Sherry and Rob talk about some of their favorite parts of 2017 and some not so favorite parts. The topics include things they’ve learned, goals accomplished, Apps and technology, and books/TV shows.

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Sherry talks about trying to regain some real meaning through all the holiday “hype” and what it means to feel true joy.

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Sherry and Rob have a discussion about sexual misconduct among people who are in power.  They highlight a few talking points that listeners can use to discuss important conversation with teammates, colleagues, and family members. Given the current climate, its an important topic to be aware of for successful people as well as the danger of becoming entangled in a distorted ego.

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Episode Transcript

Sherry:

I just sent the revisions for the book off this morning.

Rob:

Congratulations. Excited?

Sherry:

I’m not going to be excited until it’s in my hand. Until then. I’m just working.

Rob:

It takes a lot longer than you think it’s going to.

Sherry:

Yup. Yup, that’s true. We had really a lot of feedback about our last episode, when we talked about what life has been like this fall, and talked about the new kiddos in our family. That was really cool, to hear from people who e-mailed or reached out to us on social media. I already felt really supported by our inner circle, but now I feel even extra supported by our wider community, but the ZenFounder community.

Rob:

Yeah, it’s always nice to know that people care and people are following the story and that people are impacted by hearing other folks go through struggles, and not just impacted but … I don’t know, there were a lot of thoughtful responses that I think were really appreciated by us.

Sherry:

We’ve been talking a lot with friends and thinking a lot about this sort of epidemic of news articles about sexual misconduct among people who are in power. We thought we would talk about that today. If you are listening with kiddos, we are going to be talking about the existence of sex and how it’s sometimes misused, so if that’s not a topic you’re ready to discuss with your children today in this moment, then maybe hold off and listen to this podcast when you are in the company of other grownups.

Rob:

Yeah, and as we’ve talked about this, both between you and I as well as with friends, I’m just astounded at the sheer volume of sexual harassment and misconduct claims that are coming out just all at once, over the course of this few months, and all the stuff that has happened over the years, that essentially women now feel like they can come out and tell the truth. The volume of it is just, it’s sickening. For me, it’s shocking and sickening.

Sherry:

I wish it was a little more shocking to me. Part of my life as a psychologist is to talk with people who have been survivors of mistreatment, whether that’s sexual abuse as a child, or assault or harassment as an adult. I mean I think the statistics on this are very, very consistent. It’s about one in four women and one in six men who experience unwanted sexual contact, unwanted sexual attention and some point in their lives. The fact that it’s coming to light and we see this pervasiveness among certain men who are in power is … I wish it was more surprising to me, but it’s not. This kind of thing happens all the time, unfortunately.

Rob:

Yeah, that makes sense, and I think it’s becoming more obvious and it’s playing out as these accusations come out. How do we want to cover it today?

Sherry:

I’ve been thinking a lot about why this happens, like what’s happening. I think about why this happens with the intention of wanting to

Sherry and Rob open up about some of the events that have happened with their family in the last couple months. They talk about how the power of entrepreneurship has helped them tackle hard things and how important it can be to have supportive people in your life.

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Episode Transcript

Sherry Walling:

So one of the highlights of my fall was giving a talk at Business of Software in Boston at the middle of September. It was a great talk. I had a lot of fun, went to the speakers’ dinner, stayed up way too late, drank way too much, hanging out with friends and fellow speakers.

 

And I took a really early flight the next day because there was a hurricane supposedly coming in towards Boston. And I was really tired. I hadn’t slept much. But I’m sitting on the plane. I’ve got my laptop open. And I’m sitting next to this woman who’s going on vacation to Las Vegas. And so she’s chit-chatty, and she’s like, “Have you been to Las Vegas?” And I’m like “Yeah, I have. Like every year.” And at some point I just put my headphones on and stopped engaging with her.

 

And I started crying on the plane, pretty hard. Which was very embarrassing and not really my normal MO, but I was crying because I was writing this document, writing about our family. And writing about all of the things that I love about you and our two boys. And writing about all the things that we would change, or we would lose if I made a decision that I had to make, or that we had to make together.

 

So I’m on the plane, I’ve just given this great talk. And I’m descending into this mess of tears and fear and worry about the future. That was, I think, a Tuesday. I came home on Tuesday, and I turned around, and on Friday I got on a plane, and I flew to California with a question in my mind of whether or not I would return home with two more children.

 

And I think the plane ride after BOS, the plane ride home from Boston, crying on the plane, writing, trying to just put everything out into words, get it out on a piece of paper, so I could sort of sort through how I felt about this decision. That was one of the most sort of pivotal moments for me in the last couple of months.

Rob Walling:

And so today we wanted to talk through what that experience has been like. And I wanted to frame it and structure it around a talk. Actually really a non-talk. It was more of a conversation that I had from the stage of MicroConf Europe that was in Lisbon a few weeks ago and kind of want to talk through, not only that process, but just dive into the power that we have as entrepreneurs and I think a lot of things that we take for granted, and things that we don’t talk about in our space, are things like once you’ve achieved freedom and you run a business, what next?

 

Like that’s the goal for so many people, but what else is there, and what other moral imperative should we feel, both for our families and colleagues, friends, and to the broader world.

Sherry Walling:

I think when I say also that today episode’s sort of intensely personal. You used the term moral imperative, and I think that’s a good term to use. But it’s also one that is personal, like one that really reflects one’s own individual values and approach to life. So we’re going to talk about what has happened in us and in our family in the last couple of months. But this is us talking about this family situation a

After a recent trip to Rome, Sherry talks about the restorative nature of her trip. With the holidays coming up she talks about the importance of finding a way to connect with what resets/restores you and shares tips on how to do so.

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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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