Start Ugly. Chris Krimitsos

[00:00:00] Bob Wheeler: You’ve got a great idea. It’s something you’re passionate about and you can’t wait to get started, but then doubt sets in. You start worrying about whether you’re not good enough that somebody else has already done it better, or it costs too much. And it’s just not worth the effort before you know it, your idea is collecting dust and you feel frustrated and stuck.

[00:00:19] Most successful people didn’t become successful by waiting for the perfect opportunity or the perfect idea. They took action on their ideas, even if they weren’t perfect and learned as they went. In this episode, author, entrepreneur, community builder, an ever evolving innovator. Chris Crito took time out of his busy schedule at FinCon 22 to sit down with me to share his thoughts.

[00:00:40] Chris shared his perspective on the differences between a want entrepreneur and an entrepreneur. We explore the dangers of comparing yourselves to others. And we delve into the importance of being honest with yourself as an innovator and how it is an essential factor, regardless how uncomfortable it feels.

[00:00:57] I’m Bob Wheeler. And this is money you should ask where we explore, why we do what we do when it comes to money.

[00:01:24] Chris Krimitsos is the founder of the Podfest multimedia expo, an international conference, providing content creators with opportunities to build relationships and their podcasts, YouTube channels. Chris has also made it into the book of Dennis world records two years in a row. As he championed the largest attendance for a virtual podcasting conference in a week.

[00:01:43] It’s time to break free from the chains of perfectionism that are holding you back start ugly and see how much more fun and growth you can experience. Buy Chris’s book. Start ugly today to fight out. And if you’re a content creator, go and grab your ticket to pod Fest. Multimedia expo, January 26th through 29th, 2023 that’s pod Fest, expo.com.

[00:02:03] You won’t regret it. Chris is so great to have you on the show.

[00:02:07] I’m excited to be we’re here at FinCon and, uh, pod Fest is what you do. You know, so I’m sort of curious, did you decide, like I’m gonna create this festival so I can have lots of things to do and I can make millions of billions of dollars.

[00:02:23] Chris Krimitsos: Obviously that’s asked like someone that knows something about events. No, we started actually at a meetup with 13 people and I just said, we’re gonna allow it to grow as far as the community wants it to grow. And we just kept doubling in size and we haven’t stopped

[00:02:36] Bob Wheeler: for you. What’s the biggest, you might have had a day job before, but I, and maybe you still have a day job, but this would seem. It’s a lot of work.

[00:02:44] Chris Krimitsos: So yeah, I was very fortunate in that before I started pod Fest, I actually owned a community event for business owners. So I had a lot of experience doing it and we were very fortunate to have an exit in that. And that afforded me the room to literally do pod vest without having to make money the first few years.

[00:03:00] Yeah. And allowing it to grow on ITSs own and a wife that also. Income coming in. So that really, without her support, it couldn’t have been possible.

[00:03:08] So you’re basically writing on her coattails.

[00:03:11] right now I am she’s uh, Katie’s the largest meditation podcaster in the world for women. Oh, wow. She’s she’s it.

[00:03:16] Yeah.

[00:03:17] Bob Wheeler: Um, alright. I love it. So let me ask you this, you started podcasting. What got you initially into podcasting? I mean, you found this community, but for podcast Fest, but again, was it like, I just. People to hear my message. I could get really, really, really rich, really quick. Cuz some people think that like that you do five podcasts and you’re multimillionaire.

[00:03:40] Chris Krimitsos: So I’m a purist. I used to do public access for fun. And if anyone knows what public access is, cuz now we have social media. Right. But public access was fun cuz all the knuckleheads in society would show up there and you liked it because everybody was an oddball and I loved it. Yeah. So, um, unfortunately I got thrown off the airwaves there, uh, for pushing the envelope on what could go on TV and what can’t.

[00:04:03] And I started that community group for business owners. So later on I did a meetup and a friend of mine said, I talk about apps on a podcast. And I said, how many people. Goes 4,000 about what he goes, Android apps. And I couldn’t, I couldn’t wrap my head around and I go, is this 4,000 yearly? Is this 4,000?

[00:04:22] Every decade? He goes, no, every, every Wednesday. And I go, you’re at home in your underwear. He goes, well, not always, but yeah, basically. And I said, you know, I gotta learn. And what I realize as someone that’s been in the game on demand, audio lagged about eight years behind on demand video. So YouTube and all these other platforms took off before audio ever did.

[00:04:40] Right. And the reason. Audio is a habit. Like we listen to audio when we’re driving to work at the time, right. With COVID things change. Right? Right. Well, you know, you need a phone that’s Bluetooth enabled and then you need a car that’s Bluetooth enabled. So create an eight year lag cuz you don’t turn in your car every eight years.

[00:04:57] Right. So I saw this opportunity of like, you know what, this is a great area where I could help. A lot of people get started. I missed the YouTube, even though I was there in the early days, I knew that there was a lot there. Instead of starting a podcast. I saw myself as like a pipe Piper to help a lot of people.

[00:05:12] So we literally help thousands of people get started.

[00:05:15] Bob Wheeler: And how does somebody make their mark? And maybe there’s no perfect one answer. But to me, the podcast world is like an ocean and there’s a whole bunch of fish. And then there’s some dead fish and there’s some trash and you gotta sort of like, Hey, look at me.

[00:05:31] Like, even though you’re in this big ocean, it’s still hard to get. Visibility

[00:05:37] Chris Krimitsos: sometimes. Yeah. So you you’re familiar with celebrities and comedians. I know like you understand how that world works. So those people, a lot of people will confuse, Hey, a comedian started and they got 5,000 downloads and it’s like, yeah, that person’s been working for 10 years.

[00:05:50] Right. Building an audience, literally living outta hotel rooms and cars half the time. So I always love when people are like, how come I can’t do it? Well, cuz you didn’t do 10 years of work before they even started their show. Um, for someone that’s not. Right. I always give ’em a couple things. One is, think about the keyword of your show.

[00:06:07] Is it something I’m gonna look up? So for instance, I met an event planner one time when I was traveling around the country and she said, I’m gonna create an event planning podcast. And I said, what are you gonna call it? And she told me her pet’s name. I’m not exaggerating. And, and it’s gonna be my pet’s name podcast.

[00:06:23] I said, who told you that was a good idea? She said, all my friends and my family, I go, but I’m looking for an event plan. I’m not looking for your pet. She goes, you think that’s a problem. I go, yeah, it’s, it’s a big problem. And she goes, but there’s a lot of other invent planners. And I said, that’s good.

[00:06:37] That means other people are looking for that information. So let’s say you, you keyword it. Right. But now your biggest hurdle is like, but Chris, all these other people have the same thing. Right? Well, what’s the format. And you know this from dealing with comedians. Some comedians have very different deliveries than others.

[00:06:51] So what is your format, right? Is it differentiating? Are you the, the person that’s gonna do a five minute podcast? Is it a half hour? Is it long form? Like Brogan who does three. So you gotta exploit the formats and then what is the value you’re bringing to the table? And I always say to people, you could do your podcast for as long as it’s interesting.

[00:07:08] If you’re starting to stretch out content to stretch it out, you should stop right. When it stop being interesting.

[00:07:14] Bob Wheeler: And when is it okay to do a five minute podcast? I mean, I feel like if I’m gonna go to all the trouble to set up the audio and set up the, wait a minute, talk for five minutes. I mean, and maybe I just like to hear myself talk, but five minutes

[00:07:26] Chris Krimitsos: feels.

[00:07:28] It really depends on what the format is. Like, if you want to do a talk show, then you should be doing a long form. Right. But some people want an audience and they have a business backend purpose, whatever it is. So a lot of the productivity shows maybe it’s five minutes of productivity. Dad will do well.

[00:07:43] Just the word productivity alone. Uh, my wife does meditations. Uh, she has a friend shell who does meditation minis. Right? Those are all short because people, if they don’t like their boss, they go in their. And they will literally they’ll listen for five or 10 minutes to calm down before they go back to work.

[00:07:59] So like, you know, there’s these weird, um, hacks that whatever human behavior. So I don’t, I don’t, I don’t care about short or long. I would just say exploit. What, what is an opportunity for you to grow? And then from there, maybe you could add a long form show. You

[00:08:11] Bob Wheeler: know, now if you’re doing a meditation podcast, you probably don’t want to be driving in your car, just sitting in your car.

[00:08:18] When you go to sleep in close eyes, I’ll tell you

[00:08:19] Chris Krimitsos: another one on a meditation podcast. You don’t wanna put an ad in the middle or at the end of the show. if you wanna see if you wanna see the calmest, people hate you. Like you’ve never seen before, just wait for those apple reviews to come in. And almost every meditation podcast, guess we all have the same experience.

[00:08:35] Did you try that? It’s like, yeah, we learned within a day. You don’t do that. That is so funny. It’s like not the middle,

[00:08:40] Bob Wheeler: but the end find your inner peace. How about tasty?

[00:08:45] Chris Krimitsos: McDonald’s got a special or something.

[00:08:47] Bob Wheeler: Watch that’s too funny now. How do you. You don’t just do financial podcasts, like you’re here at FinCon and there are people out there that are really excited to talk about actuarial tables, not necessarily the most riveting for everybody, but there’s somebody out there that wants to know about actuarial tables.

[00:09:05] That’s a great

[00:09:05] Chris Krimitsos: niche. And like, believe it or not the weird niche stuff. Like, um, I’ll give you an example. Last week I was at animal crater con these are people that talk about animals. So there’s gentlemen that talks about chameleons, right? And he sells chameleon cages. So he has thousands of people that.

[00:09:20] Uh, and I could go on and on, on the verticals now, obviously finance and business is a very big, uh, part of our, our conference health and wellness. There’s a lot of unique. There’s just so many niches. I would say. The more niche you are, the better off you probably are in creating a show.

[00:09:35] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. And I, it seems to me that if you’re passionate about something, there are probably a few other people out there.

[00:09:42] And if you stick to your passion and don’t worry, What Billy and Sally are doing, but just sticking to your, like, this is what, this is what I wanna put out in the world and trust that and, and sort of see where you

[00:09:56] Chris Krimitsos: land. Yeah. And don’t compare yourself to other people. It’s some people build really great audiences with a couple hundred.

[00:10:01] Some people build a with thousands. Some people are fortunate enough that for whatever reason, their message resonates to millions, but those are very. So if you’re, I always say, like, try and be happy with what you’re creating, if you’re happy and you’re impacting someone that I think that’s a really good thing in the world.

[00:10:19] Bob Wheeler: So this is a financial podcast. Yep. So I’m gonna ask, did you, as a, as a kid say, man, I wanna manage podcast events. I want to be super, super rich. Did you grow up in a super wealthy family?

[00:10:33] Chris Krimitsos: Well, my last name is ZOS. Okay. I, everybody that I grew up with in New York owned a. Okay. So I mild marked every neighborhood by the diner that was there.

[00:10:42] That’s how I knew where you were at. Right. So as a little kid, I would draw little DERs. I was gonna own all the DIRs in New York. That was what I was doing in school. I would draw little diners and then just, I would have mine, I would start doing cash flow projections with diner. And of course I didn’t understand that they only work on very slim margins.

[00:10:59] Oh. But back in the day, you know, old school diner owners, they didn’t necessarily, everything was cashed. So let’s just leave it. Yeah. It

[00:11:05] Bob Wheeler: didn’t

[00:11:05] Chris Krimitsos: make it to the books. Sometimes they were making a lot of money, but not in the right ways, but anyways, With, I actually believe it or not as a kid, I used to watch television and I would yell at the TV because I thought I could program it better than the television.

[00:11:20] So that lends itself to programming community events. Yeah. For it’s a weird thing, but as a kid, I’d, I’d be like, they’re programming it all wrong. So I do like programming and like, you know, you deal. Look, you’ve seen this comedy lineups. There is an energy flow if you do it right. It could be amazing. Oh yeah.

[00:11:35] And there’s another way that you could do it and it’s so it’s like building on. I love that stuff. Yeah.

[00:11:40] Bob Wheeler: Don’t put the blue comic up first. right, right. Roys the whole show. So when you were growing up and everybody owned diners, how important was money to you? Did you know it was important? Did you care less?

[00:11:53] Chris Krimitsos: I, I knew money was important cuz my father was the most educated of his brothers. He had an engineering degree and he was the poorest. Um, my uncles, my one uncle literally signs with an ex I’ve seen it literally. And he was very well off and he was an entrepreneur. So when you see that kind of, um, disparity, you’re like, wait a minute.

[00:12:11] My dad’s the most educated. and the, the ones that are more entrepreneurial did much better, uh, it makes you think. And I had a moment when I was 13 years old, my dad brought me into work at the diner with my uncle, Gus, my uncle Gus asked me to win. The industrial dishwasher comes up. There’s a lot of heat like steam, right, right.

[00:12:31] He said to me, you gotta put your hands through the steam and get burned to be quick enough to work. and I said, as a little kid, I was like, I’m not putting my hands in there, but he was he’s from the old country. Yeah. He’s like, you gotta build the Calles. So you could be fast in this diner. Uh, I remember during lunch break, he gave me a $50 bill, which was a lot of money back then.

[00:12:47] And he said, don’t ever come back here again. And I was speechless. And after he said that he was, uh, the patriarch of our family, he said to me, I saw you during lunch break, talking to the customers. He goes, you have a skill. I wish I had. You’re very good with people. And you’re very good with conversating with.

[00:13:04] He goes, I want you to go to school, learn how to make money. Like these business owners that come from wall street and you’ll may have a better life than me. Otherwise, I don’t want you working here 70 hours a week. Like I do. I don’t have a life. He goes I’m, I’m lucky if I go home few hours a week, he goes, don’t ever come back here again.

[00:13:20] And if you, if, if you decide after you pursue that life, you wanna come back here, welcome you with open arms, but until then tell your dad not to bring you in here again, change my life forever.

[00:13:28] Bob Wheeler: Wow. And do you think. Just because of his life experience, he’s able to see how he wanted to pay it forward with family.

[00:13:38] Chris Krimitsos: My grandfather was very, when I say old country, I mean, old country, my poor uncle, wasn’t allowed to go to school past seven or eight years old. And I think he missed that. And he saw with me the way I was talking to people as a 13 year old. Yeah. He’s like this kid could have a different future. You know, when you’re 13, you don’t, you don’t see anything unless someone points it out.

[00:13:58] And when someone points it out, that dramatically, you definitely take. Yeah, so I, I love business, but I noticed, um, at 29 years old, I was miserable chasing money. And I realized I had to chase. If I was to create, uh, money, it was in the pursuit of, um, doing something good in the world. So communities are very hard things to do and build, but I was very rewarding for me.

[00:14:22] And I said, you know what? I’ll make my money around other things that maybe the community needs that I could service without having to sell ’em a course or a back end, which nothing wrong. But I wanted it for the purity of the community and it served me well now I don’t make a lot of money up front, but over time, if you’re able to last long enough, it’s a very good living.

[00:14:40] So would

[00:14:41] Bob Wheeler: you say, um, because a lot of people, like, I wanna make a lot of money and I that’s, and I will find happiness when I find lots of money. Yeah. So I

[00:14:51] Chris Krimitsos: found happiness. And even though I wasn’t making. I mean, literally I had to borrow 35,000 from an angel investor and that’s nothing 35,000, right? When you think of the grand scheme of things, but that 35 grand got me past, we, we knew in 18 months we were gonna be profitable as a business.

[00:15:05] Cuz we had membership fees. This is before pot Fest. Right. And that, uh, that 35,000 saved saved our, that business. And I was able to grow it and then sell it as an asset. Pay him. for me. I was happy. Everybody has a different thing. I was happy making 40,000 a year in servicing a community. Yeah. With no other expectations for 10 years.

[00:15:25] Right. Luckily I made more as I lasted each year. So let’s just say that my break, even now I’m making 40. Then you made 60. Then you learn how to make maybe a hundred thousand wasn’t you’re not making millions, but it was, um, it was a great life. And when I sold that community, it was one of the most heart wrenching.

[00:15:40] So this is one you hear about this. I sold a business that I love. And I was more depressed after I sold that business. And that’s why I put all the TLC I had learned into pod Fest. And I learned a lot through the process. Do you

[00:15:55] Bob Wheeler: share money values with your

[00:15:57] Chris Krimitsos: wife? She and I actually talk very, uh, deeply about money values.

[00:16:02] We spend very luckily my mom moved close to us here in Florida. So on the weekends the kids go there and we actually literally do strategy of where the money goes. We, we do like Bitcoin. So we have an investment thing on Bitcoin. We, we overdosed on it a little bit. So now we’ve eased up a little bit, but we like real estate.

[00:16:20] We own a duplex, uh, which really helped us during the lean times cuz we rent one side. So yes, we’re, we’re very active because we want, one of the things we want is a farm for, um, a sanctuary animals. So we’re working towards that in about a year or two to have that. So we could put, you know, but we also need a caretaker so we don’t wanna necessarily want, cause we travel.

[00:16:40] So part of the financing is okay, what is a caretaker cost? So if we do this right, we need someone to help take care of the animals when we’re not there. Now, did you

[00:16:48] Bob Wheeler: and your wife talk about money before you got married? Like you’re on the same page now, but were those conversations, did they come easy?

[00:16:56] Um, a lot of people, uh, money conversations means we’re

[00:17:00] Chris Krimitsos: gonna fight. So no I’ll we had a really interesting. So I was an entrepreneur that had let go of the fear of losing money and making money, which is maybe a little extreme. Right? My wife had a job that was stable when we first met and she wanted to be an entrepreneur.

[00:17:18] So she was an entrepreneur, which is nothing wrong with that. The problem with the entrepreneur is they haven’t felt the fact that you don’t have money for an $18 martini, right. Until they feel that. And they might, I, I remember this, this was, my wife went out with her friends. She had left her. and she couldn’t buy the $18, whatever the martini, you know, they went, her friends were high powered, uh, sales for like healthcare.

[00:17:39] They’re making good money. Right. And then they turned on her, not in a bad way. They’re just like you, what do you mean you can’t afford this? Well, you know, I have a budget now and unfortunately that group of friends eventually moved on by stop and it was just was devastating for her. And I had to walk her through that journey.

[00:17:57] Yeah. And she. A turning point at, uh, Tony Robbins event. And that event helped her understand that you have to let go of what the past was in order for the future to blossom. And from that point on, literally things changed money, started flowing in because she wasn’t looking at what wasn’t there in the bank, if that makes sense.

[00:18:17] Yeah. But what can be there? And that’s a very big shift for, and when that happened, she and I were on the same page. Yeah.

[00:18:23] Bob Wheeler: She sort of had to get her hands in the steam. Yeah. I,

[00:18:26] Chris Krimitsos: I could only do so much. She made that was. Working

[00:18:29] Bob Wheeler: on it. Well, you do have to feel, you know, it’s interesting. I have a CPA practice and I’ll hire CPAs from time to time and on their resumes, they have like five months self-employed right.

[00:18:41] And there’s a lot of CPAs that are amazing. They know how to do taxes, but they don’t know how to collect the money. They don’t know how to do the billing. And they’re like, I just want my paycheck, which I get, you know, cuz it’s a. Yeah.

[00:18:53] Chris Krimitsos: Have your own business. It’s great for people that want to hire CPS.

[00:18:56] You know, I always say if I’m hiring something to work, I don’t necessarily want ’em to be entrepreneurial. Right. I want ’em to wanna have a job and work with me because it’s just really easier than, you know, two years later they’re already off and I’m trying to build something else.

[00:19:08] Bob Wheeler: Well, it’s funny because I basically help run three different companies and I’ll hire people and I don’t want anybody.

[00:19:15] That’s part-time I’m like, if you have interest, you can do ’em outside, but I need you focused on my. And at the comedy store, I don’t want comics working most of the jobs. Right. Except the door, because I need you doing your job. Not telling jokes now. Yeah.

[00:19:31] Chris Krimitsos: Not looking at the

[00:19:32] Bob Wheeler: next guy writing stuff, right?

[00:19:33] Yeah. Oh, that’s good. That’s good. Right. And so it’s always, uh, yeah. Do, as I say, not as I do, because I, I want to have solid people that I can count on so I can go out and do multiple things.

[00:19:43] Chris Krimitsos: That’s, we’ve come to that conclusion as well. Having some amazing people, having someone that wants a job wants to do it.

[00:19:50] There’s a really good value for that. If you know, it’s great to have entrepreneurs, but they’re always like many of us they’re looking at the opportunities around.

[00:19:58] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. I, when I go back to this, uh, want entrepreneur, so are there a lot of folks out there that they want it, but it’s maybe still a little bit too scary or what, what keeps people from just being a want entrepreneur?

[00:20:13] Chris Krimitsos: So I have a debate with a friend of mine and, and, you know, you have the CPA background, but I remember he, he was. I’m an entrepreneur. And I said, no, you still have a job. You’re not an entrepreneur yet. And he’d say, why is that? I go, you might have a side hustle, but an entrepreneur to me, my definition, cuz there’s also business builders.

[00:20:29] These are people that either buy companies and grow ’em guess that’s entrepreneurial, but an entrepreneur is willing to start something, uh, and let go of call security for the opportu. Of making something out of that, whether they know it’s gonna happen or not, they’re willing for it to fail. Right. And willing to go all in.

[00:20:46] To me, that’s a, the pure sense of an entrepreneur. Entrepreneur is someone that has stability in a job or an income source, and they’re playing around with entrepreneurship, but they could always go back. Yeah. And to me until they make that transition, it’s not a full-time entrepreneur and I didn’t coin the term.

[00:21:04] I don’t know who did, but how entrepreneur is someone that, and they, if you’re doing seminars, they’re. Buyers of courses cuz entrepreneurs, unfortunately. And unfortunately they feast and fam there’s times that they have money. Yeah. Cause remember I had a business associates of business owners. Yeah. And there’s times they have none.

[00:21:20] Right. Uh, depending on what cycle they’re going through, whereas a entrepreneur always has money to buy the next

[00:21:25] Bob Wheeler: course. Right. So focus on the entrepreneurs for your funneling. No, that makes a lot of sense, but you know, it’s interesting. Like I, I was reading or watching a video, Halon Musk, you know, people were like, you’re so lucky and it, he.

[00:21:39] Oh man. I, I was like inches away from failure and losing everything and I caught a break or the wind shifted. And so I think people look at that and go, oh, he’s so lucky. Or, or all these, you know, folks,

[00:21:54] Chris Krimitsos: you know, what’s interesting about Elon. Uh, he was on Rogan, but as a kid, he had to scrap because he’s, he’s on the spectrum.

[00:22:00] So communication, ah, uh, is very cerebral for him and he’s processing all the time, but he was in hundreds of. So to me that is as entrepreneurial as it gets, he’s he’s gonna fight for everything he has. Yeah. And you’re a hundred percent, right. There’s many times where he didn’t know where the next paycheck would, would show up and he, he just had faith.

[00:22:19] Bob Wheeler: And I think that’s what you, you gotta do when you’re, when you’re doing this stuff, you sort of gotta have faith. You gotta like, if you trust yourself and that’s the thing, you know, like you were talking about the, the woman that wanted to name a podcast after a pet, right? Your friends may not be the best indicators.

[00:22:34] Or reflecting back in a way, cuz they’re gonna be like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything you do is amazing. And sometimes you need the hard truth of yeah. That didn’t work for me or being able to take in feedback of all types, positive and negative. I’m sure you’ve probably

[00:22:49] Chris Krimitsos: seen this show live, but I’ve only watched on YouTube.

[00:22:51] You watched kill Tony or you’ve probably been at the taps. Yeah. Sometimes the comics that come up there, you’re thinking where’d you get the feedback? Like did anyone give you feedback before you showed up there? Cause it’s such a great opportunity. And you know that no one has, they’ve only gotten positive feedback, but it’s so bad.

[00:23:07] Yeah. There’s nothing that is, you know, someone that knew something could help ’em before they get there. But that’s part of kill Tony, you got great sets and a lot of really bad sets.

[00:23:16] Bob Wheeler: Well, you know, it’s so interesting with, with comics. I there’s a few people out there they’ll, they’ll tape your show.

[00:23:22] They’ll do a stand, you know, beginner, standup comedy class, and then they’ll film you. And then for extra 30 bucks, they’ll edit in laughter. And these people come in. They’re from like, I’m not picking on Iowa, but they’re like, you know, from Podunk, Iowa, they could be from Tennessee, you know, and their three minutes of comedy is painful.

[00:23:43] At best, but they’ll edit it, put in some laughter and people applauding and they go back home to Iowa. And they’re like, what, what I did, I’m a standup. And you’re like, huh. And nobody had the, you know, kindness to shoot them and put them out of their misery. Um, and we don’t always want to hear the feedback, you know, comic’s like, oh no, it was just, everybody was laughing.

[00:24:05] No, it was silent. And that wasn’t three minutes. That was an hour. You didn’t get off stage. But in our own mind, we have a different story going on than

[00:24:13] Chris Krimitsos: reality. So I guess a lesson there is, you might think you’re getting over on someone, but you’re really not. You’re getting over on yourself. So the more truthful you could be with yourself to the faster you could get to where you want to go.

[00:24:26] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. And that doesn’t mean it’s always fun. All right. Well, the great thing about doing a live interview is you never know what’s gonna happen. So like somebody just threw this little book at. Maybe you recognize that it’s, uh, start ugly. Yep. You started ugly. What, what happened?

[00:24:39] Chris Krimitsos: I think everybody started ugly.

[00:24:40] So yeah, it’s, it’s actually not autobiographical. It’s a, uh, short story, uh, fiction story that I wrote to teach people that it’s okay to start ugly. I always say the book is not start ugly, stay ugly. It’s start ugly and perfectly execute along the way. But when I started the there’s a story in the very beginning.

[00:24:56] My first event was at an American Legion in Florida, in June the air condition. And the Legionnaire smoked cigars the night before oh, no. So to say that the event, and I remember someone said, why didn’t you do this at a hotel? And I said, I didn’t know, I could do it at a hotel. That that’s how like clueless I was.

[00:25:13] Yeah. But the people that attended, saw past all of that, and they saw that I cared about building a community 25 people joined. And then the next month we were still at the Legion, I think took me the third month to get at a hotel. Cause typical, I should move on. But that, that started my, uh, career in events.

[00:25:32] Uh, and I think if you look at the greatest in the world, they started ugly somewhere and then they just got better. And I know you’ve seen it firsthand at the comedy store. Yeah. You see some people, maybe their sets aren’t that great, but there’s something there. And then years later, As a Polish rock.

[00:25:47] You’re like, how’d they get there when they had to start somewhere because they were ugly. super ugly. That term resonates with people for whatever reason. And it, I, I, I like it cuz it robs ’em of the excuse of having to be perfect to start. And, and it has a seven step of like here, just get it right to this much.

[00:26:03] You get started and then move on.

[00:26:05] Bob Wheeler: Well, you know, you mentioning that it, you bring up a good point. A lot of people don’t wanna start cuz they’re not doing it perfectly. Um, whether it’s a podcast, whether. Doing a course, whether it’s it’s, whatever it is, it’s like, oh, it’s not perfect. So I’m just not gonna do anything paying down debt.

[00:26:21] Yeah.

[00:26:22] Chris Krimitsos: Oh yeah. I don’t have enough. So I’ll wait till next year. Well, if you just did 10 cents and then move, you know, slowly, but surely it pays down and saving. Right. And both ways.

[00:26:31] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. I, when I work with people, I, I have ’em pay down debt and save. Right. Um, and some people say, no, no, you gotta get through your debt.

[00:26:38] Well, I gotta create a habit of saving. So even if I’m saving 10. I’m learning to save. Right. And I have so many clients that’ll tell me, well, as soon as I sell my business, as soon as I get this bonus, as soon it’s not coming, like maybe it is, but you’re gonna find another reason to spend.

[00:26:53] Chris Krimitsos: And you know, this cuz you deal with business owners, most business owners don’t save and the problem is their profit is in their business.

[00:26:59] And if anything happens to that business, they’re screwed. Yeah. And, and the ones that do well, usually own the real estate underneath their business or something. And that really saves. But I couldn’t agree with you more like you have to always, and that’s something I have to learn the hard way with my wife.

[00:27:12] We’re like, Nope. We force our savings plan. Even if we don’t have something, what is the amount it’s gotta be saved? Do you do

[00:27:18] Bob Wheeler: automated

[00:27:19] Chris Krimitsos: savings? All so yeah, now we do, we have different accounts. It just goes right in. See, I,

[00:27:23] Bob Wheeler: people are like how many account, but for me, if I have a whole bunch of accounts, each taken 200 and 150 and 500, like then I’m like, oh, that, oh yeah, that’s that

[00:27:32] Chris Krimitsos: now I gotta credit my wife with that.

[00:27:33] She manages it. But yes, we, we have tons of buckets where it all goes out. And even with the business, we put some away for profit. If we have to dip into it to pay a bill, we have to put it back to make sure that we’re putting. In the equation instead of saying, oh, profit’s next year. right. Cause I’ve been in that next year will be a profit.

[00:27:50] Next

[00:27:50] Bob Wheeler: year’s gonna

[00:27:51] Chris Krimitsos: be no, we have, that’s a very painful thing.

[00:27:53] Bob Wheeler: We have to outsmart ourselves because I think I’m so smart. And then I self sabotage, not even intentionally.

[00:28:00] Chris Krimitsos: So yeah, we have operating drives that. Like you said that work, whether we realize or not behind the scenes.

[00:28:07] Bob Wheeler: So Chris, we are now at the fast five and today’s fast.

[00:28:11] Five is brought to you by NiFi because they sponsored this whole podcast. Center here at FinCon and NiFi stands for national endowment for financial education. They’re amazing. We’re actually gonna do NiFi in November with money. You should ask, we’re doing, uh, five podcasts with, uh, all the folks there.

[00:28:30] So love NII. If you wanna get financially illiterate, they’ve got some great resources. There’s so many great resources out there. All right, Chris, down and dirty. We’re gonna just see where we land. What was the most expensive tech gadget that you ever bought? And was it worth.

[00:28:45] Chris Krimitsos: Tech gadget, I’ll say, um, a minivan for my wife and it was well worth it but I think she bought it though.

[00:28:54] Bob Wheeler: well, you’re writing. I

[00:28:55] Chris Krimitsos: bought it. I bought it for her. Yeah. I went, I went there and I said, give me your best salesperson. That’s why I said, oh, okay. The guy goes, you sure? I go, yeah, I wanna buy a car. And my wife wasn’t there. He looked at me like, you’re buying a car for your wife and she’s not here I go.

[00:29:06] That’s correct. but it was the best thing we ever bought.

[00:29:09] Bob Wheeler: Oh, that’s cool. That’s cool. As a kid, did you ever take any money outta your mom or dad’s.

[00:29:16] Chris Krimitsos: So, uh, unfortunately my dad had a gambling problem, so it was reverse. He would take money outta my wallet. his trick. God bless him. He’s a great guy. But at the time, you know, gamblers are gamblers.

[00:29:25] He would give me some money to hide and then he’d figure out where I hit it. My money would be gone. I was a saver. So it was the

[00:29:31] Bob Wheeler: other way around, uh, you know, and God bless parents.

[00:29:34] Chris Krimitsos: Great. But he, he had a habit. You. My

[00:29:38] Bob Wheeler: parents struggled. And there were five kids and sometimes the money in our piggy bank sort of disappeared.

[00:29:43] And so it made it hard for me to wanna save for a long time. Cause I’m like, well, somebody’s

[00:29:47] Chris Krimitsos: gonna take it. So would they put an IOU in there? My dad wouldn’t put an IOU. He had good intentions, but he would never pay back. Yeah.

[00:29:54] Bob Wheeler: I didn’t even get the IOU

[00:29:56] Chris Krimitsos: there would be a little paper I owe you.

[00:29:58] Bob Wheeler: What would you do if you found a wad of $500 wrapped up in a rubber band, walking down the.

[00:30:05] Chris Krimitsos: So I like cash. I would definitely hold onto it. And then I usually give it out to, uh, service providers that do a good job as a thank you. So friend of mine is a masseuse. I’ll give it to him. So I’ll I’ll cuz we’re okay now. So I would find it to give it to people one at a time. I love it. I

[00:30:21] Bob Wheeler: love it. What emotion do you experience the most when it comes to money?

[00:30:29] Chris Krimitsos: That’s a great question. Um, I’ve detached, a lot of emotion around money. Mm-hmm so indifference.

[00:30:40] Bob Wheeler: Okay. All right. Well, that’s, that’s probably a good thing. Sometimes we’ve got it to,

[00:30:45] Chris Krimitsos: I still value it, but I don’t have a lot of emotion attached to it. Yeah.

[00:30:49] Bob Wheeler: That’s good. Do you usually pick up the tab, split the bill evenly?

[00:30:57] Hide or figure out exactly to the penny, what you owe for your portion of the meal in a large group.

[00:31:03] Chris Krimitsos: So I’m Greek . So that’s Greek. You have to fight for the. But if I don’t have money, I’m going to the bathroom. so it depends where I’m at in the financial cycle. So if I’m doing well, I’m picking up the tab.

[00:31:15] If not, you don’t see me for a while, till someone picks it up.

[00:31:18] Bob Wheeler: All right. So the lesson here is eat out with the Greeks because they’re gonna cover your bill. I love it. I love it. All right. Well, Chris, we’re at our M and M moment, our sweet spot of money and motivation. And I’m wondering if you have a practical financial tip or a piece of wealth wisdom.

[00:31:36] That you could share with our listeners, something that’s just worked for you and your wife.

[00:31:40] Chris Krimitsos: Well, we already talked about the buckets of money. Everything goes in different buckets. I will tell you this I’m an extremist. So what’s worked well for me in our relationship is she is not, she’s more practical.

[00:31:52] She’s an operational person. So what I’ve learned is because I’m an extremist, I need to trust her when I’m off the deep end. Just some weird idea or something that you know we’re gonna do. So I have, uh, learned to trust my wife and her decision because it balances out the way my brain works, which isn’t extremes.

[00:32:13] So we’ve, we’ve learned to balance where in the past I would create problems and fights. I’ve learned that that balance is actually a really good thing for the two of us. Right. She’s too practical in some ways I’m too extreme. But when you find that balance is actually a win-win for both of us, Yeah.

[00:32:28] Bob Wheeler: And that’s, I mean, the cool thing is when your partners, your partners, it’s not 99%, one, and 1% the other you’re both gonna bring in.

[00:32:36] You’re crazy. And you’re both gonna bring in your, your instincts and your guts and your knowledge. And so. Learning to

[00:32:44] Chris Krimitsos: trust. Find finding that balance, I think is probably the best thing I could ever. And it’s great for both of us.

[00:32:48] Bob Wheeler: Yeah, absolutely. So Chris, where can people find you online in social media?

[00:32:52] Where can they find out about podcast Fest? Where can they find out about start ugly? So

[00:32:57] Chris Krimitsos: start ugly is on Amazon. Just look it up. You’ll see the post-it note with the start ugly book cover. Um, you could find me any on any of the socials, Chris Caros uh, if you misspell my name, it’ll find the right. And for podcast just type in podcast, we are the official podcast.

[00:33:11] So pod expo is our domain.com. But if you type in podcast, it’ll show up to our doors. We’d love to have anyone that wants to learn or create podcasting. Our doors always open. Right?

[00:33:22] Bob Wheeler: One final question. Does everybody always get your name right? The first time? I, I don’t

[00:33:27] Chris Krimitsos: think I’ve ever heard. I’ve heard it right.

[00:33:29] Maybe once or twice. We’ll say Chris K or, uh, but creme. Is easy to say, but it’s hard to pronounce when you’re looking at the words phonetically.

[00:33:38] Bob Wheeler: It’s not working. Right, right. Yeah. well, Chris, it’s been such a pleasure. I appreciate you coming down and sharing a little bit of time here at FCOM.

[00:33:44] Chris Krimitsos: No, thanks for having this is fun.

[00:33:46] And Bob, I appreciate it. And you have a great producer, Anthony. Thank you both. Yeah.

[00:33:49] Bob Wheeler: Thank

[00:33:50] Chris Krimitsos: you. Woo.

[00:33:57] Bob Wheeler: We hope you enjoyed this episode. Did you learn something new about your relationship to money today? Maybe you have a friend who has some financial blocks or beliefs that are holding them back. Please share this podcast. So they too can get off the rollercoaster ride of financial. And journey towards financial freedom to learn how to have a healthy relationship with money, visit the money nerve.com.

[00:34:19] That’s nerve not nerd. We’ll be back next week with another perspective on money and the emotions that find us.