, I want to be at 99% optimal. So every day, when I wake up in the morning, I always will meditate. I will always plan out my day, and I will always hit the gym. Now, some days I do hard workouts, some days I do less workouts. The gym is my therapy session. In the gym, I put on headphones, but I don’t listen to music, because here’s why, if I don’t have headphones on, all my buddies will want to talk to me. I’m not in the gym to talk. I’m not in the gym to socialize. That’s not my social hour. I’ll do that after work. I’m in the gym so I can plan out my day, get clear with my body on what I need to do, and get the blood flowing and the energy flowing so I’m in an optimal state. So I put on headphones so I can actually be clear with my thoughts and plan out and listen. Here’s the biggest mistake. People go to the gym, they put on headphones and they listen to toxic music. If you look at a lot of the music out there today, a lot of the music they play in the gym, if you listen to the lyrics, it’s horrific. Like I was just listening in the gym the other day, took my headphones off for a second to adjust something, and I’m listening to this music, and yet it’s high energy. But you listen to the lyrics, you’re gonna die and you’re gonna kill it. I’m like, you’re feeding your mind with poison, right? So to me, you got to be so careful with what you listen to, who you listen to. I do a lot of media. I don’t watch the news, because the news is not always very positive, so you got to be so careful of who you talk to, what you listen to, what you do on social media. I don’t touch Social Media for the first three hours of my day. Because here’s the reality, if you get up in the morning and you immediately check social media, you immediately check your email, let’s be reality. What is the probability that you’re going to be angry, frustrated, or annoyed with something that you read on social media? A guarantee. So now let’s the way most people start their day. They get up in the morning, they immediately go to social media, get pissed off and angry, and that’s how they’re starting today. It’s insane. I want to start my day on a positive note. I want to start my day where I’m controlling. I have a very clear set of videos that I listen to in the morning that are very motivational positive. I’ve tailored and created many of them, and I’m controlling the first three hours of the day. I am carefully controlling anything that I see, hear, watch or listen to, and I set myself up for such a positive mode, where by the time nine o’clock hits, I know what mood I want to be in for this day? Is this a day that I want to be happy and relaxed? Is this a day where I want to be focused? Is this a day where I want to be creative? So I basically set a theme for every day on what is today’s theme is today about revenue growth. Is today about strategy. Is today about planning. Is today about customers. Today about working with my employees. Or is today about sharing information like today, I have four different podcasts. I have some TV interviews, because today is what I call a teaching day. Today is my day where I share my message with the world. I connect with folks. So guess what? The whole day is focused on that. And then I have four things every day that, what if would make today an amazing day. So what we make today an amazing day is if I actually ate healthy, showed up to all my calls, gave 100% and I called one of my clients. If I do those four things, then that today is going to be an awesome day. So now when I’m finishing my day, if I do those four things, I’m in a good, positive mood, and then I finished the day on a positive note. Once again, I used to do the thing where you said unrealistic expectations, and you end up being frustrated at the end of every day. Yes, I always want to improve. I always want to get better. I’m always going to make tomorrow better than today, but I’m always focusing on the positive and gratitude and not on what’s going wrong with the negative.

Kris Safarova  39:43

How do you select sources resources to continue learning and developing?

Eric Cole  39:50

So what I like to do is try a lot of different things. So I go to a lot of events, like I go to any. Time, there’s like, a one or two day event on motivational speakers where, like, Tim’s story is a good friend of mine. I’ll go to one of his events at least once or twice a year. And people like, But dude, you have access to Tim. You could talk to Tim anytime you don’t need to see him on stage. I know what Tim’s message is, but here’s the reality. I believe in Tim’s message about being optimistic. And if you follow Tim’s story, he’s all about come back is all about mindset, if you focus on what you want and not what you want. So I know that I like his message. I know what he says is positive. So guess what? I go to as many events of his as I can. Same thing with several of these other big players is I go in and I try to find out who are the biggest influencers in the space, and then which ones resonate with me. I won’t point them out, because I’m never going to say negative. There’s a few motivational speakers I don’t believe in their message. I think it’s too negative. I don’t agree with their approach. I don’t agree with how they deliver it. So guess what? I don’t listen to them. I don’t criticize them. I respect them, and I know their message is good for some people, but I stay away from them. So I’m very selective on who I listen to, who I associate with, who I go to, and what events I’m present at, because if you can control your surroundings and your energy level, then you can basically control the outcome of your life.

Kris Safarova  41:25

100% agree, you have to be very careful what you put into your mind and people you learn from or spend time with. I also want to ask you you have built multiple very successful businesses. How do you select an idea and the business model, and you know, okay, this is the combination that is worth my time.

Eric Cole  41:46

So what I do is I, once again, you got to pick an industry that you know and you’re passionate about and can predict. So I only do business in cyber security, because, guess what, I don’t know these other fields, like AI. I love AI. I can speak about AI, I can be knowledgeable on AI. I’m not right now going to start an AI company, because, guess what, I’ve never done it. I don’t know the industry, and I don’t know what the problems are. So I’m always going to focus in on cybersecurity in an area that I know. And then here’s what I do. I go in and say, Okay, where are things going and what is going to be a problem that’s going to be very issue, big issue in two to three years. So I look into my crystal ball and say, Okay, what is going to be a huge problem out there? So right now, and I’ll sort of share with those, because I think there’s enough people that can go into space. But to me, one of the biggest problems we have right now is data integrity and accuracy. We are generating so much data, and most of it’s inaccurate, most of it’s incorrect. So I actually created some methodologies for doing what we call data cleansing and integrity analysis to actually figure out the accuracy rating of information to be able to use to make business decisions, which is a component of cyber and integrity and data analysis. And now I’m actually building a company that’s focused on that specific problem. So first thing, when you’re building a company, focus on a very specific problem and keep drilling down until you get to what we call a blue ocean, which is basically no competitors. Because here’s the reality, if you’re entering a market where you have competitors, you’re competing on price, not value. And when you compete on price and not value, you lose if you can drill down and basically take your boat far enough out so you get away from all the sharks, all the red water, and you can get to a full blue ocean, then guess what? All I’m offering is value, and because I offer such great value, I don’t have to be price competitive. I always tell people I’m not the cheapest, but I’m the best, or I’m not the cheapest, but I’m your only option, because there’s no competitors. So to me, you got to narrow down your business to you get to a point where there’s no competitors, and to the best of your knowledge, there’ll be no competitors in two to three years, because it’s so niche. Because here’s the reality, when you niche down, I don’t need to make $100 million like one of the businesses that I’m in right now. Today, it only has a market cap of about 10 mil. But here’s the reality, in three to four years, it will have a market cap of 100 mil, but I don’t need to get there, because I only want to build a six to $7 million business and sell it for eight to nine times evaluation. So I’m going in and looking for blue oceans where there’s a niche and there’s a low market cap, because low market cap means no one’s going to compete with me if I’m entering a blue ocean today that has a $2 billion market cap. I’m going to have competitors in six months, but if I’m entering a market that’s so niche that it’s only going to be worth 10 or 12 mil today, but nobody’s going to compete with me, I’ll take all 10 or 12 mil and then I’ll evaluate it, protect my intellectual property and sell it. So it’s a different mindset, where I’m not trying to look at a market that’s highly competitive with high growth. I’m looking for a market today that’s very niche, but that will expand over the next two to three years.

Kris Safarova  45:25

That makes a lot of sense. And another question I wanted to ask you is, what do you think are the key skills that our listeners should be focusing on building right now, given how the world is changing?

Eric Cole  45:37

One of the key skills is you have to have a total conviction and self confidence in yourself, you have to believe. And some people, it’s funny, because if we were having just a normal conversation, I’m the most humble person on the planet, but when I’m asking for advice, I’m going to be open and vulnerable. Is I don’t externally when I’m normally talking to people, is go in and say, I’m the best, but I truly believe that I am, and I truly believe that there is no problem I can’t solve if I put enough time, energy and effort and I become passionate. I truly believe that there’s no such thing as an unsolvable problem. You tell me something is unsolvable, and it’s like giving a wild lion a piece of meat. I’m going to go at it. So you have to have this ridiculous conviction and belief in yourself that you can’t fail, because as soon as you start doubting yourself, and as soon as you think you’re going to fail, you will. So you got to have this unbelievable conviction that you have to be externally humble, but internally arrogant, to the point where you know that there’s nothing you can’t possibly solve Next, you have to be so deliberate in who you hire, who you bring around. I am it is so hard for us to hire because I have such a high standard, but I’m not going to bring anybody into my company that’s not going to operate at the level they need to operate I’m at, because if you settle with who’s surrounded you, you’re never going to be able to deliver the quality that you need. So you have to be adamant and very patient about growing and scaling. It might take you four or five months to find the right person, but here’s the reality, if you rush and hire somebody tomorrow, that’s the wrong fit, they’re going to cause more damage to your company than if you waited six months run solo till you find the right person. So you got to be very passionate and deliberate about who you hire and who you bring in, and then finally, you have to listen to your customer. You have to listen to the data and say, Is this a problem that the customer is really going to want and need? And then deliberate it with the highest level of quality.

Kris Safarova  47:56

And the last question for today, over the last few years, or even 1015, 20 years, were there two, three aha moments, realizations that you feel comfortable sharing with us today that really changed the way you look at life or the way you look at business?

Eric Cole  48:12

So a couple of things. One is that I had a few friends that sort of you have deaths and people pass away, and what I realized is a lot of people at the end of their lives have regrets because they never followed their dreams. They never did what they truly loved. They went for the safe job. They went for the job that their family wanted them to have. And this was one where I started working at the government, and it’s a safe job. I love the government. I love working for it. I think you should, but I’m not a government person. I was not happy because I couldn’t be creative and I had to follow too many rules. When I decided, after 10 years of leaving the government, everybody said I was crazy, because here’s the reality, if I would have stayed 10 more years, I would have had a pension, I would have had a guaranteed income, I would have been set for life. And people like Eric, you don’t leave after 10 years. You should have quit at five, but once you get to 10, you need to stay. And I’m like but I’m not happy. I’m not waking up with energy and excitement, I’m not fulfilling who I am, and I refuse to give in on that. So to me, you might as well do what you love and take a risk, then be miserable at what you don’t love. And it’s still risky, right? Because look at what’s happening with the government today, people that are there 18 years are being let go without pension. I don’t believe in that, but it’s happening. So here’s the reality, I could have stayed at the government and been miserable and still have been fired. So why do something you don’t like and be risky when you might as well invest and do what you love. So. Second thing, I don’t regret a lot of decisions, but one decision I regret was I was starting my own company. And instead of building my own company, this was my my first venture, somebody offered me a lot of money to work for them, and I was young, I had a family, and was like, Wow, this would change my life. Like we could buy cars, we could buy houses, like this amount of money they were giving me seemed so obscene. I ended up working for them, building them an $80 million company that I had no ownership in, and if I would have just built my own company and not follow the money. I would have been so much happy in the long run. So So my rule is, don’t ever follow money. You should never make a decision based on money you should be making it on. Does it make you happy, and does it truly fulfill your mission in life? And then the last piece is, is is, I think it’s perfectly okay to want to be rich, like, like, a lot of people go, Oh, you’re greedy. No, I I’m going to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. I don’t think I want to be a billionaire, to be honest, but I want to be $100 million I want to have a g6 and here’s why money. People say money doesn’t buy happiness, I disagree. Anybody that says money doesn’t buy happiness hasn’t given enough of it away. I work so hard so I can give back and help others. Because guess what, there’s people out there that unfortunately are not willing to invest in themselves, but they need help. I go every year, and I buy a ton of gifts, and I go to the orphanage and give those gifts to kids. You know how happy that makes you when you have a child that is going to wake up on Christmas morning and not have a gift and actually don’t think anyone loves them or cares about them, and you can spend $50 and make them feel loved. You can actually make a child feel that they’re important and loved. I’m gonna work my butt off to make a ton of money to make as many kids happy as possible, right? That’s the joy in life. Is helping others that are less fortunate than themselves. So to me, I’m a big fan in I’m obsessed with money, but it’s not so I can be rich for myself. It’s so I can give back and help others that are less fortunate.

Kris Safarova  52:25

Eric, thank you so much. You are incredible. Where can our listeners learn more about you? Buy your books? Anything you want to share?

Eric Cole  52:33

So I’m on social media. Dr. Eric Cole: D-R-E-R-I-C-C-O-L-E. I have podcasts where I give away a lot of free information. My personal website is drericcole.org, and my company site is secure-anchor.com, and there you can find my books, my podcast, my blogs. And like I said, I’m a big fan of giving away a lot of information to help make the world a better place.

Kris Safarova  52:59

Eric, thank you so much again. Our guest today, again has been Dr. Eric Cole. Check out his book Cyber Crisis. And our podcast sponsor today is StrategyTraining.com. If you want to strengthen your strategy skills, you can get the Overall Approach Used in Well Managed Strategy Studies. It’s a free download we prepared for you, and you can get it at firmsconsulting.com/overallapproach. You can also get McKinsey and BCG-winning resume, which is a resume that got offered from both of those firms. And you can get it at firmsconsulting.com/resumePDF. And lastly, you can get a copy of one of our books. It’s called Nine Leaders in Action. It’s a book we co-authored with some of our amazing clients, and you can get it at firmsconsulting.com/gift. Thank you so much for tuning in, and I’m looking forward to connect with you all next time.