01:05:36 · David Senra, Kenn Ricci
[01:05:36] S0: Okay. So you're having these conversations with people you trust and yourself for several years. And then you said you didn't really figure out why you're here till your two... Till twenty eighteen. What was the answer that I was arrived trying in to... 20 [01:05:47] S1: just wanna know my immediate my immediate reaction. So remember, I'm still doing a little bit of flying. I'm flying these rock stars. I'm flying Bill Clinton at the time, actually. I'm reading because when you're pilots, you have a lot of time to read. You're waiting a lot. And I read a biography about an Indian chief. And in order to become head of his tribe, to become chief, he had to prove that he was worthy of the tribe. And that meant giving away all his worldly possessions. Somehow this sticks with me. I have the conversation. And in 1992, I decided to give away everything to prove to myself. I saw one of your guests talk about, I think it was about having a tooth procedure without Novocaine to prove he had courage. [01:06:28] S0: Everybody's seen this. That clip got tens of millions [01:06:31] S1: of views. Okay, that's how I know it. That wasn't my courage. My courage was to give away all of my assets. [01:06:37] S0: And then to build them back up? [01:06:39] S1: Well, didn't matter. I had to prove to myself that my... That that wasn't what ran my life. That the accumulation of wealth wasn't gonna be what ran my life. That I had the courage to use the talent I had not for self accumulation.
01:06:39 · Kenn Ricci, David Senra
[01:06:39] S1: Well, didn't matter. I had to prove to myself that my... That that wasn't what ran my life. That the accumulation of wealth wasn't gonna be what ran my life. That I had the courage to use the talent I had not for self accumulation. [01:06:53] S0: Okay. So this is kind of what we were talking about before we were recording until just fantastic launch I had with Sam Zell. And his whole thing was just like, he's like, know all the rich guys. They're... You'd be surprised how miserable most of them are. They have more money than they'll overspend. They trade time, which they can't get more of, doing things they don't like for more money they can ever spend. He's like, there's only one true luxury in life and that's like get to private jet money. That's what... Yeah. That's the advice that he gave me. Because he's like, he just bought everything in the world and he's just like, it doesn't matter. He's just like the thing that made him the happiest wasn't his compound in Malibu or his place in Chicago. It was that every year, I think between Thanksgiving and Christmas, he took his entire family, his extended family and everything. And he was able... It was like 35 people. And he would take them to this little village in France for a few weeks and be able to pay and provide that experience for every single person. Right? And his whole thing was just like, you're not like going to be happy on the things that you consume. It's a thing [01:07:46] S1: you have do for give away. Exactly. You give You have for other be what you give away, not what you take in.
01:07:46 · Kenn Ricci, David Senra
[01:07:46] S1: you have do for give away. Exactly. You give You have for other be what you give away, not what you take in. [01:07:50] S0: So, bring me to this like realization. So you did that in '92, to bring me to this realization in 2018, where you're just like, now Well, I know for [01:07:59] S1: let's just say two things, right? In 'ninety two, even though, you know, now I'm giving away everything. So I have not, you know, that was a proof of Ken. But again, I didn't have a lot of wealth. I had that nice event. I had the nice event in the mid- mean, don't get me wrong. I'm wealthy, but I'm not this wealthy. Okay? You know, today, I mean, it's a factor of 40 compared to what it was in 2006, right? So, but, but, well, I don't... You know, that just means the temptation gets greater. [01:08:27] S0: No. No. Said the temptation [01:08:28] S1: is just like one of my [01:08:29] S0: favorite lines in the history of entrepreneurship is that... It's come... Comes from Henry Ford. He says money comes naturally as a result of service. And so his whole point is that you wanna make more wealth? That's fine. Don't ask me. Find a way to make somebody else's life better. And then the way you make more wealth is increase the amount of people's lives that you get better. And if you just focus on service, the money come back
01:08:29 · David Senra, Kenn Ricci
[01:08:29] S0: favorite lines in the history of entrepreneurship is that... It's come... Comes from Henry Ford. He says money comes naturally as a result of service. And so his whole point is that you wanna make more wealth? That's fine. Don't ask me. Find a way to make somebody else's life better. And then the way you make more wealth is increase the amount of people's lives that you get better. And if you just focus on service, the money come back [01:08:46] S1: to Interview's over. You just captured everything, right? I mean, I will tell you, I mean, if you ask me, I would say, look, six things. Be passionate about what you do, compassionate about how you do it. Memories are worth whatever cost to create. Friendship is a one way street. It's only what you do for your friends, it's not what they do for you. Don't miss the best five days of your life. You never know what they're gonna be. So wake up every day with the idea that what a wonderful day this could be, right? So those are the things that cross my mind. And by the way, there's no downside in in doing something for somebody you don't like. Doing something good for somebody you don't like. No downside in that.
01:08:46 · Kenn Ricci, David Senra
[01:08:46] S1: to Interview's over. You just captured everything, right? I mean, I will tell you, I mean, if you ask me, I would say, look, six things. Be passionate about what you do, compassionate about how you do it. Memories are worth whatever cost to create. Friendship is a one way street. It's only what you do for your friends, it's not what they do for you. Don't miss the best five days of your life. You never know what they're gonna be. So wake up every day with the idea that what a wonderful day this could be, right? So those are the things that cross my mind. And by the way, there's no downside in in doing something for somebody you don't like. Doing something good for somebody you don't like. No downside in that. [01:09:25] S0: I think it's excellent advice. That's a perfect place to close our first conversation. I really enjoyed meeting you. I was looking for... I've heard nothing but great things about you. I will end a little different than I normally do. What I will say about your business is a lot of my friends use Flexjet's and they all talk about the same thing. It's like you have remarkable customer service. And these are highly disagreeable, you know, high powered entrepreneurs that are not easy to please. So you should be very proud of the the business that you've built and one that's growing rapidly right now. [01:09:51] S1: And I [01:09:51] S0: hope you hold onto it. I know you just sold about 20% of it, whatever the case is, but I think there's good things in the future of Flexjet.
01:09:51 · David Senra, Kenn Ricci
[01:09:51] S0: hope you hold onto it. I know you just sold about 20% of it, whatever the case is, but I think there's good things in the future of Flexjet. [01:09:57] S1: Let me say one thing about customer service because you brought it up. One of the keys to customer service is, you know, if there's a problem, because customer service is about what you do when things go to hell. It's not about what you do when things are going well. Within our organization, there is no approval process. The person you talk to on the phone when you call and schedule your trip and you say, we had a breakdown, I got to get this. That person has all the authority to comp your trip, to give you whatever money they need. They don't have to call a supervisor to say David needs help. So I empower everyone in the organization at whatever level. First of all, it says trust, which is the foundation of society. Trust us throughout the organization that carries trust to that person. But this is a person making $80,000 a year that could comp you a $300,000 trip. So that's how we think about customer service. [01:10:43] S0: I love it. Thanks. [01:10:44] S1: Great. Great. [01:10:45] S0: I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please remember to subscribe wherever you're listening and leave a review. And make sure you listen to my other podcast founders. For almost a decade, I've obsessively read over 400 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs, searching for ideas that you can use in your work. Most of the guests you hear on this show first found me through founders.