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The Next Chapter with Stephen Clarke · Authentic Living

0:31
Welcome to authentic living with Roxanne, a global voice Radio.
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Join Roxanne Derhodge and her thought provoking conversations, the catalyst to live your life
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to the fullest.
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Hi, everyone.
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It's Roxanne Duraj again.
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Roxanne with, living authentically.
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So thank you again for, tuning in, this week.
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And today, I have a special guest.
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His name is Mr.
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Steven Clark.
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Steven, thanks so much for coming on.
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Pleasure to be here.
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Awesome.
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So, Steve, Stephen, I have a bit of a bio, so I'm gonna read some stuff off.
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But obviously, I would like you to let, let the listeners know anything that I've missed.
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Steven is a former, professional hockey player, which I know I've spent one too many times on
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that rank, so I can appreciate what that is.
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You suffered a career ending, knee injury.
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Quiet Young had age twenty five went through some issues with depression and, with lots of
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help from some significant people in his life, found your next chapter in the advertising
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worlds, where you've excelled in both the corporate arena with, global giants like
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advertising, McLean Hunter and Sachi and Sachi.
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And you've also launched and grew, your own agency into a North American powerhouse before
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selling it off.
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Wow.
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That sounds like a lot of work done there.
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And, since then, you've gone on to, with your mom's, and speaking with your mom, you started
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as for profit social enterprise called the RTG group, which is focused on feeding the hungry
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and building homeless shelters in downtown Toronto, which is amazing.
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I, I can, speak a lot to that after working with place and, and what a need that is.
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And, you're a creative thinker and, you now run a young entrepreneur's mentoring program.
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And you sit on several non profit boards, and your favorite word is mission and life is to be
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re is to be recognized as someone who's both talked about it and then went on to make it
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happen.
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Wow.
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Not many people could say that, Steven.
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So thank you so much again.
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Is there anything that I missed?
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I know I've kind of gone by the bio that I choose now.
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No.
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It's it's great.
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It's, you know, it's kind of interesting to sit here and and listen to your life being, being
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talked about and in front of you.
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But, no, that's kind of certainly the highlights.
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You know, I think that that one of the things I always like to talk to people about, you know,
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often we get the question, and I get it all the time when I speak, and I do a lot of speakings
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now.
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And I'm always asked, you know, if you're a young person, you could go back and give
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yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?
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And, you know, I wrestled with that for a while, and and now, it's patience.
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It's actually quite simple.
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I I would be more patient.
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I would And when I teach the young people, which is why I really created a a young
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mentorship program, and we were just launching future generation of entrepreneurs, which is a
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new program I created for universities, that we're teaching them now that, you know, you
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have to be patient.
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Everybody wants everything.
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They want it right away.
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But if you look at any anybody, Greg, who's who's accomplished anything, you know, of
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worthiness in life, you can look in the it's it's been done over time.
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And Warren Buffett was just talking about that not long ago about how his transition and how
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took, and it was just, like, one day at a time.
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And, he had to, you know, to kind of let that happen.
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And and, and that's one of the most frustrating things because especially young people day,
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you'll find that they want it and they want it now.
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And, you know, when they don't get it, that's where it leads to things where they do get
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upset and they do get depression.
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And, you know, I think we kinda live in a world today of depression where people are
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constantly, you know, buying lottery tickets and not winning.
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And the next day, they're all depressed and, you know, an up and down, ride.
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So, but but, no, those are certainly the highlights, and I've been very fortunate.
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I've been lucky along the way and And I've had a lot of help, and I think that that's the
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other thing that people need to know is there is help out there, for anything.
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And you just need to be, be willing and able to go out and ask for
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So tell me.
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So you're obviously you what how old were you when you started playing hockey?
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I signed my first professional hockey contact at 19.
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And, so I played for 5 years and I blew up my knee and, and that was a real, that was a real
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turning point for me, for a number of reasons.
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And I think that, you know, I'm not alone in this, but as a young person, especially twenty
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five year old, just signed a big big new contract, and, and and was really excited about
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the next chapter and and, and what ended up happening was it was it was immediately taken
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away.
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I was in it was a knee injury, and I could literally never play again.
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And we never anticipate those things.
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No one ever talks about that.
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No one, ever says, back in the day, and I'm sure they're doing it today.
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Well, what if this happens or what if that happens?
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And as young people, and they are I find it today the same as their, you know, their
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immortal they're gonna last forever, and they're gonna keep doing whatever they're doing
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because that's just the way it is.
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And then and then, obviously, you realize it's not the way it is.
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And and it's taken away from you.
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And that's when, you know, for for myself, and I obviously am a extremely, positive person
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always have been But, you know, I grew up poor.
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I grew up, you know, kind of on the streets of of Toronto.
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Family life was was a little bit strained.
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My father, you know, had an addiction.
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My mother worked 2 jobs.
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She was a she was my my, my saint.
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But I was out, out about all the time.
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I, you know, did all my, all of the things and, like, most kind of kids did who didn't grow up,
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you know, in in money or or with any type of wealth.
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And so I had to learn the street street smarts and all that other stuff, but the reality is is
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that we're, you know, we're kind of taught that these are the things and that they're in our
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trolled and then all of a sudden, you know, it's not.
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And, so I I suffered for the first time in my life at 25, funny enough, I suffered a real,
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setback, and I and I didn't really know how to handle it, or I wasn't surrounded either by the
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people who could help me.
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So, so that was a real challenge in life.
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And, and that was kind of the first, my first real experienced with depression or or, you
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know, because I'm always up on my I've always been up and, know, of course, at 19 to 25, I
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was living the life of my dreams.
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I was, you know, being paid to play a sport that I just loved if I would have played for
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nothing.
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And, and then all of a sudden it's just taken away.
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And so a couple a couple things happen.
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Number 1 is, like, why why me start to feel sorry for yourself, but the other thing is is,
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which is really scary, and I know a lot of people will go through this.
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We're gonna talk about this more at the show.
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I'm really excited about this.
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But, like, what's next?
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Mhmm.
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And I've had people in in that I've got to know over the years, ex hockey players, who weren't
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able to come up with an answer to that and ended
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up taking their lives.
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Right.
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Because They're just there was nothing that left.
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There would there is nothing next.
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That's it.
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This is who I am.
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This is who they've identified themselves, worth, and subsequently, you know, they and
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they didn't get the help and and, you know, they just ended up taking their own lives.
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So that was a that was an interesting time for me.
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I I was able to, after after several months, get the help I needed.
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And then I was given that, the answer to the question, which was the greatest thing for me.
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Well, what's next?
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And all of a sudden, I was introduced to advertising.
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And I loved it.
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I it was a new passion.
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And all of a sudden, very quickly, I forgot about hockey.
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And, and I just realized that, you know, and and and I guess to my the strength of my mind
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was just able to say, well, that's done.
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You you just have to accept that.
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And I did.
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And I was able to do that and move on, and I had a great career and obviously advertising
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and learned a great deal, met a lot of great people, builds up my own company, and
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obviously, you know, did well with that.
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So, but, but those are the types of struggles that I had to go through.
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And, and until I got the right help and and changed my mindset, it was difficult.
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It was it was a tough time.
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So tell me about mindset, right, because believe it or not, I, I dealt with both hockey
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leagues.
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I dealt with the East Coast hockey league, league and the EHL when I, when I, managed, at
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a health and wellness firm.
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So I, that's, I was a bit clueless.
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I would say, what's a Trinidad doing, taking care of the hockey leagues?
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And I said, So I, I, and I actually worked with the union, that was based, in St.
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Catherine's actually.
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So and they would they were trying to mentor young players.
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Of course, we East Coast, you know, that's, you know, you could be gone in a second, but the
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EHL, they kind of foster.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So this issue was huge because you know, those guys very driven, but they got told, went to
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practice, went to get up, when they had time off, all those things.
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So very hard workers, obviously, and, but a defined set of subset of what they were gonna
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do for a living.
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Right.
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You're so right.
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Then, like, this dream, which is, it's every Canadian boy's dream to be
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able to
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go on and play hockey for a living.
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And, you had to pivot immediately because of this knee injury.
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So how did you change that mindset?
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Cause I think that's important.
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Obviously, you've gone on and done big things since But one of the things that you obviously
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had a good mindset in in in order to achieve a pinnacle of hockey, which I think of that is.
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But how did you pivot that state?
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To go from passion of hockey to, you know, experiencing something different.
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Well, for me, it was, as I said, I went through, a time.
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It was probably in you know, I'm going I'm thinking back.
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It was probably in at anywhere from 4 to 6 months, that I really was in a free fall.
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I really didn't know what to do.
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I was I was angry.
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I went through all the all the typical things, and and you're certainly aware of them.
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I I got was very angry in why this would happen to me.
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I I took it out on, you know, on on booze and and, and drugs and everything else.
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And, and I didn't I couldn't really come to terms with that.
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What ended up happening for me, there was a there was a a point where and it was probably
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the lowest point where I I ended up, you know, in a in a very uncomfortable position.
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And and a and a fellow reached out who knew me.
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He he knew of me.
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He didn't even know me.
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He knew of me because of my, you know, the reputation of being professional athlete and he
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knew who I was.
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He reached out and and and for whatever reason, I guess it was a timing thing for me.
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It was it was time, and and he basically said, listen, you know, don't don't let that, you
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know, don't let Hockey define you.
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You're you're you're far greater than that.
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And it's time.
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You you stopped this.
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You need to now go back to Canada.
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I was I was over in Europe at the time.
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You need to go back there and and know, start and he actually, I still use this term all the
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time that they're just building a program right now in the United States called next chapter.
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And he really he really put that thing in the perspective about life being like a book.
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And about it it's you know, it's broken down into chapters and some chapters are longer than
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others, some are shorter.
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I had a good run.
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I had a 5 year chapter, and, you know, really lived a great life, great lifestyle, through
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that, but it was time now to to you know, start a new chapter.
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And it was a it was almost like an awakening.
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It was I was in this fog for, you know, 4 to 6 months.
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And through whatever the the not necessarily the way he said it because he's a very soft
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spoken guy, but it was just It was the timing, I think, for me, and it was just the way, you
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know, the way he kind of phrased it.
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And I thought, yeah, you know what?
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Like, what the hell?
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Like, it is time.
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I mean, it is time to move on.
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I mean, you have to accept it that that's it.
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You're never gonna play hockey again, and that's you know, that's it.
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And once I came to the realization, and I, as I said, with with help, I probably should have
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got clinical help.
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But but, you know, but it and I will tell you back in that time, you think depression,
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everything's a stigma today, I mean, back in my day, I mean, you would never I we we would I
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would I can tell you right now, I had at least 4 concussions that new nobody knew about
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because you just, you know, I mean, you didn't talk about that stuff.
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You just, you know, you went to or I I was walking around.
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I can remember walking around my apartment for, you know, for 2 days straight, not being able
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to sleep or anything like that because my headaches and everything like that popping
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pills and everything like that.
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And now when I think back, obviously, yeah, I mean, no question about it.
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They were concussions, but they weren't diagnosed or anything back then.
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So it's a little bit different than it is today, but But, you know, I I just I was able
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to to get that whatever whatever happened then.
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It was like the turning point where I got the hell for me, it was just a, you know, a simple
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kind of a guy having a a short conversation with me when it really resonated.
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And then I was able to very quickly turn things around And and as as kind of the world unfolds
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as it should, once I did and I came back, you know, I had people reach out and say, you know,
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what are you gonna do now?
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There's opportunities.
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I was introduced to the advertising world.
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And, and the president of the agency, which was a big hockey fan.
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So, I was just, you know, I just found my next chapter very quickly after that and and, went
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on to, you know, have a 25 year career in that one.
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So, really, it's, you know, it's about, having the right mentor at the right time.
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And adjusting the mindset to recognize that.
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Like, you're right.
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If there's a stories have a beginning, middle, and an end.
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So the context was that you were privileged and really could shift the mindset to see it as
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such and then be able to go on and, and then say, okay, internally, what am I about?
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What's, what's Steven Clark about?
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And then find passion elsewhere.
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Obviously, you found passion in one arena, and then you went on and obviously found that
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passion elsewhere.
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Sometimes, you know, some people are able to kind of leverage quickly and what we know, you
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know, in just case it was it sounds like it was more situational depression then you kind of
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found the right people.
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And that's what we know.
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Right?
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If when we're having a tough time, we've all been through.
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I mean, to have lived means you, you have experienced things in your life.
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It's sometimes surrounding yourself by the right people.
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And then before you know, it's, you know, that kind of buffering, I call it, gets you to the
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point and says, okay, well, this tool will pass.
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And before you know, if there's something else, which is sounds kind of what, what's happen.
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So tell us a little bit about, now you're gonna be speaking of the authentic connection
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movement, which was we're so privileged that, you were able to come on board, and I think
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you're gonna be able to speak to such an amazing you're gonna be speaking of
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millennials.
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And I often say that millennials get a tough go, right?
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Because they are defi now they're interviewing us about why they should give us their capacity
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or their gifts and, and invest in, in our firms.
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Right?
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They come.
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Whereas I think of my first job, Steven, when I got a job, it was like, alright.
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Yes, sir.
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How long and what do you need from me?
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And, you know, our management styles and what we were accustomed to back then was so
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different when I got my first job in, you know, in the, in the late eighties.
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Yeah.
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Now when I sit across from a young person and they're saying, well, I like work life balance.
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This is my passion.
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This
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is what, what are you gonna do differently for me?
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And how are you gonna ensure that I'm, I'm, I'm stimulating them, could be creative.
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And I'm like, woah, this is a bit different.
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Absolutely.
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It's
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not that I learned in, you know, in my my mid 40s, they're kinda coming off the gates, you
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know, if that had a different situation.
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Tell us a little bit about what you'll be speaking about and what you focus on, now with
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millennials.
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Right.
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So our comp so I created, kinda came out of retirement.
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I I, after selling and and doing a stint with, with with Satya and Satya, actually.
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We want my wife and I went down to Scottsdale, and we we kind of decide where we're looking
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for what we would do next, our next chapter.
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And, and, of course, all the ex hockey players are down there, so I was able to reconnect a
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bunch of guys.
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And, but when we we really couldn't figure out what that was going to be, I was really I was
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really, I've always been asked by all my mentors, funny enough, and and some I've had
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some big ones, Stephen Covey, Brian Tracy, Tony Robbins, they've always asked when we're, you
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know, especially when we're starting.
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Like, what is it that you, would like to see on your tombstone?
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I mean, I
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first of all, I hate that question, but, anyway, you know, it's just like I don't wanna
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talk about that, but I used to instinctively say that he made a difference in the world.
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That that that's what if anything else, that's what I would like to be remembered.
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For.
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And, of course, they challenging you, of course, they would say, you know, have you.
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And, and again, it's distinctive, but I would say, well, yes, I have.
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I've I've always to charities.
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I've been on the boards.
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I mean, I've done this and, yes, I have, but always every single time there'd be something
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inside of me saying it would literally I could almost hear it saying, yeah.
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But you can do more.
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You you can do more.
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And, and so, you know, I I dismissed that back in the day, you know, I because I was busy
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doing all these other things, but now this little voice was back again saying that you can
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do more.
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You can truly make a difference.
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Mhmm.
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And I couldn't really figure what out what that was and, and so we traveled around a bit and
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did did a few different things.
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And, I was speaking a little bit, with Brian, Tracy, and a few other people, and, realized
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that wasn't really gonna be it.
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Came back and said, I went to my mother.
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It's we all have to do.
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And I said, mom, like, what would you like me to do?
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And my mother, she's just she's a character.
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She say she said to me, well, I I I'd like you to end homelessness.
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I said, oh, okay and homelessness.
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Well, that's a big that's a big plus.
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I said, tell you what I'm gonna do.
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I'm going to build a homeless shelter, and I'm gonna put your name on it.
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I'm gonna leave a legacy for you.
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And, of course, that obviously made her really happy.
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And, so on the way home, my wife had reminded me that And by the way, I've been studying
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millennials for 15 years because I've always studied future trends, and she reminded me of 2
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things.
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She's number one is every time I was on a board of a charity or a nonprofit, I used to say,
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guys, we need to change our model because we're not offering enough transparency, which is
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something millennials insist on.
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And we're not making it enough about the people who are writing the checks who are giving us
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the money.
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And we need to be a little more creative and and and come up with a new model or at least
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change the current one.
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Of course, I always was that was met with resistance.
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So while this is the way done.
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We've always done it this way, and we've raised 1,000,000,000 of dollars and blah blah blah.
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You hear all that stuff.
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And and so now I was in this position where I was gonna build a home to shelter and there was
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really only one model available, and that was to go out and basically beg for money, telling
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them I had a great cause.
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And And so I decided at that time, this is almost 3 years ago, that I was going to build a
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new model around giving.
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And it was going to be, built on the future and really built on the the needs and wants of the
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millennials.
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And the zeds because I was already studying them.
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And so we built this new model.
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We launched, you know, two and a half years ago, a company called RTG Group, RTG.
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It stands for receiving through giving, and the model is is all built around in ensuring that
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every touch point, every single person wins more than they put in.
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And we offer full transparency but unlike the new models of today, it's not necessarily
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disruptive because it's very collaborative.
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So some of our part our our charities right now are our biggest partners, our actual charities
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where we work together.
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So one of the things I'm going to talk about is the the need for collaboration, the need to
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understand the millennials better.
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First of all, I love the millennials.
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I think their their their mindset is great.
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I know that that there are 2 different types that people talk about when they talk about the
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narcissistic and the, you know, self serving and they do this and it's all about them and
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blah blah.
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There's also another, you know, the other side to that is where 62% of graduating students do
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they wanna become entrepreneurs?
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To this entrepreneurial passion, which millennials have NZ have it coming up now.
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And this is a this is a great thing because this is wonderful.
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You know, they do leave jobs every two and a half years, but you'll notice that they don't
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leave jobs like Google or Facebook.
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Or, you know, those companies.
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They don't leave those every two and a half years because they're engaged and those
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companies making about them and they do the things necessary.
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So, you know, our model is really working with companies and helping them millennialize their
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organizations, but at the same time, doing good, giving back building stronger, emotional
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can with brands.
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And so those are the types of things that we're we're going to talk about.
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And also the the fact that in North America, you know, we have close to fifty million people
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to go hungry every day, which I think is just blows me away every time I hear it.
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We can do something about that.
23:34
We need to we need to put an end to that because quite frankly, food, water and shelter
23:39
are 3 fundamental you know, necessities that everybody, not any needs, but should have.
23:46
And so we wanna our our mission over the next over the last chapter probably of our life now
23:52
will be to ensure that that happens.
23:54
And certainly we'll start in North America, but we plan to take it at global And, and that's
23:59
what RTG is all about, and that's what we'll be talking about that and how kinda coming
24:03
overcoming some of these things because now we are focused on our our homeless shelter, which
24:08
will start, hopefully, in the spring of next year, will actually, start digging for that.
24:14
So that's kind of an exciting project too.
24:16
So lots lots of interesting things to talk about and and get feedback from and be able to
24:20
share stories with people.
24:23
What an amazing thing to be able to want a smart mom, to be able to see that legacy,
24:30
right, which because you're so right.
24:31
Like, you know, myself growing up in the Caribbean, you know, I didn't see the poverty
24:37
as we did, but in a different way,
24:40
And
24:40
my parents always, we would go and, you know, you know, they would call it the poor house
24:45
back in Trinidad, but they would, you know, we would cook meals, and then we would put things
24:49
together, and they would take us, and we would hand them out.
24:52
Yeah.
24:52
And when I, I worked with the Metro Toronto Police as part of victim services back in
24:57
'nineteen, goodness, 90.
24:59
And, you know, at that point, again, coming from a small island, it's a different context,
25:04
And then going to Toronto, you know, and, seeing people in the cold, right, and having
25:11
to, you know, get them off the streets and then we couldn't find we could back then, Steven, in
25:17
1990, 1989, we couldn't find spaces but way back then.
25:23
So, like, I mean, what a gift, that you'll be giving to Toronto because, you know, and then,
25:29
you know, there was defined.
25:30
It had to be this person, and then we couldn't we we barely find shelters for males.
25:35
For some
25:35
reason, we could find it for females, but not for males.
25:38
And we would kind of try to do our best to be able to, you know, place people.
25:42
It's a freezing sub 0 temperature.
25:45
So to be able to give that to Toronto, what, what, what an amazing, amazing, give back,
25:50
that, hopefully that will be something that will spur people to want to do more more of
25:56
those, acts of kindness.
25:58
Yeah.
25:58
I think that that's what that's the objective.
26:00
Obviously, we we're not doing this, alone.
26:02
Obviously, we're We're now building a big team.
26:05
We're actually launching in the states next month.
26:08
In New York would be our first office.
26:11
And and so we've got a lot of people now and and the model, you know, for the 1st couple of
26:17
years, really, almost actually for the first two and a half years since we started has been
26:21
really been misunderstood.
26:23
So, you know, we get lumped into charity and the and all these different things.
26:29
Now all of a sudden, it's starting to get understood.
26:32
People are reaching out to us.
26:34
Other cherries are reaching out to us and saying, you know, you have this model that
26:38
offers full transparency where, you know, where every every single dime is going.
26:42
And you have also a model where you can give back to every donor far more than they're than
26:48
they're putting in.
26:49
So they're winning more than they put in their than their, you know, they they win more than
26:54
they put in.
26:55
So we would like to partner up with you if there's a way for us to win as well, which, of
26:59
course, there is.
27:00
So Now we're building some really great programs.
27:03
One of them which we're really excited about and will be we haven't really announced
27:08
officially, but we will next month probably is called 2nd chances, which is, which is in
27:13
partnership with set with, John Howard Society.
27:17
And we're taking formally and, incarcerated people and we're giving them full sales and
27:22
marketing training by some of the top trainers in Canada they'll be obviously selling our
27:27
program into into the corporate world, our team building, but they'll get this certified
27:32
program and then recruiting companies will help them get jobs and through selling our program,
27:36
they'll also, you know, graduate, so to speak, after the 30 days, and they'll be making money
27:43
through because we'll be feeding people.
27:44
We'll be able to give some of that back to them as well as to John Howard.
27:48
So we're creating these programs now that be able to reach out and make a difference in a
27:52
whole of other things.
27:53
And somebody said to me, I was speaking recently.
27:55
Imagine, you know, 5 years from now when our projections are defeating 5,000,000 people, a
28:01
month, which is which I know will hit, you know, how great that will be.
28:06
And and somebody else said, yeah, but Well, that will be great and no doubt about it.
28:11
But the greatest thing is this company will be, you know, building home the shelters, putting
28:15
kids through school and scholarships, helping people formally incarcerated people, helping
28:20
the vets in the states.
28:21
I mean, all the other programs, creative programs that we can create is really is really
28:26
special, and I don't know if anybody else right now is doing it.
28:29
So we're, you know, we're pretty excited about it.
28:32
So give me, you know, you and I have chat in a little little bit about this.
28:35
So when you go into a company, tell me how, how you when you go in and they they're interested
28:40
in partnership.
28:41
Tell me what what's how you kind of, pitch them.
28:44
I mean, I don't think there would be much of a pitch from what you're telling me because
28:48
you're saying,
28:48
you
28:49
know, that you're gonna help out.
28:50
You're gonna feed, you know, is 5,000,000 Canadians a month?
28:55
Yeah.
28:56
We're well, no.
28:56
No.
28:57
So we'll we'll feed, our our 5 year projections now are 5,000,000 between 57,000,000 North
29:03
Americans per month.
29:05
Okay.
29:06
Okay.
29:06
Canada will probably be about a 1,000,000.
29:08
Okay.
29:08
Okay.
29:09
Which is about what we have.
29:10
So that's about 30,000,000 meals a month.
29:13
Yes.
29:13
But when we go funny enough, we we would go into a company and say that if we went into a
29:18
comp this is the whole misunderstanding of the model.
29:21
Mhmm.
29:22
So if we went and we did when we first were starting and we wouldn't get in and saying,
29:25
this is what we're doing isn't this great.
29:28
And the company would say, yeah, that that's great.
29:30
But, you know, we that's that's great, but thanks, but we give to Princess Margaret or we
29:33
give to sick kids.
29:34
So, yeah, no, thanks.
29:37
Mhmm.
29:38
And we'd say, okay.
29:40
Well, we screwed that up because, really, What we do, is really got nuts.
29:47
Like, the benefits are pro of our program is really what we need to be selling.
29:53
And, of course, this is back to, you know, proper marketing and educating and everything
29:56
else.
29:57
So now what we do is we go into a company we would go in and say, Ratin, here's, we have a
30:03
program that is going to help you improve your corporate culture.
30:06
It will help you attract and retain millennials, and it will build a stronger
30:10
emotional connection to your brand.
30:12
If you're interested in any of those things, we'd like to set up a meeting in Tati about how
30:16
we
30:16
do that.
30:16
Right.
30:17
So what's in it for them?
30:18
So you're just you're just talked about them.
30:21
That's it.
30:22
Saying we want something from you.
30:24
These are the benefits.
30:25
These are the it's a win win.
30:26
Sure.
30:27
The the the the relevance of how is very low on the totem pole.
30:35
You gotta have always pushed.
30:36
I mean, Apple was great at this, right, They talk about all the benefits and everything.
30:41
And then at the end is, hey.
30:42
You wanna buy a phone.
30:43
Right?
30:43
I mean, it's not about the phone.
30:45
It's about all the things that it can do.
30:47
The magic and Chris that that the phone the the camera, the this, the that.
30:51
Look at all these great things.
30:52
Oh, hey, buddy.
30:52
And you wanna buy 1.
30:53
Right?
30:54
Right.
30:54
So we do we're doing that now.
30:58
And so we really focus on that, and we know that our team building program, which is what
31:03
we do, which is how we do it.
31:06
The how is we go in, we divide them up on the teams, we set the goals, we get them all
31:10
working together, and we challenge each team to see which team can feed them out.
31:15
And we have this, you know, over 2, 3, 3 week period.
31:19
We have this challenge and they trash talk each other and go back and forth.
31:22
And then there's a You know, there's a there's a final It's fun.
31:25
It's fun.
31:26
To make it fun.
31:27
They're engaged.
31:28
There's there's nothing the millennials like better than being engaged.
31:32
And at the end of the day, for example, in this program, we have called graduate debt free.
31:37
We go in, which we're actually just launching.
31:39
We launched last week in Kitchener.
31:41
We're talking we had a conversation with the mayor there, and we're so we're very excited
31:45
about that.
31:45
But so any company that does our program, we go in, we do this, If they feed more than 500
31:51
people, we then put a full scholarship in their company thing.
31:54
So now not only have they fed, you know, 5, 6, 7, however many money they fed, now they get a
32:03
full scholarship.
32:04
And by the way, our algorithms will pick it up so that If they're a web developer company, the
32:09
person who's gonna get that scholarship will be web developer so they can also work there as an
32:14
intern in the summer.
32:16
But now their employees take great pride in the fact that they were the ones that now are
32:22
feeding, you know, 700 people a month.
32:25
Just 21,000 meals, every month.
32:28
They're the ones that got that person's scholarship.
32:30
It wasn't just the company writing checks or whatever.
32:33
It was from their efforts through their engagement that they went out and they made
32:37
this happen.
32:39
Now all of a sudden when they're out having drinks with their friends and everything
32:42
they're talking about their company and the things that they did.
32:45
And isn't it cool when we look at this, here's the pitch of the person came into the office
32:49
and I took a picture with them and they're going to, you know, Waterloo or wherever.
32:53
So all of a sudden, there's that engagement factor, and that is how how you will keep
32:58
millennials longer than their two and a half years what they currently stay because you need
33:02
to engage them.
33:03
They need to be proud about where they work.
33:06
Right?
33:06
Tommy.
33:06
Tommy.
33:06
How about
33:07
the paycheck?
33:07
What an amazing how did did you come up with this?
33:10
Did
33:11
Yeah.
33:11
Yeah.
33:11
I did.
33:12
I I came up with an people often ask me, they say, well, you know, how did you come up with
33:16
this?
33:16
Well, I've had a lot of experience, first of all, in in the corporate world.
33:20
Right.
33:20
And and I had a lot of as an entrepreneur.
33:23
So I was always my my title was always, creative business strategies.
33:28
That's what I did.
33:29
I always took in an in the advertising world.
33:31
It's a crazy world where all these creative ideas, and you have to kind of get them back
33:35
down often to what we call the one word equity And so that because our any campaign is always
33:41
built around that, it's always gotta kinda go back to that.
33:44
So I was always very kinda very good at that.
33:46
And, and then like, years years of experience in the in the charity work on the boards and
33:52
going through all of this stuff and looking for that.
33:55
So as I as I decided to create this company and this new model, all it was was I I just sat
34:02
down and said, okay.
34:04
Every touch point every single touch point in every program that I build, I can't finalize
34:11
the program until I can actually see that every person is going to win more than they put in.
34:16
Whether it's the company, whether it's the person buying the food, you know, no matter
34:21
what, and that's why actually why we came became a for profit social enterprise because
34:26
we couldn't be a charity or nonprofit and do some of the things that we wanted to do.
34:31
And, also, we needed to make sure that our employees were going to win and any investors
34:37
or anything like that were going to win because it had to be every touchpoint.
34:41
So that's why we created it and, and that's how it ended up.
34:45
Wow.
34:45
You
34:45
know, we we tweaked it a lot the last, you know, two and a half years to get it to where
34:49
it is today.
34:50
But, yeah, it it was basically born out of a lot of experience and just knowing that this
34:56
was needed in this in this space.
34:59
Well, I'm I'm excited, to hear you speak on the 20 seconds because I think the model like this
35:05
is innovative.
35:05
We're always trying to you know, in this world, so like, I mean, obviously, we're talking about
35:10
authentic leadership Yep.
35:12
About being, collaborative and connected.
35:15
You know, I think in today's world, you know, we we so see so many examples of people doing
35:20
it poorly and not to name anybody.
35:22
But, you know, and if we can make a difference, you know, is wanting to give make a difference.
35:27
You know, if you've been privileged, you know, I feel the same way in, in kind of the things
35:32
that the path that I've taken in my life, too, and to be able to help anybody that, with
35:37
having Brian Cuban come in to be able to, again, talking about privilege.
35:41
She comes from you know, a privileged situation, but him, too, wanting to get back as
35:46
a, now a social advocate for people around mental health and addiction and to really talk
35:52
about what companies can do, because we know that, you know, mental health or addiction has
35:57
no socioeconomic preference.
35:59
It it it hits across the board and, be able to share his story, which is is quite riveting
36:06
when you listen to it.
36:07
About, you know, what kind of things people can actually do.
36:10
Sometimes, simple, consistent small things to make a difference.
36:13
Like you said, your mentor made a difference.
36:17
Right place, right time.
36:18
Absolutely.
36:19
Those words.
36:19
Like you said, it may be that you need someone that's clinical, but oftentimes it may be the
36:24
community that you're in to feel.
36:26
We know that when people get feel disconnected, we get stuck in our thoughts and we get stuck
36:30
in our thoughts or brain back to spots to make us feel safe and that connection does the
36:36
opposite.
36:37
And when they get to the space of giving, you get out of your space of depression and helping
36:42
someone else that becomes like an invisible circle that allows feel better.
36:47
Right?
36:47
Just Yeah.
36:48
No.
36:48
Absolutely.
36:49
Absolutely.
36:50
I think one of the one of the greatest things for me and what really changed my life, and
36:56
it's still today.
36:57
Every single day I live this is is that I can all I always look for ways to make it better.
37:03
Like, everything I do.
37:04
It doesn't matter what I I never can tell.
37:06
I know it can always be better.
37:08
The Japanese obviously have a phrase, the constant never ending improvement, and I'd
37:12
really buy into that.
37:13
I always think that we can be better.
37:16
We should always be working to do that, whether it's in relationships or business or whatever
37:21
it may be.
37:22
And I think by But, you know, by doing that and being able to reach out to help people, we also
37:28
help ourselves.
37:29
And and again, that's where the whole receiving through giving.
37:33
It was funny.
37:33
I I I joke with my mom.
37:35
And the reason I call it receiving through giving was because my mom used to say, and of
37:38
course, we were very poor We had nothing.
37:42
But because I was a gifted athlete, I used to kinda get, you know, hang around with the
37:46
wealthy people, and I'm thinking, yeah, I'm the one day I'm gonna have this.
37:49
Right?
37:50
And my mom used to say, no.
37:51
No.
37:52
It's always better to to give than receipt.
37:55
You know, and I'd look at her, like, What are you freaking crazy?
38:00
Like like, I'll tell you what, and I used to say to my mom all the time when I was a kid, I
38:04
remember.
38:04
I'll tell you what, mom, when I have it, that's when I'll give it.
38:08
Right?
38:08
I'm focusing on getting it.
38:10
Right?
38:10
And she'd say, no.
38:11
No.
38:11
No.
38:11
And this is a a little lady who had no money.
38:14
I mean, rough life.
38:15
And and she'd say, no.
38:16
No.
38:17
It's always better to give and you give and you'll receive.
38:20
And so I joked with her after she she said this and I came back about weeks later, and I said,
38:25
okay.
38:25
I'm gonna start a company.
38:27
And I'm calling it RTG group.
38:28
And, you know, what do you think that stands for?
38:30
And she said, I don't know.
38:31
It's a as it stands for receiving through giving because somebody taught me that you get
38:38
more by giving.
38:38
And Right.
38:38
Yeah.
38:38
So So she was quite taken with that.
38:45
So Which is so true.
38:45
And you hear about tithing or giving, right, or helping helping.
38:49
It's such an invisible thing.
38:51
That creates a synergy in the world.
38:53
Absolutely.
38:54
You know, and then it it creates flow, that allows so many powerful things to happen.
38:59
Yeah.
39:00
For sure.
39:00
Yeah.
39:00
Absolutely.
39:01
And I think by the way, the millennials get a, a really bad knock on that, and it's not that
39:06
they don't wanna give and make in fact, they'll probably go down in history.
39:09
I I predict 100 years from now, we'll look back and the millennial generational go back in
39:13
history as the generation that really focused on making a difference in the world and
39:17
actually did that.
39:19
But what they want is transparency.
39:21
And we've set up, you know, we've set up these these mega companies, that really have it have
39:29
a very difficult time giving that transparency.
39:31
And so they just demand that, and that's why we set up our company.
39:34
So we could say, here's where every cent goes.
39:38
Right.
39:38
Right.
39:38
And
39:38
when we had our focus groups, which was just nothing but millennials, we literally had a
39:43
100% say, we love it.
39:46
I mean, this is exactly what it need.
39:48
This is the way it needs to happen.
39:50
So yeah.
39:51
Yeah.
39:52
Well, what a what a fantastic message.
39:54
Now, Steven, for anyone listening that wants to learn, you know, all these phenomenal things or
40:00
even to get involved, because I'm sure, I mean, as a, social enterprises need for, a lot of
40:06
assistance along the way, or if people just want to learn more about you, you know, and the
40:11
different parts of, of your business, where would they reach you how do they get a hold of
40:16
you?
40:17
So the I mean, we're we're RTGroupinc.com is is always the best.
40:23
Obviously, LinkedIn, I'm very Devon and my profile.
40:26
I accept everybody.
40:27
Anybody can contact me there and all my personal information is there.
40:31
And and I'll don't hesitate to reach out.
40:35
My email is ask clarkclarke@rtggroupinc.com.
40:40
Send me messages, do whatever.
40:43
You know, we're all we're always about helping my wife is is got immigrant women in business.
40:47
I know you'd be talking to her later.
40:49
She's got an unbelievable group got a bigger heart than I do, which is, which is fabulous.
40:53
So we're always about helping others, and, and I think that's really how we get, you know, we
40:57
get inspired and everything else by doing that.
40:59
So Yeah.
41:00
Don't hesitate to reach out.
41:01
I look forward to seeing everybody on the 22nd.
41:03
We're gonna be promoting it.
41:05
We're gonna have a lot of, a lot of great people there and looking for, be able to help a
41:09
lot of people and just, you know, a lot of knowledge and and learn from people as well.
41:13
So look forward to seeing everybody there.
41:15
Well, thanks a lot again, even.
41:16
And so if if anything I've learned today, which is the symbol is receiving before through
41:22
giving.
41:23
So if the more
41:23
than Receiving through giving, It's all about receiving through giving.
41:27
The more you give, the more you get it.
41:30
You know, I think that sometimes we hear that.
41:31
We say, oh, yeah.
41:32
Really?
41:33
Does that true.
41:34
And I kid people because I say, you know, it took me 15 years to build up a business where
41:39
we were doing, you know, 50,000,000 a year.
41:41
And now in 7 years, we'll be doing a business that's probably doing 2 and a half to
41:46
3,000,000,000 a year.
41:48
And the first business we've all been.
41:52
Wow.
41:53
What an what an amazing story.
41:55
So for everyone listening, come meet Steven.
41:59
I'll be there too.
42:00
Brian Cuban will be there, and, you know, we'll be doing a networking, events there too with
42:07
CEO space and Alina Chapman will be speaking.
42:10
So looking forward to all the if if you've loved what you've heard today, there's gonna be
42:15
this and so much more when you steven, speak on stage.
42:18
And, so if you need to get a hold of me, you could go to roxanderarch.com, forward slash
42:26
authentic connection move in 2018.
42:29
The link for the event is will be, right under, the podcast, in, you know, in the event page.
42:36
And if you need anything at all, please feel feel free to give me a ring.
42:40
Okay.
42:40
Take care, everyone.
42:41
We'll chat with you next week.