How To Scale Digital Agencies For Long-Term Success With Cris Rodriguez

In this episode, I sit down with Cris Rodriguez, founder of Grow Pro Agency, who’s making a significant impact in both martial arts and digital marketing. Starting in martial arts at a young age, Cris discovered how the discipline, resilience, and leadership skills she learned on the mat could fuel success in the business world. She shares her journey from martial arts instructor to building a thriving agency that serves nearly 500 clients. 

 We dive into the unique challenges of leading a high-volume, low-ticket agency, managing an in-office team in a post-COVID world, and establishing a strong social media presence. Cris reveals the highs and lows of her entrepreneurial path, from early financial struggles and intense pressure to achieve her goals, to her philosophy of “best known beats best” in personal branding. She leaves listeners with actionable insights on consistency, discipline, and the compound effect of small steps over time—guiding principles that can transform both personal and professional growth. 


Connect with Cris Rodriguez:
 
Connect with Cris Rodriguez on Instagram to dive deeper into her journey, get insights on martial arts and business growth, and follow her consistent approach to achieving big results in life and leadership. Search for @CrisLeeRodriguez and start learning from one of the best!


Books Mentioned:

• The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy 

Join the New Catalytic Leadership Community

Check out our new online membership site, with new resources by Dr. William Attaway and his team added weekly: https://checkout.catalyticleadership.net/

Chapters

• 0:01 Leadership Lessons from Martial Arts
• 2:55 From Dojo to Digital Marketing
• 7:47 Building a High-Impact Agency
• 15:28 Leveraging Social Media for Brand Growth
• 23:36 Embracing Pressure as a Growth Catalyst
• 28:46 Overcoming Major Setbacks
• 34:06 The Compound Effect and Long-Term Success

Transcript

Dr. William Attaway: 0:00

I'm so excited today to have Chris Rodriguez on the podcast. Chris is the visionary founder of GrowPro Agency, a leading digital marketing agency that made the Inc 5000 list two years in a row, ranking at number 563, for its outstanding growth and impact. Serving over 470 martial arts schools across the US, with 34 in-person team members, growpro Agency is the leader in digital marketing in this market. As a first-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and a third-degree black belt in taekwondo, chris brings over 30 years of martial arts expertise to her clients. Chris brings over 30 years of martial arts expertise to her clients. She's a best-selling author, a former owner of Gracie Pack Mixed Martial Arts, serves as the digital marketing consultant for the Martial Arts Industry Association and is a specialty coach for Seven Figure Agency. Chris, I'm so glad you're here. Thank you for being on the show Well.

Cris Rodriguez: 1:04

Thank you for the invite, Very excited for the conversation that will unfold today.

Intro/Outro: 1:15

I know you're bringing a lot of value and I want to jump right in. Welcome to Catalytic Leadership, the podcast designed to help leaders intentionally grow and thrive. Here is your host, author and leadership and executive coach, Dr William Attaway.

Dr. William Attaway: 1:31

I would love to start with a little bit of your story for our listeners, particularly around your journey and your development as a leader.

Cris Rodriguez: 1:41

Yeah. So I started in the martial arts when I was eight years old. March 15th, 1993, was the first day that I ever stepped on the dojo carpet and you know, it was literally like the poem two roads diverged and I chose the path less traveled. I I knew that I wanted martial arts to be a part of my life ever since that day. And you know, I think when people think martial arts they think punching, they think kicking, maybe they think UFC and MMA.

Cris Rodriguez: 2:10

What I believe martial arts is is a vehicle that helps one reach their human potential. So personal growth and leadership really started for me when that martial arts journey began and I was fortunate that my parents picked an accredited school, one that had a leadership program tied in and I was assisting classes by the age of 11. I was a paid instructor by the age of 15. And that's really you know where I think my personal development truly started. And, very blessed to have gone through that journey, when I ultimately became an entrepreneur and finally opened up my own martial arts school, I felt like I was a really great leader in terms of being an instructor for my students, but being a leader to my team I wasn't.

Cris Rodriguez: 3:11

For some reason it didn't transfer over as well as the leadership that would happen during instructing classes and on the mat versus in meetings when we're talking profitability versus in meetings when we're talking profitability. And when I was first starting out and building my team, I don't believe I was a great leader at all. In meetings, I would be the only one speaking, did not have a culture of feedback, I was abrasive and you learn very quickly that people aren't going to be willing to be in that environment. And it was really learning through experience, through making you know back then not great choices that I felt has gotten me onto this journey, this new leadership journey of where I'm at now, because I think I'm a completely different type of leader today, now, 12 years into my entrepreneurial journey. Then when I I first started out um, but personal development wise, I don't think there's anything better than than the martial arts um to help people with that.

Dr. William Attaway: 4:23

So what got you into agency world?

Cris Rodriguez: 4:26

Yeah, you know, when you become an entrepreneur, if you want to be a long lasting entrepreneur, you have to develop skills. And I'm in Florida. It's really hot outside and a lot of the marketing strategies were like fly your cars or go be a PE teacher for the day, and I'm like that sounds miserable. I want to sit in my air conditioned office and launch marketing campaigns and have leads on tap. So I really leaned into learning Facebook ads and Google ads and saw a lot of success in growing the martial arts school through that and through social media. And when you are active on social media and you're showcasing what you're doing, people notice that. And I had a lot of other martial arts schools reach out and say Chris, your kids' classes are packed. Like, what are you doing? And I'm like running Facebook ads, I'm running Google ads. And then they asked well, can you show me how?

Cris Rodriguez: 5:28

So I have a degree in elementary education, absolutely love teaching, and I put together an eight week marketing mastermind course where I was teaching other martial arts schools how to run Facebook ads and Google ads and Instagram ads, and at the end of the first eight weeks I took 30 people on. Every single one of them said, chris, this was absolutely amazing. We learned so much, but we don't want to do this Like. This is just too difficult. That's not why we opened our school. Will you just do it for me? And I said, no, you know, I'm just teaching it. So I taught another eight week course same feedback. Taught another eight week course same feedback. And my wife was finally like you have a business here sitting there and waiting. Let's just take the leap of faith.

Cris Rodriguez: 6:16

So I did and I took 10 clients on and at that point my martial arts school was really running on autopilot. I was an offsite owner, so I wasn't an owner operator. I had a great team. And when I took on those first 10 clients, I instantly realized, man, I just bought myself another job and at first I thought it would just be like a small side hustle, allow me to put more money into retirement. And word of mouth just started getting around that I was doing this and we grew pretty quickly up to about 30,000 MRR in a few months. And then COVID hit and if we want to go that direction, we can. But that's literally how GrowPro was born. It was through teaching other business owners, martial arts school owners, and then just wanting it done for them. We're really in this world, in this business world, where people want things done for them, right, like no, don't do it with me or don't teach me, just do it for me. And that's. That's really how I got my start in the digital marketing agency world.

Dr. William Attaway: 7:29

You know your agency is not typical. I work a lot with agency owners in this space. You run a very atypical agency because not only do you have nearly 500 clients, not only do you have nearly 500 clients, which most of the agencies that I'm working with or that are listening to this would be like 500 clients. The scale of that is just astounding. Not only that, but your team is in office. You have 34 in-off office team members, employees. What I would love to hear, like what caused you to go that direction, or in both of those directions, in fact? You know a lower ticket but higher quantity as far as clients and the in-office versus the remote. That is just everywhere, particularly on this side of COVID.

Cris Rodriguez: 8:24

Sure, I mean probably just blissful ignorance. I guess you could say you know? I think one thing that's really important for entrepreneurs to know is you got to lean into what your strengths are right, and I knew that I could build an in-person team because I did it in my brick and mortar martial arts school. So I already had success in building a team in person and because of that it just seemed like that would be the next natural progression. But I didn't start out that way. I actually started with 1099 contractors when I had kind of grown it to about 20, 30 clients, like I need some help. When I had kind of grown it to about 20, 30 clients like I need some help.

Cris Rodriguez: 9:06

But COVID, when everybody went remote. I'm kind of one of those people if everybody's going to the left, I'm going to go to the right. And when that happened I got rid of my 1099 contractors and I just decided if I'm going to build something worth building, we're going to do this in person. We're going to look at this as a marathon, not a sprint. It's going to cost me more money. You know we actually own the office buildings that we're in, so there was some investment plays on that as well. But, yeah, I want this to ultimately become a nine-figure business and I felt like my leadership skills would lean in better if it was in person. Now we do have a hybrid schedule.

Cris Rodriguez: 9:51

My team gets to work from home two days a week because I do think post-COVID, there's some expectations with that, but I think it's very difficult. I coach agency owners, just like you, and one of the biggest struggles they have is building culture and I think it's a lot easier to do that in person. Not that you can't do it, you know, with a remote team, but it's just so much easier remote team, but it's just so much easier. It's also a lot of fun and I get a lot of personal enjoyment out of seeing what we've built, seeing the friendships that have been built. Everybody on our team, they hang out on the weekends, they hang out during the week and it's a community and I think that community will help us in the long run with achieving some of these massive goals. And yes, is it more expensive? Yes, I mean you have to pay US-based workers more than you know overseas. You don't even want to see how much money I spend on snacks and coffee and toilet paper and paper towels in the office, right, like there's these additional expenses that you have. But I just think my leadership style is best in person and I already had that skill set built. And then in terms of low ticket, high client volume.

Cris Rodriguez: 11:16

Martial arts most people don't open up a martial arts school to become wealthy. Most of them open it up because their life transformed and they want to help others through the martial arts as well. It's a passion project. There's a lot of hobbyists and the average martial arts school does about five to $10,000 a month in revenue. So when I was looking at that let's say $10,000 a month is what a school is making. Well, you should probably have about 10% of your revenue go to marketing. All right, that means they've got a thousand bucks. Well, I'll charge them 500 for the ads and then they need 500 for the ad spend.

Cris Rodriguez: 11:58

And that's really how I first formed our initial packages was based off of that data. We always say math is the path. That's one of our core values here at GrowPro. And now, over the years, we've added additional services, we have increased our rates. Could I have said you know what? I'm only going to go after the top 10% of martial arts schools. I could have, but that means I wouldn't have made as big of an impact in an industry that has built who I am, and I want to be able to help as many school owners as possible, not just the top 10%.

Dr. William Attaway: 12:36

You know that mindset of giving back to something that has made such a big difference in your journey, in your life. It is so evident and I think no place really as clearly from my perspective as in your social media presence. You are one of the few people that when I'm scrolling that I stop, because whatever you're going to say typically is something that's going to make me smile or it's going to make me think, it's going to challenge me to to have a different perspective on something from what you're reading, what you're learning or a lesson that you're teaching, often literally from the floor of of the studio the martial arts studio, like sometimes in the middle of a throw or a roll or something like. It's so creative and so well done. You have had a very intentional growth strategy with social media and you have seen some pretty amazing results from that. Would you share a little bit about that?

Cris Rodriguez: 15:09

Yeah, the title of the book that I wrote is called the Best Known Dojo, and the concept is best known beats best, and we hear this so often in martial arts schools. You know, like just get them through our door and we'll be able to sign them up, and it's like, well, they got to know that you exist first. And for me, that's what I look at in terms of building my personal brand is I need to be the best known, and all of us have this ability with this thing that we all have. You know, within a couple of inches of where we're at to do so, and I am really on this path of just trying to become the absolute best version of myself in all areas of life, but then sharing that with the world. And I think that if you don't share that with the world, you're really doing a lot of people a disservice by not sharing what you are learning and what's working and what's not working. And it shouldn't just be the highlight reel. You should also be sharing the downs. You know, I mean the clouds and the dirt. So I want to make a massive impact and I have that ability through this little screen and all I have to do is just share what I'm learning. So that's kind of been my mindset around it how can I help others and it costs them absolutely nothing? Maybe you can't afford, you know, coaching services. Maybe you can't afford to be a part of our digital marketing. Uh, you know company, but how else can I help you? And my um, you know, I'll say like entrepreneurial personal development journey started in my early 20s when one of my best friends, matt Arroyo, introduced me to Jim Rohn and Zig Ziglar, and you know I had CDs that I would put in my car and listen to their teachings and I'll just never forget, you know Zig Ziglar saying you can have anything that you want in this world if you help others get what they want. And that's that's what I'm trying to do.

Cris Rodriguez: 17:17

Also, I enjoy it, you know. I think some people you put a camera in front of them and they freeze up. It's not something that they enjoy doing. But I have this degree in elementary education. I love teaching. I've been teaching martial arts since I was a young kid, so you know it makes it a lot easier to show up and film those videos and post those videos when you actually enjoy it. So I will say there is an enjoyment, you know aspect of it.

Cris Rodriguez: 17:46

And that was another thing that really interested me with growing the agency. Because in a martial arts school the impact you can have. It's very real, but it's typically only within a 5, 10, or 15 mile radius of where your school is at, and with the internet I can make an impact all over the world. Your ripple effect just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. So that's been some of the motivation behind it. But at the end of the day, best known beats best and when somebody is ready to move forward with their marketing services, if they're a martial arts school, I want to be in their mental Rolodex. Everybody says like where's the first place people go when they want to buy something, and everybody says Google and it's like no, it it's not google. They go into their mental rolodex first. Who do I know can solve this problem that I'm having? Um so time on brand and and getting in their mental rolodex is also a huge motivator as well you're incredibly consistent with this.

Dr. William Attaway: 18:52

Is that true everywhere? Everywhere. Is Chris just like uber consistent? Is that just part of how you're wired?

Cris Rodriguez: 18:59

Now, I was talking to Matt Plapp, who is in Seven Figure Agency, a couple of weeks ago and he called me a robot and I was like you know what I'm going to take that as a compliment. I read the book the Compound Effect by Darren Hardy well over a decade ago. You know, small, smart choices, done consistently over time yields drastic results, and I have seen that unfold in so many different areas of my life that you know I will say I am a very, very consistent person. Um, but it it comes down to discipline, it's. It's not like I, you know, are there days when I know I've got a film for three hours in a row and I'm like, oh, I just don't really want to do it? Of course there are, but you know what an amazing concept just to do something because you know you're supposed to do it, as opposed to just listening to the thoughts and feelings in your head. So, yes, I am, I am a very consistent person, but it's taken years to develop that level of discipline.

Dr. William Attaway: 20:06

As with any habit that yields success, right, it doesn't happen in a microwave, it's a crockpot.

Cris Rodriguez: 20:13

Let me let me ask you this, dr Idaway. Let me add one more thing to that, because I think that you know, I think fitness is probably the easiest thing for you know, for people to understand, where you know, okay, I'm going to go on this diet, or I'm going to go to the gym, and then they're, they're consistent for a few days, and then they don't do it, and now they just think like, oh, it's over, right, like I wasn't perfect. I'm just going to go back to the old habits, and there are. I heard an influencer talk about this and he calls it kind of like the ceiling and the floor. And the ceiling is like the lowest amount of effort that you're going to put in in order to still stay consistent, and then the ceiling is like the massive amount of effort that you're going to put in to stay consistent. So, like in the gym, you know the ceiling would be okay. I'm doing all of my cardio, I'm doing all of the weights, I'm going to do progressive overload and try to get heavier and heavier with each set. I'm going to walk out of there dripping wet of sweat. That is all in, but the floor might just be. I'm just going to show up. I'm going to do maybe five minutes of cardio. Maybe I skip a couple of steps, but I still went into the gym and I think that is important. That is still consistency. It's not the ceiling of consistency that maybe you were aiming for, but you still got in and you showed up.

Cris Rodriguez: 21:37

And I think that's important when we talk about consistency is that it doesn't have to be a 10 out of 10 every single day. But can you do a five out of 10 today? Can you do a seven out of 10 today? And I think that kind of mindset shift will help people with this. Oh, I missed the day I fell off the bandwagon. I'm just going to completely give up, and that's kind of how I look at it. And you know, this morning I was fortunate in the gym. Today I had a ceiling day. It was, you know, like all the way at the top, but yesterday it was not, it was a little bit closer to the floor. So I think that's important when we talk about, you know, consistency. It's just progress. Are we making progress forward? I love that.

Dr. William Attaway: 22:17

Chris, you know it reminds me of what Jim Collins wrote about. You know how the perfect is so often the enemy of the great. And when we do that, we hold perfection as the only minimum viable standard to which we will be pleased with and we're just setting ourselves up with the wrong expectations and we will absolutely torpedo our results because we don't see the power of consistency over time. And I love that recurring theme of this episode of this conversation because I think that is the game changer if leaders will step into that. I absolutely love that. Talking about you, how do you continue to level up? Growpro needs you to lead at a higher level today than it did five years ago, and that same thing is going to be true five years from now. Your team, your clients how do you continue to grow?

Cris Rodriguez: 23:16

I mean I'd be lying if I didn't say that there is a level of pressure that is involved in that right. I have 34 team members. Now it's about to be 35. I feel a level of responsibility of building the umbrella of grow pro so large that their dreams can can fit inside of it. And if I don't continue to do that, then I'm going to deal with employee churn and for me as an entrepreneur, the absolute worst thing that I have to deal with is employee churn, whether that's we're letting somebody go because they're no longer a good fit, or somebody decides this is no longer a good fit for them. I feel a weird form of rejection when somebody quits my company and I don't like that feeling. So there is a level of pressure. I don't think it's an unhealthy level of pressure. I think it is a healthy level of pressure that I have to become more so that they can become more, and I think that is a huge responsibility that I have as a leader and I chose that. I chose that when I built this company and you know. So there's that there's. Also.

Cris Rodriguez: 24:32

I surround myself with some really freaking amazing people and when you are in a room where you are not the smartest, you are not the wealthiest.

Cris Rodriguez: 24:44

It forces you to want to think and grow bigger. Being around the environment and the people that I have put myself around has been a huge motivator as well. But I think, you know, I have a four-year-old son. His name is Cruz, and that has been one of the absolute biggest motivations for me is how can I become the best version of me so I can provide him with the most opportunities? And I want, you know, when they're young and little, you know you're their best friend and I never want to not be his best friend, and I think that requires a continuous level of not just you know, becoming this great entrepreneur, but how can I become the best parent I can be? How can I show him what love is and what a healthy relationship is, based off of the relationship that I have with my wife? So those are some of the motivators, but there is, like I said, a certain level of pressure that occurs when your team is this big, but I look at that as an honorable responsibility that I have.

Dr. William Attaway: 26:04

And I know that you are incredibly intentional about continuing to grow and develop. You never stop learning. I see you in a lot of different environments where you are always there, and I heard you say once, and I've never forgotten this if I go and I just pick up one thing, it's worth it.

Cris Rodriguez: 26:22

You know, I think there's a lot of a lot of people have different definitions of happiness. I think progress is happy, happiness. I, when I think back to the moments in my life that have brought me the most joy and I truly felt happy. It's been in those moments of, of growth and and progress. Um, if, if you're not learning and growing, then you're dying. I mean, that's you know, that's just that's the reality of it.

Cris Rodriguez: 26:51

And you know I was fortunate that I had parents who instilled really great habits such as reading. Education was very important in our household, getting good grades was very important in our household, and my thoughts have kind of shifted about school in general now that I'm a little bit older and there's just so many more resources online that you know you don't have to have a college degree to be successful anymore. But stagnation is just such a unhappy feeling for me that I don't want to feel stagnated. So how can I ensure that I'm not stagnated? Well, continue to have positive inputs. Right? I put a post out the other day about my reading habits and the first thing that I do when I wake up in the morning is I pick up a book and read, because I know that I'm feeding my brain positive inputs first thing in the morning, and if there's positive inputs, there's going to be positive outputs.

Dr. William Attaway: 27:47

So so good you know, I think people looking at you from the outside might have this perception. Ah, you know, man, chris is just. Her journey's just been up and to the right, like she really hadn't had to deal with the problems that I've had to deal with. She hadn't had to face the challenges that I deal with. You know her, her journey has just been just been a straight shot to the moon. If somebody was sitting across from you having coffee and they said that, what would your response be?

Cris Rodriguez: 28:21

I mean, it's not true, you know, 15 years to become an overnight success, I think is the quote right? Um, I have dealt with, at least professionally, um, some of what I would consider the worst. You know stories that that could occur. So I claimed bankruptcy at a very, very young age and it was due to my medical insurance claiming that I had a pre-existing condition. So I had to get a pretty serious surgery done and the first one was unsuccessful and I had to go back the same week. So it was about $100,000 in surgeries that my insurance company said we're not going to cover.

Cris Rodriguez: 29:07

And this happened right out of college. So here I am. I had zero, zero college debt. I had a full ride. So here I am, graduating college, getting ready to go into this next chapter of my life, and here I am with $100,000 worth of medical debt and at that time it seemed like the right answer was to claim bankruptcy. So this was when I was about 24, 25.

Cris Rodriguez: 29:32

And bankruptcy stay on your record, even though they say they expunge them 12 years later. If you go for a loan, they ask you have you ever had a bankruptcy? So that really was a very difficult kind of almost felt like a shameful thing that I had on my record and a bankruptcy. They don't ask like did you go buy a Mercedes and couldn't make the payment, or is it a medical bankruptcy? A bankruptcy is a bankruptcy.

Cris Rodriguez: 30:02

So I dealt with that very early on, which slowed down my ability to purchase a home. And then going into owning the martial arts school, I had the DCF Department of Children and Families try to shut down our afterschool program, saying we were operating as a daycare, which we were not, and this was a huge revenue generator in our business and caused a lot of heartache going through that process. That same year I also had the IRS come in and audit me and at the end of the audit, which was about nine months right, nine months of taxpayer dollars they ended up saying that I owed $10 and 50 cents uh, fastest check I ever wrote.

Cris Rodriguez: 30:51

And then in that same year so all of these three things happened in the same year I had a student get very injured on the property of our school the property of our school and thankfully he was completely okay. But when you have somebody get injured on your property, you really see your kind of entire business, life and career flash before your eyes. Now, fortunately, we had liability insurance, but it was a very difficult and scary scenario. So there has been a lot of very, very challenging things that have occurred on this journey and it's not something I hide, it's something I publicly speak on stage about. I have a Facebook group that I put content out every single day that I've spoken about this group, that I put content out every single day that I've spoken about this, and you know, now, looking back, those challenges are ultimately would have helped me become the entrepreneur that I am today. Because I got through it and I'm a lot smarter. I am able to help anybody else who ever goes through that as well.

Cris Rodriguez: 32:04

Hey, you getting audited by the IRS? Let me tell you a little story. Hey, you're getting sued by one of your customers? Let me tell you a little story. So, as I get older, I'm approaching 40. I'm really trying to look at. Everything that's occurred to me is that the universe is conspiring in my favor and those things that happened at the time were extremely difficult. There were a lot of tears, there was a lot of stress, there was a lot of therapy sessions that had to occur, but I wouldn't go back and take it away because that has helped to form me into the person that I am today. You know and we haven't even talked about COVID and what that was like with operating multiple businesses and a brick and mortar martial arts school. So you know, I think oftentimes if you look at somebody's timeline, you can, you can see the highlight reels and you can think, oh my gosh, like, oh, it was so easy and it wasn't easy, it was difficult but I wouldn't trade it. You know.

Dr. William Attaway: 33:07

It is such a powerful perspective and so absolutely true. With the most successful people, I know they are who they are because of the challenges, because of the tribulation moments, Just like what you said. I love that you are your perpetual reader and I see this all the time on your feed. You're always reading something new. Is there a book that has made a huge difference in your journey that you would recommend to the folks listening? Hey, if you haven't read this, this made a difference for me.

Cris Rodriguez: 33:41

Yeah, it was the first one and I had mentioned it earlier the Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. And it's not just for me. Yeah, it was the first one and I had mentioned it earlier the compound effect by Darren Hardy. And it's not just for entrepreneurs, it's for anybody that is looking to make their life better. And what I love about the book is that there's just so many different examples where you find this to be true and that concept of these small, smart decisions done consistently over time have really helped me through some of the very monotonous, boring tasks that we have to do in our business that seem like why am I doing this day in and day out? And it is those boring things that can ultimately help you grow something you know very, very big.

Cris Rodriguez: 34:28

For me, health is wealth, my you know son, when he's 18, I'm going to be in my late 50s, so I'm always thinking about you know how can I prolong my life, to have as much life as possible?

Cris Rodriguez: 34:45

Because we had him, you know, much, much later than most people, and the compound effect is just that constant reminder of keep making those small, smart choices.

Cris Rodriguez: 34:55

It might not seem like it's making a big deal right now, but do that for a year, do that for five, do that for 10, and you will see those drastic results for a year. Do that for five, do that for 10. And you will see those drastic results. And you know what I see with a lot of ambitious entrepreneurs that have really big goals and I think maybe Tony Robbins said this but they, you know over kind of estimate and calculate what they can do in a year and don't really realize what they can do in five. And that has been so true for my journey as well. You know, a year ago life wasn't that much different. Five years ago, I mean, I didn't even have the agency five years ago. And I think that's important that you know, as entrepreneurs, when we are setting goals, yes, think big and be ambitious, but what you can do in five years a lot greater than probably what you think you can.

Dr. William Attaway: 35:47

So good, chris, I could talk to you for another hour. Every time I talk I learn and I'm benefiting, and I'm so grateful to you for sharing so honestly and transparently today from your journey so far. I know your best days are ahead. I know people are going to want to stay connected to you and learn more about you and what you do, and learn from you. What is the best way for them to do that?

Cris Rodriguez: 36:12

Yeah, go give me a follow on Instagram. I'm almost at 50,000 followers. That's what I've been writing down in my daily goals to be hitting. So it's Chris C-R-I-S, lee L-E-E Rodriguez. Chris Lee Rodriguez, give me a follow on Instagram. I put a lot of martial arts content out, but I also put a lot of business content out as well. And give me a follow, shoot me a DM and I'd love to follow you back.

Dr. William Attaway: 36:41

Love it. We'll have that link in the show notes Awesome.

Cris Rodriguez: 36:45

Chris, thank you. Thank you so much. Always a great time, Dr Attaway, and looking forward to seeing you here in a couple weeks.

Dr. William Attaway: 36:51

Absolutely. Thanks for joining me for this episode today. As we wrap up, I'd love for you to do two things. First, subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode, and if you find value here, I'd love it if you would rate it and review it. That really does make a difference in helping other people to discover this podcast. Second, if you don't have a copy of my newest book, catalytic Leadership, I'd love to put a copy in your hands. If you go to catalyticleadershipbookcom, you can get a copy for free. Just pay the shipping so I can get it to you and we'll get one right out.

Dr. William Attaway: 37:27

My goal is to put this into the hands of as many leaders as possible. This book captures principles that I've learned in 20 plus years of coaching leaders in the entrepreneurial space, in business, government, nonprofits, education and the local church. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn to keep up with what I'm currently learning and thinking about. And if you're ready to take a next step with a coach to help you intentionally grow and thrive as a leader, I'd be honored to help you. Just go to catalyticleadershipnet to book a call with me. Stay tuned for our next episode next week. Until then, as always, leaders choose to be catalytic.

Intro/Outro: 38:11

Thanks for listening to Catalytic Leadership with Dr William Attaway. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss the next episode. Want more? Go to catalyticleadershipnet.