Gordon Stula: The Zenquest of Leaders with Jess Ollenburg

Gordon Stula talks adventures in entrepreneurism, risk, reward, the power of the human mind, humor, zen, executive wellness and so much more. Gordon unveils the phenomenal benefits and exciting power of each NeuroReformer and NeuroPerformer. Contact info and topic resources are at the episode landing page Gordon Stula - The Zenquest of Leaders Podcast — zenquest.online.

Our guest Gordon Stula is an American entrepreneur, born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He founded a number of successful companies both domestically and internationally. 

A serial entrepreneur since college, Gordon began his international business career in Russia working for Smith Barney in the early 1990s. In 1994, he founded Engeocom Distributors a Russian cosmetics manufacturing and distribution company which continues to operate throughout the Russian Federation.  Prior to February of 2022, Engeocom Distributors was a Russian distributor of iconic American brands on behalf of manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Farouk Systems and Carmex. 

In 2007, Gordon Stula founded Stula Aviation, a commercial aircraft fleet management company based in the U.S. that, prior to February of 2022, worked with Russia's civil aviation industry as well as Aeroflot Airlines, The Boeing Company and Airbus SE.

In 2022 Gordon founded NeuroReformer, an American medical device manufacturing and distribution company. The NeuroReformer device utilizes a patented technology that accesses the body's neuro pathways during physical therapy, which accelerates natural healing. 

Gordon earned his BA from the University of Wisconsin, where he played as Defensive Back in the 1984 Hall of Fame Bowl for the Wisconsin Badgers Football Team. His management studies since include a concentration on Negotiation Mastery at Harvard Business School.

A family man, Gordon and his wife Sasha raise 4 boys while currently residing in South Florida. 

As a business and community leader, Gordon has served on several boards, including; the CTEC -Council for Trade and Economic Cooperation; as past Board Member for USA-CIS; Founder/Past President/Past Chairman for American-Russian Chamber of Commerce of South Florida; Past Board Member & Secretary for the Association of Bi-National Chambers of Commerce of South Florida; Past Advisory Board Member for the Russian Children's Relief Fund; Past Treasurer/Board Member for the Fisher Island Day School; A member since 1996 of EO/Entrepreneur Organization South Florida Chapter; and Advisory Board Member for Collegiate Athletic Game Changers Charity since 2005.

Transcript

Jessica Ollenburg: 1:18

Thank you for joining us. Our guest today is Gordon Stula, and our topics are many. We will be talking adventures in entrepreneurism, risk, reward, the power of the human mind, humor, Zen, executive wellness and so much more. Our guest Gordon Stula is an American entrepreneur born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He founded a number of successful companies both domestically and internationally. A serial entrepreneur since college, Gordon began his international business career in Russia, working for Smith Barney in the early 1990s. In 1994, he founded Engeocom Distributors, a Russian cosmetics manufacturing and distribution company. Prior to February of 2022, Engeocom Distributors was a Russian distributor of iconic American brands on behalf of manufacturers such as Procter and Gamble, Unilever, Farouk Systems, and Carmex. In 2007, Gordon Stula founded Stula Aviation, a commercial aircraft fleet management company, based in the US that prior to February of 2022, worked with Russia's civil aviation industry, as well as Aeroflot airlines, the Boeing Company and Airbus SE. In 2022, Gordon founded NeuroReformer, an American medical device manufacturing and distribution company. The NeuroReformer device utilizes a patented technology that accesses the body's neuro pathways during physical therapy, which accelerates natural healing. Gordon earned his BA from the University of Wisconsin, where he played as Defensive Back in the 1984 Hall of Fame Bowl for the Wisconsin Badgers Football Team. His management studies since include a concentration on Negotiation Mastery at Harvard Business School. A family man, Gordon and his wife raise 4 boys while currently residing in South Florida. As a business and community leader, Gordon has served on several boards, including; the CTEC -Council for Trade and Economic Cooperation; as past Board Member for USA-CIS; Founder/Past President/Past Chairman for American-Russian Chamber of Commerce of South Florida; Past Board Member & Secretary for the Association of Bi-National Chambers of Commerce of South Florida; Past Advisory Board Member for the Russian Children's Relief Fund; Past Treasurer/Board Member for the Fisher Island Day School; A member since 1996 of EO/Entrepreneur Organization South Florida Chapter; and Advisory Board Member for Collegiate Athletic Game Changers Charity since 2005. Thank you, Gordon, for joining us today. Welcome! It's such a pleasure.

Gordon Stula : 4:45

Thanks, Jess.

Jessica Ollenburg: 4:46

We met freshman year at Ripon College, we've been friends since. It's been such a pleasure to follow you, Sasha and the boys through your adventures, your accomplishments and your crazy wild ride that we all want to hear more about.

Gordon Stula : 5:05

Well, thank you so much. Yeah, it's been a while. And it's nice to stay in touch. You know, in these times, especially with family as people grow apart and so forth. Just to keep that connection and thread, the past relationships that you had that were meaningful. So it's just wonderful to reconnect with you through the years. And I'm so happy to be part of this. Thank you for for your invitation for this show.

Jessica Ollenburg: 5:31

Oh, thanks for saying that. And so good to have you here. I'd like to start by asking you to share a little bit of a timeline of your adventures, your peaks and valleys along your adventure as a serial entrepreneur, so many accomplishments, so many things learned along the way. What are the standout moments? Can you give us a little bit of a timeline?

Gordon Stula : 5:58

Yeah. Interestingly enough, it started by happenstance, in college, back in college, granted we were a little bit older, my brother and I, we got into the art business, the new was really strange my, I played for the University of Wisconsin, I played football for them. And they gave sort of the summer internships. And one of the internships that they gave to players was to work in an art gallery. And my brother in the library just took the information and asked if he could work in the art gallery for me, and per se that he was me for the summer. I was like, Yeah, sure. So he did, and did really well. And, you know, got into that business. So while we're in college, after he said, Hey, listen, I think we could do this business, not open an art gallery, but they did wholesale sales, B to B to other galleries over the phone. And that's what he excelled in that summer. And we got into that business while we were in college, had a good degree of success. And then, right after college, you know, we went off to different graduate schools, but maintain the business. Then after that, while I was in Milwaukee, and the real estate business somewhat, as an offshoot of that opened a restaurant that stayed open for 15 years, not under my management, I had sold out to the minority partners several years after, but to the credit of the restaurant, it stayed open for 15 years, and is still open today in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 30 years later, and then moved. joined my brother who was living in Florida at that time in the early 90s. With Smith, Barney had to take the series seven, and worked with him. In, in working with the Treasury Departments of banks, and and insurance companies, so we were commercial brokers. And in the later in the 90s, they put us well, in the early 90s. Again, they gave us some Russian banks as accounts. And it was interesting, because we didn't really speak Russian, we spoke serbo Croatian, but of course, we lied to the guy that asked us we spoke Russian and then we got the accounts. So we were over there in Russia, and decided that, you know, we could probably open a business on our own. And we did. So we were in Russia since 94. We did we still have that I still have that company today. I subsequently bought my brother out. We distribute, manufacture distribute cosmetics. And up until last year with the conflict the war in Ukraine. We were distributing for American big American products. Since that time, we've been just focusing on our own manufacturing, our own brands that we manufacture. After that, after Russia was not available anymore. To us to US citizens. I actually in 2007, sorry, I my main business was commercial aviation. So I got involved with that worked with different manufacturing enterprises in Russia, on their behalf with regard to their procurement of components from the US so was fortunate enough to work with some of the largest US companies like Honeywell, GE, Pratt and Whitney and so forth. And Boeing, as they were selling products to for Russian civil aviation manufacturing, that also was not available for me anymore due to sanctions last year, early last year. And since that business was unavailable, I had some extra time had an investment in a company that manufactured a medical device. And they worked with professional athletes for five years. And they fixed my shoulder. I had a torn rotator cuff. And that device was used as opens the neural pathways in the body while you're doing exercise. And to me, it was unbelievable that nobody was doing this except Except for professional athletes. So I bought the company last year. And in the process of working on a new generation device that we'll offer for leasing, as well as opening mono brand retail clinics that help the general public. So we've re-looked at the model instead of we still work with over 100 professional athletes. But we now lower the price to about $150 a session and and our clinics are full because it works. So instead of having to do PT for three weeks, without the device, you do it for about five days with the device and it's been a smashing success. I'm really excited about that business. So that's the whole arc from beginning to present day for my various ventures.

Jessica Ollenburg: 11:05

Well that's quite a journey. And it's easy to see how you've gained so much confidence in the NeuroReformer and NeuroPerneuro performer which is Your current business that you're talking about, and love the metrics on that love that you're talking about something that gets us rehabbed and healed faster, and does so at an accessible and affordable price, when so many things today are not. You can't study behavioral science without studying neuroscience. And the uniqueness of human frequencies and all bio function is fascinating. One of my favorite projects, Gordon, was actually at Ripon. And we conducted a research project for Psychology Today, where we studied the frequencies and the human's ability, each human, as a result of this study, we learned perceived sine wave frequencies differently in vision. And it's just another piece of the puzzle as far as how we all each unique human being operates at different frequencies at each bio function. And one of the most interesting things I find about neuro reformer is that you're actually reprogramming atrophy by sending reading and sending back the body's own frequency.

Gordon Stula : 12:35

Yep. So So and it's interesting. So when you say, frequency, it's really a vibration, just like a sound frequency or radio wave frequency, those are vibrations. Yeah, body's nervous system, call it the body software, where the physical body is the hardware runs on frequency. So the signals that are sent are frequencies and it goes to the neural neural system through the nervous system. So those are neuro pathways, and what our device does, you're hooked up, it's a wire to a pad, and the pad on the body, you know, where it's where you have the atrophied muscle, as well as the atrophied nerves, this will amplify the body's own natural frequency while you're doing the PT movement while you're doing the exercise. So that amplification brings blood to the area, right? As well as, as well as stimulates the body's natural healing process. So it's an accelerate, it's a hack really, to, to recovery, to physical therapy, recovery really works well on pain. So people that have acute pain, have seen see that reduction, very quickly.

Jessica Ollenburg: 13:43

That's fantastic. You mentioned quite a few different potential uses and lessees of the equipment as it becomes more and more available. What are some of the uses some of the places and that this could be found? And our corporate centers, our corporate wellness centers a potential target for this? We've seen so many wellness initiatives and helped facilitate them along the years, could this be a wave of the future?

Gordon Stula : 14:19

Oh, 100%. So our plan right now as we work on on the new device, is to, to target various different industries or areas, different markets. So the first one would clearly be existing rehabilitation clinics, right, they're using very various modalities from ultrasound treatment to you know, all sorts of different all sorts of different treatments. So this would be an additional treatment for them. To employ. The The second area would be hospitals who have their own treatment centers for pain and, and, and for injury recovery. Then, of course, there's the large industry of chiropractors who are always willing to look at another modality that will help from acupuncture to their, you know, the the movement of the backs, and so forth. And then we're also looking at retirement homes, elderly homes that have their own rehabilitation within those within those structures. We still work with professional athletes, I think we're going to expand and colleges as well, when they're with their physical therapists, so we would just expand that. And then of course, our mono brand retail clinics, we plan to expand that out in a franchise model, we'll supply them to those franchisees to those clinics, and certainly your suggestions, right on spot on corporations that are looking to, you know, head off, head off insurance prices by getting overall wellness of their employees is for large corporations that may have 1000s of employees, it would be a preventative medicine, play. And there are companies that do that. So we would lease that to those companies, those medical companies that work with those big corporations.

Jessica Ollenburg: 16:16

And that just seems so natural it both wellness and risk management are so critical today at the forefront of corporate wellness. So to have something this accessible, and something that affordable also, from a corporate standpoint seems like a just no brainer. Seems like there would be quite an ROI on that when you talk about getting back to work when you talk about getting human beings at top peak productivity show? Absolutely,

Gordon Stula : 16:51

absolutely. People are sitting around for eight hours a day, typically, and you're going to have back problems, you're going to have an or if you're standing and walking, you're going to have knee problems, joint problems. And all of these things, all of these issues, these biomechanical breakdown issues come into play, every decades over 40, much more prevalent over 50. And as as you get on, so you have the senior executives that are having issues, and they're going to be just less productive. So it's a perfect marriage of, of helping your client physically. be out of sight out of pain and comfort. And so they're mentally happier, and they're going to be working better and you're going to the yield is more more better productivity.

Jessica Ollenburg: 17:39

Absolutely. Wellness, relaxation, all bring humans to peak performance. So well done - thank you so much.

Gordon Stula : 17:50

Yes, I mean that's what we're looking at, that's, as I say it, we're on the precipice of really launching the business, there's a lot of planning to go there go on and what we what we're doing right now, so we have all of our patents and so forth, we're just looking to basically set up a sale structure for the new device that's coming out. But we've had some tremendous interest and it's already a groundswell of support for the the clinics that we have out there, they're packed, you can't get we have for neural therapists, and you can't really get in we're doing over 100 therapy treatments a week, and you can't get in the same week. So we have to wait about a week now to get get get schedules, because it works. We have 95% efficacy, five years and 1000s of case studies for knees, elbows, backs, necks, ankles, wrists. So it's an effective, but yet old, or tried and true. It's not something that's new. So this, this technology has been out in a different, more primitive form for about 20 years. But five years ago with our patent, we refined it, so it's much more efficient. So the results or results are are quite surprising, and makes people tell their friends, so all of our we haven't done any marketing all of our clinics, growth has been from word of mouth referrals.

Jessica Ollenburg: 19:22

And I imagine the word of mouth is very strong. And certainly it's the best way to get referrals, no better way to have credibility than somebody who achieved success with your product or service.

Gordon Stula : 19:35

Well, somebody that was in pain, and couldn't move, right, didn't have a range of motion, and suddenly he's out of it has a correct range of motion. Of course, you're gonna tell people when they say they just mentioned something about their back, you're doing someone else a favor. So yeah, it's the strongest type of recommendation.

Jessica Ollenburg: 19:50

Absolutely. You mentioned the office environment of sitting all day. And certainly we've had knowledge and we've been preaching about this for decades. But it is so easy to forget things about posture, just something as simple as posture. When you're sitting and you're completely engrossed in your work and focusing. And you're in your mind. I guess I might be speaking from experience.

Gordon Stula : 20:26

You hit the nail on the head again, because it's so you mentioned earlier, and I haven't I haven't talked about it yet. But there's two sides of the business. There's neuro reformer and neuro reform clinics, the renewal reformers, the device, and then there's neuro performer. So we actually have high performance athletic training programs that that we work with the athletes. So once they're out of injury, by putting the device on it sends 5 million pulses a second it what it does is it retrains your body it increases the the muscle memory but by the repetitions that you have so if you did a 1010 reps would be as if you did 100 reps of something. So that's fantastic and everything is based upon kinesiology and biomechanics. So our whole entire program that we've rewritten the neural program, the neural reform, the neural perform, excuse me, a neural PErforM program is based on bot correct body movement, correct posture, correct movement, the way to pick up a tennis ball correctly, especially after a certain age, to be able to minimize any of these natural, you know, disintegration of the human body, which naturally occur.

Jessica Ollenburg: 21:44

They certainly do, I guess we call that aging or post injury.

Gordon Stula : 21:50

Yeah, I mean, it's just it's part of life after a certain age, but you can prevent it by normal exercise. So once you come to the clinic, and, and we've addressed or treated the issue that you have, there's homework, so you have to go home, and there's certain things you have to do, there's certain, you know, without the device, certain exercises, you know, simple exercises, you know, your back against the wall, you know, holding up some, you know, weights in front of you to pound weight, and letting gravity, you know, coming on that's really helped your shoulders, there's a lot of really basic exercises that we write for you to make sure that your shoulders don't go back out of shape or your lower back, you know, doesn't go back because if if, if you're have something that was that was injured, or you're in pain, and then we get you back, and you're repaired, but then you go, go home, and you don't do anything, just sit on the couch for another six months, naturally, it's gonna come back.

Jessica Ollenburg: 22:44

So it's a very integrated program, you're not just treating with the equipment, but you're also prescribing some self care to augment that along the way.

Gordon Stula : 22:57

Well, right. So it's, it's a paradigm shift in lifestyle, but it's done from from the, the genesis of someone having a problem so bad that they need treatment, right, so let's just use a back problem. So their back hurts so much that they're having trouble sleeping, it just, they're in constant pain, let's say the pain levels of six throughout the day, but they've learned to live with it. So they come in, they do X amount of treatments with over over x amount of time with us. That involves using the device itself. And, and the prop. For exercise treatments, well, once their their pain is down to a two or a one, right or maybe a zero. That's because their whole muscular structure is is supporting what they're doing during the day, they still have to at home, spend a few minutes a day to maintain the proper muscular integrity. And and that's so it is a lifestyle. But it's not that we come at you say okay, you have to do all of these exercises is that we prove to you that doing a minimal amount of exercises will permanently relieve whatever issue you have, of course, everybody's different, right? If you had surgery on your back, that might not be the case. But typically, normal back pain from just sitting around wear and tear is due to atrophy of your muscles after a certain age.

Jessica Ollenburg: 24:23

And we learn that self care is really what's necessary to the proactive so you're not only creating the healing, but you're also imposing some preventative medicine, so to speak, as long as people are going to keep up with the better habits moving forward.

Gordon Stula : 24:39

Yes, and listen to it can be someone that doesn't really like to exercise. It's just like I said, if you're if you're you're laying flat down, and you're lifting one leg and another leg, like the Superman pose, that's, you know, helping with your back. That's not exercise, necessarily, you know, you're not lifting weights or anything, let's say you put your back against the wall, and you go down into like a half squat position. That's very tough for people to do, right? Because it's you, it's your thighs and your back. But you can you can start with this assistant doing that assistant after a while that strengthens everything up. And not necessarily an exercise because a lot of these are, are exercises that you're doing. By just using gravity, you're not actually lifting anything, you're just trying to maintain a static position until gravity brings you down. That's a great strengthening movement.

Jessica Ollenburg: 25:33

And that strengthening it would seem that that what you're describing also is going to elongate their muscles, which is a big part of the problem. I know with pain, when we get well crunched down and shortened up as as some of our massage therapists might tell us,

Gordon Stula : 25:51

right? So the device will elongate the muscles by, you know, increasing the circulation the area, as I said, blood flow in the area. And so when you're doing that that's really necessary for recovery. You are going to strengthen the muscles by incorporating the exercise or the physical therapy movements, which which the back in this case requires to be able to support your upper body right leaning forward or back on a daily basis. So you have to do at a certain age, you have to do something to support that. And if you're active even more, so let's say you're a skier, right, you'd like to go skiing once or twice a year, well, you wouldn't necessarily have any issues, perhaps. So you might want to come in for Neuro performer and to work on your thighs and your lower back, maybe for three or four days with the device to shorten the amount of time required to get your thighs and your back in shape, right? Normally, you'd have to probably do some kind of air squats for a week or two, right to be able to serve, not have that everybody who's a skier knows that horrible day two or day three, you know, pain on every, every movement, every squat on the Hill for your thighs. So that's part of neuro performer, neuro performer would, it's another hack to get you into shape in a shorter period of time.

Jessica Ollenburg: 27:19

You talk about skiing, and all I can think of is my favorite part of skiing, which was the black diamonds going Mach two with hair on fire, and just really enjoying gravity bringing speed.

Gordon Stula : 27:33

And I can guarantee you, Jess... that I could guess how old you were. And I'll say how young you were when you were doing that? Because I know for sure. And over a certain age, nobody's going full full cannon ball down, because it's not worth it right at these crazy accidents. I used to do that too, in my 20s. But now

Jessica Ollenburg: 27:54

And that's what we're talking... Yep, of course.

Gordon Stula : 27:59

Because now I, you know, I like to go side to side and hopefully nobody hits me.

Jessica Ollenburg: 28:04

I don't even go as fast on the wave runner anymore. Exactly. Let's talk a little bit about bold and risk taking entrepreneurism, we both know what that's like, and how much we learn and the peaks and valleys, trials and tribulations of being an entrepreneur taking those risks, making an impact pioneering. Tell us about one of the light bulb moments that come to mind for you, during that you might want to share with our other business owners and C suite execs.

Gordon Stula : 28:47

Well, I mean, I can only speak from my personal experience. And as a side note, and I think most entrepreneurs will understand this that an entrepreneur that has some some type of success, meaningful success, I think is a certain personality type. I don't think you can be nurtured as much into entrepreneurship, even though they have great entrepreneurial studies and colleges now and, and so forth. I think that can help you certainly, but I still think to be ultimately successful. You have to be a personality that is very determined. organized. You have to certainly be a I'm gonna say either type A or ballsy to use the term right? You have to be pretty forceful. And and being able to take rejection and failure in a way that doesn't crush you. And, and doesn't...(It's a learning moment, right?) Well, yes. But in the moment, it's tough to swallow. But yeah, went from 30,000 feet up, or now with the lens looking back, of course, it is the best learning moment or it can be if you allow it to be. But with that aside, and I think I had that type of or have that type of personality. You know, crazy, not crazy, but what other people think were, you know, like, eye opening moments that normal people wouldn't risk with like going to Russia, in the 90s. Right? Sure, going out on your own quitting and the security of a of a Wall Street big firm, where we were doing well financially and going off on your own. So just doing that is right, that would be considered risky in most parts. And there are other instances along the way, but that one probably pops out. Also talking about highs and lows. Later on the 98 ruble crisis, we were wiped out because we were too heavy and in one sector and one investment and because of the crisis wiped out, and so also, you know, instead of putting our tail between our legs and packing up and going back and looking for a job or come back the United States, double down, double down on Russia at that time when The country was in disarray financially. And so I think there's there's some risk there as well, it certainly wasn't the safe choice, but it ultimately paid off. So those are just a couple examples, I guess, from my experience, really, really

Jessica Ollenburg: 31:28

good examples. And absolutely entrepreneurism has to be defined as not always taking the path of least resistance, that's for sure. Because that risk component, and going where it's not proven safe, is essential,

Gordon Stula : 31:47

almost by definition, the paths the path of least resistance has been filled by the general public, right? So I mean, I, especially the United States, every categories is filled. So if you're looking for something that was as a differentiation point, by definition, it should, it should have some risk, or it should be something that people, not all people want to do. Otherwise, you know, that old saying, it wasn't difficult, everybody would do it. And the United States, everybody's trying everything. So you know, opening a laundry mat in the 70s. Right? I'm sure that, you know, that wasn't a unique idea. They were everywhere. So you had to have, the main thing probably was that you had to have the location. And once you had the location, you had to know the operations and have the money to open, right to buy the machines and so forth. So you know, and that's, that's a basic type of retail business. But if you're looking at every category, it's been filled. And it's pretty daunting to think, you know, as an entrepreneur, do I have to be so unique? Not necessarily, sometimes you just have to do the the, the normal thing better. And that's tough. That's tough, because now you're now you got a lot of competition.

Jessica Ollenburg: 33:07

Oh, thanks for that. I relate to that and connect with it so much. And I know that most of our listeners do. And there is a real big difference definition between being an entrepreneur and not and deciding what's right for you. And it's not right for everyone. Many people don't have the risk tolerance, and that's fine. That's absolutely fine for them. But those of us who do take those risks love to have and connect with others who who do the same, because I don't know how you really connect with others who haven't put themselves in the same Jeopardy, at least along those lines of that interest. And that characteristic, putting yourself in jeopardy is not something everyone will do.

Gordon Stula : 34:00

I mean, you can connect with them. It's just not as deep. Right? Right. So you're talking to someone there. And you know what President or so my attraction and connection to them is, Oh, tell me about your industry and what you're doing and so forth. The fact that his company's taking the risk, and perhaps he's receiving a salary becomes inconsequential to the connection. For me, I'm more interested than in the sector, and what they're doing and, you know, some of the things that, you know, bigger company can do. So that's sort of the YPO type of person instead of the YEO with the owner. So when I hear that someone is an owner, and or an owner operator or founded a business, you know, I guess the connection is just deeper, because then you want to hear all of the, you know, the Cowboys stories, the ups and downs, and everyone Hey, right, yeah, it's everybody has the shit show a moment that they had a crisis and how did they deal with it. So those are always great to hear.

Jessica Ollenburg: 34:58

But I think that that's also a common characteristic of entrepreneurism is that you don't need to connect with everyone on every point, you can have a well rounded life, you enjoy living life through the different angles, learning different things, never stop learning, never let it be boring and have people in your life that disagree with you and think differently, and like different things and always be open to that and treasure them for what they bring to your life. So when I say connect, it's not about disconnecting from others that might be different. I might even be more attracted to those who have an opposing opinion to me, because that's, that's where I learned better problem solving. When I asked somebody who's likely to disagree with me, and look at what the objections are, why somebody might think differently, that can be a real lightbulb moment.

Gordon Stula : 35:57

Well, you certainly want to speak and connect with people that have different perspectives 100% My, my view of connections from a pure business standpoint is to try to synthesize within a conversation, what that person does? First of all, because it's through my lens, are they? Is there some benefit or synergy that we would have together? Directly? If not, is there people that I know, that he might have a synergy with, because it's just my personality is to try to connect people from a business aspect. And then I park it somewhere as a, I guess, a virtual business card. And and try to think it based on the uniqueness, right, if, you know, I mean, 20 marketing people that's going to just not get parked anywhere, right? So if there's something unique, or someone that's, you know, and I think a lot of people do that, and so that, that Rolodex that's in your, in your brain somewhere, I think you have to actively keep thinking about that. Because ultimately, when you need someone, or, and I just mean, as a need or lead, where they can even help you not directly but indirectly say, Hey, Bob, listen, I know you're in AI, for example, I know your companies work with AI, who can help me do you know, anyone that could you know, this and that that could with edge. So so that's, I think that's important. And joining different groups like EO and stuff can help you with that, connecting to different peers. But I think that's important to be able to, to have, and over the years that gets more robust that that network. And I think I think that's important for business entrepreneur, to be able to have high quality contacts that they may be able to reach out to, in a soft way, just for a recommendation or lead.

Jessica Ollenburg: 38:07

I think that that's an excellent point. And well said thank you very much. Here's a question for all of our Zen questing leaders out there. We've learned that to optimize our capacity, we need to somehow actively refuel our tanks before they go empty. Can't pour from an empty cup, right? Yeah, what do you do Gordon? How to use them?

Gordon Stula : 38:37

Well, refilling my cup and Zen. So, Zen... we'll take that separately. But refilling my cup is my four boys and my wife. we're very active over here. They're ages 12 to 21. And they're all sports guys. So they're, you know, his athletic events going on and trainings and so forth. It's like Sparta over here so I you know, a former athletes love love love watching them practice train going to game so I can't get enough of that that really charges me up. And I realized that within you know, not such a long period of time, that'll be over and I will miss that. So right now I'm focusing on getting all my batteries charged every day with with that, but I think separately it would be you could be you know, your kids or you're an empty nester is just trying to connect with your, your spouse, travel. You know, friends having really meaningful connections with people that you like, or you know, like minded, I think I think that now going back to Zen the word Zen, to me means someone that, you know, probably has a better EQ, emotional quotient, than I do, I need to work on that. But I'm doing meditation, and I don't really, I've always talked about doing meditation. I've downloaded so many apps and meditation. I've tried meditation. After a couple minutes, I guess it's almost like just chilling out and thinking, so I haven't done it right yet. I've been meaning to, but I don't know. I'm not as Zen. I'm not as Zen as I should be. Let's put it that way. But I'd like to be good.

Jessica Ollenburg: 40:28

Well, truth be told that's really what Zenquest online is all about. And it really just started as Yeah, it started as as a way for us to turn our own Zen quest into our responsibility so that we didn't fall off. And it became something that the community just loved and we bumped it out and it's a bigger thing and now we have Zenquest for leaders podcast, but people are just... need to recharge that human spirit good at peak potential. We've talked about so many things we can do today to keep that going and all the ways that you can help us

Gordon Stula : 41:12

Yeah, I you know, the other thing that It really calms the mind. And I think that's my definition of Zen is right, meditation is slowing the mind down, calming down. And I think it's important that, especially business people spend a good portion of their day in deep thought, and quiet, deep thought, and I get a lot. And I honestly believe this, I think the mind is so powerful that you can solve any challenge in any problem if you think about it enough. And I know that sounds a little bit radical, but think about that statement for a minute. If you if, if you're in a environment, where you have zero distraction, which is difficult, right, but let's say you do that. And you just think about a problem. Think about an issue, I would recommend taking a piece of paper and writing things down, that might be helpful organized, you can literally think your way through. Now, it doesn't mean that you have the solution doesn't mean but you'll you will have at least a plan. And having a plan is half of coming to a solution. Yes. And so and so I think that's I think that's important that being able to control your mind and of clutter, being able to just sit and focus is very important. So people can't do that. They can't just clear their mind when just think, think their way through a certain solution, then perhaps meditation would be great for them. I believe exercise is a great way to calm your mind. So I think if you're thoroughly exhausted, right, and you're wiped out physically, I think mentally you're going to be in much better shape. So that's, I think that's important for someone that Zen quest, if you don't like to exercise, maybe doing those other activities would do the same thing for in certainly meditation, which I haven't been able to crack.

Jessica Ollenburg: 43:05

It's such a good point about meditation. And that is so common. So many, myself included, have trouble with meditation, I get the closest to success. If I redirect my mind as you're talking about focus and controlling. And that's about as close as I can get. If people want me to clear my mind, I'm not going to be able to find that off switch. But if I can redirect my thought process into something that is more calming, or at least has less Jeopardy, that can be relaxing, and it's a way to transition. The one tool I think I found that allowed me to get closest as far as videos is is the Chakra. When you concentrate on the individual chakra, and in your body, it gives you a way to focus on your own bio rhythms, your own health, and you're not clearing your mind, but you're redirecting it to something that will be more calming and more healing. And that's about as tight as I can get. We need a laughable moment. Tell us what makes you laugh. Or makes you laugh Gordon?

Gordon Stula : 44:26

Sort of spontaneous interaction with friends something unexpected usually has me crying laughing like a moment. You know, the biggest laughter is when it's irreverent when you're not supposed to laugh and it's an awkward moment when you're like in church or at a funeral or something like that and or something maybe that's a little too macabe, but it's usually some and it's usually something to do with an inside joke with the family or something. You know, the kids make fun of me sometimes you know for like my mannerisms you know, light hearted way and that's you know, so I laugh at myself that's usually hysterical. You know, you know like dads here's what he's going to do now. Here it comes and of course we all start laughing so that's my personal, you know, situation thing where the humor in that makes me laugh you know always also watching great stand up comedians will make me laugh I have some favorites and that's always good. And you're right it is healthy to laugh.

Jessica Ollenburg: 45:28

It sure is and family is so important. Family is the reason!

Gordon Stula : 45:36

Yeah, it is it really is. Or friends you know if you don't have family you don't have close family having good friends and and making sure that those relationships are nurtured. I believe you'll achieve similar results

Jessica Ollenburg: 45:53

good friends can be chosen family. Exactly. Exactly. How can our listeners find out more about NeuroReformer or reach you for some assistance?

Gordon Stula : 46:09

Well, it's... now you've keyed me up. It's like a like a, like one of those like advertised moments... "Go to Neuroreformer.com... 1 -900 ... Do you remember the 900? Numbers? Yeah,

Jessica Ollenburg: 46:23

it would be flashing across the screen if this were a video cast right now. pulsating.com

Gordon Stula : 46:30

movie tone voice, welcome to Movie tone go to neuro reformer.com. So yeah, basically, you know, neuro NEUROREFORMER, it's all one word, NeuroReformer.com. And, you know, it's a basic site we just set up, we have to redo the site, but it explains exactly, or to the most part, what we do and, and right now, I think it sends you to the clinic in South Miami. But as we grow, it'll become more sophisticated. But the bottom line is the technology works. And offline or outside of the the one clinic that's that's jammed in South Florida, you know, we're very active, still working with our hundreds of athletes so that the company before I bought them, had established those relationships. So that's the majority of the business right now, which we're going to do a paradigm shift from that, as I said, and scale it for the general public.

Jessica Ollenburg: 47:34

Well, we really appreciate all that you're bringing with neuro reformer and neuro performer Gordon, really, really good stuff. And so happy you were able to share this with us today. And so good to talk with you.

Gordon Stula : 47:48

Thank you. It's, I mean, it's so great to reconnect with you every time. We need you to get down to South Florida again, and visit us. I just was really honored to be part of this. And I think you've got a really neat blog show that's coming on. And podcast show not blog, but podcast show. And I'm very excited to watch all the different installments. And see how you guys do with your on your zenquest. I need to be part of your zen quest.

Jessica Ollenburg: 48:19

We'll keep you posted and share those meditation videos as as we figure out how to do it.

Gordon Stula : 48:25

Yeah. Because I need to know. Yeah, I think a lot of people need to figure that one out. So you're a great leader. And thank you for guiding us on this quest.

Jessica Ollenburg: 48:35

Thank you, Gordon. So great talking with you. Thanks for all you do and all you bring and this wonderful, wonderful new medical healing device that you're bringing to us. It's just fabulous.

Gordon Stula : 48:49

Yeah, if you can't come to South Florida for treatment, give us about a year. We'll have we'll have expanded by then it'll all be in South Florida. But we should

Jessica Ollenburg: 48:59

not a bad place to visit though. In the meantime,

Gordon Stula : 49:01

not bad. We'll be leasing devices nationally, but we're gonna start I think in concentric circles from Florida to get it right. We want to get the business model right. I think that's important.

Jessica Ollenburg: 49:12

Oh, sounds good. And wishing all the success that I know that it will bring. Thank you. Thanks, Gordon.

Gordon Stula : 49:22

Thank you. Thanks.