Latest / Authentic Living / Taking the Path of Creativity with Bruce Outridge

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Taking the Path of Creativity with Bruce Outridge · Authentic Living

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Welcome to authentic living with Roxanne, a place where we conscious conversations about
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things that really matter in our lives.
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And now here's your host, Roxanne Durgesh.
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Hi, everyone.
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It's Roxanne Durgesh of the authentic living with Roxanne.
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This week, I have a colleague, Bruce Outridge, And Bruce is a creative entrepreneur and, has a
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fascinating story, that I had the privilege of listening, to the other day as he told this
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story to a group of, professional speakers in Mississauga.
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So Bruce, how are you today?
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Good.
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Thanks for having me on the show.
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Well, thanks so much.
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Excited.
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I've I've been listening to your show.
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I'm excited.
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I'm I'm excited to even have me on.
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So So I always say that I'm a newbie in podcast that you care prior to Bruce who has 2
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podcasts, and he does a podcast daily.
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So it'll say daily.
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That so I'm like, I know what it takes to put out 4 of them a month, Bruce.
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Yeah.
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So I
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I'm I'm very respectful and honored that to hear some some of the things that, you do.
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So Bruce Bruce has had a fascinating life story that I, was it was, like I said, fortunate to
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listen to the other day.
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And on my show, I always like to talk to people that have something within them that comes out
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with and it it often translates out into what how they show themselves in the world.
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And that's definitely something that Bruce has done.
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So, Bruce welcome, and I want you to tell people about your path and kind of, your today,
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you're a creative entrepreneur, but you didn't start out like that.
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So tell tell us a little bit about that.
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Okay.
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So this is gonna be a 4 hour show, and Okay.
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People have already realized they've already turned it off.
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No.
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So okay.
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So I started in the trucking industry, and, my my path for creativity started when I was 10,
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but I didn't realize that's what I wanted.
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That's I just like to draw.
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That's when I started drawing, but I didn't know I was gonna be a creative entrepreneur.
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There was no podcasting out at that age.
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I'm 56 today.
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I'll leave the math to those people.
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I won't say how old I am, but I I just did, I guess.
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But, no, I I got I felt I I've always had a good work ethic.
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I've not been strong at school and education.
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That's not one of the things that I do best.
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And so I left school at an early age.
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And I got into the trucking industry, and I was in in the transportation industry.
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Well, I still am, I guess, but I was in it for 25 years as far as driving transport trucks
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around, all across North America from one end to the other and from down south.
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And I just I really loved that.
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I love driving.
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I was one of those people at sixteen years of age, got really into, driving, got my license
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the day of my birthday, all that kind of stuff.
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And really enjoyed that job.
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And today, that experience of the 25 years and and on has Now what what I do so today now I
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have a couple podcasts.
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I have a television show for youth, and it's called inspiring youth.
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It's in the Halton area.
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If you're on, Cogeco's community channel.
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I have a podcast in the trucking industry.
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I have one for creative entrepreneurs.
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I'm a professional cartoonist.
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And, I don't know.
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I just, I like teaching people.
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My big message, I guess, is inspiring people that if you wanna do something you can, doesn't
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matter about education.
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It's about how much you're willing to learn and how much you're willing to work.
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So tell us about the story that you told, about you and the conversation that you had with your
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dad some point.
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Well, was that the one that was before I got almost kicked out of the house or the one?
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I'm not sure.
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You did
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I don't know the I don't know that
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you gave us contacts.
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But There's
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been a few conversations.
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My dad's passed away.
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The god love him.
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He's, he's my best friend, and I I certainly miss him.
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But, no, there was the one when I was leaving school, which was not a popular conversation,
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that was after a garage party.
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But, my dad was a hard worker, and he said, well, you're not gonna lay around the house.
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You're gonna go get a job and I actually applied to sell encyclopedias, but I never
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actually went back to the job.
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So I got the job, and I realized on the way home, that's not what I wanted to do.
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And and that was because I had to dress in a suit.
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You talk about authenticity on your show.
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I went got this job as an encyclopedia sale, and just because I needed a job and it was
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commission based and on the way home realized that wasn't the job for me after I actually was
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supposed to report on Monday.
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And ended up replying at a moving company, and that's how I got into the trucking industry.
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And so I was just moving people's furniture, you know, with Atlas or one of these, big
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firms, and fell in got my truck licenses through that process of learning about the
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industry.
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And, you know, I've always My dad said, doesn't matter what you do, but you're gonna do it
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well.
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And that's kind of what I've always always got to that.
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So so, I did have a conversation with a friend, And, I don't know.
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I think this might be the one that I told, so this might be the one you're thinking about
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where, I told somebody
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I was gonna get into
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the trucking industry, and they told me, no, that they didn't think it was a good idea.
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They had tried it.
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And it was only, they hadn't made any money.
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And here I went 25 years because I was such a good listener that I'm gonna and I've learned
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not to listen to anybody as far as, like, I'll listen to people as far as their opinion, but
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that doesn't mean you have to take it in.
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It's really what's inside you is to decide what's a good move and what's not.
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Nobody can tell you what's a good move for you.
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And I I often talk about that is because, you know, We all within ourselves have that, what I
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call that internal GPS.
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So that
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that deep internal voice, but what we know today is that We're so harried and we're so
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busy, you know, and I, you know, I was even, this morning.
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I was just, trying to get quiet because my weekend was, you know, involved.
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I was working most of the weekend.
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I was at a conference and and then at a caps event yesterday.
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And and then what I realized is I'd really not been quiet And oftentimes, I don't know if this
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makes sense to you, is that we're we're so busy achieving that we really don't stop to really
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reflect and listen to what that voice within ourselves says to us.
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So so true.
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I I I actually because I do, I'm a caricature artist for weddings and corporate events.
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My weekends are actually busier than my week.
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So I'm usually at a wedding every weekend.
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This this weekend, I I had similar to you.
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I was videotaping at a conference for the whole Saturday.
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And so if I have nothing going on on a Sunday, Sunday is the one day that I like to just
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relax.
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If my if my wife's home, we just watch movies, go for a walk, whatever.
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And I don't, you know, I always think I have to be filling that time.
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And so yesterday, I realized My wife was on her way back from Quebec.
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And I said, I don't feel like doing anything today.
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Like, I was just exhausted, but I ended up going up to Rockwood automation area and doing
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some sketching because going outside and being in nature, I I find that I just love being
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outside.
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So to do some sketching with my headphones, not I don't I don't think I said hi to anybody, and
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I'm the kind of person I say hi to everybody walking down the street, but I was so tired
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yesterday.
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I said, I don't even wanna talk to anybody I just put my headphones on.
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And I I don't think we allow that, especially myself as a creative entrepreneur.
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You don't allow yourself to shut down.
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Because I'm always trying to be productive, but we actually need those days where we I'm I'm
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still trying to learn that for myself.
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So
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that's interesting, right, because you talk about we always think that doing means
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productivity.
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And in fact, you know, when you sit in silence, you know, whether it's whatever topic it is or
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you creating art, which, you know, I I really am humbled when I see people that could draw.
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I I had his best friend and in high school, and I was the opposite of creative when it came to
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art.
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And and she was just so naturally into that I look at it, and I'm thinking that this is
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completely spiritual when I see what she could do at thirteen years old.
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So it just came from somewhere else.
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So that creativity elements and I, you know, and all of us are creative in some way.
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And, in your way,
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you you're able to to put something amazing on.
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And I've seen your, characters that you do and they're pretty amazing.
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And I think my my gift is is writing, but I didn't realize that all through high school.
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I wrote because I had to.
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And I got my goodness.
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If I'm gonna get through, you know, this, you know, undergraduate degree.
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If I'm gonna get through this graduate degree, I have to pump stuff out, but I was oftentimes
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doing it for the outcome of the grade.
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Right.
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Right.
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Right.
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Yeah.
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I'm well, you know what?
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That's just when you're saying that, I there are people who are saying a story like that.
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I laugh because for my experience is probably opposite.
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So if you went back to my report cards in the high in high school and grades I was if I
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enjoyed the class, I got an 80.
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If I hated the class, I got 51.
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That's my English was like that.
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I got 51 and most of it I write social media.
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I have 4 books out.
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I write articles for social media clients, and I write every morning.
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And, really, it's it's about you have to have a reason, but it has to be an internal reason.
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Right?
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You can't if if someone's just paying me.
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So I I get asked all the time.
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To write social media for I I've been, you know, published.
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I've got a couple magazines.
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I used to write a it was a columnist every month.
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I write for social media.
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And people will ask me, well, can you do that for my company?
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I go, well, and all of the ones I do are for the trucking because that's what I know, and
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that's what I do.
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Mhmm.
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If I've had people say, well, I'm opening a bed and bath shop.
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Would you write content for Sorry.
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I can't.
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Like, I have nothing about that stuff.
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And and that's where the authentic authentic authentic second even say it, but you can say
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it.
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That's where that comes in
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right now.
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That's where that comes in.
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But if you start doing things for money or for you take on projects just because someone told
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you that you can make a lot of money.
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And we see people, you and I are both speakers.
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We see people come into the speaking industry.
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Someone told them they can get $10,000 for a speech so they sign up for caps, not realizing
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they don't even really have a message or they don't even really like doing this.
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I so now when someone says, Bruce, I've got a business opportunity.
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If it does not fit in one of the lines that I do as far as an artist or the trucking industry
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or something, related to what I'm already doing.
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I don't even look at it.
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Like, I've had people say, Bruce, I wanna we gotta sell skincare.
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You're great with people.
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I don't have the passion for skincare.
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I Not that it's not important.
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I just will not be good at it.
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And I've because I've tried other businesses before that were not successful because I was
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not in it with a heart.
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Right.
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And that goes to that whole element that I'm saying, you know, going to school, what do we
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teach your kids?
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Do we teach your kids the love?
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Of what they're doing, or we're saying, you gotta do all, Deborah.
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You gotta do, you know, literature.
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You gotta do history.
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I get some there's some basic core fundamentals.
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Absolutely.
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Yeah.
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But I think that the thing that I think is often a miss is that we don't teach kids to
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say, what are you really loving?
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Right?
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And I think, that's something that I I I think was missed with me when I I grew up in the
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Caribbean.
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I grew up in Trinidad and had tobacco.
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They didn't say, hey, Roxanne.
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You know, what what do you love?
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It was like, okay.
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How many old levels are you gonna get?
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How many a's are gonna, you know, are you gonna get at all levels?
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That was kinda though how we were driven from, you know, age three when we start to go to
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school.
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So in my case, it it it it came about later.
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Was I on a good enough writer?
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Absolutely.
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And then when I was writing my first book, I remember someone saying to me out of nowhere,
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and it was a person's insecurity.
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I said, well, I I've I've I've ripped my first book, and she goes, Wow.
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What makes you think you can write a book?
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Well, I said I I just did.
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That's right.
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You know?
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And then the person thought, oh, okay then.
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Because I was writing like you.
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Yep.
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I wrote my book in 6 months.
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Right?
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Yep.
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And and it was, like, because I often say it's like a spiritual download, but it was I wrote
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about what I knew, Bruce.
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Like, I I worked with people.
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I worked with relationships.
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I worked with in clinical.
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I worked worked with coaching.
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Consulting boardrooms, you know, in, everywhere from CRA to the law society.
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I was there working with people and then all of a sudden I said, I'm gonna write a book.
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What am I gonna write about?
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I'm gonna write about how do we relate in all relationships and how to make it better.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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And No.
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It it's it's amazing how that works, and that's It's funny.
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I didn't realize you're from Trinidad.
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My parents are I'm guy needs.
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My parents are from Diana.
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So I I'm going to expect Curian RoTE next time you come to a caps meeting, I'm just saying.
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Okay.
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So now I love Okay.
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Might have to take you over to my sisters or my moms.
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I'm not as good, but I
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Oh, okay.
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Alright.
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Well, that's fine.
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That's fine.
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I'm okay.
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I'm okay.
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But, no, it's it's it's it's funny that, you know, I think if people come like, my parents
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were the same, you know, they came from Guyana.
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So of course, trying to make a better life and, you know, getting that education or whatever it
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is.
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But I have a list that I tell people.
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I I, you know, when I talked to a lot of young entrepreneurs.
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I said, here's your list.
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One column I want to be, what do you like to do?
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And the next column, what are you good at?
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And then I want you to just cross reference and you go, I like to knit.
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I'm good at, you know, I I like clothes and I'm good at knitting or something like that.
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You might be that might be the fashion industry for you.
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Like, you don't know.
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What I what I find is that we have a lot of people in school, and that's why I I gotta
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watch because I always sound I'm bad on education, but I learned from everywhere, but I
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don't think it has to be done in in four walls.
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And like you were saying, you know, instead of trying to teach them algebra, why don't we just
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say, hey.
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Here's how you're gonna balance your checkbook, or here's how you're going to you know, cash
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flow your business.
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That's real real.
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My son, he wanted to be in football.
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He's starting a social media thing now, but he He wanted to be in football, and he says, I
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don't need I don't need education.
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I'm gonna be good at football.
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I said, well, 1st of all, most of the football people get picked out of a university, so you
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actually need to get to the second of all, how are you gonna read your contract?
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How are you gonna know if you're making 1,000,000 of dollars?
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How do you know who's gonna get the money?
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You need to be able to do that no matter how good you are at something else.
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Those basics always follow you along, and that's why I love business.
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Business is even Keel.
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Everybody's the same, and you can it doesn't matter what you do as far as your product or
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your service.
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If you can't cash flow your business, at, you know, you're not gonna be around in a year.
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Right?
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And that's where the big problem is.
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So you learn so much by running a business that know, my son, he was taking a marketing
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program.
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I said, well, he started a podcast.
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He didn't even finish the program because like because you'll learn more actually doing it
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than just somebody talking about it.
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Right?
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So it's it's an alignment.
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You're so right aligning with what you like.
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What what are you good at?
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Those ten to things in for me.
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You know, I I often say that my path, yes, I was an academic because I wanted I wanted to
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help people.
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That's all I knew.
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When I was a little girl and I would talk to my friend and they would feel better.
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And, you know, I went to a really academically, focused school in the Caribbean, and then I
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went on to come to university here at you know, what I think that school was remissing and the
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time, of the British school system was that they didn't talk about passion in any But I
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think it was a different time.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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They didn't they didn't hear either.
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I mean, they like I said, I wanted to be a cartoonist.
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Nobody said, here's how you go do it.
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That's the whole reason I have podcasts and stuff today to show people, oh, you wanna be a
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cartoonist?
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You wanna be a musician?
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You wanna play guitar?
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I don't care.
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Here's here's where you go do it.
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Here's somebody who's done it.
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Here's how they've done it.
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Try that.
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It might or might not work for you, but at least here's a path.
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It can be done if you're willing to put into work.
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I I find that, you know, everybody and this is we have the same problem now So now in the
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trucking industry, we can't get anybody to drive trucks.
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There's nobody becoming plumbers or electrician skills labors having the same problem.
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I know so many people in all of those industries that, are making a ton of money.
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There's a guy he comes with us all the time.
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We go to Barbados every year in January.
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He's there.
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He stays 6, 7 weeks.
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He's, not a handyman, but he's his own, I don't wanna call him handyman because he builds
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houses, but He's kind of his own man's shop.
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He's made so money.
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He's brought his kids on vacation.
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If we went to someone and said, well, he builds houses.
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They go, I don't wanna do that.
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Yet he's making more money than most speakers and stuff that I know.
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So I think we gotta get away from this occupation thing of, well, I'm this or I'm that
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and just What do you like to do?
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And is there a way to make money at it so you can stay and enjoy what you're doing for the
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rest of your time?
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And that that's such a good point.
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Now you push up, like, content all the time.
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And I'm always faceted to be all Roxanne, you you know, you put out a lot of content, and I
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don't I mean, I know I do, but, I mean, you're I'm like I said, I do the 4 podcast.
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I have something out social every day.
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I'm often speaking, I'm coaching, and I'm seeing still clinical clients, you know, all
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those things.
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It's it's just a I've got a million balls in the air.
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And I let and I listen to the content that you put out.
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So tell me, how do you kinda Do that.
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Like, how do you decide, like, what content you're gonna put out and and and with the
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creative writing and those types of things?
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And for people listening for podcasts too, because the podcast oftentimes, you're trying
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to I'm trying to get guests that are interesting and those types of things.
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How do you think it through when you when you plan for your business?
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I do less planning now than I used to.
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So when I started my shows, and when I started okay.
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So just to give everybody the backstory, when I start and my trucking podcast is the larger.
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We we're at, I think, 380 episodes right now.
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It's been going since 2015.
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My other one, the cashing it on creativity is a a weekly show.
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So there's about 4 or 5 episodes per week.
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That one's been going a couple of years.
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I think we're at a almost 200 episodes on that one.
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So so not they're not even.
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It's not like both shows are daily shows.
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Okay?
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So just to let people know.
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But when I started them, I started by looking for the guests.
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I said, okay.
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Here's what I wanna talk about this month.
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Who talks on And you're probably doing that similar to your show.
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Right?
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Which is fine.
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You know, you've got a a an idea of where you wanna go.
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The way I do it now is I don't look for the guests.
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I'd I'd look for the idea.
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So now, I go to a lot of events.
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I'm always at there's trucking events all the time.
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I go to all the truck shows.
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I and I will just look for anybody that's interesting to interview.
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I don't care what it is.
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Yep.
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If it's a driver, you know, I just talk about his truck.
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I talk about his career or whoever it is, but I go to a lot of events, and I just see who's
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willing to do an interview.
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It doesn't it's not about the con.
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Yes.
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And I do all my interviews separately.
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So, like, if we were doing this up from one of my shows, this would be Roxanne's interview, It
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wouldn't necessarily be on anything.
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I'm just having an interview with Roxanne.
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I know from a show host where I wanna take the interview.
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Right.
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But other than that, there's nothing planned.
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Mhmm.
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So when you finish the interview and I go, wow, Roxanne and I talked about careers and we
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talked about business, that could be 2 separate shows.
19:28
Right.
19:28
So a lot of times I might take your interview and either split it into 2 and do one on this
19:33
show, one on this show, or depending on how we've branded it, I may use the same interview
19:38
for both shows.
19:39
Sometimes peep sometimes they relate to both audiences.
19:42
And this is why I don't do my intros and stuff within the show.
19:48
I do it afterwards because I can change the intros to whatever I want the show to be about.
19:53
Oh, smart as that.
19:54
So so this is so this is one way of when you're creating content, it's about It's about
20:01
repurposing content.
20:03
The same interview that you're doing with me today could be a blog post for you, you know,
20:08
as far as an article written you could you could trans you could transcribe it.
20:13
A lot of times, I'll do a summary of the interview, and that's a blog post.
20:17
I usually do video at the same time that I'm doing my podcast, and I have a video post.
20:22
Right.
20:22
So it's about using all the tools you have.
20:25
So that's how I get my content.
20:27
I'm just always looking for content.
20:28
And the more you do it, the more you will find content.
20:31
I could be at a caps meeting taking notes and that may be, an episode later on.
20:37
That'll be a summary.
20:38
It won't be as good as the presenter, but it might be a topic for discussion.
20:42
If I can get the presenter, great.
20:43
If not, then I can always do a summary.
20:45
So I'm always taking notes for myself at meetings, attending as many events as I can.
20:50
I go to a I meet a lot of people.
20:52
I could be in a bit, a part of the Burlington Chamber Commerce.
20:56
I meet somebody there and, you know, I had mileage tracker on.
20:59
So, they there's 2 girls that have developed a thing to track mileage for on for entrepreneurs
21:04
for businesses.
21:05
I said, well, my shit goes on business.
21:08
People need to know how to do that.
21:09
Would you like to be on my show?
21:10
Boom.
21:11
There's a guest.
21:12
Right.
21:12
I I had just met her that night.
21:14
I didn't know who she was.
21:15
Right?
21:15
So you'll get very good at that.
21:17
And then the other part of it is time management, but I don't know if you want me to
21:20
go into that.
21:20
Or Sure.
21:21
Absolutely.
21:21
Because, I I mean, but you're just like me because, like, I told Bruce earlier.
21:25
This is funny because if you have anybody that can see the video, I've got a bit of a black
21:28
eye on my left eye.
21:30
I was telling Bruce about that.
21:31
Because nobody No.
21:33
I want people to know because guess what?
21:35
I wrote I wrote one of my a piece today that's gonna go out on social media
21:39
Yeah.
21:39
To talk about when things get you off track.
21:42
What do you do?
21:43
Yeah.
21:43
So that little bottle that followed in my cupboard gave me the idea as I had a big goose
21:48
egg on my head, and I thought, How many times have you been knocked over when you're on track
21:53
to do something?
21:54
And I was thinking about my interview with Bruce today, and I have a consulting call a
21:58
little bit later.
21:59
I was thinking, what am I gonna do?
22:00
And I thought, okay.
22:01
Well, this goosag better go down.
22:03
And then I thought, no.
22:04
I'm gonna write about it.
22:05
And then I'm gonna mention it, and then I'm gonna talk about when you get derailed by goals
22:09
this week, what do we do?
22:11
Okay.
22:12
So here's so that same thing now.
22:14
So you've already got an article or an idea for an article written on that.
22:18
Right?
22:18
Right.
22:18
Right.
22:19
Now if you're willing to put yourself out there, you could flip that around and I almost
22:24
wish that it had been taped because if you're willing
22:27
to flip that
22:28
around, how to have a good idea in 5 minutes.
22:31
Hit your head on the cupboard.
22:33
I'm not sure you wanna sit tell people do that, but you what I'm trying to say is you can take
22:37
that funny.
22:37
So people will say to me, I always warn people.
22:40
I am I am not you are so professional and,
22:44
you
22:44
are.
22:45
I you listen to your show.
22:47
It's very it's very professional.
22:49
It's very, you can tell that you're in that professional, I don't what do I call it?
22:55
Coaching what's the market you're doing?
22:57
Like, consulting and coaching.
22:58
You're like, what you do is for professionals, therapy, and that kind of thing.
23:01
Right?
23:01
So, I'd yeah.
23:04
That's part well, that's part of what
23:05
you can see that.
23:06
I'm the other way.
23:07
I'm the cartoonist.
23:08
My show my personality is about the cartoon.
23:11
So I always tell people this is not gonna be a serious show.
23:14
If it was, it probably like I said, I would when I listen to your show, when you first
23:18
invited me, I'm listening to your show and I'm going, Oh, she picked the wrong guest.
23:22
I don't know if I'm gonna fit on this show.
23:24
And and you may not, Erin.
23:25
I don't know.
23:26
But, I was I was could I I was listening and I go, wow.
23:30
She's you know, the questions are very specific, and I'm not sure I got a really good
23:34
answer for for some of these questions.
23:36
So but I thought, okay.
23:38
She'll figure out how to fit me in there, and she asked me to be on the show.
23:41
So sometimes the shows can be a different personality I would use that.
23:44
Like, I if I fall down in the parking lot, yeah, it's gonna hurt, but I also, I'm gonna
23:50
tape it when the ambulance shows up because I thought This is just great.
23:54
That'll go viral.
23:56
My wife had a computer.
23:57
My wife had a lot.
23:57
I'll just quick story.
23:58
My wife had a laptop that broke on it was giving us nothing but trouble.
24:02
Finally, we bought a new one, and I checked the laptop for a year.
24:05
I said, I'm gonna put this in the parking lot, run over it with the car, and tell people why
24:10
you should use Apple.
24:12
I didn't do that because I was worried about being sued from the other company, so we'll
24:16
leave that alone.
24:16
But I thought it would have been really funny to do that, but I didn't because
24:21
So I I think that's such a pivotal moment.
24:23
Right?
24:23
Like, I mean, we would talk with what we do for a living when we're in a stage or we're going
24:28
into a company or or or I'm I'm coaching someone or doing my podcast.
24:33
I'm just me.
24:33
I'm me who happens to talk about authenticity and leadership, and I work with companies.
24:39
But who I am off stage is the same person that I am in person.
24:43
So a lot of people will say, oh my goodness.
24:45
I can't believe you said that on air.
24:46
I'm like, well, that's who I am.
24:47
You guys know that.
24:48
So
24:49
it's not like someone meets me and then they go, oh my god, Roxanne.
24:51
You're so different from what you are like on your show.
24:54
Because to me, I am who I am, and that's why my brand is based on me and what I do with
25:00
companies or clients.
25:01
So to be one way or the other means that automatically, I'm not living my integrity of
25:06
my brand.
25:07
Right.
25:07
And I probably wouldn't be doing this kind of work if I didn't feel completely comfortable
25:11
with it.
25:12
So to go moving back to the point is that content is constantly around you.
25:18
Right.
25:19
Yeah.
25:19
So always be always be looking for content.
25:22
I could walk to the gym.
25:23
I've actually done some videos at the gym.
25:26
So, back in June, I think it was, there's a a insurance company called, that puts out a brand
25:34
called Healthy Trucker, and they're trying to get drivers to be more healthy, and they had a
25:37
health challenge So I signed up.
25:39
I signed up the podcast and any listeners.
25:42
We were team lead panel.
25:43
That was our because it's the lead panel podcast.
25:45
So we're team lead panel.
25:46
So I was putting out a week, whatever the challenge was that week, I was putting out that
25:51
as content.
25:52
So they would say, here's 4 challenges, eat more vegetables, don't eat pizza this week, no
25:58
beer this week, whatever it was.
26:00
I would you had to pick 2 of those.
26:02
So I would pick 2 and then I would show people, and you can go back and watch this on my
26:07
YouTube channel.
26:08
You will see where I'm I've got like a whole thing of bananas, and I'm going Man, I'm
26:14
supposed to eat.
26:15
And I love bananas, but I was like, I'm supposed to eat more fruit this, and I was
26:18
making funny funny videos trying to show people.
26:22
Here's the challenges I've picked.
26:24
Here's me going through them, and I did that every week.
26:27
And people were signing up and I'm trying to make them silly.
26:30
So if I was in the gym and I had to do workout, I'm videotaping myself in the gym with wakes in
26:34
my hand going, supposed to be doing sit ups or whatever it is.
26:38
Right?
26:38
If if you have fun with the content, you will pump it out, like, no tomorrow.
26:43
If you have to think about it and you're going, I don't wanna put myself out there.
26:46
You're gonna have a problem creating.
26:49
Right.
26:49
Because then it becomes kinda something that I'm supposed to, like, research and those I'm
26:53
not not that I mean, a lot of the stuff that I talk about, I I there's some kind of background
26:58
to it, but I think it's it's the it's the realness of it that people seem to really get
27:02
to.
27:03
Like, wow.
27:04
That happened to you, and you're you're actually talked about it.
27:06
And I'm like, well, this is real life.
27:08
I mean, we're we're we're in the world.
27:10
We're we're obviously business people in the world, but, you know, you're talking about, you
27:14
know, lots of different things in your podcast, and I'm talking just about us being real and
27:19
the more the more real that I show up, I'm gonna impact, you know, I call it the
27:23
concentric circles of people around me.
27:26
And hopefully that kind of impacts change.
27:28
And so you're constantly kind of thinking about it and try to come up with I try to come up
27:33
with things on an ongoing basis that I think might be helpful that people might wanna hear
27:38
about.
27:39
Yeah.
27:39
If you well, if you look at any comedian, you look at anybody, and, you know, for speakers, a
27:43
lot of us are the same we take stories and examples out of our own lives.
27:48
So just do that.
27:49
Like, Gary Vanderchuck is all about just document what you do every day.
27:53
Right?
27:53
And, you know, we all do that.
27:55
So I tell people, I go, listen, I've gotta be honest in life because you could, a police
28:00
officer could find me in 2 minutes flat.
28:02
I am all over Google.
28:03
I'm all over social media.
28:04
Yeah.
28:04
There's I think my phone would even tell him exactly where I am that moment.
28:07
So robbing a bank is out for me.
28:10
You know, I'm not gonna be able to do that.
28:12
And I I remember one time when I was a cartoonist, I submitted a cartoon to playboy,
28:16
and they rejected it.
28:18
It didn't it didn't get in.
28:19
And it was And I'm going, okay.
28:21
I either have to decide, am I going to work with youth, or am I gonna work for playboy?
28:26
As much as I would like to do that, you you've gotta sign, and and that's the only choice I
28:31
made to go, okay, I'm not gonna do that kind of art because I'm working with kids, and this is
28:37
what I'm doing and all that kind of stuff.
28:38
So but those are the kind of choices you have to make.
28:41
You won't see my wife and I fighting on Facebook.
28:43
It's not gonna happen.
28:45
We fight, but it's not gonna happen
28:46
on Facebook.
28:47
So you
28:47
see the positive of our life, but I try to show as much fun that we are we do have fun.
28:52
We have a good life together.
28:54
And we have a lot of fun.
28:55
And I'm not afraid to have fun at the moment at a restaurant.
28:59
We'll take a selfie.
29:00
Uncalled the selfie king.
29:01
It like, you just get into taking enjoying what you're doing and and showing trying to show
29:06
somebody else.
29:08
Here's how you can do it.
29:09
Like, I've always got the audience in mind.
29:10
Right?
29:11
I think they will enjoy this because this is me.
29:13
And that's how as they get to know you, that's a great way of growing your audience is they
29:18
they they learned and know you more.
29:20
And now when I go to shows, they're all going Bruce.
29:22
I don't even know who they are, but they're going, hey.
29:25
We we're following you on the podcast, and I'll go to a truck show and wearing our t shirt, and
29:29
they're coming around Hey, man.
29:30
Love the show.
29:31
Hey.
29:31
Can I get an interview?
29:32
Like, you don't even have to try after a while.
29:34
This comes to you.
29:35
Right?
29:35
It's so interesting.
29:36
You're right because people will say, oh, I heard about this.
29:38
And then you talked to and I'm like, wow.
29:40
Like, I didn't know that was gonna make
29:42
a There's
29:42
actually a listener out there.
29:44
There's somebody listening.
29:45
I know there's downloads, but you wonder.
29:47
Right?
29:48
What what are people really thinking and what do they really think about it?
29:50
So it's it's actually kinda nice for you to say that you've heard mine and kind of what I do
29:55
with it.
29:55
So for people, you know, because you talk a lot about business.
29:59
Right?
29:59
And for, you know, so many people have brilliant ideas, but they second guess
30:04
themselves.
30:05
Right.
30:07
So like you said, when you work with entrepreneurs, you say to them, kinda what do
30:10
you like?
30:11
I mean, what would you spend your time?
30:12
What would you, you know, on a question that I often say to myself is if I didn't have to work
30:17
tomorrow, what would I do?
30:18
And I can answer that question because I know I'm doing it now.
30:21
I would speak.
30:22
I would train.
30:23
I would I would, start a nonprofit for little girls all over the world to teach them about
30:27
self esteem and and the little boys because I think that's important.
30:30
So I know what I would do But sometimes people second guess that because they think, well, who
30:36
am I?
30:37
Right.
30:38
Well, let's look at it this way.
30:40
Why do you have to stop working to start doing that?
30:43
Like, there's no there's no reason you can't do that today.
30:46
You're already probably inspiring girls all over the world.
30:48
You may not know it.
30:49
Because you're not formally trying to do that.
30:51
But if there's someone listening to your podcast somewhere else, I got people listening
30:55
to my podcast on trucking in Cambodia.
30:57
I don't even know if they have there.
30:58
I've never been to Cambodia.
30:59
But they so you you probably are inspiring people already.
31:04
So the way I look at it is how can I give back now?
31:08
Like, if you said to me, Bruce, what would you do tomorrow if you didn't have to do make a I'd
31:12
probably be sitting on a beach drinking beer, probably not the healthiest lifestyle forever.
31:15
Right?
31:16
But we've I I don't believe in retirement.
31:19
Like, you know, I'm I'm more worried about me either losing my left arm, which is what I draw
31:24
with, or losing my voice, which is what I speak with.
31:27
Those are you could cut off my legs.
31:29
I won't be happy, but I still can do what I enjoy doing.
31:33
Mhmm.
31:33
But if I if I was to lose my arm, okay, I could still podcast.
31:37
I don't have to but then if I lost my voice, I don't know.
31:40
I'm hopefully, I'll come up with something else, but that that's what worries me.
31:44
I'm willing because I'm already doing what I love to do.
31:46
My wife and I go to Barbados every year, We travel.
31:50
We we're doing what we love to do in business.
31:53
The the the struggle is trying to keep, you know, innovative and making money at it.
31:58
But at the same time, we give back.
32:00
This is why I give back on my television show.
32:02
That's my way of giving back to the community.
32:04
We are media sponsors for a number of events in the cancer and Special Olympics, and I'll we
32:10
give back our time and our advertising dollars that way.
32:13
So I'm already giving back to people in my life.
32:15
And if something else comes up that I really am passionate about, I will get involved with
32:19
that.
32:20
But doesn't mean I have to stop work to do it.
32:22
You have I figured out how to do it within our.
32:25
So, like, special Olympics, I love I just love them.
32:27
We've been media sponsors for years for them.
32:31
I can't afford to go over and do all the stuff, but we can give back by advertising for them on
32:36
the podcast.
32:37
And I interviewed their athletes and We cover their events and I I get more word out about
32:44
Special Olympics, which is our way of giving back.
32:46
I could write them a check it probably won't do as much as what I'm doing now over the course
32:51
of the year giving back to that organization.
32:53
Right?
32:53
So how can you do that all those things you just mentioned, I think you're already starting
32:57
to do them.
32:59
I don't think you need to wait until you stop making money.
33:02
You you're doing it.
33:03
How can you really get back to it might be covering, putting one of them on your podcast
33:09
so that they get more that might be your way of giving back to or maybe you have a young girl
33:13
every month on your podcast that now you're giving back.
33:15
Right?
33:16
You're doing it.
33:16
You're already doing it, and you have a you have a platform to do it.
33:19
A lot of people don't have a platform to do it on that as well.
33:22
So, you know, that's a good point.
33:24
Right?
33:24
Cause I often say that, you know, that's my dream.
33:27
I lost a sister 3 years ago.
33:29
And I would name the, you know, the arm of a nonprofit after her to and take funds out of my
33:35
business to be able to do that, and I just haven't taken that step.
33:37
But I I think that's a good point.
33:39
Right?
33:39
If I wanna inspire little boys and girls to be able to live their true authenticity, right,
33:44
and, you know, if if I already have the platform, why wait?
33:48
So thanks for that.
33:49
That's a gift that you just gave me there, Bruce, to be able to do that.
33:53
You know?
33:53
And and you know what?
33:54
Set up that foundation.
33:55
You can set up that foundation tomorrow.
33:57
And even if you only put a dollar in a year, let's just say you only put a dollar in.
34:03
You've started.
34:04
You you know, you didn't say you're gonna, like, you know, I don't know what what what you
34:07
wanna do, but maybe let's say you write a book and all the proceeds from that one book go into
34:11
the foundation.
34:12
You started.
34:13
Like, you I'm really big on just getting started because everything I've learned, I've
34:17
learned by doing it.
34:19
So When I started a business, my dad was an accountant.
34:22
You know, he was he was helpful in getting the books kind of in order and telling me the
34:26
categories and stuff.
34:27
But it's really you gotta go do it.
34:29
Right?
34:29
He can only do so much afterwards.
34:32
I've learned marketing.
34:33
I've learned production.
34:34
I've learned all this stuff by doing our business.
34:37
And and so I always say people just get started in it.
34:40
Don't wait till it's all perfect and you're gonna now stop the line.
34:44
Start now.
34:44
I started my art business.
34:46
I was still working full time when I had my art business for 3 years before we went full time
34:50
with it.
34:50
Wow.
34:51
And, you know, I just started selling to the neighbors.
34:53
You know, I paint the dog down the street, whatever it was.
34:57
And I go, okay.
34:58
I'm making some money.
34:59
And then, you know, we decide to to kick it up a notch and I wasn't actually planning on that.
35:04
I I was having a tough time as a supervisor at work, and I just need to get out of that
35:08
environment.
35:08
And that's why I left, but I I think I might have still been in the truck if I hadn't become
35:13
a supervisor.
35:14
Like, I actually love the trucks.
35:15
I still love the trucks.
35:16
I wanna go back driving now, but I just don't wanna go back day to day.
35:20
I'd love to just get something to go around with the shows with.
35:23
That's kind of probably the next step.
35:24
That'd be neat.
35:25
And then your marketing can be both over the the the truck.
35:28
So for, you know, for a lot of people, and I think I got a cross section of people
35:33
listening, there's probably an entrepreneur listening to you that has a creative idea.
35:39
What kind of advice would you give to them about that idea?
35:43
What what kind of things would you suggest to them?
35:47
I would tell them to depending on the idea, I would tell them to actually maybe get 3
35:52
opinions on whether it's a good idea or not.
35:54
And then I would actually test it.
35:56
Do some kind of a test model, you know, online now.
35:59
They talk about the that's validating your idea.
36:02
Right?
36:02
You know, I wanna write a book.
36:04
Will somebody buy the book from me?
36:06
Well, I don't know.
36:07
Do a chapter and see if anybody likes it, you know, have people read it.
36:10
So just getting started.
36:12
And that might be going down to your local business development office and saying, here's
36:16
my idea.
36:17
Can I start a business?
36:19
You know, or listening to a podcast today on how to start a business in that area, whatever
36:24
that might be.
36:27
You've gotta start and and because nobody can do it for you.
36:29
It's not like you can come
36:30
up with the idea.
36:31
If you take that idea, give it
36:32
to somebody else.
36:33
Maybe you need a partner with it, but they might run with it and take all the proceeds out
36:38
and you're left with nothing.
36:39
Right?
36:40
So I always like to start things myself.
36:42
It's like editing my podcast.
36:44
I could get somebody to edit my podcast.
36:46
I'm still developing exactly how it goes because I change a lot of stuff within there.
36:52
But I wanna know how to edit myself.
36:54
I don't need to be the best editor.
36:55
I wanna know how to edit.
36:57
So I can when someone tells me there's a problem, I understand what they're talking
37:01
about, and I know who to look for when I'm ready to get an So just get started.
37:05
I would I just tell people, get started.
37:07
There's no reason you can't start.
37:08
There's so much information on your podcast, my podcast, online books, downloads.
37:14
Everybody's offering a free download course nowadays.
37:17
There's no reason to not get started.
37:19
The only thing holding you back is yourself, whoever that might be.
37:23
And if that's the case, listen to podcasts on confidence.
37:26
Don't listen to podcasts on business.
37:28
You need to listen.
37:28
How do I get myself out the gate?
37:30
You know, that's That's what I do.
37:32
I listen to 3 podcasts every day.
37:35
You do?
37:35
Wow.
37:36
Wow.
37:36
I go to the gym.
37:37
So that's why this is why I developed my podcast to be a half hour show.
37:42
Because I go to the gym for an hour a half, and I could get 3 half hour shows.
37:46
When someone has an an hour a half show or an hour show, It drives me nuts because sometimes
37:50
I don't finish it.
37:51
Now I gotta wait till tomorrow to find out what's going on.
37:54
So To try to try to finish it off.
37:56
Well, Bruce You fit right in on my podcast.
37:59
I love it.
38:00
We probably got a lot longer than you want.
38:02
We have.
38:03
We have, but that's okay.
38:04
So, where can people reach you?
38:07
If they're looking at, you know, if they're in a trucking industry or if they're just looking
38:12
at starting a business or they're looking to if they have something with youth related that
38:17
they might wanna connect with you about the, show in Burlington, where can people get a hold
38:22
of you?
38:23
Well, they could try Google and a whole bunch of stuff will come up.
38:25
Probably the easiest website is to go to bruceoutridge.com.
38:28
That's probably where everything connects out of that.
38:31
And, my art website is bruceoutreachproductions.com.
38:34
But if you go to bruceoutworks.com, you can get links to all the the podcast, the television
38:39
show.
38:39
You can see all kinds of stuff there.
38:40
And probably the easiest way to start, and then you can go in whichever direction.
38:44
So Well, thanks.
38:45
You've you've added a different spunk to my podcast.
38:48
I can I can tell that you do this a lot?
38:50
Yeah.
38:50
Because a lot of times, it's hard, right, but you're when you're getting in front of a camera
38:54
and and to get going.
38:55
But, I guess, Bruce, my takeaway today is, when I think about authenticity, just listen to what
39:01
you're passionate about.
39:02
It may you can do it now.
39:04
You don't have to wait to Bruce's point.
39:06
That's right.
39:06
If you have an idea and you have a job, you know, and it could be it may not be that you
39:10
get peace, but you're you're you're gonna light up your soul.
39:13
Yeah.
39:13
If you're doing something that you love.
39:15
So just do it and if you never know what's gonna come from it.
39:19
And then out of that, you know, just take the next step and see, you know, where it's gonna
39:23
lead you and to Bruce's point, He ended up, you know, being a cartoonist.
39:27
How many years later?
39:29
Yeah, it was 18 years that I never even took a pencil out.
39:33
And then when I 32.
39:34
So probably, 20 years after that initial point is when I actually started back drawing.
39:39
And today, it's been 12 years as a full time cartoonist.
39:43
Well, that's amazing.
39:44
And it took me, how many years I always spoke?
39:46
I spoke corporately for 15 years and then to be able to get on a keynote stage It took me
39:52
almost 20 years going through my career to be able to get to a point where I'm doing this
39:56
full time and loving every minute of it.
39:58
Has it been has it been a stretch?
40:00
Absolutely.
40:01
But I took that leap, even thinking, I don't know what I'm doing.
40:05
I I don't know what I'm doing.
40:06
Hopefully, I'll meet people along the way.
40:08
And now I'm surrounded by people that speak full time that train consult consultants, I'm
40:14
around podcasters and and all these amazing things happen.
40:18
Just from taking that first step.
40:20
So for everyone listening, take that step.
40:22
That's all it's gonna take.
40:23
Do what you love, and it comes naturally this is Roxanne Duhaj.
40:27
And, if you're looking for a keynote on mental health and wellness and leadership, you can
40:31
reach me at Roxanne.
40:33
Take care, Bruce.
40:34
Perfect.
40:35
Thank you.
40:35
Okay.
40:36
Take care.
40:37
Thanks for tuning in to authentic living with Roxanne, creating the space for positive health
40:43
change.
40:44
Roxanne is a keynote speaker, psychotherapist, and coach to work with Roxanne, visit Roxanne
40:51
durhaj.com/blueprint.
40:54
We'll see you next time.
40:55
An authentic living with Roxanne.