Announcer: 0:00

WWDB 860 AM Philadelphia and WPEM H D2 Burlington Philadelphia. The following programming is sponsored by Marc J. Bernstein. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of this station, its management, or Beasley Media Group. Entrepreneur, founder, author, and financial advisor Marc Bernstein helps high-performing business owners turn their visions into reality through his innovative work and the forward-focused form. Marc connects entrepreneurs to resources that fuel their success. Founders Forum is a radio show and podcast where entrepreneurs share their journeys, revealing the lessons they've learned and the stories behind their success. Join Marc and his guests for a mix of inspiration, valuable insights, and a little fun. Now let's dive in.

Marc Bernstein: 0:50

Good morning, America. How are you? I gotta tell you, um, I feel like the luckiest guy in the world today. It's coming, right? So um uh so I'm just gonna tell you a quick story that's gonna tie into what we're gonna talk about today. On the way in, actually before the way in, we have construction going on in our house. So I've been waking up a little grumpy every morning because there's you know banging and stuff being dragged in the house and sawdust all over the place and all that stuff. And today the painters were there, so we're done like demolition of our bathroom. So, but they're painting walls today. So um, I was talking to the painters, and it turns out that they lived on a street that was right next to my elementary school. They still live there. The families lived there for I think three generations. And they knew a very good friend of mine in second grade, and an incident happened uh with him after dinner one night where I was on the monkey bars, and I won't go on the whole story, but I got pushed and I fell, and I I I fell over a bar and I ruptured my spleen, which is you know, it's something you never forget because I I have to be sensitive to not getting certain diseases and things like that, so it's always on my medical records and things like that. And by the way, it was a girl who pushed me, and out of the blue, she found me on Facebook at five years about five years ago, and all she wanted to do was curse out this other guy, this friend of mine, who was the one that told everyone what happened, which was interesting. She didn't actually say, Oh, glad you're still alive, or glad, you know, whatever. So, anyway, this whole story happened. So, I mentioned his the I'll mention the friend's name. His name was Ronnie Dragon. We were friends in second grade, and I knew him all through high school, and I'm still in touch with his brother, but I haven't talked to him in years. And um I it occurred to me, I was telling the story about Ronnie Dragon and the monkey bars and all that, and I got I I always I just had this thing that entered emotionally, it just came in, about that we were science fiction buddies in second grade, which I remember. We both read Tom Swift books and like we ate them up, like we love these things. And there was a TV show that I don't maybe he turned me on to it or I had watched it, but he got me really into it. It was called Fireball XL5. And that immediately, maybe it's because I'm a musician, but maybe it's just because music emotes emotions. This song came into my mind. And I haven't heard it in many, many years, and I found it, and we're gonna play a verse of it for just for a second. Okay, that's not the thank you. Thanks for doing that. Anyway, that's uh for a couple reasons, maybe because the that just the time in life or whatever. I've never forgotten that song. And I I remember I couldn't tell you the whole song, but I remember that part of it. And partly because later I became a music major, and those are very classic rock and roll chords. It's called the one uh minor sixth four five chord progression, which is in a lot of old songs from the 50s and all that. And I guess because that resonated later in my music, I never forgot that chorus. So I was just thinking about how memory works, and it's a funny thing how memory works. You know, I went from Little Avenue where these guys live to Ronnie Dragon, to this whole emotional thing with my spleen, and then the Fireball XL5, and then the song. So, you know, I just um let me ask you that question quick, and then we're gonna talk a little bit about legacy, which is re related to memory as well. Do you does that ever happen, you guys, where something just resonates and suddenly you remember something you haven't thought about in many, many years? I'll ask you Ray first, because between us, I won't talk about age, but between us I figured out we've got over 150 years experience.

Ray Loewe: 5:09

So Well the answer to that is yes, except when you get to my age, you forget all the time. Okay. So uh yeah, things pop into your head all the time at the darnest time, and they're usually songs, and then you can get rid of them forever. And I'm trying to figure out when we do your legacy podcast later, which we're gonna talk about.

Marc Bernstein: 5:29

We're gonna have music in it.

Ray Loewe: 5:30

How am I gonna get you anybody to take you seriously when we play this fireball song?

Marc Bernstein: 5:36

That's gonna be in there. By the way, so is the song that we start the show, which is My Music, which is one of my favorite songs they've written called Should I? And we use that as the intro. But uh yeah, I mean it's a funny thing, and it is music. But by the way, I have that thing where the song comes into my head and I can't get it out. The only way I can get it out is to play it a couple times until I'm sick of it and then it gets out. So when these old songs pop up, I gotta find them, I gotta play them. That's how this kind of happened. And um, but now I can't get it out because we're talking about it. How about you, Brad?

Brad Stephenson: 6:06

Well, yeah, I think since I'm younger, I can't really re rehearse or recite the the words in my songs that I remember, so I can't do that. Um but it actually smells. Um, you know, I can remember as you're as you're talking about, you know, this whole thing, I was thinking about the smell of mulch. And there there like especially bark mulch, uh, it just has a certain manure smell about it that it's kind of a sweet, uh, sweet smell. And I remember I know that smelling. I remember telling my mom when I started landscaping when I was 14 years old. I missed the smell like the next year, like going back into landscaping the summer, because I love the smell of mulch. I still do today, but it's got to be quality mulch. It can't be the junk.

Marc Bernstein: 6:48

I haven't even introduced Brad yet, and he's got to get his business into it already. He's really good, Brad. I'm really proud of him. So let me introduce these gentlemen. So Ray Loewe is the Luckiest Guy in the World, LLC, that's his company. And Ray is the luckiest guy in the world. We've known each other, I guess, for over 40 years, something like that.

Ray Loewe: 7:07

Long, long time.

Marc Bernstein: 7:08

And the only thing I will tell you, well, I'll tell you quickly, he's host of Changing the Rules, which is a podcast. So he's been influential, very influential, and me getting into media and changing the way I do business. So he's a friend and a mentor. Um, and he's also the founder, which we're gonna get into, of legacy private podcasts. Tell your story your way. He was referring to that today. Just like um, it's like Burger King. You know, you can have it your way.

Ray Loewe: 7:35

Whereas Rodney Dangerfield would say, You know, now we're gonna get into smells, and I'm gonna think about mulch, and then I'm dead for the day, right?

Marc Bernstein: 7:42

Ray. Rodney Dangerfield would say, you know, I get no respect. Go into Burger King, and they said, You can't have it your way. Because in a McDonald's, you don't deserve a break. Anyway. So, but anyway, we I'm working on a branding thing, and that's actually a very good branding thing based on this book that I'm reading. Anyway, um, so the quick story on Ray and I is we worked together many, many years ago, and and we talked off and on for a number of years, but then probably didn't talk for 20 years or something like that. And I'm on an airplane coming from California from a business conference, and I hear this voice in the seat behind me, and I keep and I say, I know that voice from somewhere. And I turn around and I go, Nope, don't know that guy. And then we're getting off the plane, and I'm with my wife Susan, and Ray's behind us, and we're waiting for Sandy because he has her sitting in the back of the plane. That was part of the stage. Thanks, Marc. Sandy's Sandy's in the studio today. I forgot that until she reminded me the last time I told the story. But anyway, I turn around and I said, Ray Loewe, and he said, Marc Bernstein. And turns out we were in a coaching program. We were both in the same coaching program and we didn't know it. The strategic coach, I went to Toronto for it. He went to Chicago, and but I was looking for a new group, and he said, Why don't you join my group? So then we started getting together regularly, and here we are. So there's a lot, and he's been on the podcast before. I've been on his podcast before. We're gonna do a couple podcasts in Lancaster, PA, where he lives today, in a in a few weeks. A couple podcasts, and and so we've had a long history together. So glad to have you here today, Ray. It's great to be with you. Thank you. And Brad, nice to have you, real quickly. Brad is CEO, co-owner, co-owner of Newcastle Lawn and Landscape, and founder of Brad Stevenson LLC, Dream Higher. And we're gonna get into Brad's story on our next podcast, and Ray will be code host co-host, so we'll we'll get into that. So, Ray. So, first of all, I Ray started all this media stuff on a TV show that I think was called Breaking the Rules, right?

Ray Loewe: 9:44

That's correct.

Marc Bernstein: 9:45

And the podcast is now called Changing the Rules. So I was a guest on that. I've been a guest on Changing the Rules, and um and then and whenever I hear that, I think ch changes, which is your thing song, the Bowie song, which is great.

Ray Loewe: 9:59

Yeah. So so we started the TV show before COVID. Right. And then we found out that during COVID, okay, TV didn't work real well because we were dealing with guests that were flat screens. Right. Okay. And uh so we decided to change the podcasting and we ran into some uh protective issues between podcasts and and uh TV shows. So we changed the name to changing the rules. And uh uh we've been doing this now for uh uh six, seven years. Uh we've got a couple hundred podcasts in the book, and here we are.

Marc Bernstein: 10:37

So check it out. They're great podcasts. And Ray does um you're still doing your friends connection thing in a way, right?

Ray Loewe: 10:45

Yeah, there's there's a uh a trend here because all of the things that we do are kind of tied together, and it's gonna lead us into my next project, which is the legacy project. Uh but uh when I sold my financial planning business, uh I didn't know what I was gonna do. You know, this whole concept of retiring is a very, very scary thing. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Marc Bernstein: 11:07

Yeah.

Ray Loewe: 11:08

We've talked about this. Yeah, because you you get to the point where all of a sudden your income is gone and you don't know where you're going, and the thought of trying to play golf every day, you know, isn't gonna work for me.

Marc Bernstein: 11:19

Aaron Powell I think for one day for you isn't it gonna work for me?

Ray Loewe: 11:21

Yeah, that's correct. So so the podcasting thing has held everything together, and our market in the podcasting thing are the luckiest people in the world. And these are people who just love life and want to live it to the fullest, and they want to design their own life, kind of like my uh your your other guest is here. He doesn't take crap from anybody, he's gonna design his life the way he wants it, and he's gonna live it under his terms. That's right. So that's the group that we support. And our uh Friends Connection conferences are three conferences a year that we do for our luckiest people in the world.

Marc Bernstein: 12:01

By the so by the way, I just want to comment. So this show is called Founders Forum. It's about founders of businesses, which you've done several times. And I believe that um you talk to all kinds of people. I talk almost exclusively to entrepreneurs and founders of businesses, and that group of people in particular, I think, and it's you know, there's always an exception to the rule. There's people that break the rules, but but most of them um are not can't retire. They need to refire, they need to aspire, they need to rewire. You know, I always talk about that in in regard to retirement, and you're one of my best examples of that. I've I've used that a lot, and I'm one of my examples as well.

Ray Loewe: 12:40

It's a built-in flaw. Right.

Marc Bernstein: 12:42

It's a it's a weakness, if you'd want a weakness and a strength. So let's get right into um well, we've got a couple minutes. Well, let me ask you this. Let me ask you about so you've started several businesses over the years. Right after this, we'll get into what the new business that you're doing. But you know, there always I always say to people, it's a joke, and Brad, this will apply to you, and we'll talk about it on your show as well. Um, you know, being an entrepreneur is a smooth ride, right? You know, it just like flows and it's easy, right? So they're 100%. Right. So, Ray, what kind of challenges have you faced as an entrepreneur? And you can pick the financial services business, you can pick some of the other businesses you've done since then. You know, what are the challenges you've had and kind of what strengths have you developed around meeting those challenges?

Ray Loewe: 13:30

Well, you know, you go back to the beginning, whenever you start a new business, uh you have no idea actually what it's gonna take to put it all together. You think you know. And then events occur. Okay? And uh, you know, there were days when you were wondering how you're gonna make payroll, how are you gonna pay your staff uh because the commission check didn't arrive yet. Uh never I've never had that. Yeah, right. And I'm sure Brad has never had that either. Uh and and then you go into things like uh, you know, how are you gonna uh upgrade your your business? How are you gonna get to the clients that you really want to work with as opposed to the clients that are just there? And it takes an awful lot of ingenuity and a lot of risk and a lot of jumping off a cliff in order to do that.

Marc Bernstein: 14:22

Yep. And and what so I obviously you've jumped off some cliffs, you've taken some risks. What is when it comes up again, like let's say with this next business that comes up, what do you know you have now that will help you meet the challenges?

Ray Loewe: 14:36

Aaron Powell Well, what what you have is uh when you're born, you are born with a bunch of talents that are kind of ingrained into you. And over your life you tend to build a skill set. And one of the things that I think you have to do is to make sure that every day you make sure you use that skill set and that you don't lose it and you don't forget it because you put in all that work, why not?

Marc Bernstein: 15:02

The second thing that goes on, it's not just I just want to point out experience, is what I was thinking, but it's not just experience, it's continuing to build on the experience.

Ray Loewe: 15:10

Yeah, and and they wind up in skills is where the experience kind of morphs itself into. Uh the second thing, and this is something that I've learned uh to do now when I'm older, and that is to follow what's fascinating and motivating to you and not get caught up in a bunch of things that are just to make money.

Marc Bernstein: 15:33

Right.

Ray Loewe: 15:33

Uh you know, sometimes we have to do those things because we've got to pay the bills. But as soon as you get to the point where you can start doing what you really want to do, what's exciting to you, all of a sudden the opportunities just open up in a tremendous way. And that's what I'm looking forward to here. And then the final thing that you always, always have to remember is are you providing value for other people? And if you're not doing those three things, you're not going to make it.

Marc Bernstein: 16:00

Right. So the second thing I heard was purpose and or passion, right? And the third thing was providing value.

Ray Loewe: 16:07

You can say it that way if you like. Okay. I prefer I prefer fascinating and motivating until it's not, by the way. Right. And then you change the rules. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Right.

Marc Bernstein: 16:17

But a lot a lot of people would call that passion. Anyway, we're going to take a quick break for one minute and we'll be right back on Founders Forum.

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Marc Bernstein: 17:15

We're back on Founders Forum with our guest today, Ray Loewe and our co-host sitting in of Brad Stevenson. And uh, you know, pleasure to be talking to you guys. And Ray, let's get right into your new project. Um but I want to ask you, it's about legacy. Why do you think legacy is important to people?

Ray Loewe: 17:35

Well, everybody has a story to tell. And uh one of the things that's happened to me when I moved to this retirement or semi-retirement community, uh, I find everybody has incredible stories. I mean, we have people there that ran our submarine fleet during the Cold War. We have people that ran uh $200 billion companies that are there. And they all have stories, but they tend to sit on them and they're not telling them. So there's a lot of things that get lost over time. Uh we've been around for 40 years. I can't imagine the legacies that we've lost because nobody has recorded these.

Marc Bernstein: 18:16

Well, that's why it's important to you. But once you bring awareness to them, does it become important to them to want to tell their story?

Ray Loewe: 18:24

Oh, yeah, because their kids get excited about it and want to get excited about it. Let me tell you a quick story. Sure. So one of my friends there is a writer, and he's written about a dozen uh thriller novels. And he was talking to one of his daughters the other day, and she he's been working with me on this project, and and uh she said, Well, Dad, are you gonna do this? And he said, Well, no, I've already written my memoirs, I've sent them to you, you have them. And she came back and said, Yeah, but they're not in your voice. At which point she took out her phone and she saves all the phone messages that he sent. Wow. Well, a couple weeks later, he's talking to his other daughter and he said, Can you imagine what Lisa's doing? And she pulls out her phone and she's got a whole bunch of recorded phone messages. So your story is important to a whole lot of different people. Probably most important are your kids. And what we don't know is how important it's going to be to generations that aren't even born yet. Sure.

Marc Bernstein: 19:25

Yeah, it's amazing. It's really a great thing. So so let's talk about the project, the next company.

Ray Loewe: 19:31

Well, the project is uh and this comes out of the fact that podcasting is a unique medium. And one of the neat things about it is it gives people a chance to record their voice. So everybody that is on your show, Marc, is recording a legacy podcast of some kind.

Marc Bernstein: 19:51

I actually talk to people about that and and say, I I'll give you I'll give you one really quick story. One client of mine, a client, he's a friend, and he's a little uh microphone shy and camera shy. And he said, I don't really know if I want to do it. And I said, Well, wouldn't you like to tell your story so your family has it and your employees who none he's got like a hundred employees, and many of them don't know how he started the business or how he got into it. And he started thinking about it and he said, Yeah. And in fact, we have a commercial, and it's often the the the guest on the show has the the makes the commercial. And I say that's to tell people about the value proposition your business, because we don't really talk about that. So he did that, not because he thought he was gonna sell anything, he's business to business, but he did that because he wanted to get he eventually decided exactly to your point that and by the way, he might be a good person to connect you with to to do his his private podcast because obviously this is a half-hour show with specific outlines.

Brad Stephenson: 20:48

So I do I do think just to to butt in a little bit, you know, somebody telling their story, I mean it it it it allows them to relive it. And it's so powerful that because people just want to tell their story.

Ray Loewe: 21:00

And they think of all this stupid music.

Brad Stephenson: 21:02

Right, right?

Ray Loewe: 21:03

I'm sure you know if you go back and you look at the value of a good podcaster is that a good podcast podcaster pulls the story out of people. And I know when we prep for our podcast, we look in terms of three to five short, short stories. And then we let people tell them, and when they're done, you have a picture of somebody. Now it may not be a complete picture, but it's an interesting picture because you get these great stories coming out of it.

Marc Bernstein: 21:34

Well, people tell you the most interesting things.

Ray Loewe: 21:37

Oh yeah, and and uh it it's funny because it can it starts with uh four parts in telling a good story. One is uh what we call a tagline, and I'll tell you why that's so important in a minute. And then the second is about uh thinking the body of your story and what you're willing and want to share with people. That's your chance to decide selectively what you're willing to share. And if you do it the right way, the stories evoke questions. People come back now and they start asking you questions about the stories that you told, and eventually it works its way into a conversation. So we find this works a lot with families. Uh we'll get we'll get uh a couple of old geezers to start telling their stories, and then all of a sudden the kids come in and they start playing on that. You know, I remember that experience, I remember that vacation.

Marc Bernstein: 22:33

And then it's So now the questions are in the next part of the podcast.

Ray Loewe: 22:36

It just goes on and on and on. So the beauty again of using this podcast format is that they don't have to stand up and just make up a story and tell it cold. Right. And I know what you do, you're an expert at this. You you you evoke these stories from people and all of a sudden they come out.

Marc Bernstein: 22:57

Well, thank you. I had a good teacher.

Ray Loewe: 22:58

Let me let me talk about this tagline for a minute, because that's one of the really mentioned four parts. What's the fourth part? Well, the fourth part is uh the tagline, it's the the story content itself where you get to share what you want, it's the questions that get evoked out of that, and then it's the conversation that just starts going because of that. Gotcha, gotcha. Okay. Got it.

Marc Bernstein: 23:21

Okay, tagline.

Ray Loewe: 23:22

So um I was walking down the hall the other day, and uh uh we have I'm gonna call her a little old lady. I probably shouldn't do that. She's a delightful but she is older than I am. Okay. And and she said, Ray, I got a story for you. And I looked at her and I said, Okay, so what's the story? She said, Did I ever tell you about the day the cop pulled the gun on me? Now, I haven't heard the story yet. Right. Okay, but we didn't have time to talk about it. But I'll tell you, I've got a corner someday and I will hear the story. The other story she told me a couple years ago was she was sitting there not saying anything, and I said, So what's your story, Jane? And she said, Well, did I ever tell you I drive a 1916 EMF antique car? And when she said that one line, the whole audience and the the whole party moved to that side of the room, and she started telling about the day the wheel fell off of the car in front of her, and the next thing, and it's just one story begets another. So, so uh the way we're going to do this legacy project is it's not about sitting down and having somebody start with, I was born on such and such a day and such and such a place. And it's a sore st it's it's uh a complex uh combination of stories. I love it.

Marc Bernstein: 24:42

So where are you in terms of getting this started? What are your next steps?

Ray Loewe: 24:45

Well, we've we've done several things. Uh one is we have built a private web space. It's very much like a podcast space, but it allows us to do private podcasts. So this way, Marc, when you tell your story, you can be selective as to who hears each and every piece of that. Because there are stories that you're willing to share with the public, and they're going to be stories that you're not going to want to share with anybody other than your family, and you may not even want to share it with them today. It may be for future generations. Love that.

Marc Bernstein: 25:21

The second piece you can set it up that way to automate it that way.

Ray Loewe: 25:25

The second piece is we're teaching people how to tell stories. So you are invited March 4th, if you come back out to this wonderful farm country of Lancaster.

Marc Bernstein: 25:36

I'll have to come from Florida, but I might just do that.

Ray Loewe: 25:38

We're going to have the great Willow Valley Storytelling Festival. Nice. And we already have people shelling out two to five minute stories because stories that are too long lose their effectiveness, but you cascade several together, you get a lot of them. I love that idea. Yeah. And and the other thing that we've been working hard on is how to get stories out of people and how to make them move. Uh so uh, for example, Sandy tells a story about me every once in a while about the day I set the restaurant on fire.

Marc Bernstein: 26:16

That's a good tagline.

Ray Loewe: 26:17

Yeah. So I go back and get even with her because I tell about the day we discovered she doesn't have fingerprints. And and so these stories evolve and they they come back.

Marc Bernstein: 26:26

Sandy's in the studio laughing, by the way.

Ray Loewe: 26:28

I just wanna remember. Every one of these stories tells something about you. Not everything, but something about you. And if you do them right, then the questions come back because people want to know more.

Marc Bernstein: 26:40

This is wonderful. We believe it or not, we have a minute and a half left. And one of the things I love about you is you're million years old and you are um and you have a big future in mind. Um we What do you want? My ten-year plan, Marc? Yeah, let's talk about your ten-year plan.

Ray Loewe: 26:57

Well, uh well, one of the things that happens is if you don't, if you shut down, you shut everything down. Right. And and life isn't exciting, you know. So the way you have to keep life exciting is you you kind of are forced into getting involved in what's the next project. You know, somebody asked me once upon a time, as you got all these projects going, what happens if you die? And I keep coming back and saying, well, I'm gonna have a whole lot of unhappy people who will remember me.

Marc Bernstein: 27:26

Right.

Ray Loewe: 27:27

Not necessarily affectionately, but they'll remember me. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Marc Bernstein: 27:30

It's your legacy, unfinished project.

Ray Loewe: 27:31

It's my legacy, unfinished project.

Marc Bernstein: 27:33

Yeah. So what is what is your what's your vision for the next 10 years?

Ray Loewe: 27:36

Well, the uh we we have uh the storytelling thing, which is phase one, is where we have to teach people how to tell stories and how to pull these stories out of them. And then we're going to evoke our legacy project, uh which we're ready to roll out in about March, right after our storytelling contest comes out. And we're gonna use that initially to raise money for charitable organizations. That's wonderful.

Marc Bernstein: 28:02

I I we're just at the end of our time, so it always goes too fast. But Ray, thanks so much for being here. We'll see you for Brad's show in a little while. Thank you all for listening. Thank you, Brad, for being here. Thank you, Sandy. Thank you, TJ, for playing some music for us. And everybody have a great day. We'll see you next week on Founders Forum.