Don't Wait Until Later! | Carl Richards
Carl Richards stuttered so badly as a kid he could barely get three words out. He went on to spend more than 25 years behind a radio microphone, got fired twice along the way, and built a podcast agency during the pandemic.
But this conversation isn't about the microphone. It's about what that career asked of him at home.
Years of nights and weekends. A full-time job, a part-time job, and a part-time business all running at once. A spouse who understood. And an industry where he watched colleagues go through one, two, even three divorces.
We talk about Clean As You Go, Rule 4 of The Chef's Code. In the kitchen, a spill you wipe up now takes five seconds. Leave it, and it bakes on. Relationships work the same way. Carl shares how he and his wife keep the small things from festering, why he has her coffee ready every weekday morning, and the phone call about his grandmother that taught him "later" isn't guaranteed.
If you keep telling yourself you'll slow down after the next big push, Carl's answer is simple: don't wait. That next promotion can wait three months. The people you love may not.
ABOUT CARL RICHARDS
Carl Richards has spent more than 25 years behind the microphone, on radio and on stage, entertaining and influencing audiences world wide. He's a 3x best selling author, TEDx Speaker and TEDx emcee, podcast host and the founder and CEO of Podcast Solutions Made Simple. Carl helps coaches, consultants and other subject mater experts become the got authority by launching, OR being guests on world class podcasts. He lives with his spouse in Gananoque, Ontario Canada, where he enjoys camping and boating in the thousand Islands.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Cold open
00:25 Welcome and what high performance really means
01:07 Meet Carl Richards
01:18 From a childhood stutter to the microphone
04:06 Fired twice: from radio to podcasting
07:53 What building a business on nights and weekends cost
11:29 Why so many careers in hospitality and radio end in divorce
14:32 Clean As You Go: don't let it bake on
17:58 Making conversation out of nothing
19:51 You never know when time with people you love gets cut short
21:55 Not waiting with his mother
28:02 The small things: coffee every morning
32:04 Cherry pie, recitals, and showing up
37:48 There's no such thing as overnight success
39:44 One-hit wonders and the trap of coasting
43:53 What he kept putting off: time away
48:00 Putting career ambitions on hold for his marriage
49:52 Why family road trips bring kids closer
53:06 To the father waiting to slow down: don't wait
55:21 A daily walk, piano, and one check-in call
57:53 Where to find Carl
1:01:05 What would his family say about the real work he did?
1:02:46 How it paid him back
1:03:45 Closing
CONNECT WITH CARL
Podcast Solutions Made Simple (book a strategy session): https://podcastsolutionsmadesimple.com
His show, Communication, Connection, Community: https://podcastsolutionsmadesimple.com/podcast
BUILD THE SYSTEM AT HOME
Most men manage their work life like an Executive Chef. Their personal life, they run like a short-order cook.
The 3x12 Freedom Framework is where you build the system. Every Saturday we sit down together and plan the week ahead across the three areas of your life: personal, professional, and passion. We work in 12-week cycles alongside other leaders building the same kind of life.
If you're ready to build it, this is where that starts: https://3x12freedomframework.com
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Real Work of High Performance is a conversation with leaders and fathers about what's really happening behind the results. Hosted by Nicholas Brown, CHPC, founder of Cooking Physics.
New episodes every other Wednesday.
