Chris Martinez 4:26
Well, this is the thing, you know, like, I feel like, I’m a pretty tough guy, right? And I can get through pretty much anything. And the reason that I’ve been able to develop this toughness is because of all of the challenges that I had when I was a kid and well as a young adult, too. You know, so like, going through those things shaped me and gave me the strength to persevere through a lot of the crap that we had to deal with, you know, growing a business. any entrepreneur will tell you that is always something some, something’s broken, something needs to be fixed some challenge, unforeseen challenge. There’s always something that we have to overcome. And so, you know, when it comes to some of my biggest or my one biggest obstacle I would have to go back to, you know, a couple years after my dad died, I was broke no money. You know, I was just on the verge of getting a job. And I just had a breakdown, you know, like, I was just so angry inside and I was just a moment something super stupid set me off. And I would just, I was just so furious that I was walking around the neighborhood chain smoking, trying to get out, get rid of this anger. And I just couldn’t see straight I was so angry, I couldn’t see straight and, and then I realized, you know, like, I don’t want to live like this. Like I don’t like this person. I am. And I need to figure out a way of how to deal with this. And so I reached out to a therapist. And while I made the decision at that time to reach out to a therapist, that was the big thing is just admitting yourself, I need to help. Because I think a lot of guys trying to fix everything on their own, because we’re stupid and pigheaded. And this is one area that I did not have a clue about. And I needed help. So the first step was just admitting that I needed somebody to help me, because I wasn’t going to live like this. I don’t think that I would live much I wouldn’t be able to live much longer. Had I not gotten some help. And so I made the decision that I was going to find a therapist. And back in the day, you know, I went on Google and I just started dialing, you know, because I didn’t know who to look for. Just started dialing, you know. And then the first person to call me back was this woman named Susan. She’s based out of Manhattan Beach. She was an amazing She is an amazing human being. I’m still in contact With her, we talked at least like once a year, or message. And so, you know, I went to that appointment for therapy and didn’t know what to expect it was an intro appointment, so you don’t really get into much deep stuff. And at first, I didn’t really like her. But then as I saw, I think about it more, because she’s a ballbuster. Man. Yeah. You know, like, I can be fairly stubborn. And at that time, I was like that, exactly. Like, in the moment that I realized how much I needed her. We were talking about, I was talking about something I was, you know, blaming everybody for my problems or whatever, that what ever in that moment was bothering me. And she’s listening, you know, being very just just listening, right? Which is rare. How many people don’t have anybody to listen? So she’s just listening. And then at the end, she’s like, Well, you know, how’s that working out for you? I said this the way that it is or something like that, and I can’t change that. She’s like, how’s that working out for you? I was like, You fucking bitch. How dare you say that to me?
Jeremy Weisz 8:02
It’s amazing. I one sentence.
Chris Martinez 8:04
Yes. Yeah, I’ll never forget it. And then I walked away from that. And I was like, she is 100%. Right.
You know, like, I’m doing it so wrong.
Jeremy Weisz 8:18
Yeah. It’s funny. You know, Chris, you know, that’s what my wife does. She’s a child psychologist. So she works with kids who are going through divorce, separation, you know, death, illness, anxiety, depression, so,
Chris Martinez 8:33
I’ve gone through all those.
Jeremy Weisz 8:34
Yeah. So, you know, she never shares names or identities, but I hear smatterings of that stuff. And it’s, it’s like the it’s so it’s it’s life changing someone to save
Chris Martinez 8:50
my life and he saved my life. My therapist saved my life. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Susan.
Jeremy Weisz 8:55
Yeah. So I’m glad you decided to it. Most people think a lot of people maybe not most people don’t have the courage to actually just, you know, admit they need help and get it, you know, to varying degrees, like we all have
different degrees of that.
Chris Martinez 9:11
So all the you know, the the reality that I was facing at that time is like I get help or I die. What’s it that’s what does your choices right now? What do you want to do? Yeah, I don’t think my dad would be very proud of me if I killed myself. So no,
Jeremy Weisz 9:26
thanks for sharing that. It’s really, you know, really touching in his folly, courage to share this stuff, you know, so other people can learn from it. And what about on the flip side? Yeah. This moment, yeah.
Chris Martinez 9:43
Ah, I don’t know. I’m proudest moments, probably also not necessarily business related. There’s so many little things that we’re doing at our company every day, you know, we’re celebrating some some win. But I think probably one of the proudest things that I’ve ever done On the personal side, too, is, you know, I was a mentor to a kid named Patrick. His mom died of cancer in 2012, December 8 2012. And Patrick was 13 at the time. And basically, you know, like, I was just there for him. And I saw him through a charity. There’s a charity in Los Angeles called walk with Sally. And the founder, Nick, he had lost his mom to cancer when he was 13. And he’s like, I wish I just had somebody. So I heard about this charity, I was like, I got to do this, right. My dad have been dead for five years. I was like, I gotta do this. get matched up with Patrick, you know, it was like, instantly we became buddies. And then his mom died. And then I was like, you know, I gotta gotta help this kid. I gotta be there for him. wasn’t always easy. You know, he went through some really, really dark times as well. But he graduated high school and then you know, in next month in February, I don’t know when this podcast is gonna air but in the February he turns 21, I just turned 40 and we’ve been talking about celebrating, are you 21st and my 40th together since he was 13 years old, so you know, we’re finally going to be able to do that. That’s awesome. Yeah. And then he’s a great guy, great, great human being. I’m inspired by him constantly.
Jeremy Weisz 11:15
What about from the team? I know you’re probably a lot very proud about as far as the culture and hiring and the team. Is there something you can talk about as far as a celebration you did with the team or a milestone with the team as far as culture goes? Oh,
Chris Martinez 11:31
man. It’s hard to say cuz there’s so many little things that they do that always like
Jeremy Weisz 11:36
what do you do to celebrate honor like with the team, and it could be maybe a monthly or quarterly or yearly basis what what things you know, you always hear that some companies they’ll ring a bell if something happens or what I don’t know if there’s a internal celebration or Slack channel or something you do to celebrate certain wins internally.
Chris Martinez 11:56
Um, it’s usually revolves around food. We do like a lunch cakes. Like, they always go out for beers. The culture is way different here in Mexico. So like going out for beers with your boss is like unheard of. But I love it when they get together. When they go have fun together, you know, because they’re so tight. It’s rare, you know that you have any organization of 30 plus people and everybody gets along. If there’s not clicks, right? Everybody in our office gets along. And while I might not always be invited to go to the celebrations, it does make me really happy when it’s Friday. And you know, all the ladies are getting ready to go out. And the guys are like, you know, planning the bar they’re going to all go to and they all go together. You know, like to me like you built like a family Exactly. In I’ve said that, you know, in our meetings in the past, it’s like, we are the band of Misfit Toys, like we are if you’ve always felt like you’re an outsider that things don’t have to be the way that everybody else in society tells you it has to be if you’re looking for that place to call home like this is it this is your family.
Unknown Speaker 13:10
And we’ve created that
Jeremy Weisz 13:11
Chris I want to be the first one to thank you everyone should check out dude agency.io anywhere else we should point people towards online.
Chris Martinez 13:19
Dude agency that I mean, our Facebook page and our Instagram page always have fun videos too. So, you know, we have a full time video marketing teams and they’re always coming up with some cool stuff. Like, for example, one of my favorite videos we ever did was real Mexicans eat fake tacos, so they eat Taco Bell for the first time.
It was a really fun one.
Jeremy Weisz 13:41
Okay, check that out. link up that that video somewhere. Oh, yeah, for sure. Everyone, check out dude. agency.io Thanks again.
Chris Martinez 13:49
Thank you, Dr. Jeremy.
