Building Success Through Community with Anthony Ramirez | Uncharted Entrepreneurship

Brent Peterson (00:01.548)
Welcome to this special EO Rally edition of Uncharted Entrepreneurship. Today I have Anthony Ramirez. Anthony, do an introduction for yourself. Tell us your day-to-day role and tell us what you're excited for in business this year.

Anthony Ramirez (00:15.263)
Sure, Brent, and thanks for having me. It's an honor to be here to talk to your listeners here. So my name is Anthony Ramirez. I'm the founder and CEO of Lincoln Security Services. We're a contract security firm headquartered in Chicago. I'm also a member of EO Chicago for the past 11 years now, and I'm currently serving as the US Central Regional Chair for EO. What am I excited about in business this year? I think...

This year is going to be a year of growth for us. 2024 was a year of really getting our operation together and process and procedure and making sure that we were ready to scale. I think we've achieved that and so we're really looking forward to putting the pedal to the metal in 2025 and testing out those operational efficiencies.

Brent Peterson (01:01.41)
You know, Anthony, when I was first starting in business and I was working on getting those back end processes running, I could only ask myself, what should I do? I didn't really have a community to go to. Tell us how valuable Entrepreneurs' Organization has been for you, specifically in not being alone and having someone to kind of lean on and help.

Anthony Ramirez (01:27.815)
Yeah, hugely valuable. think when I first started the business only 13 years ago, I've been an EO for 11 years. And so what that translates to is we grew fast right out of the gate. And it was one of those scenarios where my hair was on fire. I didn't really have a place to turn. I was surrounded by people that I grew up with who are dear friends to this day, but they were all in careers, firemen, policemen, great careers and great paths, very honorable paths, but they didn't really know much about.

entrepreneurship. And so I really couldn't turn to them. And so I had to pivot a little bit and find a new group of people to surround myself with on the day to day. And that's how I found EO. was just a chance meeting at a conference. I bumped into a friend that was a member of EO out on the East Coast somewhere. And he told me about it when I did some research. It really spoke to me because it was exactly what I needed right at that time. I definitely needed the support of peers and entrepreneurs that were going through the

The same thing that I was, entrepreneurship could be very lonely. You hear that a lot. And it was really, really feeling that 11 years ago when I joined and just, I can't say enough about being surrounded by like-minded people. And I think the biggest advantage to that is how quick you can get to answers. There's a lot of people in EEO, Brent, as you know, we've messed up several times. We've screwed something up, but we always rebound. We're a very resilient group and

We share that knowledge with each other on what not to do if you're faced with something. And I think there's a lot of power in that. We have the advantage of not making the same mistake twice that another entrepreneur may have made in the past.

Brent Peterson (03:08.014)
Yeah, you can talk a little bit about advice and how we share with each other without telling what somebody should do. You kind of talked about experience. Tell us how that works in EO. Why is it different from other organizations?

Anthony Ramirez (03:24.829)
Yeah, that was also a foreign concept to me when I came into EO and, know, they tell you that nobody's going to give you advice here. And I'm sitting there thinking to myself, well, that's why I'm coming here, not realizing the power of shared experience. And, you know, as you know, we were in forum meetings every, every month with our forum group and nobody in that group will tell you what to do, but they'll tell you how they may have handled a certain situation in the past. And once you go around the table and you hear six or seven

different ways that somebody handled a particular situation, there's a lot of power in that because now you get to take all that information and make a more informed decision as opposed to somebody saying, you need to do this. And if that one person tells you to do that and they give you that advice and it backfires, you're never going to forget that person and not in a good way. I think is the best way to put it.

Brent Peterson (04:18.602)
Yeah, that's exactly right. You know, some of the other values we get out of EO is traveling to other events in other cities. And Minnesota is putting on the Entrepreneurs Rally for the 13th year now. Tell us about your experience at EO Rally in Minneapolis.

Anthony Ramirez (04:37.843)
Yeah, so I went last year for the first time and was absolutely blown away. My good friend, Patrick Donahue, your past chapter president there, always talked about it, told me that I needed to come to that rally. And I finally listened to him and showed up and he was right. I mean, the who's who of Minneapolis, St. Paul were in that room from the corporate side and the entrepreneurship side. And I was just blown away by the people that I met, the information that I learned from the different speakers.

and just the knowledge that was in that room. You know, I think if you're on the fence about going to the rally, I would tell you that the price of the ticket is way cheaper than what it would cost to get in the room with some of these people that are there. And they're all there in one day. There's 500 people that are all very busy people that find value in attending that rally. And so I would just say, grab that ticket and get out there. It's a, you won't regret it. It was just an amazing place to gather with professionals.

Brent Peterson (05:36.942)
Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of times entrepreneurs overlook their own way of learning and growing as an entrepreneur. We all go to, well, I go to tech conferences and a tech conference ticket can be $4,000. You know, this is far less than that, but besides the cost of the ticket, I mean, the tickets are around 500, but around the cost, you get, you learn so much from the event and you get to share your experience with others.

Anthony Ramirez (05:51.145)
Yeah.

Brent Peterson (06:05.698)
What are some of the things that somebody could do to kind of maximize what they learn at the event?

Anthony Ramirez (06:12.275)
Yeah, I think for me, it was very easy when I walked in the room, I saw 30 to 40 people that I know from your chapter and from around the region. And it's very easy when you go to an event to find the people you know and gravitate towards them. I think my advice would be, and I'll just give advice this one time, don't do that. Stay away from the people you know. You have their phone number, most likely. You can call them whenever you want. Meet new people in that room. Be curious, ask questions.

and just grow that network. That's what that event is all about, growing your network.

Brent Peterson (06:45.474)
Yeah, I think just to kind of hone in on that network thing, a lot of people think of groups like EO as a networking group where you're trying to get sales and sell to somebody else. EO is the opposite of that, right? Tell us a little bit about how EO works and when you get together with a bunch of people, you're not going to get sold to.

Anthony Ramirez (06:57.173)
Mm-hmm.

Anthony Ramirez (07:05.299)
Yeah, that's my favorite part about EO. It's sort of a safe place that I know I can go and nobody's going to be handing me their business card trying to sell me their product. We're actually not even allowed to do that. You can't solicit EO. You can get kicked out for it and more reprimanded. And it's something that the organization really holds true to. And it really is a safe place. I've never been solicited to in a room in the 11 years I've been a member and I've been in a lot of rooms with a lot of EO members and that's powerful. But at the same time when

you get to know more people in EO and you get to network more. People find out what it is that you do and they learn about your business or your product and they become your biggest cheerleaders. They're always keeping their eyes and ears open for you. And if there's an opportunity in their network or they hear something, they're not shy about steering somebody towards you to land that potential piece of business. And that's happened a few times for me and it's been a very good outcome.

Brent Peterson (08:01.622)
I'll talk a little bit about the mentoring and how important that is to be either a mentor or learn from people that are very seasoned in what they're doing. at the UO Rally, we have mentoring tables and mentoring sessions.

Anthony Ramirez (08:14.451)
Yeah, that was probably my favorite part of the event, actually, the round tables. know, when I was early on in my EO tenure, you know, about a year in, I got placed with a mentor in EO and I was with that mentor for a good two years and he was in a similar type business. We're both at the end of the day staffing companies and some of the time that he spent with me was invaluable. For two years, we just sat down. He helped me dig out of a few holes and some early

know, rookie entrepreneur mistakes that I was making. And anytime now that I could find an opportunity to mentor young entrepreneurs or people that are getting started, I jump on it just because I remember what it was like to not have all the answers. I still don't have all the answers, but I have way more answers than I did 11 years ago. But if I could just help that entrepreneur get going a little quicker or plant a seed on something, I think it's really my obligation to do that. It's all of our...

If you've been in business for a long time and you've learned some things and you've messed some things up, pass that on to the next generation. And that's why I love it. That's why I love that part of the event.

Brent Peterson (09:25.838)
The event is at the Mall of America in Minneapolis. Tell us a little bit about why somebody would want to leave cold, windy Chicago with the icy wind blowing off the lake and come to lovely, warm and sunny Minneapolis. It's in May.

Anthony Ramirez (09:37.941)
Yeah, I mean, it's yeah, it's an exotic location, right? But Minneapolis, you all do a good job of not having to go outside. You have all those cool tunnel systems and everything. But that was another one of my favorite parts was the venue. That was a beautiful, I believe it's a JW Marriott there attached to the mall. And there was just a ton to do. And you all held that pre-event the night before that I attended. And it was good to catch up with some old friends there. But it's

Again, it's the value in the room. always say you can take me to Antarctica and put me in a room somewhere, but if it's the right people in that room, I'll go anywhere. Really, I don't need to, I don't need sunny weather.

Brent Peterson (10:17.838)
It is, I'm in jest, but it is May in Minneapolis and Minnesota and it's nice in Chicago and it's nice in Minnesota, either way. you know, outside of just the meeting other entrepreneurs, the rally has always done a great job of bringing in top quality speakers. And this year we have Damon John and Matthew Pollard as our keynotes. Tell us what the reason, some of the extra bonus you get from.

Anthony Ramirez (10:21.929)
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

Brent Peterson (10:43.732)
seeing, meeting, and being intimate and just 500 people and having some of these powerhouse speakers speak to us.

Anthony Ramirez (10:50.687)
Yeah, I had the opportunity to see Damon John at the Inc. Conference in Palm Desert, probably three or four years ago. Amazing speaker, amazing story. For those that don't know him, he was the founder of Fubu, big clothing brand. He's next level. There's entrepreneurs and there's Damon John. There's a few other folks up there, but he's just an amazing entrepreneur. Matthew Pollard actually is a friend of mine. So I'm a little biased here, but Matthew is also...

an amazing speaker. I've had the opportunity to bring him into the U.S. Central region, an EEO to talk to some of our chapters. And he does a really good job of training you and working through during a workshop on how to reframe what it is that you sell as a business, right? It may be a product, but what problem does it solve and how to reframe that and really catch people's attention when you're trying to sell your product or service is a real...

High energy guy, he has that Aussie accent, which helps and he's a joy to be around. And the best thing that I love about Matthew the most is when he's done on stage, he's not done for the day. He will mill around and go out into the crowd and stay after and talk to anybody that has questions for him. So you're in for a real treat with those two for sure.

Brent Peterson (12:10.19)
That's awesome. Anthony, um, as we close out our podcast today, um, one thing we do, what I do on my podcast, so they do this thing called the free joke project. I'm going to tell you a joke and all you have to do is give me a rating eight through 13. So I'm going to tell you a joke, give me a rating eight through 13. Um, and it is not reflective on what we're going to see at the rally, uh, but it is going to be about 15 seconds of really fun for your life. So here we go.

Anthony Ramirez (12:24.661)
Yeah.

Brent Peterson (12:37.752)
Two years ago, my doctor told me I was going deaf. I haven't heard from him since.

Anthony Ramirez (12:46.101)
So I love one-liners like that. That's a 12 in my book.

Brent Peterson (12:53.294)
All right, thanks. I love getting a 12 out of 10. Thanks, thanks, Anthony. So Anthony, as we close out, in all seriousness, give us your top idea for this, your top pick on why somebody should come to the rally and why somebody should just check out EO. And maybe like there's EO all over the world. There's 18,000 members. Tell us your one little pick that people should investigate.

Anthony Ramirez (12:57.941)
No problem.

Anthony Ramirez (13:22.473)
Yeah, I think it's meet as many people in that room as you can. Again, right? Stay away from the people that you already know in that room. You could see them another time. But again, it's the power of that room. And that's the same for EO as well. It's the power of that network and the people that are part of EO. They've been through so much, good and bad. And, you know, as my business continues to scale, we're much larger than when I first joined.

I credit a lot of that to EO and what I've learned in EO and just learning from other members on how they've grown their business to a certain point and what they're doing, more importantly, to get it to that next level, which is where I'm trying to go at all times. And there's people in EO that have already done it. And so I don't need to go figure it out or go get an MBA somewhere to get the company to the next level. I lean on that shared experience from other EO members.

Brent Peterson (14:15.65)
That's perfect. Anthony Ramirez, it's been such a great conversation. Thank you so much for being here today.

Anthony Ramirez (14:19.987)
You as well, Brent. Great seeing you.