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The Day One List
The Day One List is the podcast about the people you call first.
Every successful career, business, and life is built on relationships. Behind every opportunity is someone who believed in you, challenged you, opened a door, or showed up when it mattered most.
Hosted by Hunter Schwenke with co-host Andru Morgan, each episode features honest conversations with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and community builders as they share the people, decisions, and moments that shaped their journey.
Through recurring segments like The Day One Decision, Hired or Fired, Who’s On Your Day One List?, and The Day One Challenge, every episode delivers practical leadership insights and relationship lessons listeners can apply immediately.
Because a Day One List isn’t built when you need people it’s built long before you do.
Who’s on your Day One List?
The Day One List
"Take the 1% Chance": Rich North III on Betting on Yourself
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Rich North III, owner of Express Employment Professionals in Peoria, AZ, joins The Day One List to talk about leaving a 10-year sales career, moving to Arizona on 3 days' notice, and the unlikely story of how sneaking into a college career fair launched his staffing career. Rich shares what it means to be "the glue" in his family, the people on his own Day One List, and why he believes in taking the 1% chance.
The Day One List is proudly brought to you by Express Employment Professionals, Specialized Recruiting Group, and Express Healthcare Staffing.
The people you call first.
We move into our house, my daughter five months old, I leave my career of 10 years, and I decide I'm going to acquire a business. Yeah, people were looking at me pretty crazy. Very crazy, actually.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to the Day One List, the podcast about who you call first and how you earn that position. This show is for anyone who wants to become that person people trust enough to call first. This is the day one list.
SPEAKER_03Welcome to the day one list, the podcast about who you can call first and how you earn that position. I'm your host, Hunter Schwenke. As always, co-host, Andrew.
SPEAKER_02Hi, how are you doing today, man?
SPEAKER_03Good, how are you? I'm doing I'm excited.
SPEAKER_02I am extremely excited about today's guest. This is one that uh I don't know. I don't think we've ever uh interviewed anyone with this type of energy. And I know the people we interviewed before might be a little bit upset about me saying that. But he's he's I'm excited about it. I feel like he's gonna bring the energy.
SPEAKER_03Well, let's welcome our guest, uh Rich North the Third.
SPEAKER_01Rich, how you doing? I'm doing good. I'm glad to be here. Right here in Portland, coming in from Arizona. Let me tell you, it's real hot out there in AZ.
SPEAKER_03So you're not used to the Oregon weather then right now?
SPEAKER_01No. Man, it's it's it's beautiful uh from the standpoint, it's nice and cloudy. You can you can wear layers. I think that's what I told somebody. I said layers seem pretty nice right about now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, sweatshirt right now, in June. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, something a little bit know about Rich. He's an express owner at Piura, Arizona. Uh today we're just gonna explore how a kid from Youngstown, Ohio, kind of became a business owner, the role competition played in shaping his career, lessons from football, sales, and leadership, why loyalty matters in relationships, and the people you earned on that day one list.
SPEAKER_02Good, good, excited about this.
SPEAKER_03And Rich, what's something people wouldn't know about you just from your LinkedIn profile? Wow.
SPEAKER_01In high school, I wanted to be a cook. Oh, okay. That that's very unique for me, I'll say, you know, coming up in Youngstown. Youngstown, I just Googled it today just because I was having conversations about it, and it's 60,000 people. It's a little uh actually under 60,000 people in Youngstown, Ohio. So this kid wanted to be a cook because one of the reasons I just wanted to make people happy. I like the way eating brings people together and it makes them feel. So that's one thing you won't get on my LinkedIn profile. I wanted to be a cook, but my mother told me uh otherwise.
SPEAKER_02Now, can you actually cook now?
SPEAKER_01I actually can cook. Okay. I actually can't can't cook. I'll say this. Um my wings are t tried and tested. Um nice smoked with some mesquite. Um, I hold a good title. I need to enter them into a a match or something of that nature.
SPEAKER_03Right. Right. Was it did he like just see something on TV and you saw like people cooking? It's like, yeah, I want to do that, or how did that?
SPEAKER_01I I think just the way it makes you feel. Like when I think about like my grandmother growing up in Young Sound, Ohio, right? And we will always be at her home, the whole family getting together over the holidays, you know, just making sure that we all got together and just how it made people feel and how it brought us all together was just one of the reasons why I really wanted to do it. Do you have a big family or I do, but we really scattered. We were very scattered. Like is it's just one of those things where they're in North Carolina, they're in Ohio, they're in Georgia, they're in Michigan. I'm way over here in the West Coast. I got some in California. Right. So we were very, very scattered. Sounds like you can do a big family reunion then soon. We had one I want to say four years ago. Okay. And it was because I suggested it. Um they were like, won't you plan it? And I was just like, I'm probably the furthest person. Uh so I I just didn't think that I I was like, why do you want the person who's actually the most far away to actually plan this this and it actually went off without a hitch. It was it was good, man. Um and uh subsequently enough, we got to see some family members for the last time. We didn't know that those were gonna be the last time we saw those family members. So I'm glad that we did have that opportunity to have those that those family. That family reunion was very special. Another reason why is because during college I missed it all the time. Every time I missed it, I was always uh I was working throughout college. I worked at Duke University Health System for five years, and then I worked at UNC Chapel Hill for two, um, which is obviously on my LinkedIn. But yeah, I I uh I was working all the time and I never would take off. So that one was a big deal.
SPEAKER_03I know most people kind of see you as a business business owner right now. Um, how would your family describe you?
SPEAKER_01The glue. The glue. My uncle Assign, that's what he calls me, the glue, the glue to the family. And I think that was some of the reason why that family reunion occurred. Um, and some of the things that actually happened in my family, I'm really starting to see it. Even my mother was telling me, she was like, hey man, you you really are the glue, and when you speak, people listen, and when they get in your vicinity and when they get close to you, you know, they're super pumped about it because they admire what you're doing and how you're doing it. But it's a lot of work, it's a lot of work, man. Because just think about it. I think about when President President Obama came in in 2008, right? How hard is it to keep your cool in a place that's so chaotic for that long, even to this date, right? And so I think about how he moves and I just admire it, right? And so I've I understand that type of pressure when you have to have a lot of people that depend on you, right? Uh, and you have that name that you have to stand on, right? That's not easy. You can't mess up all the time.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01Are you the glue to your family, Andrew?
SPEAKER_02No, I I am uh well, yes and no. It's one of those things where uh Yeah, they call on me when there's really, really hard times. Right. But as far as I'm not social, and so my sister is the glue. She keeps everyone connected. When something's wrong, right, then you call me. And everyone, so in that regard, yes, I'm the glue that will keep you emotionally grounded in the right places or give you some sort of spiritual guidance. But no.
SPEAKER_03All right. Well, uh, just going back to just the guest summary that you did, I know that you played college football. Yep.
SPEAKER_01Um, where did you play again? So I played at North Carolina Central University, and then I also played on the club sports for UNC Chapel Hill. Okay, cool. Yep. Okay. And then oh, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02So that's the HBCU, right? Yep.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so what was what was what years were uh was this? Was it 2004 to 2006, right up in there?
SPEAKER_02Yep. Yeah. So was there any uh one competitive in uh that you played against at that time that that made it to the league? Or anyone that just stood out, even if they didn't make it to the league, that you're just like, oh, they should have made it.
SPEAKER_01Man, when I at North Carolina Central, I didn't I didn't dress for them. Okay. But for UNC Chapel Hill, I played two years, two years for them. Okay. I'm not sure who made it to the league, and I'm sure it's a couple of those guys because we played against some guys that played in Clemson. Yeah. One of my buddies, he he, man, we got footage. I wish I could show the footage right now, but we we we did some things. I have some really good friends that made it to the league that played for Oklahoma, who actually blocked for Adrian Peterson. Um and I met Adrian Peterson. I want to say the last time the Super Bowl was here, and I called my buddy and said, hey, guess who I'm with? And then it felt like a family reunion, and I was a part of it with Adrian Peterson. Right. But yeah, for for North Carolina Central University, um, mainly I was on that on the practice squad with them, and then for the club sport with UNC Chapel Hill, I was playing. I was starting free safety. Nice. Yep.
SPEAKER_03That's good. Did you do football all your life then, or was there other other sports?
SPEAKER_01No, no, no. Yeah, I initially started playing basketball, honestly. Uh basketball was way better leading up to high school. High school I became better at football. Um crazy how that like just switched. It was super backwards. I was just like, well, all I knew was basketball, and I was really good just shooting, shooting. I mean, I probably was shooting probably a thousand shots in my in my driveway a day. I it kept me, my mom made me do it to keep me out of trouble. Go out there, dribble dribble that basketball.
SPEAKER_02Now, Hunter, I know you golf. Right. But what else did you do? Uh what else did you do on the high school level before basketball? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um so I played college basketball, just a little community college in Lower Columbia, um, Longview, Washington. Um, loved it, did that for two years. But the crazy part is is that during that 2020 year, that was when COVID hit. So it was like I mean, my graduation was a drive, drive-in, kind of just um that. And then um did that. We just had to wear like masks and we had our own little like hoop with our ball, and then basically getting a COVID test every every day. So then we only played like two or three games, and it was just it was crazy. But yeah, I did that. Um I did football as well, um, just from third grade, but really wanted to focus on basketball at from high school, and yeah, I love that part of it too. Okay, yeah, yeah. Um, yeah, I mean, it sounds like you're pretty competitive. Where does that kind of kind of come from?
SPEAKER_01My mother. My mother. I my mother is probably the most competitive person I know. Um when it comes to she's competitive with life. I'm not lying. I'm not lying. I mean, she's a person who's like, hey, let's go get it. Like, why are we settling? Like, legit. Like, if she walked in here, she's gonna, hey, what did you do yesterday? And if I if I tell her something, you know, I gotta be prepared to tell her, like, how did I take it to the next level, right? Or she's gonna always challenge me. And so I appreciate that. I'm real competitive for my mom's, so that's what I would say is from.
SPEAKER_03All right, well, let's just kind of go into our first segment, the day one decision. Um, I know every day at Express you're kind of helping people trying to find their next careers. But long before that, I mean, I know you had to kind of take a chance on yourself. Um, so let's kind of talk about the decision that kind of changed everything for you. Okay. Um, what's kind of the biggest gamble that you've taken on yourself?
SPEAKER_01Left a career of 10 years. Um, so many things, some so much fear, apprehension, and and just comfort that existed in those 10 years, right? Of building up that book of business, of knowing uh and being familiar with the people that I've worked with over those times, and and no those relationships take work, right? So coming to Express and taking that leap of faith, that was the biggest, you know, of my career and of my life, honestly, because at the time that I did it, two kiddos, right? My my beautiful daughter, she her name is Zariah, she's three. My son, his name is Richie, he's six, he turned seven this year, and then I'm married, right? Um, on top of that, I'm I'm totally crazy, by the way. I just moved into my home, right? My daughter, uh, she's probably only five months old. We move into our house. My daughter's five months old. I leave my career of 10 years, and I decide I'm going to acquire a business. Yeah. People were looking at me pretty crazy. Very crazy, actually. They said he lost his mind, and I did. This is when you're going into Arizona then, or no, so I was already in Arizona, actually. So how I got to Arizona is actually kind of crazy too, actually. I moved to Arizona with a one-day notice. With a one-day notice. So I worked for another direct sales company where we worked six days a week, and the only day of the week that I got off was on Wednesdays. It was terrible. It like I was like, I had no social life, no nothing, but it was okay. You know, I was I was 24 at the time, and I was just really money motivated. So ultimately, um, I'm at home on my one day off, and I'm I'm at home making a sandwich. One of the leaders called me. He said, Hey Rich, how you doing? I said, Man, I'm doing good, but I really want to get back to this sandwich. Not gonna lie. He said, Hey, what are you uh, you know, we're expanding to Arizona. Congratulations. No, but the reason I'm calling, congratulations. Listen, I'm making this sandwich. What do you need? I get one day away a week off, and now you're calling me on my day off. What do you want? Get to that point and hurry it up. Well, we want you to move out there. So I was like, okay, when y'all thinking about this next month? When when is this all going down? No, you leave in a week. I need your answer in three days. Wow. Yeah, true story. So I went, man. I'm a big man of faith. Um, I prayed about it. I was just like, man, well, let me let me figure out, man. How do how do I feel about this? I didn't have any anxiety about it. Um, I've had other situations where stuff like that came up unexpectedly. I prayed about it and I had anxiety about it. Right. This time I it just felt real even. It felt like a calming, right? Over me, like it was something I was supposed to do. And so I did. I left with a three-day notice, packed up my car, packed up my car, and and departed. And I've been here going on 14 years. Going on about 14 years.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so then this kind of gets me back to the topic that maybe you had at Arizona State University Career Fair. Oh yeah. No, I'm kind of bringing back maybe some uh things here. But tell us a story about you sneaking in there and maybe your experience with that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So so okay, so that's a good segue to even how I got to Arizona. So getting to Arizona through that direct sales company, we were 100% commissioned, right? And I tell you what, it it was feast, but it was a lot of famine. Because you gotta think about it. The product that we had, it was a it was a luxury service. It was it was like um direct TV service, and then we had other lines of services we sold people. So I had to get out of there. I was just like, dude, like they had a draw. They had a draw. Like, so if you didn't make a certain amount, they took back that money, and then when you had a good month, they took it back. So I don't even know if companies even do that anymore. It don't even sound legal in this day and age. So all commissioned too. All commissioned too. So it's pretty tough. So uh in I forget what years oh 2014, I'm I hear about this ASU career fair, and I was like, I gotta get in here. So I go to the career fair. There's people at the doorway getting turned away left and right, and I'm like, dude, how what do I normally do when I'm in a place that I don't belong? I said, you hit the door like you own the place, right? You hit you walk fast, have a stride about yourself, and I had my suit on, my Walmart suit on. Hey man, I was I was looking good that day. And uh so I hit the door like I own the place. I thought it was gonna work. Well, it didn't. It didn't. I got stopped just like everybody else. And she said, Where's your badge at? I said, Oh man, I said, I'm a horrible liar. I said, Well, ma'am, I'm a recruiter, and I just start pointing kind of wild. I was like, You see those students over there? They're waiting on me. And it was students over there waiting. I was just like, I gotta speed date my resume. Have you ever speed dated your resume? I walked around the corner, I just started dropping it. Hi I'm rich north, hi and rich north, how I'm rich north. Uh, please get, you know, take a look at it. Give me a call if you need anything. But I was like, I gotta get out of here before this lady catches me. She's gonna kick me out and realize I'm not supposed to be in here. Um, and that's when I ran around uh across the opportunity in recruiting uh through that that firm. I mean, uh through that um that that fair, that career fair. That's how I ran into this opportunity. To get this opportunity to get this opportunity. The person was emailing me on a Sunday. I said, This person is crazy. I said, I like it. I like it. I said, you emailing me on a Sunday and you want my attention, you got it. Because I was working too, because I needed it's a job to find a job. You ever you ever you ever be looking for work and realize dang it's a hundred applications later? That was a job myself. I put in eight hours today, didn't get paid, right? So yeah, I that's exactly how I fell into it. And I absolutely fell in love with this industry. I love it.
SPEAKER_03Did you start as a recruiter then? I did.
SPEAKER_01Okay. I did. I started off as a recruiter. Um, this is back in 2014. Okay. And um some of the things I I think I fell in love with when it comes to recruiting is I was dealing with real people. Real people. You know what I mean? The people that I saw every day growing up. You know, I saw people that reminded me of my uncle, of my my aunts, and and my nieces, nephews, you know, people I'm around every day, people I'm at the table, you know, at my dinner table with, right? Right. And I said, this is pretty cool. How how cool is this that I have an opportunity? And that's the way I've always looked at this industry as an opportunity. I've never, this has never been a job for me. It's always been an opportunity. And that's one of the reasons why my my mindset around what I do and how I do it is totally different from a lot of others, where this is a job for them. This is their job. This is my opportunity, and I don't take that for granted because there's so many people that need me, and just like they need me, sometimes I need them. Right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Do you have anything else to say, Andrew, on that?
SPEAKER_02Or no, I'm I'm thoroughly impressed. I'm I'm really glad that you took that risk. Um, did it feel like a risk at the time or did it feel like it was something you had to do?
SPEAKER_01That's a really good question. Um yes, it did it did feel like a risk. And it felt like it was something I had to do. Because through that 10 years of working for that company, right, every year I would always say, I'm gonna own a business. I'm gonna own a business. Again, me being a man of faith, right? I was like, hey man, you gotta be careful what you're praying for and what you putting out there, right? And so I would say that over the course of those 10 years, but I never had the plan. I never knew what it was gonna be until in 2020. I actually put my name in a hat for express and backed out. My mental health wasn't right, and I identified that. Um as a man, I we don't talk about felons, right? I mean, can y'all can y'all agree? You you you talk about them? You do? That's good, you do? I do not know if y'all are he doesn't, yeah. I mean, he does, and so I I don't that much, right? And so because I don't, that was a vulnerable moment for me, saying, like, hey, I don't believe that my mental health is right where it needs to be. And I think that people deserve better from me than to come try to lead them, you know, as an imposter of the moment that I was living in. I didn't want to be that imposter. Like I wanted to get back to my real, true, authentic self. So I respectfully backed out. And then in 2023, the beginning of 2023, I'm having a Michael Jordan year. I'm a Kobe fan, so Kobe Bryant year. Okay? Kobe Bryant year. And and ultimately, let me tell you, I felt like I couldn't miss. I felt like if I closed my eyes shot, I was hitting. I felt like if I threw it behind my back, I was hitting. I felt like if I looped it through my legs, I was hitting, right? And then again, be careful what you put out in the universe, be careful what you pray for, because every day I was saying, I really won't, I want to own a business. I want I'm gonna be a business owner, right? September 2023 comes. My company I'm currently with, we're dissolving. What? What you mean? I've been here 10 years, people been here over 30 years. Wait, why are we doing that? Well, we did. And since we did, that's when I knew right then and there. I said, Decision made. I got you, guys. You you you you gave me a little nudge that I needed. So let me go do what I gotta go do and stop being all fearful of what you already had your hands around, anyways. So I did what I had to go do. So to answer your question, it was both. Yeah. Yeah. Wait, so then after that, then you went through Express. Yep. Yep. September, I got so I saw it posted in February of 2023, the opportunity. Yeah. And then September 2023, the same month I'm moving into my house, literally, I I wasn't even done moving boxes in. Right. It was crazy. People blowing me up. Hey, did you get the news? Um, no, I think we're dissolving. I was like, no, this is you gotta be punking me right now. Right? So then on top of that, I'm just, I'm just, I was like, my baby's only five, like five months old. Like I said, come on, man. I'm a dad, I'm a husband. Like my career, I'm I got people I'm leading. What does that mean for them too? You know what I mean? I got people that's willing to follow me and they trust me from a leadership standpoint to get them to the next levels in their career. What does that mean for them? I start thinking about everybody else but me, really, right? And so that day I'll never forget. I had an empty cry. I've never had an empty cry in my life, but that day. And the empty cry is just like you don't feel nothing. Like you it's scary. It's it is scary to have just my wife was just like, What do you feel? I said, I don't feel nothing. She was like, But you cry. I said, I ain't never did this in my life. I said, I've never felt this in my life. And I was like, you know what? Now I don't have nothing to lose. And that's when I was just like, you know what? Forget it. Whatever's gonna happen, it's gonna happen, and it's gonna happen now. And so then I was back on LinkedIn again and saw the opportunity pop up right in front of my face. I said, Oh, look at this. He said, if you want to sign, just keep asking for it and we'll give it to you. And so it was funny because I was told that you know the team was 99.9% sure that they had their guy that was gonna acquire the office I end up becoming the owner of. They said, hey man, we were 99.9% sure we had the guy. Then you came in messing up stuff a little bit, and then we were like, wait a minute, do we really got the guy? Right. And then boom, here I am. So I had a 1% chance. I'll take a 1% chance any day of the week. Any day of the week. I think so many people walk into life, they walk into friendships, they walk into relationships and want guarantees. I think it was like Steve Harvey or somebody that said this, you know, what guarantees are you making with you? You know what I mean? You want guarantee you want other people to give you some guarantees, but what have you guaranteed you? Are you guaranteeing you're gonna be a better person? Are you guaranteeing you're gonna take care of your health a little bit better? Are you guaranteeing you're gonna be a better husband or a better business partner? What are you guaranteeing to you? So for me, all I want is a 1% chance, and that's all I need. There's a then there is a chance, and I'm gonna take the rest. I'm gonna run with it. Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_03Well, let's switch it up here. It's gonna be more not serious, but it's our segment called Hired or Fired.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03I'm gonna give you some questions, and you would hire this person or fire this person.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03And the first one is hiring for attitude over experience. Hired or fired. Hired. Hired? Yes. Okay. What about personal branding on LinkedIn?
SPEAKER_01Hired. Why would you say that? Yes, because it does show, because we're moving in that time of social media, of technology, of AI, right? So that just shows me that a person is willing to lean in into those changes versus a person who's like, yeah, we used to cold call from the yellow pages. Like we're not cold calling from the yellow pages anymore. I'm gonna need you to get on LinkedIn. Not saying that's the case, but it shows me a person who's leaning in.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I'll be honest, I don't even know what yellow pages is.
SPEAKER_02That's a sad thing. They also had white pages. That's where all the your personal information was. Your address and your phone number was in a book they called the white pages. Yeah, crazy day uh days.
SPEAKER_01Yellow pages. Oh, that took us back, didn't it? Yeah, that's bad. We used to have that with a it used to be uh like chained to the phone, uh to the what is it, pay phone. It used to be chained to the payphone. And you just I know what a payphone, I know what a payphone. Oh, you know what a payphone.
SPEAKER_03Yep. And then the yellow pages would be attached to it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it used to be attached to it so you could just find a number in there real quick. Yeah, those were the good days.
SPEAKER_03I'm so glad I have an iPhone now and don't have to worry about that. Or what about just excuses? Hired or fired? Fired. Yeah. Pretty simple. Yeah, okay. What about playing it safe? Hired or fired? Hired. Hired. Why do you say that?
SPEAKER_01Because they won't take a risk on other people's things or they won't take a risk on my business, right? I think that sometimes people who lack taking the risk lack understanding, they lack coaching, they they lack that confidence to go fail. It's okay to fail. I tell my my staff all the time, go fail, go do something wrong or something. You so busy trying to try to be you trying to be careful and walk on these eggshells when your biggest learning experience is gonna come from the failure.
SPEAKER_02I've got one actually. Um you know, faking it till you make it, higher to fire.
unknownOh, fired.
SPEAKER_01Fired. The thing is the fake it till you make it person more than likely is there's gonna be some lies in there. Yeah. It's gonna be some lies in there, man. And and and and oh, and and it's to the point where they'll say it so long till they believe they own lies. And you like, okay, you ain't trying to get coached. You you you giving me this story of this and that, and that ain't making sense. So you fake it till you make it person, they gotta go.
SPEAKER_03You can tell, like now that you can tell, yeah. Yeah, for sure. All right, well, let's kind of go into our next segment. Um, it's kind of like the make it sense here. Okay. Um when I'm just out just as a salesman, what I'm hearing just from a lot of clients and just employees, people are saying, why do companies consistently win talent while others can't win anymore or can't win any anyone? Um, what kind of separates companies that attract great people from those? Culture. Culture.
SPEAKER_01I I I I would say number one thing uh where companies are attracting people versus the ones that are not. Look at the ones that are desperate for people. There is something missing in that culture that they're not doing, right? People are fed up with being treated like another number, right? They are fed up. There, there are a lot of people who are lazy too. Let's not let's not get that misconstrued. But then there's still a nice amount of people that's that's hard working and still got those old values of, hey, let me get that check and and and let me clock in, let me do my work head down and get out of here. But I think that leaders are missing that opportunity and that window of opportunity to build a culture when they're just so focusing on the X's and O's. And I'm talking about culture can be something as simple as Pizza Fridays once a month, right? Um, you know, when uh a swag bag or or whatever it is, right? Just really pouring into our people with the most simplest things, it's sometimes what's missing between the employer that's getting the people and employer that's not.
SPEAKER_03I'm a huge food guy, so I love when my boss is like I'm ordering lunch for Friday, and I'm like, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yep, put that order in.
SPEAKER_03Right. Um, what what are businesses leaders getting wrong about hiring right now?
SPEAKER_01Trying to perfect it. That that's not their if your job is to create cups, right? Like, like this mug here, right? If you are manufacturing, you make mugs, right, and you're trying to do my job as an agency in staffing and recruiting, right? You do mugs. You don't you from a strategy standpoint, I couldn't walk in there and teach him how teach those organizations how to do the dynamiters of the machine and put in tolerances and how how it's gonna make sure that these products are coming out right. So where companies are really missing it is we hire internally. I hear that all the time. But I think that's a window of opportunity for the organizations and the companies to actually ask staffing firms more questions, right? Why do we even exist? Right? There is a reason, right? But then also think about how much money they're wasting when they get those people in, and then they have to let them go, starting right back over, right? So th those are some of the things that I think that they're missing. Trying to perfect both sides when you only can be an expert of one. If you make, if you manufacture products like mugs, right, you're really good at that. Stay to that. Yeah, stay doing that. We're really good at interviewing, we're very good at consulting, we're very good at hiring and finding the right talent on a massive scale, right? And so we're good at that. So that's where in a partner like us come into place. I like that.
SPEAKER_03It's kind of answering maybe a little bit of the question too, but um, what opportunities do businesses miss when they assume they already know how staffing works?
SPEAKER_01Just asking questions. Yeah. I had a client, man, uh it it was pretty good actually. Um He was like, Oh yeah, I worked with a lot of staffing firms. Yep, yep, yep. I said, I bet you did. I bet you did. And look, I did. So we leaned back in a chair a little bit, and I said, he was like, so I said, so is it safe to say, sir, um, this this facility only makes one product? That that he's like, no, we have like seven or eight. I said, Oh, well, you just told me all I do is contract to hire. Right. I said, he said, he said, note it, my apologies. I'm gonna let you, I I let you carry on. He said, what do you guys do? I said, now that we're talking about it, we do A, B, and C, we do contract to hire, we do direct hire, we do payrolling, right? A lot of companies don't even know you can do payrolling through a staffing firm, right? Um, so we did laugh about it, right? Because you would you you know you kind of want to hit him in the gut a little bit and make them laugh and be like, look, but when I told him, I was like, hey, you only got one product back there in that warehouse, huh? He said, No, we have like 10 or 12. And I was like, Oh, really? Tell me about all 10. And so he did, right? And I said, but my point behind telling you that was you you told me I have one product, one service, right? Contract to hire. He said, My apologies. So those are some of the things that I think that they're missing, the opportunity, even when they get us on the phone, right? And but the first question they leave with, what's your rate? Right. I mean, go to Dollar General, like you know what the rate is in there, it's cheap, right? You getting the same product? No, no, we know it's cheap, right? So why, why uh that's the question I got. I'm like, why do companies always leave with what's your rate? No, I think the question they should ask is what's your service? What's your service? Right? Because Julie Tate said this. And I know I know you guys spoke with her. She said, if you do this right, you get sticky. That's the Julie Tate line. So shout out to Julie. Shout out to Julie.
SPEAKER_03Shout out to Julie. Okay. Andrew, got anything else before we move on? That's good. That's good. Um, okay, our next segment is who's on your day one list. Um we've talked about your kind of your career and your leadership journey, and nobody kind of gets where you are alone. So just asking the question who's on your day one that you have. It can be personal, business, anybody.
SPEAKER_01My day one. Personally, one of my one of my really good friends, um, Brad Bowman. He's in in Youngstown, Ohio. Okay. He is. He's one of one of the people on my day one list.
SPEAKER_03Is it anything like particular, like you're just gonna ask him for like a favor or is it like advice, or why would you call him?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, man are so much alike, man. Uh and and just thought process. Another person, Alton Craig, he's here. He's not here, but he's in Arizona. Okay, he's another person, right? And's in sales, a man of faith. Both of them are dads, right? Um, I go to these guys because when, again, talking about the feelings, right? When you're having that place of anxiety and stuff like that, because I think it's not talked about enough, right? When you you're feeling anxious, like I treat my life like a business, right? And so there's so many different aspects on being intentional about moves that we make, and so and the relationships that we have. So one of the reasons why these two guys are on my day ones is because they hear me and then they'll follow up with me. They they'll be like, hey, I heard you. I I I I think you something else going on. I'm gonna come see you soon. You know what I mean? And and identifying that, right? Because a lot of people don't identify that. Do you have who who's your day one, Andrew?
SPEAKER_02Um, you know, I'm asked this question a lot uh on this show, and uh I always try to avoid it, but um a little bit. But you know, I I have a day one, a gentleman named uh Ben.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02Just got a chance. He just was in town just this past week, and um yeah, we were in radio together 20 plus years ago, and it was just one of those things where no matter what, we can we can go a year maybe without talking to each other, but I could call him up crying. I could we've been through a lot together. So yeah, that's one of my day ones, and and the reason why is just time allowed uh vulnerability to just be a requirement.
SPEAKER_01That's real powerful. Time allowed vulnerability.
SPEAKER_03I like that. I know you kind of talked a lot about your family, just your mother, um, maybe sister and wife. Um, how have those women kind of shaped who you are today?
SPEAKER_01My wife is my best friend. Uh she's an amazing woman that I knew when I met her she was gonna be a wonderful mom and a wonderful wife. I knew it. Um, I have so much admiration for the sacrifices she made. I would not be where I'm at today if it wasn't for her. Um, but more importantly, my mom and my grandmother too. Um, but more in the present. Like my mom and my grandmother, they they got me to the man that my my wife was able to receive, right? You see what I'm saying? So I appreciate them to where they bought me and they carried me. But my wife, the times where I can't give my kiddos bath because I got that client proposal that's coming up, she's doing it unselfishly, no complaints. And I be like, you know what? Let me stop what I'm doing. Can I come help? She'd be like, no, you gotta go do that. Like, I because she knows how I'm wired. And then she knows when I get in that mode. I get in that mode. When I get in that mode, I'm locked in and I won't stop until I get it. I won't stop. Uh it might I might have some OCD, ADA, I don't know. I don't know. And and but I won't stop. I I literally won't stop. I would go for a month, two months straight. I remember the one time, the first website I ever created, my wife watched me and I was in there every single day until I got it. And it actually worked. I was like, I just did this. I couldn't believe it myself. But she saw how obsessed I was. And that's why that's how I treat, like again, I treat my business, uh, I treat my life like a business, and I'm very obsessed with success.
SPEAKER_03You have anything before we go to our next segment?
SPEAKER_02Let's let's keep it rolling.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so let's go to the day one challenge. Uh, I know just before we wrap up, we can ask every guest to leave an audience with a challenge. Um, what's one challenge you'd give someone who wants to become a better leader?
SPEAKER_01Work out, take care of your body. Like, seriously, it is so hard. Like, I'm finding that out as just having a vulnerable moment right now. Just I work out, right? But then there's sometimes that motivation is just like, geez, because mentally you have so many things that you're bogged down with. And then the second thing I would say is just read. Third thing I would say is lean into other people, right? Because everything that people can provide to you, there's so much value. If you they might not give you a ton of value, but there's something in there that you could take away.
SPEAKER_03What about what what's one lesson you've learned that you wish more people understood sooner?
SPEAKER_01I think I said it a couple times. Treat your life like a business. Stop playing around with your life. I think that if you if you do that, you'll see more success and be obsessed with success. Obsession. It's the mama mentality. Mama mentality.
SPEAKER_02Yep. Anything else before we close here? Uh yeah, there's a question I like to ask everyone. Uh, real simple question. Uh, why expressed? Why express?
SPEAKER_01They the best company in the world when it comes to what we do, period. There's no flinch, no nothing in my voice and my body. We the best at what we do. And the company that stands on value, integrity, and a company of faith. I stand behind that. And that's why.
SPEAKER_03All right. Well, Rich, thank you for joining us and kind of sharing your story and experience with us. I know I appreciated it. And um, just from your upbringing to Youngstown to a business owner that you are right now, um, your story kind of just reminds us the success of built through hard work, relationships, and just willingness to keep growing. Um, before we kind of close here, is there um like maybe social media or your LinkedIn that you want to share that people can reach out to?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, on LinkedIn, Rich North, uh, real real easy. Really? It's really easy. Rich North. So, yeah, that's about it. Okay. I live on there.
SPEAKER_03All right. Well, my I always have a challenge for you guys. Um my challenge is just asking one person you trust what's one thing that you could do to become a better leader, friend, spouse, or teammate, and then honestly, just listen to them. Um, they're gonna have the most insights of just not just like lying to you, and it's just great to hear.
SPEAKER_02Um, and yeah. All right, we've come to the end, and thank you so much for watching and listening to the day one list. If today's conversation made you think about who's in your corner or it's challenged you to uh be in someone else's corner, make sure you share, uh, share this episode with a friend, a colleague, or a mentor. And remember, we thank you so much for listening, and we will see you next time.
SPEAKER_03And who's on your day one list?
SPEAKER_02Who's on your day one?
SPEAKER_00Thanks for listening to the day one list. It's all about the people you can count on and the people who can count on you. Until next time, who's on your day one list? And more importantly, whose day one list are you on? The day one list is proudly brought to you by Express Employment Professionals, Express Healthcare Staffing, and the Specialized Recruiting Group. The people you call first.