The Truth About Money, Identity & Happiness with Anthony Spark

Wendy & Rich 0:01
Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios, Hartford County Living presents, Conversations with Rich Bennett. (inaudible)

Rich Bennett 0:27
Alright, so today's guest is Anthony Spark, an entrepreneur who spent nearly two decades building success in the network marketing space. Not just financially, but in how he lives his life. He's built a multi-million dollar business, helped raise over a million dollars for children's causes, and has a huge believer in personal development, mentorship, and surrounding yourself with the right people. And this time, I am going to try something completely different. Alright, so Anthony, instead of me doing the talking, if you had one elevator ride to explain who you are, what you do and why it matters, what would that elevator pitch sound like? 

Anthony Spark 1:14
Okay, I'd say most importantly, fuck the financial success to businesses, I got three girls and a boy, I got four kids, 

Rich Bennett 1:22
oh 

Anthony Spark 1:22
I 

Rich Bennett 1:22
wow. 

Anthony Spark 1:22
got an amazing wife, and the most important thing for me is being with family and living a life that has personal integrity. Because I don't care how much money you have, I don't care how much fame you have, that's nice, that trophies, that trinkets, 

Rich Bennett 1:34
mark- 

Anthony Spark 1:34
that's the crown 

Rich Bennett 1:34
Right. 

Anthony Spark 1:35
But the foundation of everything is who you are. So that's what's most important to me. What I do is I typically work with performers or people that are looking to rise up, whether it be a corporate ladder, build a business, succeed in what they're doing, to help them have a grounded identity and give them the coaching for success. Tony Robbins likes to talk about, you have the science of achievement, it's a science, it's not hard to win. You want to be a good marine, you want to raise in the ranks, you want to build a multi-million dollar company, you want to be the best teacher, it's the same stuff. 

Rich Bennett 2:03
Right. 

Anthony Spark 2:03
And principles. But the key for me, I think that's the most important, it's that art of fulfillment that's unique to us, where we live a life we love to live, and we become a person that we look in the mirror, that we respect, and that we want to be around, and that we believe in regardless of what anyone else says. 

Rich Bennett 2:17
So basically you're coaching. 

Anthony Spark 2:20
Yeah, I'm a coach. I'm a coach. I help people start businesses. I help people grow in their own career. I do a lot of leadership coaching, personal finance, because of the game of money, it's a game. 

Rich Bennett 2:31
Yeah, 

Anthony Spark 2:32
and a lot of people that making money is a different skill than keeping it. You know, you make a million, you spend a million, you just as broke as the guy with a nicer car that makes 50,000 spends 50,000. 

Rich Bennett 2:41
All right, so let me get this straight. You're, you're not a business coach, you're not a life coach. You're not a health coach. You are, and I want to say, almost like I would say like a growth coach. 

Anthony Spark 2:57
Yeah, the way that I've framed it, because I have, because I have such a 

Rich Bennett 3:01
array, 

Anthony Spark 3:01
wide 

Rich Bennett 3:01
yeah, 

Anthony Spark 3:02
experiences, and I love helping people build businesses, and I have a guy, I helped start from zero, it was in ministry, never started a business. Last year, I went from zero to 200,000, I was a revenue, 30, 40% margin, this year, do a half million, a million. 

Rich Bennett 3:13
nice 

Anthony Spark 3:14
He's crushing it. So I do business stuff, and I love it, but I mainly might, my focus, the unique approach I have is it's really more around success and identity coaching because anyone that seeks out coaching and they pay for it, they want personal development. They're going to win in their life. It's a small percentage of people that are going to do that. The real question is, are you going to be happy with your life at the end of it, are you happy with who you are, are you having joy and fulfillment in the journey, which is a real kind of similar vibe as a Dan Martell. Because you could take the Michael Jordan's and the guys that succeed a lot, but if you don't love your life and you're angry and you're unhappy and you can never enjoy what's the what's the fucking work. 

Rich Bennett 3:51
Right. As you said, identity coaching suit, more or less like helping them build their brand, or let me rephrase that, I don't want to say their business brand, their, their brand being themselves. 

Anthony Spark 4:01
Who they are. 

Rich Bennett 4:02
Okay. 

Anthony Spark 4:02
Yeah, getting clear. What are my values? What's the syntax of my values? What do I want my life to be like? Who do I want to be? Who am I? You know, so 

Rich Bennett 4:11
dude, you should 

Anthony Spark 4:12
try 

Rich Bennett 4:12
be, 

Anthony Spark 4:12
to I, 

Rich Bennett 4:12
you got to be busy as hell because so many people don't know what to do when it comes to that. 

Anthony Spark 4:17
Yeah. Unfortunately, most people that don't know, don't know they don't 

Rich Bennett 4:21
Well, 

Anthony Spark 4:21
know. 

Rich Bennett 4:21
yeah, 

Anthony Spark 4:21
You 

Rich Bennett 4:21
that's 

Anthony Spark 4:22
got that 

Rich Bennett 4:22
true. 

Anthony Spark 4:22
small subset of people, but yeah, it's been going really great. You know, I have like I said, I have 20 years experience in network marketing industry. We're like the top point zero, 4% success. I make a great, beautiful, six figure income, which took decades to make and I've a team of several hundred people, which I love, but the coaching's been really cool. Because it's the same skill set. It's a little bit. It's tangential. You know what I mean? I've been coaching and mentoring people, but it's cool to talk about a new business, a new path and you know, going kind of from like an agent, where I'm only doing one thing, the more of a broker, 

Rich Bennett 4:52
Right. 

Anthony Spark 4:53
which whatever you want to do, I can help you do. So, but it's been great. I started it. I mean, you know, I, I expect that to do at least six figures this year. It's 

Rich Bennett 4:59
Nice. 

Anthony Spark 5:00
going to be a lot of fun, helping a lot of people. 

Rich Bennett 5:01
Wait, Mr. So this is a new venture for you, the coaching. 

Anthony Spark 5:05
Yeah, yeah, so I, I, I, I beta tested it about a year ago. Now, I've been doing coaching for 20 years. I got Dave Ramsey certification, six figures of personal

Rich Bennett 5:13
Really? 

Anthony Spark 5:14
Network marketing. Yeah, when you do it properly, it's mainly around coaching and mentorship, 

Rich Bennett 5:18
Right? 

Anthony Spark 5:18
it's leadership development, it's equipping. So that's always been my passion. But I said, "you know what? This would be a really cool thing. I'm passionate about it. It's one of those things you do it. It pays really well, but you love it. I do it for free." So I beta tested it, you know, about a year ago, had a lot of great results, because I want to make sure it was valuable, charged way less than I should. I still do, because I just love doing it. And, uh, but as it grows and as it goes up, you know, we'll probably get things more marketable. But for now, if somebody engages with me, I don't know of a lot of people that are going to do what I'm doing for the price. I'm 

Rich Bennett 5:48
Yeah. 

Anthony Spark 5:48
doing it. It's a lot of labor, a lot of labor, you know. 

Rich Bennett 5:51
Yeah, but when you're, if you're undercharging, I get away, I could be a good thing because you could be helping out a lot of nonprofits as well, which a lot of nonprofits really don't have the money to put out for stuff like that. But I do believe that all executive directors and even probably the whole staff of nonprofits should have a coach. 

Anthony Spark 6:14
I think everybody needs, 

Rich Bennett 6:15
well, yeah, 

Anthony Spark 6:16
it's just a question. It's a question of if you're willing to do the work, because what happens a lot of the time is people, they want to make someone else in charge of their life. So it goes from mommy and daddy to boss, 

Rich Bennett 6:26
to 

Anthony Spark 6:27
to wife, to husband. And then they try to put on coach. And the reality is, only person can change your life is you coach can be a really important 5% strategy, direction, accountability, helping you believe in yourself, giving the push to move forward and the encouragement. But at the end of the day, you got the best personal trainer in the world. But if you're not going to do the reps, not going to work, you get the best drill sergeant in the world. If you're not going to do the work to be a Marine, no one can do it for 

Rich Bennett 6:50
right. Exactly. And you mentioned Dave. The day that I already lips your Dave Ramsey certification. 

Anthony Spark 6:57
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 6:57
no, 

Anthony Spark 6:57
so 

Rich Bennett 6:57
there were such a thing. 

Anthony Spark 6:59
Yeah, so you know, all these guys that got like a few thousand dollar certificate and I learned a bunch and it's good. And I don't follow everything to a tea, but I think it's a really excellent starting point. For people to start to understand their personal finance. So I use a lot of that fundamentals and that framework as I start to help people's finances move forward. 

Rich Bennett 7:16
One thing is to sometimes you don't want to follow everything to a tea because you want to make it your own as well. 

Anthony Spark 7:22
Of course, of course, and you might have a little bit of different vibe, different view. But when I engage someone in coaching, my goal and anyone's goal, if you're hiring someone, whether it's an employee or a coach, you're really looking for a 10 times multiplier on the 

Rich Bennett 7:34
Right. 

Anthony Spark 7:34
investment in. So if someone's going to engage me, hypothetically really, what it should be, which is thousand bucks a month. But if anyone calls me, it'll be less. So as long as I can provide $60, 000 of value, but be in and I'm not even charging what I should yet, because it's still still within the first year. If I can help somebody save and make 5, 800 bucks a month and now the coaching's free. So if I can help you fix your personal finance, fix your debt structure, get a raise, make a little bit of money in the side business. Now your coaching, your personal development has a positive ROI. 

Rich Bennett 8:05
Wow. Man. So all right. You mentioned family first 

Anthony Spark 8:10
family first 

Rich Bennett 8:10
and you've, I mean, you've had how many different businesses now? 

Anthony Spark 8:16
So I started in the AMOI 

Rich Bennett 8:17
Okay. 

Anthony Spark 8:17
business that was 20 years ago, still have that. And then as time went on, we started some different subsidiary businesses supported. Currently I have my Spark Exchange coaching brand. I still run, that's my main thing is AMOI still. Although my other things I think are going to begin to catch up to it. But Spark Exchange coaching. I have a VA placement agency founders right hand to help people leverage having start off off loading these tasks that are low value to place good talent. I started with my personal assistant, them, who is awesome started an AI integration and lead generation business atless minds. 

Rich Bennett 8:50
Smart. 

Anthony Spark 8:51
Small mid business, you know, AI tools are unbelievable. 

Rich Bennett 8:54
Yep. 

Anthony Spark 8:54
You know, I'm actually taking AI to fix all different things for my AMOI business. I've developed a, you know, a bought which can take all my audios and my videos and now I can train and coach people as me, which takes a lot of time off me. So I think there's a lot of commercial viability in the future. You know, when there's some other some side things do a bunch of investing and stuff, but that's the 

Rich Bennett 9:13
All 

Anthony Spark 9:13
main. 

Rich Bennett 9:14
right. So when you went to your wife about the coaching because of family being important, what was your wife's first response? 

Anthony Spark 9:23
Yeah. So that's important ones. give you a little bit of history. I started business right before my 18 birthday. I come from a pretty dysfunctional background. My mom wasn't single mom. My dad was in prison. 

Rich Bennett 9:33
Oh, she 

Anthony Spark 9:34
And my mom, she did, she did a bang up job. You know, all three of her kids, me, my sister and my younger brother. We're all top 1% earners, great relationships, healthy lives. So she's done a great job. But I was working full time at 15 and I'm 37. So I grew up much more similar to you. 

Rich Bennett 9:50
You're 

Anthony Spark 9:50
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 9:50
30. I was, you know, 

Anthony Spark 9:51
I got good. 

Rich Bennett 9:52
I was wondering dude, because when you said you started, I weighed 20 years ago. My first thought was how in the hell? 

Anthony Spark 10:00
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 10:00
he's what 29 your third holy shit 

Anthony Spark 10:03
37 man. 

Rich Bennett 10:03
can 

Anthony Spark 10:03
I got good 

Rich Bennett 10:04
and we still making 

Anthony Spark 10:05
beard. 

Rich Bennett 10:05
the 

Anthony Spark 10:05
I 

Rich Bennett 10:05
good shit to make you look younger 

Anthony Spark 10:08
That's 

Rich Bennett 10:08
right? 

Anthony Spark 10:08
it man. I mean I hopefully hit puberty soon. This 

Rich Bennett 10:10
all Right 

Anthony Spark 10:10
is But you know so I was working full time at 15 but I grew up much more similar to you than the guys that are five 10 years My junior because it was no social media. You know we didn't have a little emoji there. There's no social media There's no gig economy. So I was gonna go to the medical path. 

Rich Bennett 10:25
Oh, yeah 

Anthony Spark 10:25
I wanted it I want to make a lot of money and I want to help people that was the best I could figure But I didn't have a passion to be a doctor So when a friend of mine met a guy that said he was gonna retire at 28 I said I didn't know that was possible I thought you were born rich or you worked your whole life and you can make a lot of money But I said I'd rather be with my fan if I could retire in my 20s and not have a regular job I mean that's that's my that's my dream So they were amazing people top people in this industry trained me for 20 years I owe a tremendous amount to them and what they've done But in that process I'm a workaholic one thing my dad always did well is that you work you sick you work the best thing Basically, that was the thing. Oh you feel sick go to work. You 

Rich Bennett 11:01
and have fun at 

Anthony Spark 11:03
Yeah, that's it But what happened was I was putting my relationship on the back burner my mental health 

Rich Bennett 11:08
it. Oh 

Anthony Spark 11:08
my physical health in the back burner and it almost got divorced So there was a period of time where I had a reorient where I used to say I get all my work 

Rich Bennett 11:17
Yeah 

Anthony Spark 11:17
done And then at whatever's left over goes to my wife and then you know that would have been my kids as before I had kids So I've switched it so I have my family time is non-negotiable Having dinner with my kids is non-negotiable I don't care my company. I don't care what happens So I got Friday night family night pizza night we watch a movie we're home weekends for the most part I'm around a lot I might pop on a zoom meeting or something. So as I add things into my life the amount of working hours I have or finite so it's about becoming more efficient It's about getting more done And that's another similar thing like Dan Martell which is a great audio book I got a friend of mine that's got a huge MW business out in Australia one of my best friends But it's talking about that you have to have joined your life So when I start a new thing my wife down for anything, you know as long as I don't complain about losing money which I always do if I do 

Rich Bennett 12:05
You know 

Anthony Spark 12:05
and but my family life isn't gonna get impacted So I've just worked to say okay. I got these X number of hours how do I get all the stuff I was getting done in those X number of hours and half and then take that new Half to do something new or going in a direction that's more creative or more experimental And that's kind of the way that I run stuff. 

Rich Bennett 12:24
Wow man. That's Damn And I mean realizes I want I want to I want to get off the coaching a minute because I had no idea That you did AMway and I did 

Anthony Spark 12:38
AM yeah 

Rich Bennett 12:39
Several years ago too Um, and matter of fact our own neighbor behind me she made her living Doing 

Anthony Spark 12:47
half Mmm, 

Rich Bennett 12:47
a nice 

Anthony Spark 12:49
love it 

Rich Bennett 12:49
Everything um Yep But with that is because I I really don't see anything about it anymore Hmm I'd be honest if you I thought it went away Or 

Anthony Spark 13:02
name yeah 

Rich Bennett 13:02
change So is it still as big 

Anthony Spark 13:06
Yeah, so they did change names in the or and when they went online They changed names from AMway to Quickstar which was a branding misstep So they went back to AMway about five 

Rich Bennett 13:15
ten Okay 

Anthony Spark 13:15
years So amways you know they do billions per year if they're a huge company But they don't do traditional 

Rich Bennett 13:22
now 

Anthony Spark 13:22
advertising really So all their advertising is paid and you know to the people that are going to promote their stuff so The thing that I've seen in the network marketing industry is because it's extremely conservative minded It's almost always what used to 

Rich Bennett 13:37
work Mm-hmm, 

Anthony Spark 13:38
and there's there's a value to that institutions Conservative values what worked in the past there's a value to that because that's what's tried and 

Rich Bennett 13:45
true Right Yeah 

Anthony Spark 13:46
But as culture changes as people change and as things change We can't only look backwards because then we're gonna be selling vcrs You know what I mean like you have to eventually edit you know So also it's very demographic driven because in general people as they get older They get more fixed-minded and they're early they have a certain amount of success So they don't want to go back to the bottom of a ladder So very often the people that are starting or typically more twenties early thirties and Right 

Rich Bennett 14:13
Right 

Anthony Spark 14:13
Just because of the mindset and kind of where people are at but no amway does great They've been great to us No business is perfect. A lot of people like to say this is perfect and that's I don't I don't think they're perfect I don't think what they do is perfect I like some things. I don't like some things But they've paid us a tremendous amount of money and I love doing it Yeah 

Rich Bennett 14:30
I'll tell you one thing And I'm gonna forget the name of the products But the one was I want to say lsc the suit Is that what it is? 

Anthony Spark 14:41
Yeah lsc 

Rich Bennett 14:41
L. o. c Is that 

Anthony Spark 14:44
they still have 

Rich Bennett 14:45
God, those of you listening and- and look, and like I said, I had no idea the Anthony did this, but stuff, I've never found a, uh, washing detergent for your clothes as good as L. O. C. I mean, that stuff, 

Anthony Spark 15:03
that good 

Rich Bennett 15:03
oh my god! That, my mother had that all the time, but then when, as I got older, I started doing my clothes in it, and then, I forget what happened. I don't even know why I stopped, but 

Anthony Spark 15:17
I know a guy, if you- 

Rich Bennett 15:18
*laughs* But I mean, stuff was great and as a matter of fact, after a while, I think they got into like the supplement, uh, you know, healthy eating and all that. 

Anthony Spark 15:28
That's where they started, I- 

Rich Bennett 15:29
oh really? 

Anthony Spark 15:30
started. Yeah, so the founders started a nutrition, 

Rich Bennett 15:33
Hmm, 

Anthony Spark 15:33
and then they kinda messed up the comp plans, and then they started their own thing, and they started with the cleaning products, they eventually bought that old, uh, that company 

Rich Bennett 15:41
NutriLife, 

Anthony Spark 15:41
NutriLife. A supplement's out 

Rich Bennett 15:42
Yeah, 

Anthony Spark 15:42
there. 

Rich Bennett 15:42
oh 

Anthony Spark 15:42
god. 

Rich Bennett 15:42
my 

Anthony Spark 15:43
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 15:44
Yeah, mate, okay, I 

Anthony Spark 15:44
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 15:45
need to look at- 

Anthony Spark 15:45
great stuff. 

Rich Bennett 15:46
Okay, looking at this stuff again. Alright, so with the- with the coaching, because like I said, um, what's the actual title? It's not Growth Coach, what is it, just- 

Anthony Spark 15:56
you know, 

Rich Bennett 15:57
Coach, 

Anthony Spark 15:57
I've been trying to figure that out. I find that either success coaching, uh, it was probably the best, 'cause we're helping create success in the areas of your life. 

Rich Bennett 16:06
okay. 

Anthony Spark 16:06
You know, and if we kinda get too far off that, it starts to become a little bit abstract, you know, but if someone says I'm a business coach, definitely, I've built businesses, I've run 'em, I've built my own, I've helped people build a lot. You know, if they're looking, hey, I want to do financial coaching, personal finance, for sure. You know, if someone's succeeding in what they're doing, they're looking for fulfillment, they're looking to get, you know, which is kind of very often more executive level coaching, high level leadership 

Rich Bennett 16:28
Mm-hmm, 

Anthony Spark 16:28
strategy, life-a-filmer, you know. 

Rich Bennett 16:30
Alright, so- 'cause I believe that- like what you said that everybody should have a coach, and I agree with that 100%, um, and a mentor. I say that two differently, because I believe there's a difference between a mentor and a coach. I 

Anthony Spark 16:45
all, 

Rich Bennett 16:45
was 

Anthony Spark 16:45
fair. 

Rich Bennett 16:45
And a mentor doesn't get paid, a coach gets 

Anthony Spark 16:48
paid. Sure. Sure. 

Rich Bennett 16:49
So besides your wife, who is your coach? 

Anthony Spark 16:55
My coach. So Mike, I have a few. 

Rich Bennett 16:58
Okay. 

Anthony Spark 16:58
Um, so the people in Amway that have helped me for years are still some of role models for me, and have been tremendous in my life, you know, an amazing family, um, so they've really, really helped tremendously. And then I have a lot of friends and peers that I've worked with, and they've come really successful in different verticals, you know, and I have specific people. I've had a lot of coaching and really counseling, you know, for my marriage, for my own mental health, for different things, through a company. That's a subsidiary that we've, you know, started and have, you know, connections with and done different things with. So I've had people for my marriage. I've had people for business. I've had people for, in my Amway business. And then I have people that, hey, they help with social media. They teach you about social media. I got friends, got millions of followers. So it's, it's important you have a team. 

Rich Bennett 17:43
Right. 

Anthony Spark 17:43
No. The two things that are important is number one. You need to have some people that have succeeded in the vertical they're teaching. And I think the big thing that people miss is they have to share similar values because if you get like a Michael Jordan, a coach. You might not have a great relationship at the end, because that wasn't kind of what he did, 

Rich Bennett 18:01
Right. 

Anthony Spark 18:01
it doesn't, it's not, it's not a jab, you know, because that doesn't have to be important here. You know what I mean? Like you want to get like David Goggins to coach. I don't know how great your marriage and your other areas of your life are going to be because that's not really his, his thing. 

Rich Bennett 18:14
Yeah. 

Anthony Spark 18:14
And if he's happy with that and who am I to judge, but you want to look for people that share your values that are very, very important when you get someone coaching you, because you're going to, you're going to replicate their life. 

Rich Bennett 18:22
All right. So one of the things I love for people to share. And even though you've only been doing this. Not even a year yet, right? 

Anthony Spark 18:32
Okay. Well, I've been coaching for 20 though. 

Rich Bennett 18:33
Oh, 

Anthony Spark 18:34
So it's just moving just from Amway 

Rich Bennett 18:36
okay. 

Anthony Spark 18:36
specific to to more general. 

Rich Bennett 18:38
Can you share either one or two? It doesn't matter. However many want to feel good stories. There are people that you've coached and how it's helped them. 

Anthony Spark 18:48
Okay. Let's do a financial one. Let's do a personal 

Rich Bennett 18:51
Okay. 

Anthony Spark 18:51
one. So it's 

Rich Bennett 18:51
Perfect. 

Anthony Spark 18:52
a couple I worked with, a couple I worked with. Great people. They were on our Amway team, I don't know three, four, maybe five years, and they just didn't have the self image and they were people that just they could do anything. And their capability was up here and their self image was down here and built a relationship closed off a lot of trauma, a lot of issues in their life. And they never did a lot with Amway, but they really got a lot out of the community or the mentorship and the encouragement. And there was a time that this person gave me, and they said, listen, I want you to have this. And they gave me this note that they'd been carrying around. And they said, I don't need this anymore. And it was their suicide note. 

Rich Bennett 19:34
Oh my God. 

Anthony Spark 19:36
yeah. So that was, uh, that was an impactful one. I got it in my file somewhere with all my mementos of difference. Yeah. So that's a big one. You know who's 

Rich Bennett 19:44
know? 

Anthony Spark 19:45
struggling, you 

Rich Bennett 19:45
Yeah. 

Anthony Spark 19:45
No. You don't know where people are. I'm sure you've got some friends with the military background. You don't know. 

Rich Bennett 19:50
Oh, even once I've worn it in the military, I can tell you a story I tell everybody. But yeah, it's, that's all I always tell my kids. It's like, I don't care. If you're having a bad day or not, you see somebody you meet somebody you if you don't 

Anthony Spark 20:06
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 20:07
know them. Smile. Say hello 

Anthony Spark 20:08
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 20:08
because you could save that person's life. You never. 

Anthony Spark 20:11
Yep. You don't know. You 

Rich Bennett 20:12
Wow. 

Anthony Spark 20:12
don't know. 

Rich Bennett 20:13
Man. 

Anthony Spark 20:14
So that was an impactful one. 

Rich Bennett 20:15
Yeah. 

Anthony Spark 20:16
I got a bunch like that, you know, and that's, that's the thing that I've always loved about amway and really coaching. Is the difference you can make. The involvement you can get in people's lives. And then on the business then, you know, I have a couple that came here, you know, first generation immigrants chasing the, the dream to have a better life. Yeah, chasing the American dream, got all their degrees, got masters degrees and were struggling. Didn't understand personal finance and struggling, and seven, eight years they make a big six figure income now, you know, to allow them to have the foundation for their health. So that's Amway specific. Some great students of ours, great business partners on the outside. I'd mentioned, you know, the guy that I had said that started the AV company. I mean, I got, I think he's got a real good shot to do at least a million dollars of revenue in his first full year in business. 

Rich Bennett 20:59
Wow. 

Anthony Spark 20:59
And he'll probably be at about 30, 40% margin. And he went from working in ministry, making 50 grand to, I mean, I think he'll make a quarter million, 300,000 dollars a year in this company that he started. 

Rich Bennett 21:10
All right. So when's the book coming out, man? you got, I know you got a lot of good stories. 

Anthony Spark 21:15
Yeah. Yeah. So I actually wrote a book of funny, 

Rich Bennett 21:17
women, what? 

Anthony Spark 21:19
got another one. 

Rich Bennett 21:20
I 

Anthony Spark 21:20
I got another one in the work. Some working on, you know, that I haven't totally buttoned down. I'm doing newsletters every 

Rich Bennett 21:26
Okay. 

Anthony Spark 21:26
day. Assistant, that's amazing. That's, you know, helping me do that. But so about seven, eight years ago, I actually helped to plant a church that's become one of the most successful churches in the Northeast. So 

Rich Bennett 21:38
Really. 

Anthony Spark 21:38
a friend of mine. Yeah. So a friend of mine, I met him when he was, you know, at a small church, we can really close. This is Pastor Mike's signal really V1 church. Amazing, amazing guy, amazing couple him and Julie, his wife. So he went back to Indiana, you know, he wanted to bring a church here. I said, all right, man, here's, here's what we can do. So we raised the 50,000 dollar seed money amongst my people and how little Bible study and became like the launch team. Now, that's grown way beyond us, you know, sometimes, you know, you get some funny stuff 

Rich Bennett 22:04
right. 

Anthony Spark 22:04
on, I got, I mean, 99% of that church is nothing to do with any way, if not more, at this point. But if we started it and I was having a conversation with them and I said, you know, talking about writing a book and he's and I said, well, I don't want to write a book now, you know, because I don't know. I don't want to mess anybody up. You know, like, I don't, I don't really. I'm not sure. Maybe I'm like 67, you know, and I really got to shit down. But he's like, well, he's like, first of all, why, why are you only going to write one book and he goes, and what if that book helps you become more successful? So I said, okay. So I can be perfectionist think about things. So what I did, he had a, he had a company, a friend that took pastors, sermons and converted those sermons into a book format. So call them up. I said, would you do it for a non-pasture? And he's like, yeah. And he goes, yeah, so it was like, $20, 000, $30, 000 when I did not have at that. And he's like, yeah, we interview him and blah, blah, blah. I said, all right. Well, what if I just send you six hours of audio my own? And you just like typeset it for me. He's like, yeah, you know, be like six grand, whatever. So I was like, okay, sweet. So I had that combo. I had that combo with Mike, because I had kind of been exploring it and I'd kind of nicked 

Rich Bennett 23:07
right 

Anthony Spark 23:07
because I'm like, I don't, I don't, you know, that's like it. I'll put that in the future. So I had that combo with Mike on a Friday, pastor, Mike, signal really. So I said, okay, to not be perfectionistic, what I'm going to do is I got all my meetings, all my stuff. I got this early morning, like fitness, personal development club at like six AM, but for the next 24 hours between my appointments off the top of my head, I'm just, I jotted down 12 chapter titles. And I just spoke because I'm a speaker and I could speak a lot easier than right. So I recorded about five and a half hours of audio, just in between everything in the 24 hour period. I could barely talk at the end of it, eating some of the things in the recording. And I sent them over. So I did it in 24 hours. And I did it that way. Not to become like this urban legend like, oh, Anthony wrote a book in 24 hours. It was to be like, hey, I did this in 24 hours. This is just not, this isn't a masterpiece 

Rich Bennett 23:53
pow, 

Anthony Spark 23:53
to get myself off the hook. So I sent over the files to him and the guy like takes the credit card and everything. And even then that was a lot of, 

Rich Bennett 24:00
yeah. 

Anthony Spark 24:01
But he's like, listen, I got to tell you, one of the things we do is people are always telling us they don't want to buy our thing. It's too expensive. So they always ask if they could do it on their own. I just say, yeah, to get them off the phone. You're the only guy that ever 

Rich Bennett 24:14
it. 

Anthony Spark 24:14
did 

Rich Bennett 24:15
Oh, shit. 

Anthony Spark 24:17
No, I didn't know it was a trial. So anyway, they ended up doing 

Rich Bennett 24:21
it. 

Anthony Spark 24:22
That program eventually became like 40, 50 grand. 

Rich Bennett 24:25
Wow. 

Anthony Spark 24:25
You know, but he did it for me. So that's the Phoenix manifesto. And as I said, I wrote it seven years ago. You know, it says I was like on a no caffeine kick. 

Rich Bennett 24:32
perfect. 

Anthony Spark 24:32
I am 

Rich Bennett 24:34
(laughs) 

Anthony Spark 24:34
You know, so, but I do think a lot of that stuff stands. But hey, if you wanna check that out, you know, I'd always said that, you know, those profits would go to different proceeds and different things and a little bit's been there. But I don't even know if I made the 6000 bucks back from that. 

Rich Bennett 24:47
The Phoenix manifesto. 

Anthony Spark 24:49
be--

Rich Bennett 24:49
The 

Anthony Spark 24:50
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 24:50
hat 

Anthony Spark 24:50
so 

Rich Bennett 24:50
can 

Anthony Spark 24:50
that's that, but I-- Then go on Amazon, I give you a free PDF. I'll give you a free PDF of it. You go on my website, Spark a Change Coaching. I'll give you a free PDF of it. Sign up for my newsletter, keep in touch. 

Rich Bennett 25:02
Wait a minute. What's the website? 

Anthony Spark 25:05
Spark a Change Coaching. 

Rich Bennett 25:07
Spark a change. Okay, 'cause I had extraordinary excellence. Wish I want to get to to in a minute. 

Anthony Spark 25:12
That's a podcast, yeah, 

Rich Bennett 25:13
All 

Anthony Spark 25:13
it's 

Rich Bennett 25:13
right, 

Anthony Spark 25:13
another project. 

Rich Bennett 25:14
I am--

Anthony Spark 25:15
I like projects, man. 

Rich Bennett 25:16
Nothing wrong with that, where's the newsletter? Demon, I'm trying to find the newsletter! 

Anthony Spark 25:21
So you go on the top, get the free PDF. 

Rich Bennett 25:24
Oh, okay, 

Anthony Spark 25:24
The 

Rich Bennett 25:24
there, 

Anthony Spark 25:25
newsletter 

Rich Bennett 25:25
I gotcha. 

Anthony Spark 25:25
distribution. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 25:27
All right, so this way, I wanna sign up for it now. 

Anthony Spark 25:30
Ah, cool. 

Rich Bennett 25:32
Which all you listening do the same thing. 

Oh, there it is, okay, grab your free PDF copy of the Phoenix manifesto. 

Anthony Spark 25:40
There it is, free, baby. 

Rich Bennett 25:42
Did you design the cover or did that company? 

Anthony Spark 25:45
They did. 

Rich Bennett 25:45
I liked that, 

Anthony Spark 25:45
It's cool. 

I like it 

Rich Bennett 25:47
it's 

Anthony Spark 25:47
too. 

Rich Bennett 25:47
very 

Anthony Spark 25:47
And 

Rich Bennett 25:47
bad. 

Anthony Spark 25:47
my daughter's name's 

Rich Bennett 25:49
Phoenix. 

Get out! 

Anthony Spark 25:51
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 25:52
Wow, bad. 

Anthony Spark 25:53
My name, I'll give you a fun story, 'cause it's a fun hang loose. So I grew up and my dad did a lot of stuff right. I don't wanna say he did, 'cause he did. But he had a lot of personal challenges. He came from a lot of challenges. We don't even really speak anymore. That's a whole nother story for another day. But I did legally change my name, 'cause my dad had the same name. He had no middle name and I wasn't a junior, he wasn't a senior. My dad's a convicted felon. 

Rich Bennett 26:19
Right. 

Anthony Spark 26:20
So it wasn't great for business. So the first time I'm driving, you know, back you get your first-gate your license. I'm rushing back to high school, I'm 17, I blow a stop sign, I'm trying to get to class. I get pulled over for the first time. Now, everyone can remember the first time you get pulled You are 

Rich Bennett 26:36
to the-

Anthony Spark 26:36
stressed 

Rich Bennett 26:37
Uh-huh. 

Anthony Spark 26:37
The panic attack, right? So this lady cop, real, real sharp comes. Like, what are you doing driving like that? I'm like petrified, right? She takes my life, she's like, is your license clean? I'm like, yeah, my license is clean, never got pulled over. So she comes back and she goes, "There's a warrant out for your arrest."

Rich Bennett 26:52
Jesus. 

Anthony Spark 26:53
I'm like, that's not me. That's not me. So anyway, I thought about it for a long time. You know, my name was hard to say. It was Dijon Tomaso. So before I had my kids, I said, "You know what? "I'm gonna start a new family like this. "You know I can say my name, "know I can spell my name. "There's enough confusion about this." So I legally changed it before I had my kids for Spark. So my kids' names are bad ass 'cause I picked both. So it's Pierce Spark, is my son the eldest twins, Phoenix Spark. My next daughter's Ember Spark, and then we have the three-month-old 

Rich Bennett 27:21
Spark. 

Anthony Spark 27:21
Stella 

Rich Bennett 27:21
I love that, man. That is bad ass. 

Anthony Spark 27:26
Yep, 

Rich Bennett 27:26
That is 

Anthony Spark 27:26
yep, so 

Rich Bennett 27:26
really 

Anthony Spark 27:27
it's 

Rich Bennett 27:27
bad 

Anthony Spark 27:27
fun. 

Rich Bennett 27:27
ass. Hey, you're right, Spark's a lot easier to say than I'm not even gonna try to pronounce the other one you said. (laughs)

Anthony Spark 27:33
Right, it's not gonna be in a speaker. Not gonna be in a speaker if people can't spell and say your name. 

Rich Bennett 27:38
(laughs)

So you do public speaking as well. 

Anthony Spark 27:41
Yeah, well through. 

Rich Bennett 27:42
Well, yeah, 

Anthony Spark 27:43
Marketing, I've done a ton. You know, I've done other events too, but I've spoken in Australia and New Zealand, London, Dominican Republic, 

Rich Bennett 27:51
damn. 

Anthony Spark 27:51
all over the content of the United States. Yeah, biggest group probably like 12, 13,000. 

Rich Bennett 27:56
Just gonna say, what? 

Anthony Spark 27:59
Yeah, and wait, 

Rich Bennett 28:00
Well, yeah, I forgot the conferences, yeah. 

Anthony Spark 28:03
and wait, 

Rich Bennett 28:03
Did 

Anthony Spark 28:03
and wait. 

Rich Bennett 28:04
you have any idea of whether you're gonna do a TEDx talk or not, or have 

Anthony Spark 28:09
You 

Rich Bennett 28:09
you? 

Anthony Spark 28:09
know, I probably should. I probably shouldn't, I haven't done that. I probably should. I probably should. So I'll have to add that to the list project. 

Rich Bennett 28:16
Oh, wait a minute, you mentioned the Phoenix Manifesto, but he almost said it like you said you were working on another book or 

Anthony Spark 28:24
okay. 

Rich Bennett 28:24
getting ready. 

Anthony Spark 28:24
I am, it's in the works. It's not fully baked, and this is gonna be, you know, a much more intentional one. So 

Rich Bennett 28:30
Okay, 

Anthony Spark 28:30
if I can get that done by end of year, I'll be real happy. 

Rich Bennett 28:34
You will. Yeah, you, 

Anthony Spark 28:36
Now I have to, 

Rich Bennett 28:37
yeah. 

Anthony Spark 28:37
now I have to. You baited me, not. 

Rich Bennett 28:39
Well, you have to, that way you can come on the podcast and pitch it. All right, I want to talk about extraordinary excellence, the podcast. Is that on hold or are you guys bringing that back? 

Anthony Spark 28:51
So it's on hold. So what we did during COVID. 

We 

Rich Bennett 28:55
hold. 

Anthony Spark 28:55
were on 

Rich Bennett 28:55
Right. 

Anthony Spark 28:56
So me and my brother-in-law, he actually was in the Air Force reserves, but me and my brother else said, "You know what? Fuck it. Let's do a podcast." So I got my friends on all these different people. I have a guy on their Corrie Row, who was a guy that we coach. She was kind of coming up. He was a celebrity trainer. But he was working at a boutique gym, but he's got his whole thing now. Got 1.3 million followers. Amazing guy if someone needs fitness advice. Just a wonderful person. But anyways, I got a bunch of cool people on their mic. So he really did a few different things, right? So we went through, we did like 55 episodes. It became like a top 1% podcast, really just from people that we know. And sometimes we pop on, you know, we'll pop one in, do 

Rich Bennett 29:32
Right. 

Anthony Spark 29:32
another one here, 

Rich Bennett 29:33
It's 

Anthony Spark 29:33
and then- 

Rich Bennett 29:33
fun. 

Anthony Spark 29:33
But we don't have a weekly distribution anymore. We got all the old episodes on there. I'll give you another fun story that you like. So we're doing it in my garage. 

Rich Bennett 29:41
All right. I 

Anthony Spark 29:42
It's 

Rich Bennett 29:42
listened to 

Anthony Spark 29:42
COVID. 

Rich Bennett 29:42
the first episode when you talk about it. It's like, sorry for the mess. But yeah. 

Anthony Spark 29:46
Can we know what we're doing? You know, we know we're doing. Right? So we sit down and back then we were drinking a lot of 

Rich Bennett 29:52
cloth. 

Anthony Spark 29:52
white 

Rich Bennett 29:52
Yeah, I meant to ask you about that, man. 

Anthony Spark 29:55
God. Yeah. We drink, we drink, we drink high Noons. Now I can't drink beer, man. I've never liked it. Never liked it. 

Rich Bennett 30:01
god. 

Anthony Spark 30:01
Oh, my 

Rich Bennett 30:03
ass. 

Anthony Spark 30:05
You get your 

Rich Bennett 30:06
I wasn't going to say that. 

Anthony Spark 30:11
That's my favorite, Diapé, Pepsi, Diet Coke, Coke, Sierra. I'll take Jame on any. 

Rich Bennett 30:16
I tell you what, try a Irish old fashion. 

Anthony Spark 30:21
Okay. I'll try that out. 

Rich Bennett 30:22
I think it's black. Jamesson, black I think it is 

Anthony Spark 30:25
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 30:25
the day 

Anthony Spark 30:25
Oh, I love Jamesson, 

Rich Bennett 30:26
in 

Anthony Spark 30:26
man. 

Rich Bennett 30:26
Benedictine. 

Anthony Spark 30:26
I love 

Rich Bennett 30:27
Oh, 

Anthony Spark 30:27
James. 

Rich Bennett 30:27
my god. It is. It's good. Anyways. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go 

Anthony Spark 30:32
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 30:32
ahead. 

Anthony Spark 30:33
We're batch. We're batching four episodes, right? So we're doing them back to back to back. Now, we're sitting, laughing, drinking, going, right? So the fourth one was also an ex-military guy. He actually helped to handle the Fukushima meltdown. 

Rich Bennett 30:48
Oh, wow. 

Anthony Spark 30:48
You're pan. So he's got some cool stories. Rob Navatony, awesome dude. Super successful and insurance. But anyway, so we're sitting there, right? And we get to episode four. Now, we've been sitting here for four hours, five hours. Just 

Rich Bennett 30:59
damn. 

Anthony Spark 30:59
And so we looked down, and I'm like, A lot of drinks, man. So it was like, so we got this fourth podcast. So it's audio, right? So me and short, we're hammered. We're hammered at this point. So, but we get through, but it's like you kind of, you know, like you say your thing, 

Rich Bennett 31:17
uh-huh. 

Anthony Spark 31:17
and they're like, you know, so if you listened to that episode for, I think we covered it pretty well. I don't know if it ever came on a podcast and say that, but me and short are hammered 

Rich Bennett 31:25
one. 

Anthony Spark 31:25
on that 

Rich Bennett 31:25
So one of the things that scares me, a lot of my co-hosts have been bugging me to that we should say we should do a podcast going to all the different breweries around here. 

Anthony Spark 31:37
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 31:37
I'm like, okay, number one, we'd have to have a designated driver. 

Anthony Spark 31:41
did 

Rich Bennett 31:41
If we 

Anthony Spark 31:42
for sure, 

Rich Bennett 31:43
I said, and number two, I mean, I don't know, because as we're driving, we're going all, we're trying all this different stuff by the time we get to the next time. And nobody going to 

Anthony Spark 31:54
understand 

Rich Bennett 31:55
the damn word we say, it could be fun, but 

Anthony Spark 31:59
it would be fun. 

Rich Bennett 32:00
You're, I think the breweries may get pissed at us because by the third one, we're not going to be able to taste the difference of beers. 

Anthony Spark 32:08
Fuck them. It'd be a fun, 

Rich Bennett 32:09
oh, it would. 

Anthony Spark 32:09
You do it. I'm 

Rich Bennett 32:11
actually thinking, me and my buddies have been kicking this idea around about starting another podcast about, you know, sampling 

Anthony Spark 32:20
okay, 

Rich Bennett 32:20
bourbon and, 

bourbon and bullshit. 

Anthony Spark 32:24
I 

Rich Bennett 32:24
it. 

Anthony Spark 32:24
love 

Rich Bennett 32:24
There 

Anthony Spark 32:26
is when you go in 

Rich Bennett 32:27
written, 

Anthony Spark 32:27
niche, like I just had an email from the school community. Let me actually say this is crazy and I don't use school yet. I think I'm going to use them for some of 

Rich Bennett 32:33
started. 

Anthony Spark 32:33
my courses. 

Rich Bennett 32:34
Oh, for 

Anthony Spark 32:35
Got 

Rich Bennett 32:35
those of you listening, when Anthony's talking about school, it's S-K-O-O-L. 

Anthony Spark 32:40
Yeah, it's 

Rich Bennett 32:41
Alex, but Alex is awesome. Yeah. 

Anthony Spark 32:44
Yeah, Alex Ramose did it. So check this out. They just said that it's great marketing. So here's 11 examples of weird groups making money. You got drum and bass DJs, $1, 100 dollars a month, bird watching and Costa Rica, $1, 500 a month a revenue. 

Rich Bennett 33:01
Well, how? 

Anthony Spark 33:02
Charge people, $100 dollars for haircuts, $10 grand a month, stranger things acting tips, $25 grand a month, gold and ratio frequencies. I 

Rich Bennett 33:12
that- 

Anthony Spark 33:12
don't even know what 11,000 a month. So you can make money doing, so here's the thing people, they don't ship, they don't try, they're afraid to fail, they're afraid about being perfect. I talked to my clients all the time. I got some clients who were, they really have a lot of self confidence over a year and half of work with them. They both were to book last year, both launched a business, saving for a house and making one money in their job, you just got to go for shit. And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. How do you get quality to a podcast, you just fucking do it, that's how you get 

Rich Bennett 33:41
Oh, 

Anthony Spark 33:41
qualified. 

Rich Bennett 33:41
when I started my business, everybody thought I was nuts because I wanted to start a good news website, that was it. Strickly local. Granted, it was hard because it's hard to find good news, to be honest with you. And that was in 2012. And then 2015 is when I launched the podcast, and back then, a lot of people didn't know what the podcast was. 

Anthony Spark 34:09
Yup. 

Rich Bennett 34:10
And 

Anthony Spark 34:10
that's the long time ago. You were early. 

Rich Bennett 34:12
Yeah. And monetized, it was monetized and it before I even recorded the first episode. 

Anthony Spark 34:17
I 

Rich Bennett 34:17
it. 

Anthony Spark 34:17
love 

Rich Bennett 34:18
Because 

Anthony Spark 34:18
it's a, it's a business man right there. Well, 

Rich Bennett 34:20
and that, this is something I tell podcasters, you know, a lot of podcasters starting because they want to make money. There's a lot of hobbyists like yourself. 

Anthony Spark 34:29
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 34:29
And my thing is, if you want to do it to make money, number one, it's a business. So you should have a business plan. If you don't have a business plan, then you're not going to succeed at the podcast. And that's, that's what you got to look at. And you got to think that side of the box for ignored the downloads because you hear the 

Anthony Spark 34:48
Right. 

Rich Bennett 34:48
so called experts that you got to have so many downloads before you monetize bullshit. 

Anthony Spark 34:53
No, totally. 

Rich Bennett 34:54
You got to think that side of the box. Go out there and. 

Anthony Spark 34:57
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 34:58
Oh, yeah. God yeah. You guys got to start that better. Yeah. I think there's a whole podcast you can even start on your, you know, with yourself on coaching. 

Anthony Spark 35:07
Yeah. For sure. For sure. That might be a direction. I go. 

Rich Bennett 35:10
Yeah. 

Anthony Spark 35:11
It's a good point. 

Rich Bennett 35:11
And you've been married. Hello, 

Anthony Spark 35:14
so I did my wife for 17 years 

Rich Bennett 35:16
17 years. 

Anthony Spark 35:17
of 13. 

Rich Bennett 35:17
Okay. And four kids. I think I see both of you being marriage coaches. Better yet family coaches. 

Anthony Spark 35:26
Yeah. Yeah, my wife, my wife has no interest in really do it. She does. 

Rich Bennett 35:30
He's 

Anthony Spark 35:32
like, leave me alone 

Rich Bennett 35:32
in mind to say, wait man. 

Anthony Spark 35:35
It's actually usually good rich. When you get too crazy people, it's wild. I was like, you go be crunchy and over here. 

Rich Bennett 35:42
Yeah, my wife's like no, I don't want to be. I told her the other day. I said, I think you ought to come on the podcast. She goes for what? Yeah. 

Anthony Spark 35:50
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 35:51
Yeah. I said, well, I mean, think about it. We got stories. We could talk about how we make such. You know, we've been married almost 30 years. We're, 

Anthony Spark 35:58
I 

Rich Bennett 35:58
we're 

Anthony Spark 35:58
love 

Rich Bennett 35:58
just, 

Anthony Spark 35:58
it. 

Rich Bennett 35:58
we're supposed to show you. 

Anthony Spark 36:01
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 36:02
Okay. Fine. Never mind that. 

Anthony Spark 36:05
Try again 

Rich Bennett 36:05
She 

Anthony Spark 36:05
later. 

Rich Bennett 36:05
wouldn't even listen to it anyway. So, 

Anthony Spark 36:08
my wife says the same thing. I'd be like, did you read that Newslet? She's like, 

Rich Bennett 36:10
with 

Anthony Spark 36:11
I live 

Rich Bennett 36:11
that too. Why? 

Anthony Spark 36:13
I ain't fucking listening to you. 

Rich Bennett 36:16
wife's like, did you get rid of the Baltimore accent yet? I said, no. From. 

Anthony Spark 36:19
My 

Rich Bennett 36:20
From here, I can't. you know, I can't tell. I can't tell. Oh, sleep with the 

Anthony Spark 36:22
I can't tell. I don't 

Rich Bennett 36:22
hell? 

Anthony Spark 36:22
know. I don't know. No, No, no, that's part of the part of the part of the whole vibe. 

Rich Bennett 36:27
Oh, 

Anthony Spark 36:27
Character. 

Rich Bennett 36:28
God. 

Anthony Spark 36:28
That's it. 

Rich Bennett 36:29
Are you so Anthony? Actually, God, there's, I could see your talk with you for hours, but you know, 

Anthony Spark 36:35
a business fund. I'm having a good time. 

Rich Bennett 36:38
I 

might have to change it from bourbons, bourbon, and white clothes. 

Anthony Spark 36:45
There you go. 

Rich Bennett 36:46
You 

Anthony Spark 36:46
Not. 

Rich Bennett 36:46
know, high news. 

Anthony Spark 36:48
back 

Rich Bennett 36:48
High. 

Anthony Spark 36:48
then. 

Rich Bennett 36:49
Not 

Anthony Spark 36:49
High. Nunes are way back 

Rich Bennett 36:50
isn't the high noon vodka based 

Anthony Spark 36:52
High. Nunes is vodka. The white claw kind of gives you, it's 

Rich Bennett 36:54
like a 

Anthony Spark 36:55
kind of, it's 

Rich Bennett 36:55
shelter. 

Anthony Spark 36:55
like mold. It's like, yeah, it's not. It's not. It's, it's, hey, they're good for what you need if you're on the beach or something, but 

Rich Bennett 37:00
Yeah. 

Anthony Spark 37:00
high noon is superior for, in my 

Rich Bennett 37:02
The first time I saw a white claw, my son came over with his fiance, and we were having, um, we love just pulling out the grills there front. We all, all 

Anthony Spark 37:12
opinion. 

Rich Bennett 37:12
the neighbors get 

Anthony Spark 37:13
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 37:13
together and we cook out. 

Anthony Spark 37:14
That's awesome. 

Rich Bennett 37:15
And I guess I said, what else is shit? He's like, oh, a white clothes. That's what's a white claw. You saw, try it and I tried it as like, yeah, no, not for me. And then the next time he came over, I think you brought truly, 

Anthony Spark 37:29
those are what 

Rich Bennett 37:30
you're, yeah, they're definitely fruitier. I think 

Anthony Spark 37:33
I don't 

Rich Bennett 37:34
like, 

Anthony Spark 37:34
like those 

Rich Bennett 37:35
okay, well, this ain't as bad. 

Anthony Spark 37:38
You like the trillies better? Yeah, it's a different, 

Rich Bennett 37:40
but I still can 

Anthony Spark 37:41
surf signs are good, 

Rich Bennett 37:42
I 

Anthony Spark 37:43
see vodka. Surf signs, those are good. That's 

Rich Bennett 37:45
what my daughter like, 

Anthony Spark 37:47
those are 

Rich Bennett 37:47
He 

Anthony Spark 37:47
cool. 

Rich Bennett 37:47
likes to search. Now if I'm drinking beer, Sam, Sam Adams is my favorite. Uh, 

Anthony Spark 37:52
I get 

Rich Bennett 37:52
but 

Anthony Spark 37:53
it. 

Rich Bennett 37:53
otherwise, yeah, bar. You give me a good old fashioned. And, 

Anthony Spark 37:57
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 37:58
I mean, we experiment when we get together, we experiment with like, I think the last time we made, I made smoked lavender, old fashioned for everybody. And at first, or like lavender, really, I was like, trust me, just try it. 

Anthony Spark 38:14
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 38:16
refreshing. Very refreshing. So 

Anthony Spark 38:19
we always do, we have a little Christmas party with some friends to always do a cock off. It's like a cocktail contest, you know, so we always we have like grading, you know, present, it's fun. You should do 

Rich Bennett 38:28
Ooh! 

Anthony Spark 38:28
that. You can fun with that. 

Rich Bennett 38:30
Well, we used to have like... because I had seven grills in my backyard. So we would have cookoffs. And the last time 

Anthony Spark 38:37
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 38:37
we did it was... there was a few years ago we had a chili cookoff. So that we couldn't do on the grill. But well, we wouldn't... have you ever watched Chopped? 

Anthony Spark 38:47
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 38:47
All right, so we we've been kicking that idea around. I'm bad at 

Anthony Spark 38:51
It's 

Rich Bennett 38:51
doing 

Anthony Spark 38:51
fun. 

Rich Bennett 38:51
something like that. But I love the idea of cocktails. Because... 

Anthony Spark 38:57
Yeah, it's fun. 

Rich Bennett 38:58
Oh, my, my, one neighbor. He may... I'm not a big Scotch fan, but he made a thing called penicillin, which I believe is two different scotches, lemon juice and ginger. 

Anthony Spark 39:11
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 39:12
Oh my God. It's... 

Anthony Spark 39:14
I love 

Rich Bennett 39:14
it. refreshing. It was... 

Anthony Spark 39:16
I love it. 

Rich Bennett 39:17
refreshing. But I everybody would say... because by trade after the Marine Corps, I became a professional mixologist. So they'll probably 

Anthony Spark 39:23
say, "There you go." 

Rich Bennett 39:24
No, no, you got to be over here. I'll judge. I don't care. I'll... I'll test all the trade. 

Anthony Spark 39:29
That said. That's fun. Hey, that's what I did this year. I said, "You make 'em. I'll drink 'em." 

Rich Bennett 39:32
All right. So, if you did, I gotta tell you, man, that elevator pitches are first time I really tried this. But I saw us getting off the elevator, sitting down to have some coffee or white clothes, because it was that damn good. You hooked 

Anthony Spark 39:49
Thank 

Rich Bennett 39:49
me. 

Anthony Spark 39:50
you. 

Rich Bennett 39:50
And I had... since I love the fact that... What is, it's an elevator pitch, because we did... 

Anthony Spark 39:59
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 39:59
Do like a pre-talk or anything. It was through that... whatever. 

Anthony Spark 40:04
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 40:04
it. Find a guess. But it's fun. And I learned a lot and 

Anthony Spark 40:10
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 40:10
you got me signed up for your newsletter already. 

Anthony Spark 40:13
I love it. Glad to have 

Rich Bennett 40:16
But... 

Anthony Spark 40:16
you. Hopefully you liked 

Rich Bennett 40:17
Oh, 

Anthony Spark 40:17
easy sign, y'all. 

Rich Bennett 40:18
good. 

Anthony Spark 40:18
Hopefully it's 

Rich Bennett 40:18
Oh, I'm sure it will be. But before I get to my last question, is there anything you would like to add? Besides, everybody needs to sign up and hire Anthony as a coach. 

Anthony Spark 40:29
I love to be a privilege, you know. And I will give a disclaimer. I don't want to just sell people's shit. 

Rich Bennett 40:35
Right. 

Anthony Spark 40:36
So, we book a call. We make sure it makes sense. We make sure that we have the right vibe. The thing with coaching is a lot of people say, "That's a good coach. It's a bad coach. It's just different. Different people need different things." 

Rich Bennett 40:45
Connect. 

Anthony Spark 40:46
You listen to this podcast. I'm not a buttoned up corporate guy. And if you want someone that's gonna be... I'm not saying they're better, I'm worse. I'm better. It's just you got to find the right person. 

Rich Bennett 40:54
Right. 

Anthony Spark 40:55
But I love to chat. And if I get a value we could meet. I love it. You could tell. So, the thing I'll say and the whole context of this podcast, make a money is great. And it's important to support your life. the most important things having fun. In joy in your life, you know, I've seen so many people that create so much success and they are miserable. And then they're more miserable. And it is just such a waste of life. You have to live a life. You love to live. And if there's elements in your life you don't love. You got to sack up and be responsible to work on fixing it and get some help or get some encouragement or learn a new skill. You know, my marriage has been terrible. It's the best thing in my life now. I sucked it, Amway, and I got really good at it. I started some new companies. Some of them failed. I lost 100 grand in a vest man. I've made 100 grand. You learn. 

Rich Bennett 41:42
But 

Anthony Spark 41:42
You know, you learn. You learn. But have fun. Enjoy your life. Laugh a lot. Have good stories to share. And ultimately at the end of the day, if you could laugh around a cook off and you got good friends, you got neighbors, you can cook with you got people you love, you got your family, the money can come and go. But that's the thing that life's really about. 

Rich Bennett 42:02
Exactly. I love that. All right. So pick a number between one and five, 

three, three. All right. I gotta get to that block. Block number three. Okay. Uh-huh. 

All right. Now pick a number between 41 and 60. 

Anthony Spark 42:21
52. 

Rich Bennett 42:22
You said 52? 

Anthony Spark 42:24
52. 

Rich Bennett 42:26
You know what, this is good. Especially since you lied to me and told me you were 37 and I still 

put everything you've been through. This is a great question. What is something you've come to appreciate more as you've gotten older? 

Anthony Spark 42:47
Time that you intentionally aren't busy. I was busy, busy, busy, busy, do do do. Tast, task, task. Quiet. Cup of coffee. A lot of us chase these peak moments. You think being on a yacht, you think achieving that million dollar goal, that 10 million dollar goal, you think to the day of the wedding, you think that, you know, that promotion, that stuff is so fleeting. The real joy of life is the moments every day that most of the time you disregard. Quiet. Cup of coffee on the chair, read a book, laugh with your wife, your partner. It's the time that you're not busy, in my opinion. That's the most valuable. Laughing with your kids, see a lot of guys, a lot of men, particularly, they fill their life so much that they have time for their kids and in their wife, but they don't have any of them. Oh, look, we got balloons. 

Rich Bennett 43:37
(laughing) 

Anthony Spark 43:38
They got time, they got time in balloons, but they don't have any emotional margin. And they're not there, they can't play, they can't listen 'cause they're exhausted. You gotta leave margin in your life. If you just make money or you just win, you just succeed, you win the game, your number one football guy, your number one business guy, number one sales guy, it's really not worth nearly as much as being present with your family and enjoying your life. 

Rich Bennett 44:02
For those of you listening, if you're wonder when Anthony's talking about when he said the balloons, he's on a, on a Mac computer. And I guess we 

Anthony Spark 44:10
can 

Rich Bennett 44:11
do something with--

Anthony Spark 44:12
I think it's a piece sigh. 

Rich Bennett 44:13
Okay, I've 

Anthony Spark 44:15
Yeah, there it is. 

Rich Bennett 44:17
seen that happen with a lot of people I've been talking to virtually, and all these things will emojis and everything will start popping up there, and at first, if it's our first time on, they'd have no idea what happened. 

Anthony Spark 44:29
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 44:30
he's like, nah, that's good. Well, Anthony, I want to thank you so much, those of you listening, make sure that you go to the website, sparkachangecoaching.com. Sign up for the newsletter, get the book, the Phoenix Manifesto, and you know what I'm on, all of your grimmit, you know what I'm gonna say about the book. After you read it, leave a full review, tell other people to get it. Anthony, man, this has been fun, and I know we're gonna be talking again, but I don't--

Anthony Spark 45:02
I can't wait. 

Rich Bennett 45:02
I'm looking at the time, it's almost high noon. 

Anthony Spark 45:07
All we better go, we better go get some liquid lunch, baby. 

Rich Bennett 45:11
(laughing)

Anthony, thanks a lot, brother. 

Anthony Spark 45:15
God bless, Rich, thanks for having me, and make sure, as a last thing, if you didn't stop, what you didn't. Message Rich, Rich been doing this for 10 years, sending them a message, there's so many people that listen to this podcast, you get tremendous value, and you're like, that was helpful, that was great. That changed, message him, 

Rich Bennett 45:31
Yeah. 

Anthony Spark 45:31
'cause that goes a long way. 

Rich Bennett 45:33
It does, I love hearing the responses, too. And it gives me an idea of who to get on, and 

Anthony Spark 45:38
That's 

Rich Bennett 45:38
everything, 

Anthony Spark 45:38
it, 

Rich Bennett 45:38
so--

Anthony Spark 45:38
that's it, so reach out.