Know When to Quit – Clint Bertucci

Steven: [00:00:00] This is episode number nine of the, my niche is human podcasts.

Back to another episode. Thank you for joining. This episode is about 46 minutes long in case you, you got a time crunch. I sit down with my good buddy Clint Bertucci. Who is literally a world traveler. Who’s been all over the world. He started a travel company called Trevor. He’s got a very interesting story about going through the real estate bust.

In 2006, he literally lost everything could have kept going, could, uh, denied reality, let his ego win and kept doing something that he didn’t love. Sound familiar, whether it’s a job or a relationship or anything in life that we’re chasing for maybe wrong reasons, we all have different reasons. This is an excellent episode.

If you want to hear how someone went through something that frankly didn’t work out and built a process on how to firstly get out of it. And secondly, Go through the steps to find something that made him happy. So if you’re stuck in a relationship or you’re still at a job that you hate, this is definitely an episode for you.

Stick around. We’ll talk to you soon.

so we just meditated together. Um, Actually first time I’ve ever done that with a, with a buddy. Yeah. Uh, that was pretty cool. What’d you think of? It was like,

Clint Bertucci: [00:01:24] I thought it was great. I’ve been getting into that and I’ve done some, I guess you’d call it meditating at yoga. And then, you know, I’ve started doing it myself, not so much in the morning.

I have a morning ritual, but at night I’ve been trying to get into meditating, not knowing if I’m doing it perfectly and I’ve never done a guided meditation. That was really cool. That was very helpful, actually.

Steven: [00:01:45] What would you say it, like, not knowing if you’re doing it perfectly. Would you say that’s kind of prevented you from doing it more?

Clint Bertucci: [00:01:52] No, it’s just for me trial and error and just continuing to do at least something and then continuing to learn about it. And then I think I mentioned to you, I’m probably going to do something at the Buddhist temple when I go to Thailand this year. So probably learned quite a bit there. And so now at night, you know, I just do the thing, the breathing and, you know, just different thoughts and stuff like that, but nothing guided like that. They take you right through it. That was great.

Steven: [00:02:18] So, um, me and my girlfriend meditate quite a bit and afterwards we kind of like share notes. Are you willing to share like what you saw, like what you felt like, whether it was weird or whatever, so like what’d you see where’d you go?

He says, envision yourself in the future or. Um, things you don’t want to be doing anymore. Those are kind of like some key things.

Clint Bertucci: [00:02:36] Yep. And, and then I was very keen on those

Steven: [00:02:39] I heard you clearing your throw out a couple of times

Clint Bertucci: [00:02:40] Yeah

Steven: [00:02:41] Ah somethings going on over there.

Clint Bertucci: [00:02:43] Nah, just I’m seeing where you were in the future. For me, I was, you know, visualizing myself successful as, you know, taking the steps that I’m trying to take now and becoming more successful if you will.

And

Steven: [00:02:56] like, what’d you actually…

Clint Bertucci: [00:02:57] Yeah. You know, and that’s the thing is I think everybody, well, I would think most people go for monetary, you know, what house am I going to be living in? What car am I going to be driving? And, you know, unfortunately I did that a little bit, but for me, it’s not really about that.

So it’s, I had to step away from that for a second. And I consciously did that and I thought, no, what am, how am I going to be feeling every day? You know, am I going to be happy? Am I going to wake up? Am I going to be worry-free? Am I going to be focused? Am I going to be in tune emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually.

Those are the things that I really subconsciously had to say, wait, I don’t care what I’m driving. I mean, really? Am I, am I going to be happy? And that’s, that was one thing that was pretty surprising. I’m glad that I did that actually. So yeah, that was pretty cool.

Steven: [00:03:45] So that’s, that’s awesome. I try to do the same thing.

It’s not what car am I driving? It’s where am I? What feeling am I stoked on? But I mean, you have to kind of picture yourself somewhere. Where, where were you in the woods? Were you in your waterfall? Where are you in, in the sun? Was it, were you in an office? Like where would you see yourself sitting?

Clint Bertucci: [00:04:03] I mean, actually, I, I don’t, I didn’t really mean to do this, but I kept, I couldn’t, I dunno if I just couldn’t control it, but I kept visualizing myself on trips, like different destinations.

Steven: [00:04:14] Perfect.

Clint Bertucci: [00:04:15] And one, one that was actually, I don’t know. I was like, where the hell that come from was a sand dune. I was chilling on the sand dune and I think that’s because I’m going early to Peru in like next month and we’re going sandboarding so I think that popped up awesome.

Steven: [00:04:31] Yeah. Kind of sitting on a sand dune, just,

Clint Bertucci: [00:04:34] just kind of chilling

Steven: [00:04:34] and just feeling.

Clint Bertucci: [00:04:35] Yeah. And it was nice, beautiful day. It was not hot. It was just. It was like the sun was out, but it was cool, you know, and yeah, I got pretty deep into that, actually. Yeah.

Steven: [00:04:46] So would that reminds me of, if I can share real quick, when we went to Hong Kong last year, remember we had a day to ourselves. We kind of had a tip.

We had a day to ourselves. Yeah. And that was when we saw the shrines and temples finally found a place to park her bike, which was ridiculous. Um, but I remember walking up to one and you know how there was a. A Buddhist statue, a statue of Buddha, excuse me, behind kind of like a gate, but you could walk up to the gate and kind of pay your respects.

I remember thinking, what am I going to do or say right now? And all I did was I just bowed my head and I said, surrender. And I felt like body rush. Um, it, and it didn’t go up. It went down. So for, for whatever it was, you know how you have a visualization? It’s like, don’t question the visualization. Just let it happen.

It was kind of like putting a stake in the ground. Like th that was my stake into the earth. And that was the first one I did. And then as I kept doing trips, I’d have these moments. I did one in Costa Rica and I kind of envisioned it like me putting sticks into the ground so that wherever I was, I could connect myself back there.

So it kind of, you know what I mean? So I can connect myself back to the template, connect myself back to the cliffs and Costa Rica and all this to say what it makes me think of when you see yourself sitting on the sand dunes. It’s like, you’re putting a stake in the ground to your future self and it’s like a tether and you’re pulling yourself to that.

And what’s really neat is, um, similar to your visualization. When I do that, I think of myself being in that moment, meditating thinking, how did I get here? And then visualize myself back on the couch now. Yep. So you’re creating that energetic connection. That’s. Kind of neat.

Clint Bertucci: [00:06:23] I hope it’s, I hope it’s a great feeling when I’m on that sand dune in a couple of weeks.

Steven: [00:06:27] You’re going to think of this conversation…

Clint Bertucci: [00:06:28] of course I am that spot. Why is it so hot?

Steven: [00:06:32] But then when you make that connection, you’re going to be like, okay, where do I want to go? Cause you can pretty much put yourself anywhere that that’s the whole point. Awesome. Well, when he said, uh, things that you, uh, don’t lock no longer want to think of, or do or habits or things you don’t want to do, what did you think of there?

Clint Bertucci: [00:06:50] Unfortunately. And fortunately, I just did a seven day juicing cleanse, so right now, um, and then Ash Wednesday. So after those two, I, um, I pretty much gave up any kind of thing that I’m pretty good right now. I’m at, to be honest, I’m at the top of my game. I couldn’t feel any better than I feel right now and everything I gave up, uh, TV?

Not that I watch a lot. I don’t watch any TV actually, but I would watch movies at night, so I don’t, I haven’t watched any movies. And, um,

Steven: [00:07:19] Can I interrupt?

Clint Bertucci: [00:07:20] Yeah.

Steven: [00:07:20] So what is watching a movie though? Is it checking out

Clint Bertucci: [00:07:23] For me? Yeah, it Kind of is.

Steven: [00:07:24] So you don’t want to. Do that

Clint Bertucci: [00:07:26] Well, are there different ways to check out now?

I’ve been, I, I read a lot before, but now instead of watching TV, now I use that as, as reading time or work time or just chilling time, you know, I don’t need movies. I mean, I’d sit there and watch movies like every night, that was my thing to go to bed. Then I’d ended up falling asleep on a couch or something.

Then I wake up at three, go to the bedroom now just it’s it causes a lot of stuff and then a lot of other things, what did I say? Now I get up in the morning, I crack it on, I get up, I’m up at 5:30, 6:00 AM to go running and you know what I’ve been running. And I thought I ran a pretty good amount, but I didn’t really know.

And I was driving the other day and I timed it with, you know, and I ended up it’s a four over four miles. I run in the morning, which for me, that’s a lot,

Steven: [00:08:12] that’s a good amount for anybody. I mean, if you look at the average distance people run, it’s probably zero.

Clint Bertucci: [00:08:18] I see average American when I saw four miles.

I’m like, damn, that’s pretty good plan. Wow. Nice. So yeah, a lot of the things I’ve already, I’m already in the process…

Steven: [00:08:27] I’m a challenge. You though…

Clint Bertucci: [00:08:28] Bring it.

Steven: [00:08:30] There’s always room for improvement.

Clint Bertucci: [00:08:31] Yep.

Steven: [00:08:31] So juice cleanse Ash, Wednesday, all homage and respect to that. You’ve changed a lot of things. If you’re going to level up, you’re going to have to adjust.

So did you think of anything that you wanted to stop doing? Whether it’s. Second guessing yourself, you know, whatever it is. I mean, there’s always room. So I’m going to do, did you think of something

Clint Bertucci: [00:08:52] Just being honest with you? Um, no, I didn’t. What I did do is I thought, you know, um, I did think about that.

I’m like, okay, well, should I add something to the pile? And I thought, no, I’m not in a great spot right now. So what I’m going to do is. I’m going to continue to do this and make sure that I create habits out of these and that I stay on top of these rather than adding more and more. So I did, I did that, that did come across. Yeah.

Steven: [00:09:17] Yeah. So one want to challenge, not trying to make something that it’s not. Yeah. Um, so what kind of habits can cause habits for everything? Right?

Clint Bertucci: [00:09:23] Habits are everything.

Steven: [00:09:24] Yeah. That was pretty awesome.

Clint Bertucci: [00:09:26] Yeah. I love it. I’m glad you said that when, when I was driving over here and you called mentioned that I’m like, wow, you know, cause obviously this is something that I’m creating a habit, just like you said, and slowly but surely.

So I feel like when you said that, I was like, damn, that’s meant to be that’s, perfect.

Steven: [00:09:41] I was like, you have time. You’re like, yup. I was like, you can tell, especially people that are busy it’s, it’s so true that it’s not a matter of time, it’s priorities. And if you ask somebody something and you’re like, eh, Like it does it just doesn’t appeal to them. But if you say the right thing, we all make time for what we want to do, what speaks to us. What drives us outside. That was really neat.

So going back to, you mentioned you have a trip coming up to Peru.

Clint Bertucci: [00:10:08] Yes.

Steven: [00:10:08] I obviously know you, but my listener does not. Maybe they don’t give me the 60 second.

What you do and why you do it.

Clint Bertucci: [00:10:17] Yep.

Steven: [00:10:17] You know, Simon Sinek

Clint Bertucci: [00:10:18] Of course. Yes.

Steven: [00:10:19] So try to like chunk that.

Clint Bertucci: [00:10:21] Got it. So we provide exclusive trips for young professionals, fully planned, fully guided all around the world. We do Italy, Greece, Thailand, Peru, Iceland, and we’re always adding trips and why we do it. We basically, I mean, we provide people with incredible experiences and the opportunity to meet people that they haven’t met and create friendships and bonds that last a lifetime that sounded extremely scripted and it was not. And that’s exactly what we do.

Damn. I need to do, I need to check this cause that was perfect.

Steven: [00:10:55] That’s why we do it. That’s why Travr does it. Why do you do it?

Clint Bertucci: [00:10:58] Um, I do it because I believe in it and it’s something that drives me and it’s something. It’s deep, man. I mean, you know, no, it’s, I really do it because, because it’s something that changed my life, travel changed my life dramatically and, um, created a new life for me, not through Travr, but just finding myself and just finding what I loved in life.

And at the time before I, I started traveling. I didn’t know anything about it. You know, I had been to a couple of different States, Costa Rica or whatever, you know, Puerto Rico, whatever. And it’s like, you really don’t know. I was always too busy. You know, I was in the corporate world, always too busy.

Couldn’t make time for it. And when you actually make time for it, it’s, uh, you really realize like, damn, it’s not that hard to do and risk to reward what it brings to your life. It’s just, you look back and. You’re like, how could I not have made time for that before? So seeing that and the difference that it made for me, I like to try to bring that to people.

Steven: [00:12:04] Um, so you have a really interesting story, how you got into this. Tell me pre bust and post bust. So living large, you know, Highlife, and then you kind of get smacked in the face today.

Clint Bertucci: [00:12:16] Yeah, so I had a home financing company, title, company, investment company, all the. Based around real estate, um, killing it. I mean, we had a, I forget, I think it was 3 million or six.

I don’t know, multimillion dollar business, uh, building, uh, 40 plus team members and just killing it. I mean, you know, big money, you know, big, big properties, big everything. I mean, and, uh, I enjoyed life. I can’t ever say that, you know, even at that, I worked a lot, but I definitely, you know, I enjoyed my life.

I still stayed active. I was always this and that, you know, playing sports or working out or whatever. I didn’t really travel much. I partied a little bit at the time, but the market crashed, literally just everything gone. It’s crazy. You hear stories about that and you’re like, what do you mean? How could that have happened?

It happens, man. And now when I hear stories about that and people say, I can actually relate and I’m like, Oh yeah. Okay. You probably, you really lost everything. Like it happens. And. Sometimes it’s the greatest thing that could ever happen to somebody in, in my case that was and post bust. It was, uh, you know, I

Steven: [00:13:25] So real quick, “Bust” we’re referring to the…

Clint Bertucci: [00:13:28] Real estate market and sinking “2008?”, 2006,

Steven: [00:13:31] 2006.

So when did you start the business?

Clint Bertucci: [00:13:33] I was in it for give or take probably about 10 years. Whoa. Long enough to get comfortable. Oh, hell yeah. Wow. Yeah. Real comfortable again. It’s just going to last forever. Nope. No, definitely not. You know, and that’s, I’ll tell you something. My. My family at the time would be like, Oh my gosh, you’re so successful.

Congratulations. And I’m like, don’t jinx me. Like I know that it can come and go. I don’t know how I knew that, but I did. And I was always, I was never like, yeah, we’re so successful. I was always like, nah, you know, we’re, we’re doing good. We’re on the road to doing something really great. And, but no, I never ever thought it couldn’t go.

I don’t know why, but I’m glad that I didn’t think that

Steven: [00:14:08] So hard question; if that’s truly the case, how did the bottom fall out? Were there mechanisms you could have put, obviously hindsight were no mechanisms you could have put in place to maybe not over leverage yourself, protect yourself?

Clint Bertucci: [00:14:23] Yes. Probably to a certain extent, but to avoid it altogether?

No. And really even, even looking back and, you know, looking back, I’d be like, Oh, I could have done this. That thought thought that I probably. Wouldn’t have wrote it out so long, but when you’re paying people’s salaries, that was the hardest part for me. When you’re paying people’s salaries, people that have families and depend on that income for me, you know, me, I’m a young guy.

I’m I’m I was single. I am, you know, no marriage, no kids. And you have people with kids and you’re paying their salary to pull that plug was by far not even remotely close to anything else, the hardest thing.

Steven: [00:15:01] “I feel like uncle Clint”

Clint Bertucci: [00:15:02] A hundred percent…

Steven: [00:15:02] Part of the family.

Clint Bertucci: [00:15:03] Oh yeah, man. And these people built up everything believing in you and your business.

And then now you’re going under and you’re like, uh, I gotta let you go. Or, you know, we’re cutting your salary in half, which everybody was doing it. There’s no way they could go anywhere else and get another job for that amount of pay that they’re used to. But to do that still got wrenching.

Steven: [00:15:21] Wow.

Clint Bertucci: [00:15:22] Yeah.

Steven: [00:15:23] So taking all that gut wrenching shit, take me post bust.

Clint Bertucci: [00:15:30] Post bust. Um, so I had one company, it was American dream financial. We went through a split, me and my business partners court case, a court case, everything was terrible, real messy. And then I opened up, um, American dream and associates or something like that, kind of like a spin off and just kept going at it.

And then one day I just was like, what in the hell am I doing? I mean, I had. Tens of thousands of dollars in the pipeline. And I’m like, I’m not happy. I’m like, this is just not me. Like I’m done. And I literally, I didn’t close any deals. I remember that day I came down my stairs and I was like, this is not what I want to do anymore.

And I literally shut everything down. Stopped. Just phone call. I mean, that day literally was done. And. Didn’t close any deals. I handed them the people, I mean, money out the wazoo and I’m like, I’m done. I don’t want it. I don’t even want it. I’m finished. And it’s so funny. You know, me, I’m pretty structured individual.

So I was like, you know what? I’ve read all these books. You’ve got to do what you’re passionate about. I’m like, what in the hell am I passionate about? I mean, I was making spreadsheets of like, okay, when I was a kid at like baseball and you know, now I like this really trying to figure out what I was passionate about and I could not do it.

I literally couldn’t do it. So I’m like, I can’t do it. Um, I’m going to continue trying to figure it out. And you know, during the meantime I’m going to relax, man. I’m not going to have a care in the world. I’m going to go back to school, get my degree. Cause I stopped going to school to start this business.

And you know what, I’m going to actually study abroad and go to Italy because I’ve talked about going to Italy, but I, and I’ve had the money to go, but I’ve never went. So I’m going to, I’m going to go ahead and do that and just relax. I joined a fraternity at like 30 something years old and no, not a worry in the world, man.

And I did that for a couple of years and it worked out really well.

Steven: [00:17:22] So now you’re in Italy. You’ve gone to school, school’s over. Did you end your school in Italy or did you come back or what?

Clint Bertucci: [00:17:29] So I went to Italy once studied abroad, came back. Studied abroad again, and then came back in Italy, same place.

Florence came back to Tampa and graduated and then graduating, you know, a whole career ahead of me. I’m like, what the hell am I going to do? You know what? I’m going to move back to Italy indefinitely and find out kind of what my, what my purpose is. And by that time, I kind of knew it was something with travel.

Because by then I had traveled to 30 some countries

Steven: [00:17:57] While you were over there?

Clint Bertucci: [00:17:57] Oh while, it was over there on the weekends, we’d go away. Do weekend trips or sometimes we’d have a week, two weeks. And in between we’d go. For maybe 10 days here or 10 days there. And then, so I knew it was something in travel, but I still didn’t know exactly what I said.

You know what I’m done? I sold everything, man. I mean, up until this point, I had sold like little things, you know, I liquidated my whole office. That was crazy. And then sold little things here and there. And then by that time, when I was like, you know what, I’m going back to Italy for a year indefinitely. I bought a one way ticket.

I sold everything. I mean, Crazy stuff gone. The only thing that I kept with the

Steven: [00:18:35] Microwave? Yes,

Clint Bertucci: [00:18:37] Exactly. Right, right. Yeah. And then, uh, the only thing I kept was my bedroom set and a TV and I put that in storage. And then, so I went there, sold everything. Uh, you’d think I’d have some big money, but at that time it was like, I was at the last of my possessions anyway, so.

I really didn’t have even much. I went over there, bought a one-way ticket. I think I went over there really with I’d have to guess. I probably have it in my journal, but I probably I’d say 1300 to 1600 bucks. Wow. One way ticket 1300 to 1600 bucks, Florence, Italy and just a notepad of ideas of how I’m going to make money over there.

Obviously, I’ve hosted some events in Tampa, at a nonprofit organization for a couple of years, and I was going to host some events over there, do some nightlife stuff. I had all these ideas. I went over there. I did do that. I had a Tucci Tuesday at blue velvet in Florence, Italy. Did some stuff and long story short, I.

I ended up completely broke. I mean, zero. I had no money. I had overdrawn bank account. I had one Euro left and I was in a shop, a pastry shop where I go to work all the time. And I had one year old left, bought a pastry, ate it. And I’m like, all right, what the hell am I going to do? I. Said, you know what? I shoot videos on this little Sony camera, Sony or Canon, I don’t even know.

And I shot the pastry, the place, the restaurant cafe, cafe Michelangelo. That was the name of it. Okay. And shot the food shot, the guy serving the food, shot, the place, the people eating, all these things, put it together. And I said, Hey, you want to by this, to the owner? And he said, yeah, I’ll buy it. And I said, 50 Euro.

And he’s like, cool. And I was like, okay, I got something I can make money. And then I started doing all videos of restaurants that clubs, the nightlife, like everything you could imagine over there. Then I started working with a student travel company where I actually guided a couple of trips, but then I’d shoot the trips and I’d get to travel for free on the weekends.

And then also became a better videographer, editor, so on and so forth. Ended up getting up to like 500 bucks per video over there. Then I’d added another 250 to post it on different websites. And then I was making really good money. I mean, I was. Actually really, I did hundreds.

Steven: [00:20:51] You were more than just surviving.

Clint Bertucci: [00:20:52] Yes. Yeah. I was, I had something good there and then I ended up I’m like, all right. You know, I know I want to open a travel company, you know, through doing the tour guiding and all that. I’m like, I definitely want to have a travel company that, you know, it’s just, I had an idea of what I wanted to put together, came back to America.

And I opened a company called Branding Cam, which is a video production company. Did mostly restaurants in the Tampa area, did a lot, a lot of them. And, uh made the money to start the company. And then the minute Travr take, I actually, I started it as Tucci Travel, but then I hated that name so bad, right from the get-go.

But I couldn’t be one of those people that didn’t start a company cause I can’t think of a name.

Steven: [00:21:33] Right.

Clint Bertucci: [00:21:33] You know? So I just, I’m going to name it. This I’m going to change

Steven: [00:21:35] Right at the beginning.

Clint Bertucci: [00:21:36] The worst. I mean, I read so many books trying to come up with creative names.

Steven: [00:21:40] How many spreadsheets did you make?

Clint Bertucci: [00:21:41] A lot?

So many, so many. Um, but yeah, it’s um, I ended up. Had the money started it. And then once it became functional, I think it was like first year or after the first year between the first and second year I closed Brandon Cam completely. It didn’t sell, it didn’t do anything. I just sold it, just closed it.

Steven: [00:22:03] Why is it, was it not manageable from afar or like, how was it?

Clint Bertucci: [00:22:07] It wasn’t my goal. And I knew right from the get-go it was just a means to get to Travr and that’s exactly what I made it. You know, it gave me the funds that I needed to do to live and to. Start the company. And then it’s just kinda like, I dunno, what do you call the space shuttle when, uh, when the thing, the boosters fall off?

Steven: [00:22:24] Yeah, that was it. That’s perfect analogy.

Clint Bertucci: [00:22:25] Yeah. I let him go. And I remember that cause people would still call companies and businesses would call and want videos and I’m like, Nope, I’m good. I want all my focus and all my attention on building this company, Travr.

Steven: [00:22:38] Wow.

Clint Bertucci: [00:22:39] Yeah.

Steven: [00:22:39] So what it sounds like that you’re really good at.

Is dropping the boosters when they’re out of gas. I feel like a lot of people hang on to them for too long. And then it becoming dead weight. I mean, it’s the perfect analogy. So if you were to write a book today or give a talk or whatever, what would it be about? And I kind of want to prime that question with it looks like you’ve had a couple different solid chapters.

You’ve pivoted very well. You knew when it was time to quit. But what’s interesting is your biggest challenge was figuring out what you want to do.

Clint Bertucci: [00:23:12] Yeah.

Steven: [00:23:12] And you sat there like a mad scientist with your spreadsheet. Like I’m going to figure this out. And, um, if I can speak for myself, I’m very guilty of thinking that I can think my way through something, but it’s action that gets us through something.

Clint Bertucci: [00:23:26] Yeah.

Steven: [00:23:26] So if you were to kind of put all that together, what is the major lesson? Cause you’ve done a lot. What does the major lesson in, what would you have told yourself back then?

Clint Bertucci: [00:23:35] Before I even answer that, like I’ve told bits and pieces of the story, even, even you and I have discussed that on trips a little bit, but never like this.

Steven: [00:23:43] Right

Clint Bertucci: [00:23:43] This is the full, I mean, there’s other pieces, but this is pretty much it that’s. So that’s the first time I’ve ever shared that. Um, what would I tell people? I would probably just, I mean, there’s so many different things. I mean, I could say I could sit here and say so many things, but one of the biggest things, I mean, and everybody says it is find what you love in to not give up on that.

It’s not because I know for, for fact that it’s not just gonna come to you. I mean, there was times where I would go to church over there and pray and go to church every single day and pray that I found my purpose and Hey, what am I supposed to do in life? And there was times where I’m like, I’d actually realize it’s not, your time yet, you’re not supposed to know yet.

Keep. Knocking away at it. Keep doing what you’re doing, it’s coming. And that’s exactly what I did. I kept doing what I’m doing and kept learning. I knew I wasn’t going to be a videographer. No, no, knock the videographers. But you know, I felt like it doesn’t matter. Just keep doing what you’re doing cause these are part of your story.

This is part of your story. This is just a different chapter. You have to go through this chapter in order to find what you’re looking for. And I don’t even know if I’m at the final chapter now. I definitely don’t think I am. I think there’s so much more to come and you know, Travr is a great company and we’re doing great things and it’s no way I’m stepping away from that.

I mean, I plan on taking this to the end, but are there other things? Yeah, 100%. And I will continue to learn, educate myself and stay as focused as possible until I don’t know through life I accomplish as much as possible. I mean, it could be, like you said, I’ll, you know, I’ll, Hey, you want to do some meditation?

Yeah, of course. I’ll do anything. That’s new or uncharted, I think that’s part of life. So another thing I would say was, is. Be open to opportunities, be open to new experiences. There’s so many people I’ll even see it on a trip. We’ll be on a trip somewhere. Somebody will have a free day. There was one time I dragged somebody out of the bus on it was this girl.

It was cold out and she didn’t want to leave the bus in Iceland. And I’m like, she wasn’t even on my trip. I was there solo. And I’m like, get your butt out of here. Like, come on, we’re going, like you came here and it was a girl I didn’t even know. And she went, she was with her mom or something. And then we got back in the bus and at the end she’s like, That was so cool.

She’s like, I would’ve sat here the whole time. She’s like, thank you.

Steven: [00:26:01] So go ahead. Back to, um, different businesses, you drop the financial thing, the video thing you hit, Travr, what clicked, you know, and it’s kind of like with love. Oh, you just know. Yeah. But this show is about the emotional process. So. Do you, do you remember when it clicked?

Do you remember the different feelings or at least feeling how it didn’t feel, you know, was there any kind of contrast

Clint Bertucci: [00:26:28] Now are we talking about how it felt with Travr?

Steven: [00:26:30] Yes, because now you’re like, yes, this is what I’m supposed to be doing. This feels right. All that.

Clint Bertucci: [00:26:36] Well, when I first rolled it out, I was so gung-ho, I mean, it was crazy.

I couldn’t, I couldn’t be more driven. I was reading, learning, working. I mean, it was everything. And then. Yes. I’ve been around the world. I had been through at that point, you know, however many countries, a good amount. You know, I had seen many guided trips. I had guided a little bit, but when you guide a full trip, a 10 day, 11 day trip, tramping, 15 people through 15, 20 people all through Italy.

And you’re you up to this point have been a, a number of different things, mostly a financial guy, uh, you and your self-taught. You have to teach yourself. And I watched so many tutorials books, whatever, but you have to learn how to be a tour guide. And the first couple of ones were not light on me. I mean, it was, it was very, there was definitely a learning curve and, you know, the first ones were a little, they were scary, I guess you could say, and they went well, but…

Steven: [00:27:38] A little bit of imposter syndrome. Do you feel like a phony? Like what am I?

Clint Bertucci: [00:27:41] No, no, no, never liked that, but just more of a thing of like, okay. Uh, I didn’t know that. And like, yeah, but, and that was probably part of the thing is that I didn’t do that and I should have, I should act like I knew what I was talking about, but sometimes I’d be like, Oh, okay guys, keep in mind.

We’ve never done this blah, blah, blah. And everybody was super cool about it. Loved it. I think they even liked that a little bit more, but what you’re saying is when did it actually click is actually the second year of Travr, when it went from the Tucci what was it, Tucci Travel to Travr. The second year we started doing trips and, uh, And then I kind of knew what I was doing a little bit more and it was like, okay, now I can actually relax a little bit.

And then now, even when I’m guiding trips, it’s, it’s so great compared to the stress that I, those first couple of years building it up. Cause now. Everything kinda is already set up and done. So you actually get to relax and enjoy the trip and enjoy the guests and get to know them and almost be one of them and build those relationships just as much as they are.

And that is, that is what you’re saying. That’s for me, that feeling like that is so rewarding at the end of the trip, when I become friends with 20 new people and I got all these amazing experiences with them and I didn’t really, I wasn’t running around planning this and planning of that everything’s already done.

So I get the chill with them

Steven: [00:28:58] To the point where you can now enjoy it.

Clint Bertucci: [00:28:59] Yes.

Steven: [00:29:00] Yeah.

Clint Bertucci: [00:29:00] Yes.

Steven: [00:29:01] So, uh, the Chinese say find a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.

Clint Bertucci: [00:29:05] Yeah. It sounds like you nailed it. Yeah. It’s um, I mean, obviously, you know, it’s always we’re always improving and I’ll never stop learning and building, but yeah.

Um, I can definitely, definitely say I love what I do, especially, like I said, compared to those first couple of years, it was stressful and it was so scary. And then now, like for example, going to, we have a Tai or a Peru trip coming up the first one. First week of April. There’s a lot of repeat guests going, and I can tell you, like right now, I am so excited just to go and see these people and to do all these things with them.

Steven: [00:29:41] Big difference between that and being excited to get paid.

Clint Bertucci: [00:29:43] Yes. 100% that I don’t even care about it.

Steven: [00:29:46] So that brings me, why did you do real estate?

Clint Bertucci: [00:29:51] To get paid? 100%, nothing more, nothing less. I, there was something about me. Like even when I was young going through school, I was always, I guess, you’d call it an entrepreneur.

I call it a hustler. Um, I sold candy in high school. I mean, I made big money. I can’t even, I could tell you so many things that I did up until, you know, the real estate thing, but so for me, closing a big deal or getting a great investment and flipping it. That was, that was serious for me. Like that was a driving factor, like a feeling that, you know, you close something, you make X amount of dollars.

You’re like, Oh, I dunno. It’s just now I probably wouldn’t get that way. But at the time, you know, a young kid you’re trying to make money. That’s that was, that was what that is what drove me.

Steven: [00:30:36] So the, this entrepreneurial, uh, drive in you w were your parents like that? Did they own businesses?

Clint Bertucci: [00:30:42] My stepdad did.

Steven: [00:30:44] Okay.

Clint Bertucci: [00:30:44] He owned, I think it was kind of like. I think I was kind of born with it, but then I’m sure my stepdad had something to do with it. What did he do? He owned a construction company.

Steven: [00:30:55] Nice. And was he around more than your biological father?

Clint Bertucci: [00:30:59] My biological father passed away when I was in like fourth grade, so yeah, but I had an amazing stepfather, amazing father too.

Unfortunately I didn’t get the time with him that I would have liked, but, um, you know, I got more than a lot of people, so I’m very thankful for that.

Steven: [00:31:14] Wow.

Clint Bertucci: [00:31:14] But my dad, my stepdad, I call him my dad, which no offense to my real dad. And they’re both my dad in my eyes.

Steven: [00:31:20] Respect.

Clint Bertucci: [00:31:20] Yeah. Um, but my stepdad, he, he was, he was always, he was a hard, hard worker.

Great guy. He still is great guy. Um, so yeah, I definitely learned a lot from him, but I was the kid. In what elementary school that had come home with a $10 lawn mower. My mom was like, where the hell did you get that nasty thing? Don’t cut your foot off. I’m going to make some money knocking on the doors, cutting the neighbor’s lawns.

That’s what I did.

Steven: [00:31:45] So do you think there is something to be said about, uh, young, like kid entrepreneurs? Uh, maybe they have something to prove?

Clint Bertucci: [00:31:55] I don’t know. I don’t think so.

Steven: [00:31:56] Where do you think that intrinsically comes from?

Clint Bertucci: [00:31:59] I think, I mean, I can only speak for myself, but I think that it was more of definitely not something to prove more of seizing an opportunity.

For me when I was a kid, I would see I’m like, dude, there’s all these lawns that I could cut them. That’s I can make $100, $100.

Steven: [00:32:19] Yeah. Was it to pay for comic books or was it to win the money? Like what was the goal? Do you remember?

Clint Bertucci: [00:32:24] Ah, that’s a good question. I think it was more for items. I don’t think it was any goal. I think it was more for items. I wanted a skateboard and maybe it was, maybe I wanted to be the cool kid with the skateboard. I don’t really know, but it was, I mean, I had a four wheeler when I was in. I don’t know if it was middle school or high school. Everybody thought it was a spoiled brat kid, but I bought my own four wheeler and everybody was like, Oh man, your parents…

And I’m like, dude, I sold candy to get this thing, man,

Steven: [00:32:52] You paid for it.

Clint Bertucci: [00:32:53] Oh, hell yeah. You want a Snickers?

Steven: [00:32:55] Yeah, exactly.

Clint Bertucci: [00:32:56] They’re cold. That’s funny.

Steven: [00:33:00] Wow. So it maybe, I dunno, I’m just kinda thinking out loud here. Maybe there’s something to be said about the entrepreneurial drive from the beginning and it’s different for everyone.

But what it seems like is because we haven’t lived long enough. What I’m trying to get at is why is it that the default measure for success is things. Because now you’ve grown. You’re a man now. And you realize it’s not the things it’s, I’m excited to go see people because I’m going to create friendships and yeah.

They pay me so I can keep doing this, but why is it that our default, when we’re so young it’s for things or to win the dollar, win the deal. I win

Clint Bertucci: [00:33:38] Media probably.

Steven: [00:33:39] Yeah?

Clint Bertucci: [00:33:40] I would, I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know, but I would have to think so. Cause you’re right. I mean, that’s, I’m trying to think back as a kid.

I mean, why did I want a skateboard? I’m sure everybody had one. My, probably the neighbor had a cooler one. I wanted the coolest skateboard and I think you’re right in society. I think that is definitely a thing. I mean, I can remember summer break and going school shopping. You wanted to go back to school with the cool, the fresh gear.

I mean, I don’t know, maybe it was that just me or it

Steven: [00:34:08] Gotta havefresh gear, bro.

Clint Bertucci: [00:34:09] Of course, right. Yeah. Um, yeah, I think that that is today’s society and. You’re right. I have, I’ve definitely changed. I don’t care too much about, I don’t care much at all. What people think if anybody wants to judge me, that’s their problem.

I don’t do things to impress people, but what I rather have, I went to lunch the other day. It was, you know, we went to a normal lunch. It was like 50, 60 bucks. And I don’t know, maybe I’m a cheap, can I say ass? Oh yeah, maybe I’m a cheap ass.

Steven: [00:34:39] You can say whatever.

Clint Bertucci: [00:34:40] So, um, you know, I’m like, damn, that’s 60 bucks.

That’s that’s like a hotel in, in Mykonos for the night. I’m like, you know, I could have eaten at home. And I mean, I don’t know. I, I just think of things like that more often. And I would much rather, I see people out popping bottles and going clubbing and spending thousands of dollars. And I know these people for years and they don’t do trips and granted, maybe they don’t want to go on any trips. And that is cool. And that’s what drives them is the nightlife that is great and good for them. They’re killing it.

But I also see a lot of people that are, you know, they complained that they don’t have the funds to travel, but they’re eating out every day, three times a day, coffee’s here, you know?

And it’s like, what drives you? You know, why are you the, I asked that question that you’re asking me, like, why are you, why are you spending all that money for things that are gone in the morning? And it’s

Steven: [00:35:31] My brother used to say, you’re pissing your money away. And I used to think, Oh, you’re just being an older brother.

But if you actually think about it,

Clint Bertucci: [00:35:36] literally pissing it away.

Steven: [00:35:37] You’re literally pissing it away. Yeah. It’s bananas.

Clint Bertucci: [00:35:39] It’s crazy. And it it’s, it’s very common. Had a girl. I’m going to say, I’m going to tell you this. I had a girl not too long ago, maybe less than a month ago. And she said, Oh, I’d love to go on your trips.

She’s like a lot of people say that they want to go on the trips and that’s great. I love for people to come. She said, I just can’t afford it. And I said, Oh, you know, and I always, Oh, that’s too bad. You know, I, you, you know, let me know if there’s anything I can do to help or whatever. And she’s like, yeah, no, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to afford, you know, to grab trips.

We’re pretty moderately priced and she just kept going at it and going at it. So I said, you know what? Oh, hold on. I said, let me take a look at you here. How much were those shoes? She’s like, Oh, these are name some, I don’t even know what the hell they were. They got the red bottom. She’s like, these were like a thousand.

She starts bragging her phone. I said, how much was your phone? Oh, it’s 800. And her purse was like 600. Yeah. Like

Steven: [00:36:28] You’re wearing your trip.

Clint Bertucci: [00:36:29] You’re wearing an experience that could change your life.

And here’s the thing. If you truly wanted to go on a trip, I could take these things off you right now. We could go sell them on eBay and wait, my Amazon and you can definitely go on a trip. So it is your priority and there’s nothing wrong with that. These monetary items are your priority over a trip. And it’s true. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But she, uh, at the end for the first couple of sentences, she was like, I know where you’re going with this.

And then at the end, she was like, damn, she’s like, I definitely didn’t add that up. She’s like you are 100%. Right. And it was pretty. Interesting to see that.

Steven: [00:37:08] So that’s really cool. That gets me to where I could sit here. Let’s say you’ve never meditated. And I could sit here all day long and be like, Oh, it’s so great that, that, but it’s one of those things that you’re not convinced until you try it because it’s a feeling.

So for someone who’s never taken that trip across the pond, that life-changing trip for me, it was Greece. Everything changed after that. But you couldn’t have told me what I was going to feel, even if you knew how it was going to feel. I wouldn’t believe you. So how do you get someone over? Or how can someone, whether it’s with you or whoever else, how can you get them to take that?

Get that small win, take that first baby step, that tiny bite. So they’re like, huh, that was a little different. And then they, then they eventually grow into the big trip and then they shift their focus or priority from things that make me feel good to experiences that make me feel good.

Clint Bertucci: [00:37:56] Yeah, it’s, it’s so true.

And if you find a way to do that, let me know because I’m convinced and I’m not interested in doing that. Like when people come to me, I’ve had people come up and say, convince me on why I should go when I’m one of your trips. And I’m like, I don’t do that either. Either want to go or you don’t like, I’m not here to sell you a trip, man.

It’s uh, but I truly believe that nobody can really do that. It’s they, they have to figure it out on their own or become so curious or so intrigued by maybe some marketing or advertising that they finally just pull the trigger and making it easy for them. You know, that’s what we try to do. We try to make it as easy as possible for people to sign up.

And that helps a lot. And then, you know what, here’s another thing we just cause a lot of times people, Oh, I can’t take an 11 day trip. So we actually rolled out Iceland and Peru last year. And those are six day trips, a lot shorter flight, a lot less expensive. And that has helped a lot of people. We have a lot of veterans travelers, but also the first timers or, you know, not even some rookies, whatever.

And. A little,

Steven: [00:39:05] I was…

Clint Bertucci: [00:39:05] little six day trip. I’ll jump on that. Boom. And then they do it and you’re absolutely right. It’s like a whole nother world. I came back completely different. Oh my gosh. I never knew it was like that. They come back with new ideas, they come back a new person, they come back just feeling completely different.

And then, and then, and then, you know what, it becomes a habit. And they want more and they’re willing to make the sacrifices that it takes to make, to make things happen. I see people that they’ve went on a trip with us, maybe one, two, whatever, and then they start traveling on their own. And then I think that is so amazing.

And, and I follow them and I I’m liking all their stuff and it just makes me happy just to see that.

Steven: [00:39:43] Yeah, because what it, what I think is common with that as we wait until we’re so uncomfortable. Or so unhappy, you changed your business, you know, it’s, it’s what I want to figure out. Maybe we won’t, we won’t get an answer today, but I want to figure out how to do that ahead of time.

How do we invoke change? How do we make that jump before we’re miserable, divorced, unhappy, sick, you know, all these things. How do we get ahead of that?

Clint Bertucci: [00:40:07] You know, you mentioned it before and now that you mentioned it, I am really good at that at, at just kind of nip it in the bud. But you know, and it’s, uh, I think just kind of having faith and knowing that there’s more out there.

And why would you want to waste time dealing with this when jump, who moved your cheese, that book, I mean, it’s take the chance and go explore new things. And even if it’s a career, whatever, you know, going back to travel. Cause that’s what I know is, you know, that’s another thing you see these people, you see these 80 or 85 year old people going on their first trip and you think.

Steven: [00:40:45] Does your heartbreak?

Clint Bertucci: [00:40:45] Yeah. And I mean, you know, granted, you never know if they could be on their 100th trip, but there are people that have been, that are on their first trip and they’re 80 and they didn’t make that choice consciously. That just happened next year, next year, next year. And then they’re 80, 85 years old.

They’re like, I’m about to die. I can’t barely walk I’m going on a damn trip. And then they do it. So, you know, I’m going to do one thing. I’m going to go. My grandpa is in a nursing home and I go see him and I’m going to do an interview with some of the people there and ask them some and ask them some questions about their greatest regrets.

You know, what they, the things that they seized as far as opportunities, ask them some travel questions. And I’m very eager to see their answers or hear their answers now. Huh? I love it.

Steven: [00:41:30] You’re good at pivoting. You’re good at kind of getting ahead of that now with that, for us who are listening. How do I know I’m pivoting too soon versus too late?

So a lot of people may be, are working a business that’s failing, but you know, the picture of the guy digging for diamonds,

Clint Bertucci: [00:41:46] Yes

Steven: [00:41:46] Everyone references that.

How’d, you know, maybe you didn’t, you just because you mentioned faith. How do you know if you’re pivoting too soon? If you haven’t given your project, or relationship, your job enough merit to,

Clint Bertucci: [00:41:59] I have the answer.

You don’t. You don’t and you never will, you know, you might think, you know, it might think, you don’t know, but you, you, you just have to go with it. And when you go with it, just make that decision and just go full force and don’t look back, you know. So many people have they second guess themselves, or, Oh, well maybe this, and then you ended up going back at it.

Wishy-washy, don’t do it. Just, just let it go, man, and go with it because who cares? You know, just do the best that you can possibly do no matter what decision you make and just go forward. Does that makes sense?

Steven: [00:42:32] It does. And I’m going to get a little abstract. Do you think there’s a difference between having head doubt and gut doubt?

Clint Bertucci: [00:42:42] Yes. Yeah.

Steven: [00:42:44] So if people can quiet their minds enough to realize maybe this is just hard, maybe I feel entitled. Maybe my ego’s a little hurt. Maybe I’m not making that, that, that all these things versus this feels wrong. And that’s what I envisioned. When you said you walked down the stairs, you looked around and you’re like, I’m closing shop.

Cause that was your gut. That’s not a head move. If it were a head move, it would have taken you two weeks, two months. It would have been like, Oh, what do I want?

Clint Bertucci: [00:43:10] A hundred.

Steven: [00:43:10] You know, you would’ve shaved it away to kind of like ease the ego hit. So if people consider, is this in my head or is it in my gut now?

Think back whenever I mentioned gut. Think back on any time you’ve made a decision based on gut. Now, think back. How many of those decisions do you regret?

Clint Bertucci: [00:43:30] Not a lot.

Steven: [00:43:31] Oftentimes the answer is zero because your gut knows. Yeah. So for you who are listening, keep that in mind, if you’re running a business right now in a relationship or whatever, these things, there’s a difference between head trash and when your gut knows the difference.

And when you lie to your gut, you don’t listen to your gut that’s pain, that’s when your soul starts to wither away.

Clint Bertucci: [00:43:51] Yeah. Yeah. And you know, one of the things when, when I finished Branding Cam and went full force into Travr, it was, you know, I always think about, you know, we’ve all read this many times, I’m sure it “Burning the boats” and that

Steven: [00:44:03] Burn the ships! Cortez

Clint Bertucci: [00:44:04] 100%.

And you know, it was, it was for that. I could’ve made extra money doing extra videos, but I said, you know what? Yes, I won’t have that extra income, but I am going as hard as I can with all my. My learning and all my hustle and everything towards Travr rather than, Oh, well, you know, maybe I need that extra money.

I’m going to use that, you know, 25% of my, my time and energy to make that extra money that, nah, I couldn’t wait to burn the boats and I burned them and it felt really good. Nice.

Steven: [00:44:40] I love that analogy because it’s like if somebody removed the safety net, you’re going to pay attention

Clint Bertucci: [00:44:44] 100%.

Steven: [00:44:45] If you got it there, you’re gonna be like, no, no, no.

Yeah. Same idea.

Clint Bertucci: [00:44:49] We’re, we’re not going to get off topic here, but like, especially with relationships, like a lot of

Steven: [00:44:54] That’s on topic, bro.

Clint Bertucci: [00:44:55] Yeah. Yeah. It’s a lot of people do that. They got to have somebody dangling around and uh, rather than burning the boat.

Steven: [00:45:04] That’s the ultimate selfish move

Clint Bertucci: [00:45:05] A hundred percent.

Steven: [00:45:06] Yeah. Awesome. So to wrap things up, I mean, we talked about pivoting, we talked about taking risks. We talked about basically taking action over thinking your way through something. Talk a lot about, about a lot of shit. Um, ultimately I’ve taken on this project to challenge myself and thank you for being on the show if in, in lieu of challenging.

Um, because I think it’s important that we challenge people to grow rather than preach like gospel and say how they should live. Rather challenge themselves to at least question whatever it is. What kind of challenge would you like to offer us?

Clint Bertucci: [00:45:44] I think challenging somebody basically, instead of letting excuses get in the way that’s the biggest thing is people, they self-sabotage so many different things, especially in travel and I’m so guilty of it.

And I think that’s why I’m able to recognize it so much is because, like I said, I was in the corporate world. I had the money time. I said, I didn’t have the time, but that’s BS because we all have the same exact amount of time. It’s just, I didn’t make it a priority. You know, and as far as challenging somebody, I would challenge somebody..

Just think about what you want to do in life. I don’t care whether it’s a relationship that you want to get out of getting into business that you want to start, that you’ve been talking about for 10 years, that you haven’t done anything with is just do it, make a list. There’s a process to absolutely everything that we do in life.

So I challenge you to take out a piece of paper. And write 1 to 10. If you were going to, let’s say it’s a business. What steps would you take to get to that? You don’t have to finish. Don’t even try to finish. Number one, come up with a name. Number two, check my website. Number three, email, register a domain.

Uh, incorporate, just write down your steps one to 10 and take the first three steps. Because once you take those first three steps, now you’re involved. You’re you’re, you’re in it. You already started it and you’re going to continue and wait till you get to wait until you look at that sheet. And all 10 of those are crossed out.

I’ve done this personally with almost everything that I’ve ever started. And when you look at that, those that list and the 10 are crossed off, you’re like, Oh my gosh, I’m actually, I started, I’m doing this and then take it. Don’t throw it away, keep it and save it and start another list and just keep going.

And. Put the time and the energy. And even if you have to put some time aside and watch what you can accomplish in a week, a month, a year, you’re going to be blown away. And it’s just, all it is, is a matter of doing it. So that’s my challenge.

Steven: [00:47:37] I love it. Uh, just in closing the quote, Tony Robbins, people overestimate what they can do in a year.

They underestimate what they can do in 10 years.

Clint Bertucci: [00:47:44] True story.

Steven: [00:47:45] Great list. Awesome brother. Thanks.

Clint Bertucci: [00:47:46] Thanks for having me. I love it. Keep doing what you’re doing.

Steven: [00:47:55] All that was such good stuff. I do agree with you Clint. There is a process to everything you’re speaking to the nerdy side of my brain. If you will, one approach anything, whether it’s mechanical or emotional, internal, or external, anything you do in life. If you just sit down and write out 3 to 10 steps, you can do almost anything.

So really great advice from someone who’s literally been all over the world has got such an amazing story. If you want to hear more about Clint or get in touch with him, you can find him at his website. Travr travr.life or on his Instagram, which is the same it’s trevor.life. So go check him out, give him a follow show him some love. Really appreciate taking the time to come on the show to share your story.

I will talk to you all real soon. Thank you for listening. Take care. .