How to Thrive in Freelance by Thinking Like a CEO with Rod Colon

 How can you take control of your freelance career like a CEO?

In this episode of The Talk Freelance To Me Podcast, host Ashley Cisneros Mejia reconnects with her longtime mentor, Rod Colon, to explore the transformative "CEO of Me" mindset. With over 30 years of experience in career coaching, networking, and leadership, Rod shares how to treat your freelance career like a business and make empowered decisions that benefit your “board of directors”—your family.

About Rod Colon

With over 30 years of expertise in Human Resources, recruitment, networking, and career strategy, Rodrigo “Rod” Colón offers a unique and insightful approach to navigating the complexities of the global job market. Supported by a vast professional network of over 1 million connections, Rod empowers individuals at every stage of their journey—students, professionals, and executives alike—to achieve meaningful career success. 

As a highly sought-after Executive Coach and speaker, Rod draws on his extensive career management experience to share actionable insights and wisdom. He redefines networking as a process of giving and collaboration, encouraging professionals to develop their networking skills and approach career management with the same dedication and strategy as running a business: the "ME, Inc." mindset.

A published author, Rod underscores the critical role of networking and relationship-building in career advancement through his book Win the Race for 21st Century Jobs. For over a decade, he has hosted the Own Your Career Workshop, an interactive weekly webinar designed to guide participants in taking control of their professional paths. You can connect with Rod on LinkedIn. 

Full show notes here.

Chapters

• 1:30 Introduction to Career Expert and Master Networker Rod Colon
• 4:06 How Rod Colon Got Interested in Entrepreneurship
• 6:45 The Origin of the CEO of Me, Inc. Mindset
• 8:32 Visualizing Your Family as Your Board of Directors
• 10:03 The Myth of Balance
• 13:19 Tips for Shifting to a CEO of Me, Inc. Mindset
• 14:53 Why Networking is a Superpower
• 15:52 Using LinkedIn As The Power Tool of Networking
• 18:38 Practical Tips for Using AI in Networking
• 21:09 Staying Accountable to Your Family As Your Board of Directors
• 23:39 How to Give the Market What It Wants
• 25:15 Highlights from Rod’s Commencement Speech for Georgian Court University
• 28:03 What Rod Sees In the Future of Work and Solopreneurship
• 31:32 What’s Next for Rod Colon

Transcript

Rod Colon: 0:00

the whole aspect of managing one's career as a business is that we work for our family. We work for those who truly depend on us versus our employer, but no disrespect to the employer. What we look at is the employer. Is our client and we service them with white gloves and a red carpet. So we provide the best service we can to them, but we work for our families, for our loved ones. Welcome to Talk Freelance To Me, the podcast for women freelance writers, 1099 independent contractors and solopreneurs. I'm your host, Ashley Cisneros Mejia. For more than 20 years, I've worked as a journalist and freelance writer. Today, as a mom of three kids, I'm passionate about helping other women leverage the freedom that freelance offers. On Talk Freelance To Me, we're all about the business of freelancing. If you want to learn how to monetize your talents, make money on your own terms, and design a flexible work life that actually works for you. This show is for you before we get started. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite social media platforms, review us on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. And don't forget to share this episode with a friend. Visit our website at talkfreelancetome. com for free resources. Join our email list to be the first to know about our latest offers. Thanks for tuning in and let's get into the episode.

. Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 1:30

This week's episode features one of my favorite mentors ever, Rod Colon. He and I met in 2011 when I was doing a startup business bootcamp and competition by Unity Journalist, where we had to basically create a business in a weekend, do a pitch to a panel of. Judges for 10, 000. And thanks to Rod's leadership and his mentorship, I actually won that in 2011. Since then, I've been a huge fan of Rod and his work. I'm going to read you a little bit from his bio. With decades of experience in human resources, recruitment, networking, and career coaching, Rod Colon possesses a unique perspective on navigating the complexities of the global job market. Backed by a vast network of over 1 million professionals. He empowers individuals at all stages, students, professionals, and executives to achieve career success. As a sought after executive coach and speaker, Rod leverages his considerable career management experiences to share his insights and wisdom. He reframes networking as a collaborative process of giving and sharing. Urging professionals to hone their networking skills and manage their careers with the same dedication as one would with her own company. Adopting a me Inc. Mindset. I think you'll really be inspired by our conversation today. Rod, I'm so excited to have you on the talk freelance to me show. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Rod Colon: 3:10

Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity, Ashley. And so just delighted to see all the things that you have done in your, in your career and in your beautiful family.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 3:19

Thank you. Likewise, you've been a big part of that kind of my transition into business, into entrepreneurship. We met in 2011, I think it was unity journalists. You were my mentor through that bootcamp. And I've been such a fan of your work and your outlook, the way that you encourage people to network and develop business relationships. It's just really great.

Rod Colon: 3:41

Thank you. Thank you. It's been a mission and passion of mine.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 3:45

Fantastic. And so you've been talking about working for yourself long before the pandemic, long before remote working became something that's become more popular, more accepted by companies. I feel like you've been talking about business since 1997., what inspired you to start working for yourself?

Rod Colon: 4:06

Well, look, it really started with the multi level marketing. I was an Amway distributor at the age of 18, didn't make much money, but, but the whole aspect of having your own business and being your own boss. And so the whole themes and what I learned through, you know, the team that I was in was a lot about, you know, business and, and I would say, well, you know, soap is a, is a good product. But we're an even better product. So I basically took the concept of, you know, managing and developing your business, but instead of a product being, you know, so you, you as the product and what better product could you have? And if you don't believe in it, well, no one's going to buy. So that's how it all started at the age of 18, 19. And you know, I, I, I did what I could and, uh, didn't make any money. But I learned so much from individuals. And at the age of 18, being, having mentors, you know, in thirties and forties and fifties, sharing their ideas about work and, and, and entrepreneurship was in the readings and the events that, you know, you go to was just a phenomenal experience for me and then taking it out to share with others.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 5:30

That's so cool. I love that idea. And I think you're the first person that I've ever met that kind of talked about that mindset shift of thinking about what you do as a business, you know, you as your own enterprise. I see a lot of people looking for jobs now, and some of them feel a little bit. Challenged by it by the market that we're in, but I think everything that you share in really grabbing your own career as a business and making business decisions that really takes people out of this place of desperation and to me, it feels like and more into an empowered place where they're ready to take action. I just love it so much and I love your book. I found my copy from I think you wrote this in 2009 when the race for 21st century jobs. so much. And I love it because it's so actionable. That's what I feel like. I think there's great messages in terms of here are the concepts of thinking about your own career as a business, but here's how to, and I feel like that's missing from a lot of books and things. You know, there's a lot of noise now, but your, your stuff is really. Here's how you do it. What motivated you to write this and how do you see the principles that you talked about then really applying still?

Rod Colon: 6:45

Yeah, actually, I mean, it, it, it wasn't my idea. It just, I've been sharing my ideas having, you know, many years ago it was free conference call. com. And people would say, Rod, why don't you put all these ideas together? I'm like. I got my, I got a call, so individuals in my network said, Hey, Rod, you may not want to write it, but we want to write it with you and we're going to make it happen. So it was a really, it was a team effort. And I, this kid from the Bronx being an author, are you kidding me? But because of the network and who you surround yourself with, you start to, you know, why not? And, and, and, and then the funding and all of that, I mean, self published. But really what I love is, is the teaching. I love that, as you mentioned before, folks talk a good game about the importance of networking, but they don't really give you the how, how, how do you actually do it? Take me through the mechanics. So as, as a coach of, you know, I played little league baseball. And at the age of 12, that was it, then you had to go to senior league or whatever. And I decided to go back to my team and coach. So coaching is something that I've loved and I've done since, you know, 13 years old. So the whole thought here of coaching individuals, leveraging how to network and really the mechanics of, of, of networking. So the blocking, tackling, passing, the nuances, the biases, all of that is what I love. And each individual is, is, is a world and they have their own biases and issues and flaws and just so many bugaboos that the best way to counter, you know, is to look at it from a business perspective as we try to disengage our emotions from our decisions and base more rational goals. Logical decisions and the whole aspect of managing one's career as a business is that we work for our family. We work for those who truly depend on us versus our employer, but no disrespect to the employer. What we look at is the employer. Is our client and we service them with white gloves and a red carpet. So we provide the best service we can to them, but we work for our families, for our loved ones. There's a difference there. And, uh, you know, with my JP Morgan years of experience and being in HR. You have people that tend to, it's almost like boxing. They know the year, the time of year, and they can say, I got to push hard here, I can coast here, oh, the end of year is coming, end of reviews, and they actually manage their year and how they got their performance and work, when to push, when to pause, that way. Right. And, and as a business owner, as you know. There's no time to chill. We're here to work. We're here to pursue. We're here to get options. And yeah, if I need a break, great. I'll take a break. But you know, nine to five, what does that mean? One of my students asked me yesterday, how do you find balance? It's a balance. I will never find balance. But what I will find is trying to achieve balancing my life versus finding balance. It is a seesaw. We're kind of rocking back and forth and sideways, whatever. And we're always working to get balance based on the needs that we have in our families. But to find true, that equilibrium, you know, it's just. It doesn't happen. It depends on what's going on, but we're always working towards balance, but finding true balance, I don't believe that's existing for, for most individuals.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 10:51

I agree with you. There's too many factors, right? To allow you just this clean cut. Okay, now I'm going to do this. Now I'm going to do that. And unfortunately, I think life's not like that. There's multiple things coming at us. To use your baseball analogy, there's curveballs coming. I've, I've, and I've seen you speak many times. And I love when you were talking about your coaching beginning with your baseball roots. I think that that's so, that's so beautiful because when you do your, your speaking engagements, a lot of times you'll bring folks up from the audience and you'll do like role playing with them. Right then. So it's not just here's theory about this, but let's actually put it into practice. Like, how would you, how would you deal in this situation? What would you do? And I think that we need more of that because that's how we learn by acting by doing like, like when you were talking about Amway, actually selling, getting out there and offering a product and talking to people that we're not going to get that experience, just reading about it. Right.

Rod Colon: 11:51

But it's risky. It is risky. It's risky that when you bring somebody up or you're role playing live with with hundreds seeing you, you just don't know what to expect. But that also brings the, the excitement, the enthusiasm, the who,

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 12:11

and,

Rod Colon: 12:11

and you, and you capture the audience by doing that because one, they know they may be called up. Yes. And two. What is, what is their colleague going to say? So, it's rare for somebody to fall asleep in one of my presentations.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 12:25

Yeah, I don't think they can. I think they gotta be ready, right? In case they get called on. I love that. When you were talking about that we work for our board of directors, in, in this case, our family, our family as our board of directors, that is such a mind shift, I think, because it makes us, I think, Be more brave. Maybe if we're not that way, you know, naturally, like I think about that in terms of I might not feel comfortable asking for this amount of money. You're asking for this type of contract, but I'll I do it for Rob. I do it for my husband because I know. You know, what impact out this transaction, this relationship will have on our family. That's been such a shift for me learning from your work. How do people, what are the first steps that a person would take to shift from, to shift their mindset into being the CEO of me, Inc.

Rod Colon: 13:19

The first step is really to think of themselves as, so what is the service that they provide? What is it? And this is a tough word for most, what am I great at? And for most individuals, when you say great, no, well, especially first gens and firstly, those of color women, well, it's not typical conversations we had at the kitchen table with our families, right? Just, you know, great. No, you want to fit in, you want to be humble, you want to be respectful and all that. But you know, there's a part of a business ownership is that you need to differentiate yourself from others. And how do you do that? Now, it's not about being cocky, but it's about, you know, what is it that you have done? What is it that you've accomplished? What are those stories behind that? And where are you going? So once you have that baseline of running this wonderful enterprise, then the second part, and it's so important. Well, what's the market demand? For what it is that you do.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 14:22

Yeah.

Rod Colon: 14:23

And so many individuals, um, there's a disconnect there where they're just thinking because I'm entitled because I've done X, I'm entitled for, well, as business owners, we're not entitled, but that employee mindset has a tendency of, well, I'm entitled. I did this. I went to this school. I've done this amount of experience doing various types of things. I'm sorry. And this you prove yourself every day, you prove yourself every day. And, but you don't do it by yourself. This is where networking is so important because. You just don't run and be successful by yourself. You need people. You need people to help and guide and support and wisdom and connections and contacts and advisors. You need people who are going to buy. You get people who refer. You're going to be individuals who you're going to help and support. And, and to me, the network, and, you know, I'll take it from my Latin roots, is, is my family.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 15:28

Yeah.

Rod Colon: 15:29

I love my network. I may not hang out with them and go for a beer with everyone, but I love my network. These are folks who's got my back and I got their back. And if they're, if they're in need, I'm here. And if you're in need, you know, vice versa. And it's reciprocal. And most people don't look at it that way. And to me, LinkedIn, the power tool of networking is not about who, you know, it's about who your friends know. So I don't know everyone Ashley knows, and Ashley doesn't know everyone Rod knows, but through LinkedIn, I can identify individuals in Ashley's network. Ashley could fill in people in my network. And instead of cold calling or cold emailing these individuals, it's just an ask Ashley. How, how well do you know Victor? Great. This is the reason why I want to talk to Victor. This is the introduction. This is the business. This is whatever. And the probability of Ashley connecting me to that person is greater if my relationship with Ashley has been, you know, consistent. Right. So for many individuals, they actually search for individuals at level two, meaning friends of friends, and they have plenty of individuals who have the right title in the company, all the right things for them to talk to. But then when they say, who do I know that knows them? They're like. I don't know them. I don't know them. I don't know them. Oh, I haven't spoken to them in 20 years. So, so the beauty of networking using LinkedIn is stay in touch with your level ones, but it's typically not the level ones who are going to be the individual that you need for X, Y, or Z. But they're the ones who are going to connect you to the individuals who have access to X, Y, and Z. And I would say that, look, Ashley, 80%, maybe even, they, they just They just stay with level ones, and they don't really know them that well. And for me, if that's what LinkedIn is all about, I could put an Excel spreadsheet of all the people that I know, and I leave it at low. The power of LinkedIn, aside from the social media and all the other aspects of it, is the power of who your friends know. And the key is that they're your friends. These are people that you can connect with and stay in touch with. And unfortunately, Ashley, most individuals just don't do that.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 18:02

Right, right. So how do we get better at it? Especially I'm thinking, you know, most of our, my audience is freelance professionals. They might have a virtual assistant. They might have, you know, another creative professional that they work with, but our work is very solitary. And so I think we really need to network for many reasons, referrals, but also just camaraderie and fellowship and friendship and getting ideas, feedback on our work, how can we be better at networking and what are some strategies that you're seeing that are working now?

Rod Colon: 18:37

I think the advent of what was been around for a while, but now really just in what everyone is. AI.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 18:45

Mm.

Rod Colon: 18:46

Right? AI is, and I use, I use Gemini, that's, that's, that's kind of my tool of choice. And, and Gemini, one will give me ideas that I can reach out to others. Related to those ideas of my own, so it's like AI, which does it at a, it's like warp speed. So you got warp speed and the human mind. So the individual and their thoughts and what they've done and what they bring to the table and their services. With Warp Speed AI together is immensely powerful. So, if, so the simplest thing where most people struggle is, Oh my goodness, I haven't spoken to Ashley in seven years, but she's the one who knows somebody at this organization. What should I say? Most people struggle and they won't do a thing.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 19:41

They'd rather

Rod Colon: 19:41

cold call or cold email the individual that they want versus asking for an introduction. So now I go in and say, you know what, Gemini, I haven't met this individual in over seven years. We've been really good friends, but I haven't spoken to them, but they know somebody. So I get the whole scenario, like a little story to Gemini and say, can you put together LinkedIn for an introduction to this person? And it does. And I said, Ooh, I don't like this part. I like this part. So you keep massaging. I keep, you know, it's like clay and sculpting the clay to this beautiful sculpture. And that's what I do. So when then you see the note and you're saying, Ooh, this looks good. I can do that. And now that would have taken me days, maybe. Right? If some are blessed with wonderful writing skills and some are not, AI has kind of even the playing field, uh, on, on just on standard business stuff. So, so that's using AI, leveraging the tools. Absolutely. The whole thought of for your, your audience are business owners, right? But it's important that they see themselves. As they're representing not just the product or service of their entrepreneurship, but the board of directors, the family and all of that, because I would, when I first started this, and you know, Alicia, my daughter,

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 21:12

yes,

Rod Colon: 21:12

I would vision visualize her at a board meeting at our kitchen table. She's the youngest of three and in visualizing it, you know, so I'm giving my status report. So my board and she asks me, well, dad, whatever happened last week, you spoke about this person. and following up with them. How did that go? And so I'm visualizing, just thinking about it. And then I would say, Oh, honey, I was, you know, I was, I was chicken or afraid, or, you know, uncomfortable and having her say to me, really that really, really. And that what spurred me on. And each individual will be, you know, what are those motivators in your life that'll help you to overcome that short term obstacle? What is it? So I think the combination of I'm running a great enterprise for my family, because if it was for me, Ashley, you know, Paris factory workers love them, you know, Catholic altar server. I mean, I'm right from the Bronx, no big deal. Well, who am I? But as Rod, the CEO of Rod Colon, Inc., responsible for this beautiful family and my brothers and my mom, it just raises my expectations of what I need to deliver. And that'll help me, especially when things come across that are uncomfortable. That are awkward that, Oh, I'm not sure about this, that as a business owner, as the CEO is, it is imperative for me to get to the answers, to get to the results, to network, to the answers, to, to go forward, because as business owners, unless you're going to give up, it's not about what I'm entitled. It's about what I'm going to do, where I'm going after, and I have to be nimble, and many in your audience are sole entrepreneurs, right? It's their thing. So you gotta be nimble, you gotta be fast, gotta work it. And so much of that information is through people. So the combination of AI, using AI as a consultant, With the people in your network, level ones and level twos, you're going to quickly determine what, what are your strengths as to what you could bring to the table that the market wants. If the market doesn't want it, it's not that you're bad. It's just, you need to rephrase, reinvent, resize what you're doing to what the market is demanding. I did a lot of work in DEIB big time. Well, the pendulum has swung the other way, which is like, Oh, Even in Florida, forget it, it's like the Mason Dixon line. So now, now we call it belonging. Now we call it various other things. So you need to be, have the pulse of what the market is. And as the CEO, you can't have blinders on.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 24:19

Right.

Rod Colon: 24:20

And, and that information and the tapping of info and all of that, depending on how you've built your network, are there.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 24:30

That's powerful. Very, very powerful, that illustration of visualizing your board of directors and being accountable to them. I mean, if that doesn't inspire you to, to make a move and to do the scary thing and to set that example too, like I think about my kids as you were speaking and wanting them to know how to do that, how to advocate for themselves, how to, how to do the scary thing, how to go after and pursue what they want. I think that's really, really powerful. I heard your speech that you gave to Georgian Court, and you gave the commencement address, and I thought it was so inspiring. Can you talk about some of those key messages? I know you, you talk to a lot of young people. Can you share some of those messages that you, that you shared during that commencement speech with us?

Rod Colon: 25:15

Yeah. One is that I'm one of them, right? So I have my undergrad from Georgian Court and my, my master's in theology and business admin undergrad. And so I'm part of their family, part of their network and, and that they're welcome to connect with me. And, and I, and I share it in a way that it's authentic. Not, Hey, you know, look me up. No, it's like, I am part of your team. You're part of my team. We are. One group, I am here for you. Now, many will say, but Rod, are you crazy? There are a thousand individuals in the audience. They're going to really, they're going to check you out. And how can you do, because I just know doing this for over 20 years that most people don't, but those who do, I certainly will follow. So that was one. I ended it up with don't give up, get up. We're all going to fall down. We're all going to fail. We're all going to make mistakes, but you get up, we get up. And as a CEO of me, responsible for a beautiful team. I get up, I learn from my mistakes and I get up and I seek out more counsel and I reach out and I move on for the next day. Uh, so that was important. And also I shared, you know, with, you know, I do a lot of talk on, on mental, mental health and with someone with mental health challenges, one, a male Latino speaking on mental health is. Rare. You know, where's this cucumber coming from, right? So, so I shared that there, there are wonderful and days that you can conquer the world and the days that you want to leave the world. And that's, that's a battle that I have faced for, for, for, you know, decades. So I wanted them to know that and, and it's rare for an individual to, to share that openly. But I did receive quite a few emails, you know, about that part of the speech to say, well, you know. Wow. It was just, you know, really appreciated that. And I'm going through my own, you know, bugaboos. So, there's not enough, there's so many individuals with issues, with situations, that most people don't Don't know about

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 27:20

right. It is. It's, it's powerful because then you by sharing, you know, our experiences, it's almost like we, we make it okay. We, we, we unlock the doors for everybody else and everybody else can, can express and share and we all kind of get through things. So very cool. I love it. So you've been in the workforce for a long time. You've been in HR. You've been doing recruiting and executive coaching for professionals for students for many, many years now. And you've seen the market do lots of things. You've seen AI come. You've seen a lot. Where do you foresee the future of work now, especially for people like me, freelancers, solopreneurs?

Rod Colon: 28:03

I would say that organizations will always have a need and interest for entrepreneurs. You're nimble, you're fast, you can move, you're quick. So you have to stay on, you know, what's, what's, what's the latest, what's the bleeding edge, what's the leading edge, where are those? Areas that you need to network with and get the latest information. What are you reading? What are you hearing? What's the economy doing? Why, you know, where's NVIDIA going? Where's TSM? All these types of things. So you're like, no, but I'm just so focused in my area and specialty. I got it. But in your business, there's a, you know, there's R and D and there's sales and marketing.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 28:44

Yeah.

Rod Colon: 28:45

Well, so in the sales and marketing of Mienk, you know, it's when there's an opportunity to sell and do a great job in doing it, but let's not lose sight of our R and D, the research and development of our own business. What's going on? What are we tapping? What are you hearing? That is critically important because organizations want to get as lean as possible, right? That means that consultants and sole entrepreneurs and contractors will always be in need. Why? Because there's a former HR. Let's bring on 10 consultants while we can, you know, after six months, they're done with the project, they move on. So as a business owner, you have to realize that, yeah, it's, it's the, the ebbs and flows of checks and revenues coming in and how that's doing and how, and that's why there's multiple sources of income that I've talked about for years that we look at, you know, how many checks are coming in through different sources.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 29:34

If

Rod Colon: 29:35

it's one as a solo entrepreneur, we've got a problem. It could be a great client, but you are putting your board of directors at risk. So how do you do that? And how do you work with that? So, so those are the things that are, that are keys, but I, I just see it, you know, with, with the, with all of the technology and, and artificial intelligence and, and, and I just cover a, I want to master the AI just for career development, professional development. That's my space. Yeah. There's so much more find out how AI is going to, um, you know, dive into the service and products that you're Providing it's important that you know that and master that, or it's time to pivot and be aware of that. And, you know, I, I could be that cobalt mainframe programmer that there were millions of, and now there might be a thousand in the world. Do I want to be that person and kind of hang in and hang in and hang in and just hanging in and by the thread and hang in, or do I reinvent myself into areas that are, are exciting that my network can connect me with. But that's the beauty of, of, of that business mindset. You know, there's a part of you that's always looking down the road. You're visualizing, you're seeing what could be, what are the prospects. And if you don't see that in yourself. I would encourage you to talk to those who do to help you, right? Because I am not a super duper analytical thinking, but I need analytical thinkers in my network to help me to think about it that way. That's important.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 31:23

I love it so much. So what's next for you? What are you working on? What can people in your network look forward to hearing from you? What are you working on lately?

Rod Colon: 31:32

Yeah, a lot of stuff I'm doing now is with an organization, Hispa, which is Hispanics Inspiring Students Performance and Achievement. I am the director of the leaders in college program. So we go to universities, you know, throughout the country and, and really through a series of programs in the fall and spring semesters, helping them to get ready with their career management. So from your resumes, CEO of me, networking, public speaking. Bringing corporations to the institutions, to the internships and panel speak. It's just, so we have that, we have programs where we have all our colleges together in a webinar. We also have my Monday night coaching and networking session that we have, you know, God, gosh, it, there've been variations of it, but I've been doing that now for, I think, 13 or 14 years. Matter of fact, you were one of my guests at University when you came to New Jersey, right? So you were one of my guests. So people ask me, well, Rod, you know, you're 61. When are you going to retire? I'm like, retire? Wow. Not even a thought. I guess when, when the good Lord, when the good Lord takes me is when I retire, because why would I stop doing what I love, which is helping people to help others or helping our students and our future to see themselves as this great enterprise. Yeah, I have no, no, no plans to stop, but I'm, I'm going to certainly look, one of the things actually is when you hang out with these college students, you stay young, you stay young, you stay on top of stuff and, and, and then, and they rarely have individuals that they can look at from a perspective of mentorship. So that's always great, but I always tell the students that I may help you in a certain area, career management, career development, networking, various things. But you're going to help me in other ways that I'm just like, you know, what's this whole Instagram, TikTok, you know, QR code on LinkedIn, there's so much that they, and just to know what's cool for them

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 33:36

and to

Rod Colon: 33:36

be able to consistently reframe, reinvent, reset, you know, how I teach to our latest generation is fascinating. So here's the old guy acting like a young guy, you know, here's the old guy acting like a young guy. So it's, you know, I just have fun. I love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 33:57

I love that so much. And that's talk about value to be able to teach that mindset to students and young professionals right at the beginning where they're not having, where they can adopt that mindset and that thinking from the, from the jumpstart of their career. how powerful and what that impact will be on their career because they're thinking about that way going in every decision that they're making is with, with that mindset.

Rod Colon: 34:23

Yeah. As we're going to colleges, many have asked, you know, the executives, the administrators, um, brought, do you have any evidence of the impact of, of, of the work? And I said, yeah, you know, I have this and that, but, but so actually we're now in the midst of doing research on the impact with over three, 400 students. In their careers and how the, the message of being the CEO of me and networking and all of this has helped them so that actually we could have evidence, you know, scientific evidence of, of what we've been able to do. So once again, I'm not the analytical person, so I have team, you know, folks in the network to help me with that, but that'll be great to say, look. This is the evidence. This is where people are, what they've done, the attorneys and doctors and writers and all the different backgrounds and, but they now see themselves and have not forgotten about, you know, that they are a great enterprise.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 35:19

For sure. Rod, thank you so much for your message, for the work that you do, for sharing your perspective here. I know people are going to want to learn more and tune in to your show. Where can people find you online?

Rod Colon: 35:33

LinkedIn. You know, I'm not on any other social media. Kind of, it's all about business and the beauty of the business of the individual. So LinkedIn, you know, Rod Colon or Rodrigo Rod Colon. And if you see another Rod Colon, that's either someone in Florida who does a lot of work in the waterworks business or my son or my son, better looking, but yeah, just link in and say, you know, part of Ashley's team or the group. And you heard me here and I welcome you to, to our network, to our community, our familia. And you know, I got your back.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 36:07

Awesome. Thank you so much, Rod. I appreciate you being on the show today.

Rod Colon: 36:11

Thank you, Ashley. Continued success and many blessings.

Ashley Cisneros Mejia: 36:14

Thank you. And with that, we've come to the end of another episode. Please make sure you hit subscribe and give me a 5 star review on Apple. Check out the show notes and grab my free Niches Get Riches freelance writing worksheet to brainstorm the best niches for your writing business. Until next time, this is Ashley Cisneros Mejia. Don't forget, we all get this one. Don't constrain yourself to a box that you were never meant to fit in. It is your right to profit from your own creative gifts. Our music was composed by Donna Raphael of World Instrumentals. Talk Freelance to Me is a product of Fenix Creative Studio.