Permission with Dr. Sherry Walling

Sherry interviews Jonathan Stark of the Value Pricing Bootcamp and Expensive Problem  about how entrepreneurs go about charging money for their services. Together they reflect on the relationship between valuing your work and valuing yourself.

In honor of Veteran’s Day, Sherry interviews Tony Perez, Co-Founder of Sucuri, about his life as a Marine and how his experiences shaped him as an entrepreneur. They talk about the value of having a clear purpose, channeling intensity, and the overlap between the demands of military life and the demands of founder life. Tony shares about his struggle to return to civilian life, his experience of PTSD and his discomfort with “thank you for your service.”

Episode Transcript

Sherry Walling:

Today is Veteran’s Day, so our podcast guest is a former Marine Corps corporal, and one of the co-founders of Sucuri. Tony Perez, and his partners, took a small web-based security company from zero to 12 million dollars in six years. They were recently acquired by GoDaddy and Tony is now the head of the security business organization. In today’s episode, I talk with Tony about his experiences in the Marines, and how that’s shaped who he’s become as an entrepreneur. Part of my philosophy of interviews is people should use whatever language they wish to use to talk about their own lives, so just a heads up to some listeners, that there’s some choice military language in this particular episode. So, if you are listening with small kids or listening in the car, you might want to save this one for a time when grown up language is more appropriate.

 

For those of you, like Tony, who have done two very difficult jobs in your life, being both in the military and entrepreneurs, kudos to you. Neither of those activities are easy, and the fact that you have had the energy, passion, and stick to it ness to do both is commendable. So we salute you on this Veteran’s day. A big thanks from ZenFounder.

Sherry Walling:

So I am here today talking with Tony Perez, who is the co-founder … Right? Are you co-founder or are you founder, founder?

Tony Perez:

No, no, I’m a co-founder, I’m not that lucky to be a founder.

Sherry Walling:

Or you are lucky to be a co-founder.

Tony Perez:

I am.

Sherry Walling:

Because your co-founder is pretty cool.

Tony Perez:

That’s right.

Sherry Walling:

Anyway, co-founder of Sucuri, which is a business that specializes in internet security. Tony is a former Marine and he is now the head of security business organization at GoDaddy. After exiting earlier this year, in 6 years, he and his team grew Sucuri from zero to 12.5 million dollars, so they’re pretty awesome. He’s pretty successful and he is here talking to me today about his experiences in business, but also his experiences in the Marine Corps.

 

So, thanks for being with me, Tony.

Tony Perez:

For sure. I’m really excited to be here, doc. Just so you know, I’m going to call you Doc, because that’s what we do in the military, we call our Docs and that’s a term of endearment, so please don’t take it any other way than that.

Sherry Walling:

What’s up, Doc? It’s cool.

Tony Perez:

I was gonna intro it like, “What’s up, Doc?” But you didn’t give me the opportunity so now I have to kind of add context.

Sherry Walling:

Yeah, that makes the joke less funny [crosstalk 00:03:20].

Tony Perez:

Yeah, I know

In this episode of ZenFounder, Sherry talks about dealing with burnout and defines it from a psychological standpoint. She talks about the different types of symptoms, causes, and effect on the brain that burnout can have.

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Episode Transcript

Sherry:

Hey y’all, its been a while since I’ve been on the podcast and I’ve missed the opportunity to talk to you each week. It’s been a really interesting season, and soon Rob and I will record a podcast where we sort of explain all that’s been going on, and why I’ve been AWOL for a month. But, in the meantime, rest assured that I’m fine, Rob and I are both fine, but some major changes are happening in our lives and we’re doing our best to work through all of that.

 

One thing that is going on is that the book, the long awaited ZenFounder book will be out hopefully the first week of December. It always takes a lot longer than you think it’s going to take, and I’m definitely learning that the hard way. But, the book is in its final week, the very final edits with an editor, and we have a cover designed, and we’re just getting all of our ducks in a row to be able to launch it and make it public. So stay tuned for a launch date. And the best way to kind of keep up with what’s happening with the book, or if you want to be in on kind of the early bird launch information you can go to zenfounder.com and make sure you’re on our mailing list, ’cause that will definitely be where we, you know maybe give away some free deals and make it the insider’s guide to getting the book.

 

So actually our eleven year old thought of the name for the book, and the final title is The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Keeping Your Shit Together. So, thank you eleven year old for that insightful title, I’m not sure where he heard that kind of language.

Sherry:

When I was nineteen I emptied my entire bank account to buy a plane ticket, one plane ticket, to West Africa. It was like two thousand dollars, which was all the money I had at that point from working at an ice cream shop in the summers between high school and college.

 

I had never left the county before, I’d never had a passport before, so I thought why not go to West Africa and like go big. It’s time for a big adventure, and I planned to stay for a year. I spent my junior year of college studying at the University of Ghana in Legon, which is just outside of Accra, the capital of Ghana. And it was amazing, it was a season of tons of new experiences. Eating new foods, making new friends, traveling to places that hd hardly been visited by a fair skinned, blue eyed person before. I learned how to carry a five gallon bucket on my head, I learned to live without electricity and running water for weeks at a time. I camped out next to waterfalls, I danced in village drum circles around a fire. I mean, real National Geographic kinds of experiences.

 

I had a meal with an Ashanti queen mother. I traveled all around West Africa, mostly hitchhiking, sorry mom, or on tro tro’s, which are like these crazy little mini buses that sometimes have seats and sometimes have floors. It’s really amazing what people can piece together when they need to. I seriously rode on this mini bus that was plywood topped with medal. It was … somebody totally hacked it together, but it was all an adventure.

 

And, so I’m a little bit old, and this was all before, if you can believe it, Facebook, and Instagram, and Twitter, and all th

In this episode of ZenFounder, Karim Marucchi interviews Carl Smith, of Bureau of Digital, about his passion for helping the founder community.

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In this episode of ZenFounder, Rob talks about putting in the work, how being a founder is like being a parent or spouse. It’s a lot of hard work but the payoff can be great and worth it. He reads a blog post related to the topic.

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Hatching Twitter Book

In this episode of Zenfounder, Sherry talks with Shawn and Kay Hesketh, who were co-hosts of the ZenFounder Couples Retreat about some insights and takeaways from the event. Support ZenFounder

In this episode of Zenfounder, Sherry talks with Shawn and Kay Hesketh, who were co-hosts of the ZenFounder Couples Retreat about some insights and takeaways from the event.

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Carrie Dils guest hosts this episode of ZenFounder and interviews Marc Benzakein of ServerPress, about his personal health transformation. They talk about the steps he took to making his health a priority. Office Hours Podcast Support ZenFounder Episode Transcript Sherry Walling: Hey guys. Today I bring you another interview guest hosted by my great friend, Carrie […]

Carrie Dils guest hosts this episode of ZenFounder and interviews Marc Benzakein of ServerPress, about his personal health transformation. They talk about the steps he took to making his health a priority.

Office Hours Podcast

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Episode Transcript

Sherry Walling:

Hey guys. Today I bring you another interview guest hosted by my great friend, Carrie Dils. In this interview, Carrie’s going to talk with Marc from ServerPress about his pretty radical health transformation. He talks about the steps that he has taken over the last year to put his physical health and well being sort of front and center in his life.

 

Last week we talked about sleep. This week we’re talking about physical wellness, exercise, nutrition, all those things. And these topics are super essential to the well being of a founder, of an entrepreneur. Not just so you look cute in a swimsuit but because our bodies and minds are deeply integrated. So, in order to work well, to feel good, to be the best version of yourself in your relationships, you actually need to have a pretty strong foundation of health within your body.

 

In the ZenTribes group we begin with this topic. We begin with the building blocks of sanity. The basics of physical health that need to be in place in order for you to function at your best, both in your business and in your life.

 

So, enjoy this conversation between Carrie and Marc and thanks again to Carrie for guest hosting for me this week. Be sure to check out her podcast Office Hours.FM it is super cool. Lots of great ideas and feedback going on there, especially for freelancers. And I will look forward to being back with you in a week or so.

Carrie Dils:

Hey Marc it is so good to be chatting with you today. How are you doing?

Marc Benzakein:

I’m doing really good. I’m enjoying sunny Southern California weather right now.

Carrie Dils:

Well I’m enjoying kind of dreary North Texas weather. So, yours sounds like the better spot to be.

Marc Benzakein:

Well it is until it gets to be 90 degrees and you start to fade away.

Carrie Dils:

Fair enough. For folks you haven’t had a chance to meet you, can you share a little bit about you and who you are and what you do?

Marc Benzakein:

Well my name is Marc Benzakein. I typically live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with my wife and nine children. Seven of whom we are working on adopting.

 

I run a company called ServerPress LLC. where we make software for WordPress developers and designers. And I workout and diet and have learned a lot about myself mentally and physically in the last year or so.

Carrie Dils:

That’s exactly what I’m hoping to chat about is, sort of, your journey to health and fitness over the last, what would you say, year or two years.

Marc Benzakein:

Next week marks a year in [inaudible 00:03:21] so October 8 actually marks my one yer anniversary that I really started putting a lot of effort into it.

Carrie Dils:

Okay, so what was the impetus to get your rear in gear, if you will?

Marc Benzakein:

Well, last year in July I turned 49 and all of a sudden the 50 ye

Carrie Dils guest hosts this episode of ZenFounder and interviews Dr. Jeffrey Clark, a psychiatrist and entrepreneur, who has developed an expertise on sleep. They talk about how to build better sleeping habits and its long term benefits. Office Hours Podcast Slumber Camp Support ZenFounder Episode Transcript Sherry Walling: Hey guys. Today’s episode is hosted […]