Entrepreneurs Over 40 Episode 11 with Bill Soroka

Greg Mills: [00:00:00] Our guest today by his own admission has had over 26 business failures. The important thing is he's gotten back up 27 times, although it wasn't until he the results inventory of his life, that he was able to break the cycle. Since then, he's gone on to start a successful brand called notary coach, where he teaches notaries in all 50 states, how to build a business.

[00:00:22] The grants and the flexibility in their schedule, unlimited earning potential and doing so in a legitimate business that they can be proud of is also authored. And co-authored two books sign and thrive how to make six figures as a mobile notary and a loan signing agent and supercharger notary business with LinkedIn, how mobile notaries and loan signing agents build a brand get known and connect with their dream plan.

[00:00:49] As I mentioned that he's also the host of the side hustle lounge podcast, and apparently does not sleep without further ado bill Soroka,

[00:00:59] Bill Soroka: [00:00:59] Hey Greg, thank you so much for that introduction. It's such a pleasure to be here. I'm excited to talk to you today.

[00:01:05] Greg Mills: [00:01:05] I'm excited as well. So can you take a few moments and just fill in the gaps from that intro and bring us up to speed with what's going on in your world.

[00:01:15] Bill Soroka: [00:01:15] Fill in the gaps on 26 different business failures. Yeah. How much time you got I'll keep, I'll give you the the short and sweet of it. So with my personality type I just, I love, I rarely meet an idea that I don't like. So how that translated for me was all of my hobbies. Anytime I'd read a book or heard something new, I'd want to turn it into a book.

[00:01:38] So I did that very enthusiastically, but, enthusiasm will only carry you so far. And what I found after so many flops or things would get hard or difficult or boring, and I would just let it Peter out. And then I bounce off to the next thing. I was very undisciplined. And I resisted discipline.

[00:01:58] I resisted habits and routine my entire life, because I thought it was for boring people. I thought there's, you're missing out on the party. If you go to bed at seven, so you can get trained for your marathon the next day, or took your business so seriously that you forgot. And I paid a huge price for that because what I learned through my results inventory, after, my last business collapsed and my relationships were affected, what I learned was that there was freedom and discipline, and I finally just sucked it up and I said, okay.

[00:02:29] I tried it my way.

[00:02:30] It obviously didn't work. So now I'm gonna just go. I went down this rabbit hole, exploring habits and routine, all the gurus. Talk about it. Anybody who's ultra successful talks about their regiment in their routine and how they just did the things they knew they needed to do. So I bit the bullet and I started doing that and that's when things really started to change for me.

[00:02:52]Greg Mills: [00:02:52] Did you have a coach or a mentor to guide you? Or how did that, how did you know what you needed to do?

[00:02:58]Bill Soroka: [00:02:58] Great question. So I had lots of coaches and mentors through the years, but my definition of that might be authors who shared their journey. People who post videos on YouTube those types of things. So I had an idea I was blessed that one of the last business I had standing when everything crumbled was my mobile notary loan signing.

[00:03:22] So I had all these 26 failures that behind me, but I learned lessons from it. Wasn't like a waste of time. In fact, now I wouldn't change anything about that. So I just took those lessons, took what I learned and I applied it to this business. So I had a good idea of what needed to get done. I just needed some help getting the discipline to do it.

[00:03:44] I used to struggle with waking up early. I'm like, what's the point of waking up early? I, I was up till two or three in the morning, drinking my creative juices and had paper plastered all over the wall. And then I slept. Where I was a poker host, so I was hosting poker and drinking til one or two in the morning, and then it's oversleeping.

[00:04:03] So I had to learn what, I didn't know. I didn't know what I didn't know. And gurus like Brendon Burchard Hal Elrod in his the miracle morning book changed my life because in the miracle morning in particular, it gave me a framework. Because I used to ask myself what's the point of waking up?

[00:04:21] What am I going to do? If I wake up early? I had a framework to do it, and I did that for 90 days just doing the six practices that he talks about in that book. And that just opened up some flood gates for me. And then I was able to create my own daily do's. That's what I called them. My daily do's in my own bed.

[00:04:39] To do the things that needed to get done. I knew this was a relationship business, so I knew I needed to cultivate relationships. So I knew I needed to kick down some doors. And I knew that I'm an introvert and I'm shy and I'm not going to go knocking on doors. So I had to find a way to do that. And that's how I developed my system.

[00:04:55] Greg Mills: [00:04:55] Okay, so just switching gears briefly, was there anybody in your family that was an entrepreneur? Or was it just, you.

[00:05:04] Bill Soroka: [00:05:04] Yeah, good question too. We've had some entrepreneur and adventurers speckled in the family. My grandmother on my mom's side was an entrepreneur and that kind of goes down the whole line on that side. And then we had some adventures like gold hunters and real estate and all kinds of things, but very similar personality type.

[00:05:24] They seem to bounce from different idea to different idea, nothing. Took off for them. For the most part, our inner circle was really. Put a lot of focus on education traditional jobs. Like I heard that my whole life, and that was part of my struggle too, is I didn't want to go to college. I didn't want to learn things I wasn't going to use practically in life. I saw that as a waste, so I was doing my own thing without getting results. So I was in the shame cycle all the time and my grandparents loved me and supported me, but they just wanted me to go to college, get a degree. Get a job and then just stop, just be safe, get a paycheck, get some medical insurance, so they didn't have to keep putting emergency room bills and things like that.

[00:06:06]So I struggled with that a big portion of my life.

[00:06:10] Greg Mills: [00:06:10] Okay. So you would say that kind of, you struggle with a little bit with shiny object syndrome or a fear of missing out.

[00:06:17] Bill Soroka: [00:06:17] Yeah totally. In the past. And even now I have to keep myself in check. I tend to overload my plate. I love a good idea. I love blazing trails.

[00:06:26] Greg Mills: [00:06:26] Okay. So what was your first job?

[00:06:30]Bill Soroka: [00:06:30] So I have this conversation with myself quite a bit on how to define my first job?

[00:06:35]I think so my dad was a ranger for Arizona state parks. And when I was a kid, he was the first ranger to get sent to new state parks when the state would buy them. So one of those was Slide Rock State Park.

[00:06:50] So we got to live right on Slide Rock State Park, and then after the tourists would leave I would go down and snorkel find all the jewelry and the cash and the sunglasses and the cool gemstones and all kinds of stuff that they would leave in their pockets while they were swimming. And I would, that was really technically my first year.

[00:07:10] That's how I started it. I find that stuff, sell it, take it to a little shops or up to the swap, meet in camp Verde. And that's where we would sell it.

[00:07:19] Greg Mills: [00:07:19] Okay.

[00:07:20] Bill Soroka: [00:07:20] I think that was my first job. And then they have a little gift shop there too. And I used to sell gum and film and sweep floors and stuff.

[00:07:28] Greg Mills: [00:07:28] Okay. It sounds very familiar in that I used to live near a golf course in front of me. Myself and some friends would go out and we'd, we would hunt for the balls that the golfers had lost. And then we would, I don't know if we actually turned around and sold them or not, but we, I remember amassing quite a a war chest of golf balls.

[00:07:50] I had the entrepreneurial spirit, but there was always something lacking. In my own life, with the next, the next step, the follow-through.

[00:08:00] Bill Soroka: [00:08:00] That's sometimes the hardest step is the follow-through. Cause it, I love, it's funny you bring that up because I love hunting for golf balls too. I can't help myself. I have a huge collection. I golf maybe twice a year, but I collect these golf balls and I lived on two golf courses this year. I've got hundreds of them.

[00:08:16] I call it going out Easter egg hunting because I can find them anywhere and they just collect them. Like I'm going to do something with them. I just don't know.

[00:08:24] Greg Mills: [00:08:24] Yeah. I like the hunt of finding something of value that is, maybe overlooked, like I was selling used books for awhile. I've never been any good with a metal detector, but the idea is there.  I'm one of these guys will actually watch the metal detecting show.

[00:08:43] Yeah, there, they are pretty boring. I will, I'll give 'em that, some of the, like the gold rush, that's on a different level and that intrigues me.

[00:08:52] Bill Soroka: [00:08:52] Me too. I'm right there with ya. I love the thrill of the hunt and I think that's why it translate in, translates into business for me as well, because I. I think about what what's my real passion. What's driving me through these business and businesses. And I really think it's plucking the idea out of the ether, cultivating it, looking at it, like I've hunted this down.

[00:09:15]I'm finding a way to make it work. And then watching it come alive in the real world. And it might be a home run. It might be a flop that really doesn't matter to me. It's that whole process of finding the idea, cultivating it and bringing it out and making it, creating it I guess.

[00:09:34] Greg Mills: [00:09:34] Okay, so you sound like the type of guy that would do well on a call center.  tell me about that cause that sounds horrid

[00:09:44] Bill Soroka: [00:09:44] That was my nightmare.

[00:09:45] Greg Mills: [00:09:45] yeah. What were you doing?

[00:09:48]Bill Soroka: [00:09:48] I've done it. I've done it all. On top of 26 businesses, there were. Tons of jobs in there too. Because the businesses didn't work out and, or there were times where I got scared and desperate. So I always ran back to the safety of a paycheck safety. Do you have medical insurance?

[00:10:06] And that's not necessarily anything wrong with that, that because that's the reality that I, and having health insurance that's important and having, being able to pay your bills and eat that's important too. So a lot of those jobs that will hire you really quick are call centers. And I tend to thrive in those environments and I would get promoted very quickly in them so I could get promoted off the phones relatively quickly.

[00:10:32] I would start. And then I do everything I could. I'm a pretty good sales guy. I'm a pretty good customer service guy. I can talk to anybody on the phone. Even if I just dreading it, I felt like a caged animal. I'm chained to this cubicle pacing back and forth. In fact, I've had write-ups for not sitting in my chair long enough for taking too many bathroom breaks.

[00:10:51]I've had all, I've just not born for that, but I did what I had to do. So I've been in travel banking, mortgages. Oh my gosh. Selling or answering, those special pills that are, between midnight and 4:00 AM. I was on the hotline for that, like all kinds of stuff that I've done with that.

[00:11:08] And it is like, when I think about it, I can even feel myself starting to get anxiety, just talking about it. I really, I consider myself unemployable at this point. Anyway, I've tasted the good life. I've tasted the freedom that entrepreneurial-ism can bring. I can't go back and I definitely can't go back to a call center and there's nothing wrong with a call center.

[00:11:28] If you love it, it's just not for me.

[00:11:31] Greg Mills: [00:11:31] Yeah, I was wondering if you were in any type of IT role there,

[00:11:35] Bill Soroka: [00:11:35] so that was probably the worst, actually a big, I don't want to say a brand name because there's nothing wrong with them, but huge domain and technology company, and they blended their sales and their tech support. And I had hired on as sales because I loved, I got to talk to business people all day long and then they merged it with the tech support.

[00:11:57] was, I think I lasted maybe a month to six. People calling in because their email doesn't work. I'm like, oh, that's my nightmare came alive for me right there. But I just took that as a sign from the universe. It's I'm not supposed to be there. So if I don't, and that's what I found through this whole experience is if I didn't make the decisions, I knew I needed to make the universe makes them for me.

[00:12:18] And so that happened and I made a decision. I cut ties with that and I moved on and I worked in a different way.

[00:12:24]Greg Mills: [00:12:24] Yeah. So what was let's go over some of your failed businesses, especially the ones that. That you can identify that it puts you to where you are now.

[00:12:33]Bill Soroka: [00:12:33] Yeah.

[00:12:34]In a lot of ways, I would say all of them have when I really, and this was a really cool realization. When I started looking back at what had gotten me to where I was like, when I published my book, I was like, I cannot believe I just, self-published a book that has been on the bestseller list since it came out.

[00:12:55] Like when I started rewinding I'm like, how did this, how did it happen that go back. And I can see pivotal moments. So all of these, every step along the way has culminated into this and helped me become. Exactly who I needed to become in order to do this, I can see how in the early two thousands, I had a real estate marketing company and I can see the project that I, the, our big flagship pro product that I was going. That has helped me with my marketing today. I had a mattress company that the way that I built the relationships and brought people together to sell or to create and sell those has served me in building the community that I have now with my notaries.

[00:13:41] Greg Mills: [00:13:41] Okay.

[00:13:41] Bill Soroka: [00:13:41] I can see in the jewelry business and the liquor store promotions, and being able to give stuff away that has helped so much in what I do today too.

[00:13:51] So it's really hard to identify it. But the key factor is I could have, and I did for many years, I stuffed it down into what the shame, right? Like I never wanted to talk about business failures because if I did people react to it, they're like, oh, in fact, even now I'll get it on social media. People are like, you want I'm going to take advice from somebody who failed 26 times. Yeah.

[00:14:16] you probably should because I've learned a few things along that way, but there was a time where that would have crippled me if, to hear that. But now I it's not something I'm like proud of. I'm not like, Hey, look at me. I failed 26 times, but I embraced every lesson along the road.

[00:14:32] And I realized I couldn't be where I am today. I could not do the things that I do today. If I had not had those experiences.

[00:14:40] Greg Mills: [00:14:40] Yeah. And you got back up and, you just push forward.

[00:14:44] Bill Soroka: [00:14:44] Yeah, exactly. You got to that's the resilience in that bounce back,

[00:14:48] Greg Mills: [00:14:48] So what, how did you learn about the doing a results inventory and how did that how did that come about?

[00:14:58] Bill Soroka: [00:14:58] Yeah. I don't know exactly where it came from. I would imagine it came from a book or something that I did. I read tons of books and that was the problem in that first half of life, because I read everything, I consumed everything, but I did not implement stuff. I was really, really down I think I had six businesses at the time, five of them collapsed.

[00:15:20] They were big endeavors. I had family who have invested money. I had friends that were involved in it. I had a relationship at the time that was really Rocky and it crumbled all at the same time. So here I was at the, at Thanksgiving and I didn't want to be around anybody in my family. So I spent that time alone with a bottle of vodka. And I didn't know which direction I was going to go. I was really down, it could have gone either direction. And I got this inspiration that hit and it was from a book called 'The Answer" by John Azarov, but he has this gap analysis that you do for business. But I was like, I'm going to do this for my life.

[00:15:59] This is my results inventory. Here's what I want. This is what I thought I was smart enough to create. And here's what I've got and what's that gap and difference. And it's it was like the grand canyon of gaps. It was huge, but I was thinking I can do this. If anybody can do this and I've met some really.

[00:16:18] Successful entrepreneurs. However, you decide to define that, that didn't strike me as the brightest bulbs in the shed or the sharpest knives, right? I'm like why can't I create something? Why do I have to struggle? And that's where I slipped. I went into that rabbit hole, seriously, four or five days over Thanksgiving weekend and just consuming everything I can.

[00:16:39] And when I came out of that, I had a plan in place. I said, this is what I'm going to do. I started out with BJ Fogg and his tiny habits, and he used to have a little program at this university where you would send in what you're wanting your habits to be. And they would send accountability emails, and that helped.

[00:16:58] And then I got introduced toHal Elrod, and that really triggered the the next. Chapter of my life. In fact, I measure my life before "The Miracle Morning" and after  "The Miracle Morning"

[00:17:10] Greg Mills: [00:17:10] Okay, so that made a huge difference, a huge change in your life.

[00:17:15] Bill Soroka: [00:17:15] and continues to do

[00:17:16]Greg Mills: [00:17:16] How early are you getting up now? I have, cause you'll listen to some of these podcast and people will talk about I get up at three in the morning. I get up at four and then one lady, I remember she said that she got up really early at about eight 30.

[00:17:32] I'm thinking. Wow

[00:17:34] Bill Soroka: [00:17:34] I think it's really important to acknowledge that the physiology and us individually are, is different. And there are studies that suggest that some people perform better at night versus in the morning. So you've got to honor all that, we can't. A blanket policy or philosophy to everyone, but there's a lot of science that backs to the power of mornings, especially brain science and how that functions.

[00:17:58] And it works for me. And I didn't think that it would, because I was a night owl and I worked in bars. I was a bartender poker host, all of that. So I was adapted to that. So it took some work to make morning's happen, but between  "The Miracle Morning" and the Mel Robbins, "The Five Second Rule",  I had to count down every morning, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

[00:18:21] And that's how I would get out of bed. And then I had a mantra that says I choose greatness. And it's funny, whenever I, my alarm said that when it came up, it would say, I choose greatness. When I see that. To argue with that is to not choose greatness. So it really helped me get out of bed in the morning.

[00:18:39] And that at the time was between three 30 and four, because of the life that I live. I was a mobile notary and loan signing agent. So at eight o'clock, my phone was ringing and dinging and I would work all the way sometimes till 11 o'clock at night. So if I wanted to do it, that was working in my business.

[00:18:56] But if I wanted to do the move, the needle stuff to work on my business, I had to wake up early. And that's when I wrote the book. That's when I created my online course, I had to do that when my mind was fresh in the morning. So now I still get up. I.

[00:19:10]I don't like to use an alarm. So it's sometime between four and five 30 every morning.

[00:19:16]Greg Mills: [00:19:16] Were you passionate about becoming a notary or did you, were you,

[00:19:22]Bill Soroka: [00:19:22] So I was definitely not passionate about becoming a notary public. In fact I did it. Because I was, again, it was at a down and out moment in my life. And a friend of the family said, Hey, why don't you become a notary? And I'll throw you some deals of being alone, signing agent.

[00:19:40] I had no idea what I was doing. And I really thought this was a cool little inside thing that nobody else was doing. I thought we were inventing something but little did I know there's this entire entity? I didn't learn that until several years into it. And I always had one foot out the door in this space.

[00:19:58] I treated it like an ATM machine and the money was good. I get in, I'd make, if I needed 2,500 bucks, I made 2,500. If I needed a thousand, I made a thousand, whatever it was. And then I go and pump that money into my other big ideas. And then once those started petering out several years into my notary business, I said, Why not?

[00:20:21]A friend of mine actually said it over a beer. She's oh my gosh, you have gone through all of this. Why don't you focus your energies on this business? And when I started to do that's when things really started to change for me.

[00:20:35] Greg Mills: [00:20:35] Yeah. We always focus on all the things that are sexy, but may not make any money and, If you're focused, if you're making money, without hardly even trying on the notary business. And I don't mean to take that away from you, but that's a no brainer.

[00:20:49] Bill Soroka: [00:20:49] Yeah.

[00:20:50] it's something I took for granted. I didn't, know, I did a lot of damage to relationships in there and now I'm so glad that I've had that. Because this business has introduced me to some of the most incredible people I have ever met. I consider them friends, not just clients or students. And we really have something beautiful going.

[00:21:09] I still pinch myself. I'm still, I'm like, is it legal to make this much money doing something that is now so easy for me in the beginning? It certainly wasn't. And then. Just feel so good about stuff and just keep spreading the word and knowing that there's this abundance that we can help other people, we can help each other do this work.

[00:21:26]And it really is it's and that's why I have those three tenants for this that you mentioned in the beginning, it offers you a flexible schedule, unlimited income, and it's a legit business. It's old-fashioned too. And I think that's why I like it. There's no BS. It's you work and you get paid, you don't have to recruit people.

[00:21:43] You don't have to sell product that people don't want. You don't need an inventory. It's just a good old fashioned business it's been around for. Depending on who you ask, thousands of years,

[00:21:53]Greg Mills: [00:21:53] Talking about the relationships,  I've experienced or notaries with real estate transactions with car purchases. What are some other services that they would be providing or that they would be notarizing,

[00:22:09] Bill Soroka: [00:22:09] yeah what's really cool about the world of notary Republic is I would say that. Probably 70 or 80% are over the age of 50. So they bring a certain level of professionalism and experience into this, especially if they take this work seriously and get training and ha have a website and a business card, and really, cause this can be an incredible business because how often notaries are needed in everyday life. And I don't think we always realize it. Cause sometimes it's just maybe once a year or every now and then, but in the business world and in the medical world in the legal world, notaries are used so often. In fact, they're at, they estimate it's anywhere from one to 3 billion documents a year. Are getting notarized. So anytime people are buying stuff, selling stuff, being born or dying, there's probably a notary involved plus everything in between.

[00:23:04] Greg Mills: [00:23:04] Okay. Just totally spaced on I recently did a will change and that obviously had to be notarized.

[00:23:11] Bill Soroka: [00:23:11] Estate planning documents are huge medical directives, last wills and testaments living trust, lots of legal paperwork real estate mortgages. All of those mortgages, every mortgage you've ever done has had a notary involved

[00:23:25]and usually multiple documents notarized.

[00:23:30]Greg Mills: [00:23:30] So let's talk about the side hustle, lounge. Most of the guests that it seems are with the notary field, although I've seen a few, like Lise Cartwright?  Did she help you with your book?

[00:23:42] Bill Soroka: [00:23:42] Yeah.

[00:23:43] Lise was amazing. She was part of a program that I had joined on how to do a self publishing book. And I got to meet her in person in Austin for right before my first book launched, loved her advice. Love her energy. Obviously she's a hoot. And then for my second book, I actually hired her for some one-on-one coaching.

[00:24:02]To help me out with that. Amazing person there. And then with the side-hustle lounge, she was one of my guests there. So the way that it works is the, my first four guests were from the notary world. We had general notary work, signing agent, a postie and remote online notarization. After that. It's oh, it's fair game.

[00:24:22] It's open. We've had authors. We have arts and craft creator that has products in over 200 stores and we've got some really great guests coming up soon. We talk about money. That's the thing about the side hustle lounges. It's designed for people who are looking either for a way to get out of their nine to five, or if they're already outside of the nine to five and want additional streams of revenue.

[00:24:44] Cause I really think that's the thing. To wealth creation or if you're just, multi-passionate like me, you'd like to have different irons in the fire, so you don't get bored and you'd like to explore new things. That's what this is all about. So we talk about legit income opportunities, but then the mindset and the personal growth that it takes to become successful at those.

[00:25:05] And then how you spend your life, lifestyle design and adventure and your legacy that you leave behind. So we talk about all of that.

[00:25:12] Greg Mills: [00:25:12] Okay. Now, are you strictly focused right now on the side of us and lounge and the notary the notary business, or are there some there's some side projects?

[00:25:21] Bill Soroka: [00:25:21] You're asking me, what about my irons in the firearm?

[00:25:23] Greg Mills: [00:25:23] Yeah.

[00:25:24] Bill Soroka: [00:25:24] I've definitely got irons in the fire right now. So I am first and foremost, my passion. Yeah.

[00:25:29] My dream is to travel the world, meet interesting people and write books that touch, move and inspire. So I'm writing two books right now. And the side-hustle lounge is basically my side hustle.

[00:25:41] I get to work that on the weekends, in my main business, my main focus are my students. Clients in notary coach and the sign and thrive community. But I do have other tech projects, all kinds of little things going on.

[00:25:57] Greg Mills: [00:25:57] Okay. Take projects that are related to your businesses or take projects that are, you're coming up with a new web browser.

[00:26:06] Bill Soroka: [00:26:06] Yeah. So what I learned through all this part of the, what I learned is if I'm going to have multiple irons in the fire, It's important that somehow I can connect them. So my brain doesn't draw energy away. And that's how I got, I used to get exhausted. I'd have a poker business, but then I'd have a real estate business trying to bridge that gap was a little difficult.

[00:26:28] Now, most of what I do, who operates under this notary umbrella. So my brain's focused. Jeez, here, sometimes it's a stretch to link them, but I've got a link that makes sense for my. So I do it. So I've got to I've got some investments in some tech companies and then startup as well platform wise on some cool stuff that's coming up.

[00:26:47] We'll see how it goes. But, and then there's all kinds of other cool stuff. I got app ideas too, but I'm trying to pace myself and not over overflow the plate again.

[00:26:57] Greg Mills: [00:26:57] Okay. Now you mentioned art, although you were talking about potential guests, I see over your shoulder there, there was a picture of a dog. Did you draw that or did you paint that.

[00:27:07] Bill Soroka: [00:27:07] I did not paint that. That was a friend and that's both dogs, but it's like a portrait of my two dogs. So in

[00:27:17] Greg Mills: [00:27:17] I can only see yeah, I can see you

[00:27:19] Bill Soroka: [00:27:19] There's a half a face back there. Yeah. They're upstairs right now.

[00:27:23] Greg Mills: [00:27:23] yeah. Minor older and they're sleeping right now, so

[00:27:29] Bill Soroka: [00:27:29] They spend a lot of time doing that.

[00:27:31] Greg Mills: [00:27:31] yeah. I wish they could live forever.

[00:27:33] Bill Soroka: [00:27:33] I, oh man. I know. I just, in fact, last night we celebrated the life. My friend Nina, her dog just passed away last week. In fact, two of my friend's dogs passed away last week. It's so sad. It's so hard. It's sometimes harder than when humans.

[00:27:49] Greg Mills: [00:27:49] yeah, cause generally you don't, you like dogs, you love dogs, you don't really have a grudge against a dog for doing something.

[00:27:57]Bill Soroka: [00:27:57] And they spend so much time with us and sometimes, they're there for every mood for every, there's a lot of negative thoughts and like little mini. Pity parties that I've had, like with my cat, she was always there for 18 years. And then when social, when she died, that left a huge void in my heart.

[00:28:15] And I know that's I think that's what dogs do. And people just don't fill the moment like that with unconditional love at all. Times like that.

[00:28:22]Humans are human,

[00:28:23] Greg Mills: [00:28:23] yeah.

[00:28:24]Bill Soroka: [00:28:24] They've got their own things going on.

[00:28:26]Greg Mills: [00:28:26] Are you a big sports guy or

[00:28:29] Bill Soroka: [00:28:29] I am not at all. I'm

[00:28:31] Greg Mills: [00:28:31] I heard you make a baseball reference in another podcast. Yeah.

[00:28:34] Bill Soroka: [00:28:34] It's so I don't know where. Okay, So let, I don't know where my analysis sports analogies come from. I played sports in high school. I played baseball. I wrestled, I played football. They asked me not to play basketball anymore. I've got some at least a little bit of knowledge about it, but I don't know where those analogies come from and I never watch it.

[00:28:54] I never bet on it. And I usually fade out when people start talking about.

[00:29:00] Greg Mills: [00:29:00] Okay,

[00:29:01] Bill Soroka: [00:29:01] You want to talk books? I can talk. Books are golden girls all day long.

[00:29:05] Greg Mills: [00:29:05] golden girls.

[00:29:06]Bill Soroka: [00:29:06] Choose your next words carefully. Greg,

[00:29:09] Greg Mills: [00:29:09] Yeah. Golden girls.

[00:29:11] Bill Soroka: [00:29:11] have you ever heard of it?

[00:29:13] Greg Mills: [00:29:13] Yeah. I've heard of the you were talking about the the room McClanahan and

[00:29:17] Bill Soroka: [00:29:17] Thank you. Yes.

[00:29:18] Greg Mills: [00:29:18] okay.

[00:29:19] Bill Soroka: [00:29:19] Yeah. BR there. Okay.

[00:29:22]Greg Mills: [00:29:22] It's not my thing, but I can understand . We got into watching doc Martin. I don't know if you're familiar with that. It's a British comedy about a doctor. That's probably on the autistic spectrum

[00:29:34] Bill Soroka: [00:29:34] Okay.

[00:29:35] Greg Mills: [00:29:35] he It was serving in a little town it's right on the coast and oh, develops a phobia of, a fear of blood. So

[00:29:46] Bill Soroka: [00:29:46] that's going to be a challenge.

[00:29:47] Greg Mills: [00:29:47] yeah, it is.

[00:29:49] Bill Soroka: [00:29:49] Interesting.

[00:29:50]Greg Mills: [00:29:50] That's my golden girls and we've also, she's gotten me into watching a doubt in that.

[00:29:58] Yeah.

[00:29:58]Bill Soroka: [00:29:58] I think you said it right too. That's amazing.

[00:30:02]

[00:30:02] Yeah. I haven't I haven't tried getting into that yet. Although all my I hear about it all the time or at least I did, I think it ended or something, but Yeah. haven't gotten into that yet.

[00:30:11]Greg Mills: [00:30:11] It's out there and I think they're making another movie, although in fairness to me, we did not see the first movie,

[00:30:17]Any other books that you've got? Can you talk about those a little bit?

[00:30:21] Bill Soroka: [00:30:21] Oh, yeah, a little bit?

[00:30:22]I've got two more. One is in the notary realm and the other one is it'll be a first jaunt outside of the notary realm. And then I'm in that I, my, my goal is to do, to about probably two of these or more per year,

[00:30:36] Greg Mills: [00:30:36] Okay.

[00:30:37] Bill Soroka: [00:30:37] would be my dream life. Although I lease is such an inspiration to me, she's got 34 30, she lost count of how many books she has published.

[00:30:45] So that blew my mind.

[00:30:48] Greg Mills: [00:30:48] Now this next one,  you mentioned it's going to be inspirational. Is it going to be. Slightly fictional or is it just going to be totally autobiographical or how's it going to work?

[00:30:59] Bill Soroka: [00:30:59] Yeah. I it's definitely not fictional. I've got one formulating that I don't know if it will be fiction or not, but I don't read fiction. Aside from the classics. So it's outside my realm and I read personal development. It's what I know. It's what I like to read. So I'll be writing about that. So one is, has to do with the notary world and then this other one is it's not even, I would say inspirational.

[00:31:21] It's just, it's a certain set of habits that I do to help me achieve peace of mind in my everyday life. So it's just like a framework for that to do it in traffic or when you're waiting in line, those types of.

[00:31:35] Greg Mills: [00:31:35] Okay. And I mentioned fictional, not from the standpoint of of a war and peace or something, but they're like Brendon Burchard,  as some of his teachings wrapped up in a fictional layer.

[00:31:47] Bill Soroka: [00:31:47] Like a parable.

[00:31:48] Greg Mills: [00:31:48] Yeah. A parable

[00:31:50] Bill Soroka: [00:31:50] Yeah. Yeah. So I I struggle with parables too, so if I'm totally honest about it, they usually drive me nuts. His life's golden ticket.

[00:31:58] Greg Mills: [00:31:58] That was the one I was thinking

[00:32:00] Bill Soroka: [00:32:00] yeah. The Alchemist. I actually really enjoyed three feet from gold, really enjoyed and the 5:00 AM club by Robin Sharma.

[00:32:09] I almost didn't read it because it's in a parable form, but I'm so glad that I did that was a life-changing book for me. So I don't know if I've got the passion to do that, but maybe I will. I'm totally open to it. It's one of.

[00:32:20] those ideas that will fall out of the ether for me. And I'm ready to go.

[00:32:25] If it hits me.

[00:32:26] Greg Mills: [00:32:26] Okay. So if you were advising somebody to go into, to start a business, I guess basically, should they be passionate about what they're. Going into, or will they cause it sounds like you developed your passion over time

[00:32:44] Bill Soroka: [00:32:44] Yeah.

[00:32:46]Greg Mills: [00:32:46] You've branched out on the  notary coaching and you've figured out different ways to. So incorporate that.

[00:32:57] Bill Soroka: [00:32:57] Yeah, the best piece of advice I would offer is not to necessarily has less to do about the vehicle you do within and more about where and why you're going. So I am very clear about the impact I want to make on the world. I want to be a beacon of love and light. I want to inspire people to get up off the couch life and pursue their dreams.

[00:33:20] Cause I know it's possible. I want to do that. I just happened to be every car Right. now. Like the notary vehicle, then that's how I do it. That's my mask. My business is my masterpiece. It's how I create for the world right now. It's how I feel good about it. And I think that's why I've become so passionate.

[00:33:37] About working in this industry because it feels my legacy, my, my ultimate goals. And I think the reality is you can probably find that in anything with the right mindset, the right attitude about it. I just got fortunate to one that gives me that freedom and that flexibility.

[00:33:57] Greg Mills: [00:33:57] Okay. Was there a a book or something that Changed your way of thinking about that? Or was it just, just something that you developed over time with seeing how others had done things.

[00:34:07]Bill Soroka: [00:34:07] For the mindset again, I think this might be part of the culminate. Things I have I have a philosophy on education and learning for myself. I don't read a book to become so engrossed with it and the author and the teacher, whatever it is that's all I'm thinking about. And that's who I'm becoming, like that, person's the one and only thing that I can learn and do my philosophy is what if I just got one thing?

[00:34:35] That I could implement today. So whether that's a book, a course, a workshop, an interaction, a meeting, whatever it is, what's my one takeaway that I could implement right away. So I think it's because I've, I read so much and do so much in a personal development and learning realm that all of these little, one pieces I've constructed.

[00:34:55] My own little wobbly philosophy about how all this works. So I don't know that there was just one book or one thing. And I would just go back to say that there, I would say there's three things. That made a huge impact because it came down to self-confidence and believing in myself again. And that came from learning my type on the Enneagram, learning that as a number seven, I am an enthusiast.

[00:35:24] I love ideas. I know what's motivating my behavior. I knew him pushing some of the negative emotions away. So now I know how to confront those and not be in a shame cycle. So that was huge. And then learning the habits and routines are everything. Hal Elrod,  Brendon Burchard super helped me out with that.

[00:35:43] And then the third thing I have to say, I'm going to give credit to Bernay brown on this because rising strong and there's one other book and it's just, I'm watching it, leave my brain as we speak, but really any of her books. Because I was going through what I was going through, where the world was crumbling and my heart was broken at the time.

[00:36:02]I was going through that. Yup. And as a solopreneur, when you're going through a divorce, a breakup or grief of any kind, even if somebody were to die, your entire business, Is reliant on you. So you have to somehow pick up all these pieces. So her book I read right at the right time that gave me that confidence to get back on track.

[00:36:23] Hal Elrod gave me the framework a reason to get up every morning and to do keep moving. And when I did that every day, doing what I said, I was going to do, having that internal integrity with myself, just built up and gave me the confidence to keep going, keep doing it.

[00:36:40] Greg Mills: [00:36:40] Okay. Now you've mentioned travel. How, what do you a, where do you like to go and be? How do you, are you wanting to become like a travel authority, a travel influencer, or just do more traveling?

[00:36:54] Bill Soroka: [00:36:54] no, I'm I'm I'm a real shy introvert. Traveling to me is like a cabin in the woods with nobody around. I don't like to do touristy things. I like to do. I like to sit and stare at the ocean and write books. I'd like to stare at the mountains and hike and have a place by the lake, that kind of thing.

[00:37:10]I've done domestic travel for the most part, a little bit of Canada, a little bit in Mexico, but now that this. A pandemic is coming to a close. I'm really looking forward to some international travel. And I'm really embracing longer travel or slow travel as they call it, because I don't want to be rushed.

[00:37:29] I don't want to go and take pictures of all the touristy things, I like I used to do cruises and stuff like that. Now I want to slow down a little bit when the experience, I want to sip coffee on a street cafe and people watch and write my books or whatever it is. So that's what I have in mind.

[00:37:46] I still love doing that. And my goal, especially cause I'm in Phoenix and it's already like 112 or something today in the beginning of June. So I'm ready to get out of here.

[00:37:58] Greg Mills: [00:37:58] Yeah. We've had a really weird beginning of June so far. It's actually. Cool. And like in the sixties, seventies, normally about this time, it would be in the nineties. If not the hundreds.

[00:38:11]Bill Soroka: [00:38:11] What I'm hearing here is an invitation Greg

[00:38:14] Greg Mills: [00:38:14] Yes. Come on now, man.

[00:38:17] Bill Soroka: [00:38:17] might have to do. I've never been out there before.

[00:38:19]Greg Mills: [00:38:19] Charlotte, the Charlotte area, the east coast was in a great spot. I was just thinking of. You probably need to look into Robert. Miralis better known as traveling Roberts on YouTube

[00:38:33] Bill Soroka: [00:38:33] Thank you. I'll check that out.

[00:38:34]Greg Mills: [00:38:34] He's also a great guest, but he's just humble. He and his family had immigrated to this country from Cuba.

[00:38:42] When I think he was like 16 or 17. And he just travels all over the east coast and actually west coast and yeah, I think he's been we w oh, last night it was in Maine,

[00:38:56] Bill Soroka: [00:38:56] I love that. And I love that he does the domestic us too. And one of the things that I realized, especially here in Arizona, right home of the grand canyon. So many people who are native to Arizona who had never been to the grand canyon, or they've never been to Tonto natural bridge is like the world's largest travertine bridge.

[00:39:14] And it's right here in Arizona. And I realized that there's so we fall into the. Complacency where we live and we forget that people travel to where we live to experience it. So that's part of what I hope to do is just inspire people to get up, get out and explore and see the grand canyon or you see your own grand canyon, whatever it is in your state, get out there and experience it.

[00:39:38]Greg Mills: [00:39:38] We really like where we, the Charlotte, you can get to the mountains, you can get to the coast. And just going into Charlotte occasionally just seeing the sites, the town they entered.

[00:39:50] Bill Soroka: [00:39:50] out the museum. Yeah. the energy. Yeah, Have some coffee on the sidewalk, cafe, that kind of stuff.

[00:39:56] Greg Mills: [00:39:56] Yeah, man. It was great talking to you today.

[00:40:00] Bill Soroka: [00:40:00] Yeah. Likewise, Greg, I really appreciate you having me. Thank you for the invitation. And if anybody needs to reach out to me or would like to reach out to me, please feel free to put them in touch.

[00:40:11] Greg Mills: [00:40:11] I will. What's the best way for somebody to check you out.

[00:40:14]Bill Soroka: [00:40:14] If you're interested in rotary stuff, notary coach.com keeps it nice and simple. If you want to check out the side hustle lounge, you can go to the side hustle, lounge.com. We have a free private Facebook group that I interact in pretty regularly. That's probably the best way. And then outside of anything else, I don't really prefer email.

[00:40:35] I'm trying to find a way to never have to open email again, it's a long way away, but I do prefer text message. And if you reach out.

[00:40:42] to me in the private Facebook group I'll get you my text, phone number.

[00:40:46] Greg Mills: [00:40:46] All right, sir. That's a wrap. It was great having you on. I hope you have a good rest of the day, sir.

[00:40:51] Bill Soroka: [00:40:51] Yeah. Thank you so much, Greg.