Don't Do Nothing

[00:00:00] Aaron: He was in an area where it was truly socialism, communism was- 

[00:00:04] Marian: He had a lot of properties, a lot of lands. Uh- Mm … he had horses. Communist take this stuff from him. The waiting list, if you wanna have a land- Oh my- … line for the phone was, like, 14 years. 

[00:00:16] Brad: So if you killed a Czechoslovakian citizen trying to leave the country, to leave communism, basically, you would be then relieved of your duty in the army.

[00:00:24] Brad: Good job. Go home. You did your- Yeah. Yeah … you did your service. Wow. Holy cow. You 

[00:00:28] Aaron: basically knew zero English. I mean, 

[00:00:32] Marian: like- Yeah … nothing. 

[00:00:32] Aaron: Almost zero. 

[00:00:32] Marian: You came 

[00:00:32] Aaron: here 

[00:00:32] Marian: with zero. Yeah, 

[00:00:32] Brad: almost 

[00:00:32] Marian: zero. It was 

[00:00:33] Brad: really, uh, 10 

[00:00:34] Marian: words. I started again from zero probably about 10 times in my life. I have, uh, 14 companies. 

[00:00:39] Aaron: All right, guys, today I have Marian Kapusta.

[00:00:42] Aaron: This is my friend. Uh, we do business with this man. He is the co-founder of BL Bio Labs. In my opinion, the best, uh, production factory laboratory for products made in the United States of America, serums, oils, whatever, all sorts of [00:01:00] stuff like that, vitamin supplements here, right here in Clearwater, okay? Yes.

[00:01:03] Aaron: This guy’s in Clearwater. But he comes from far away. He comes from Czechoslovakia. It is now Re- Czech Republic and Slovakia, right? We’re on the Slovakian side. He served two years in the army starting at age 18. Okay, he was in an area where it was truly socialism, communism. That was the as- aspiration.

[00:01:20] Aaron: This is a country that wanted to, you know, own everything, and you guys own nothing. He made a massive roofing company and production company of different things for homes, okay? All over many countries in Europe. Okay, the company called ROVA. And he is father to four sons, okay? All productive, amazing children.

[00:01:39] Aaron: Welcome to the show, Marian. 

[00:01:40] Marian: Thank you. Thank you, Aaron. 

[00:01:43] Brad: I’m glad there’s another person in, like, some- something related to home stuff. Usually, it’s like- Oh, building … all different… Yeah, like building, building something, ’cause I’m a, I’m a contractor. 

[00:01:51] Marian: Great. 

[00:01:51] Brad: Yeah. 

[00:01:52] Marian: Great. So I’m more like, um, if I should describe myself, I’m more of a production guy.

[00:01:57] Marian: I understand machines, how to produce a [00:02:00] n- brand new things, you know? Mm. That’s my specialty. So I was, um, electrical engineer, um, as far as the education. 

[00:02:08] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:02:08] Marian: You know? So but, um, somehow I end up like the production and figured out the technology, figured out how things are made. Mm-hmm. You know? And buy the technology or make something for it.

[00:02:21] Marian: So I can pretty much figured that out. 

[00:02:23] Aaron: Mm. That’s great. Now, when… You know, we met here, um, but your story goes back, like, a long, like, long way, right? Of- Yeah … in a country where when you’re growing up, like, what does it mean to you when you’re growing up in an area? Like, did you understand kind of the political situation you were in?

[00:02:42] Aaron: It’s just all life was the same, you know, you saw different things on TV. Like, what, what was it like growing up, uh- Yeah … in Czechoslovakia? 

[00:02:48] Marian: Yeah. So, um- Uh, there was a lot of older people which remember better times than c- than socialism and communism, and, uh, one of them was my grandfather, and he [00:03:00] was talking to me how he had some stuff and how the, basically the communists take this stuff out from him.

[00:03:09] Marian: Mm-hmm. You know? So he end up with nothing, has j- Did, 

[00:03:13] Brad: did he have property or, or a house or- 

[00:03:15] Marian: Uh, he had a lot of properties, a lot of lands. Uh, he had- Mm … the horses, he had the cows. You have to put them everything, you know? 

[00:03:22] Brad: He- They took his horses and cows? 

[00:03:24] Marian: Yes, because they make, uh, some kind of a mutual, mutual agricultural, uh, r- uh, um, factory where they took everything from the people and they kind of try to lead that- Manage it

[00:03:36] Marian: by themself, you know? 

[00:03:37] Brad: Ah. 

[00:03:38] Marian: So there was a lot of different stories when I was young to listen about that- Mm-hmm … which, um, evoke, awoke in myself the idea that, uh, something is wrong with the country. 

[00:03:51] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:03:51] Marian: You cannot say what you want. Mm-hmm. You cannot do what you want. You know, everything is kind of like only certain people can do that, you know, because you [00:04:00] have to have a, a red- Oh

[00:04:01] Marian: small red book, you know, like a member- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm … of the Communist Party. 

[00:04:06] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:04:06] Marian: In that time, if you had that book, you or your kids can go to, uh, college. If you don’t have that book, it was very hard. Almost impossible. Wow. Almost impossible to get to college. You know? So all those people which were kind of against communist were…

[00:04:24] Marian: had, had very limited, uh, possibility to grow, think, or do something, you know? 

[00:04:31] Aaron: Mm. 

[00:04:32] Marian: There was many times, um… I don’t wanna talk about communist because it’s not very, very funny, but there are stuff which probably in America or in all those countries which are growing communi- or socialims, socialism and communism right now, they have no idea how it can be.

[00:04:50] Marian: Yeah. It can be so bad that, um, they are suspicious that you are against the communist. 

[00:04:58] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[00:04:59] Marian: Let’s [00:05:00] say. 

[00:05:00] Brad: Yeah. 

[00:05:00] Marian: So he’s your best friend. 

[00:05:02] Brad: Mm. 

[00:05:05] Marian: son get into trouble. So they come to him and say, “You know, your son is in trouble and he will go to jail. If you wanna avoid that, you have to give us information or your, on your best friend.”

[00:05:21] Marian: Hmm. You know? 

[00:05:22] Brad: Wow. 

[00:05:23] Marian: So tho- those kind of techniques were very, very usual, very, very usual at that time, so they can catch all the people which were against the system. 

[00:05:34] Aaron: Wow. 

[00:05:35] Marian: You 

[00:05:35] Aaron: know? And wouldn’t you just be able, like, just invent, right? Like, let’s say I… Hopefully I wouldn’t do this. I haven’t been in the scenario where I would have to make that choice.

[00:05:43] Aaron: But if, if someone’s like, “Hey, Brad is, you know, anti-communist,” right? Which I am, by the way. Okay. Yeah. 

[00:05:48] Brad: Sure. 

[00:05:49] Aaron: And, and, uh, you know, my son got in trouble, and… But let’s say he wasn’t. Let’s say- Hmm … let’s say I’m a communist, he’s a communist, but they say, “You better tell me some stuff about Brad or [00:06:00] your son, I don’t know, is gonna get shot or whatever.”

[00:06:01] Aaron: No, 

[00:06:01] Marian: if you are communist, you are protected. 

[00:06:03] Aaron: Yeah, but, but what if… Okay. Okay, I see. 

[00:06:05] Marian: You see- Yeah … you have to be anti-communist because if you are communist and your son, he gets to trouble, you just call the higher communist guy and he is gonna handle that for you. 

[00:06:15] Brad: Yeah. 

[00:06:15] Marian: So then w- Because you are member of the party.

[00:06:17] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[00:06:18] Marian: You are mem- member of the leading party, and there was a lot of indo- the indoctrination about the situation that, um, the main newspaper was called Pravda, and it had, uh, letters that, um, socialism is basically a system where the proletars, which means the workers- Mm-hmm. Yeah … are, are leading the country.

[00:06:43] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:06:44] Marian: Hmm. And I had this in mind, and then later on I went to a session and my auditor asked me, “So what is a socialism? W- what is has… You know, what is, what’s the system?” And I says, “Yeah, is lead by the workers, you know?” Hmm. And he look at me and say- … “Are you [00:07:00] crazy?” And then I realized, oh wow, I had this here, you know?

[00:07:05] Marian: Drop- ‘Cause they, 

[00:07:05] Aaron: they, they implant the idea- Yeah … 

[00:07:06] Marian: over and 

[00:07:07] Aaron: over, right? 

[00:07:07] Marian: Yes. You read it. Yes. Okay. Yes, yes. Wow. It was just basically leading by the one single party, you know? That’s what it is. 

[00:07:15] Brad: So it really actually, what it… ‘Cause- So going to public school in the United States, when you learn about history, like I went to public school here.

[00:07:26] Brad: When you learn about history, they explain communism, socialism, like, you know, all, all the different isms, all the different ways of running a country. And they, they do get people to take a good look at each one of them and like what does it actually boil down to. Uh- You 

[00:07:41] Aaron: went to a great class. I, I didn’t do that.

[00:07:43] Brad: Well, hold on. There’s a… There it g- it goes, the plot thickens. The teacher that I had at the time, uh, would make a lot of… She basically would emphasize all the positive points of the communism and socialism systems, and de-emphasize the [00:08:00] positive, the, the… Or, or more like put more attention on the negatives of capitalism and like actual like, you know, people being free- Yeah

[00:08:07] Brad: to do as they please. Yeah. Kinda like a free market idea. I 

[00:08:10] Marian: understand. 

[00:08:10] Brad: And, uh, you know, like even, even now I look at like in my company, uh, people who work in my company who went to public… I can tell who went to public school and who didn’t. Okay. Because the people who went to public school- Mm-hmm … will give idea- were very open to people, ideas on how things could be rearranged or made better.

[00:08:26] Brad: And I know, I know that somebody went to public school ’cause they’ll give communist ideas of like- Yeah … “Well, this client didn’t use this, so we could just bring it to this other client’s job site and give it to them for free.” And I’m like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, hold on. First, that’s illegal. Second-“

[00:08:41] Brad: that’s complete, that’s communism.” You know what I mean? 

[00:08:44] Marian: Yeah. 

[00:08:45] Brad: Uh, so it’s, it’s being very gently given to the American public, and you can even see it online. 

[00:08:52] Marian: I can, I can… You can see it everywhere. Yeah. And, um, I was surprised when, uh, the, um, uh, wall [00:09:00] was broken, the Iron Wall was broken. And, um, I start the company and, uh, we were expanding in our countries like Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, you know, those countries were nearby the countries.

[00:09:15] Marian: And then I wanna expand and I have a pretty good guy in France. And when I go there, the French guy said, um, “He looks pretty decent. I don’t know much about him, but he looks pretty decent, so we can start some kind of small business there,” uh, et cetera. And then, uh, he said, “But I cannot work for you as an employee.”

[00:09:38] Marian: And I say, “Why?” “Because I get 2,000 euro from government, and, um, uh, I can work for you for $1,000. I’m okay with, with that.” You know? Uh, 1,000 euro, basically what he says. “But I cannot cancel what I’m getting from the, from the government.” The government. Also, one of the reasons [00:10:00] where that if he… If you cancel one, and once, and you go to work, now they know that you can work.

[00:10:10] Marian: Hmm. Wow.

[00:10:14] Marian: But once you cancel that, you know, it’s gonna be a problematic to get back 2,000 euro. This 

[00:10:19] Aaron: is like a pe- like a- Wow … unemployment kind of. 

[00:10:22] Marian: Yes. Yeah. They pay m- they pay money for free, you know? Like, for nothing. Mm-hmm. That’s, that’s the biggest crime of the communism- Mm-hmm … to keep everybody out of exchange, you know?

[00:10:34] Marian: Mm-hmm. It was, um, definitely, you know, the working people has nothing to say. You know, they just h- they are… You have to be happy that we give you work. Everybody has to work. Mm-hmm. You know, like, uh, the criminals were paying the companies that they keep them in the books, you know, that they go to work. Mm.

[00:10:53] Marian: Because once you don’t go to work, you go to jail, you know? 

[00:10:57] Aaron: In the communism? 

[00:10:58] Marian: What? Yes. [00:11:00] Yeah. You go directly to jail as a, how, how they call this? Uh, um… So it’s like, uh, the people which are living out of the other people work. Parasite. You know? Parasite, yes. Some- somehow, some sort. 

[00:11:14] Brad: So if you’re in a communist country, and you don’t go to work, not only do you get fired, you also go to jail.

[00:11:20] Marian: No, you never get fired. You can’t get fired. Almost never. No, no, no. 

[00:11:23] Brad: You can’t get fired, you just go to jail 

[00:11:25] Marian: instead. Yes. Yeah. But what if, 

[00:11:26] Aaron: what if you say- Wow … “I’m communist”? Then it’s, it’s, you still- 

[00:11:28] Marian: Then it’s whole different story. 

[00:11:30] Aaron: Okay. 

[00:11:30] Marian: You still have to go to work, but you will get better position. Mm. You know?

[00:11:34] Marian: Where you probably don’t necessary, uh, have to show up every day or something, you know? Mm-hmm. But now you are leader of the something, you know? But it was really, it was really hard, it is really hard to be a communist for somebody who is productive. Mm-hmm. It’s really hard. Oh. It’s a different setup of mind, you know?

[00:11:52] Marian: That 

[00:11:52] Brad: was my question, is like, why wouldn’t everyone just say, “Oh, I’m a communist”? But it’s not… It- It 

[00:11:57] Marian: wasn’t- 

[00:11:57] Brad: There’s more required? 

[00:11:58] Marian: It’s a- [00:12:00] If we are the communist- Mm-hmm … and we are support the people which are not working- Mm-hmm … and we are punishing the people which are working- Mm-hmm … are you agree with us?

[00:12:09] Marian: So let’s sign the paper. 

[00:12:10] Brad: Mm. 

[00:12:11] Marian: You know? Like, when I finish my high school with, uh, really good grades, they, from whole school, let’s say there was, uh, like, uh, 150 people in my, my age. Uh, they took only 20 people, put us to one room, and they start to talk nicely. You know, the future of this country is you because you get the good grades, and we would like to offer you something, you know?

[00:12:37] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:12:38] Marian: T- talks like that. And then, um- 

[00:12:42] Aaron: Who’s saying that? Communist people or, or 

[00:12:43] Marian: pre-working people? Yeah, the communist- Okay … were recruiting- Oh … the young people which were having a good grades from the school. 

[00:12:50] Aaron: Okay. 

[00:12:50] Marian: You know, after the school finished. And we, from the 20 people, we were two people which stand up immediately and go away.

[00:12:59] Aaron: Mm. [00:13:00] You didn’t stay in the meeting? 

[00:13:02] Marian: No. 

[00:13:02] Aaron: And why? What, what… Like, what, what didn’t you like about the meeting? What was it? Like, what are they saying? Why did you leave there? 

[00:13:09] Marian: I don’t know. Maybe it was the, the haters from my inside. Mm. But what they say, it’s really you have to join for your good, uh, future. You know, you have to join the communism because, uh, you will be a leader.

[00:13:21] Marian: You are smart enough. Mm-hmm. You know? You have proven in school that you are smart enough, smart enough. You will have better possibility. Your children will have a b- better possibility. Mm. You know? And things like that. 

[00:13:31] Aaron: Mm. 

[00:13:32] Marian: Things like that. 

[00:13:32] Aaron: But you knew from your grandfather, you said, “Hey- Like is it from that?

[00:13:36] Aaron: Or, or how, how did you… Like what happened that you observed that you’re like, “No, no, I, I’m, I’m not into this”? 

[00:13:43] Marian: Oh my, man. So I was living on the village where there was, uh, 700 people, you know? And, uh, for example, there was a, on the village there was a, like, mayor, you know? Some sort. And I walk with him on our [00:14:00] street and, uh, our street was the last street and there was a land with, uh, potatoes.

[00:14:04] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:14:04] Marian: Mm-hmm. And then he said, “Are you going and take some sometimes?” I said, “No, no, no, no, no.” You know? “No way.” And he said, “Because who is not stealing is stealing from their, their, uh, family.” That was their motto, you know? So it was very weird. Oh. You have to understand that- 

[00:14:26] Brad: Wait, wait, wait … you 

[00:14:26] Marian: are living with weird people.

[00:14:28] Aaron: It w- it was- Is this a communist mayor? 

[00:14:30] Marian: Yeah. Uh, yeah. Yeah, you cannot be mayor without being a communist. 

[00:14:33] Brad: Well, I, I don’t think I understood. He said- 

[00:14:35] Aaron: He’s saying… Listen. He said- No, I got it. I got… Listen. He said, “If you’re not stealing from that farm, you’re depriving your family.” 

[00:14:41] Marian: Yes. Holy 

[00:14:42] Aaron: cow. “You are not a good father, you are not a good friend- What?

[00:14:44] Aaron: if you don’t take those potatoes and give it to your friends.” 

[00:14:46] Marian: Yes. That’s what he said. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Because that’s was, that was the frame of mind what he had. Yeah. But generally we did go to those potatoes f- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm … uh, you know, many time because you really- To 

[00:14:58] Aaron: grab the potatoes. 

[00:14:58] Marian: Yeah. My, [00:15:00] my father m- was on pretty good position.

[00:15:03] Marian: He was a railway, uh, operator of the tractor, you know? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So wasn’t bad paid, but, uh, compared to, let’s say, if the average salary between workers and, you know, white collars or blue collars, it’s, uh, let’s say 5,000 in, in, uh, here to live with. 

[00:15:22] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:15:23] Marian: It will be, his salary would be somewhere around 1,000 You know?

[00:15:27] Marian: So you have to- A lot less … really, really look everywhere how to survive, and then they were able to put aside 50 bucks every month. Mm. Mm-hmm. And they were so proud because they had saved some money- Mm-hmm … through whole h- whole their life. But then you have to find the potatoes, have a, uh, and grow the pig, you know?

[00:15:47] Marian: Yeah. Do th- do things like that, you know? So basically I remember they were waking up, my, my parents were wa- waking up and they go to a field in the middle of the night. It was like 1:30 at night. [00:16:00] So I go with them, you know, because they want to take some, uh, potatoes. So we go there and their whole- 

[00:16:05] Aaron: So you were doing the mayor thing.

[00:16:07] Aaron: Yeah. You guys were doing it, but you’re like, “No, Mayor, I’m not doing…” But you guys taking the potatoes. 

[00:16:10] Marian: Yes. 

[00:16:10] Aaron: Yes. So they, they want everyone- Wow … to steal the potatoes, I guess because, I don’t know, that’d be… Anyway, fine, keep going. 

[00:16:16] Marian: Yeah, yeah. But the, the thing is over there was whole village- 

[00:16:20] Aaron: Mm-hmm … 

[00:16:21] Marian: already.

[00:16:22] Aaron: Right, right, 

[00:16:22] Marian: right. Already. The whole village would show up at night. The whole village was already there. The whole 

[00:16:25] Brad: village just went there at night. 

[00:16:27] Marian: Yes. 

[00:16:27] Brad: So nobody 

[00:16:28] Marian: cared- Yes … ’cause 

[00:16:28] Brad: everyone’s 

[00:16:28] Marian: stealing the potatoes. So many people. So we had a lot of fun as kids. We were, you know- So and who owned, 

[00:16:32] Brad: who owned the potato farm?

[00:16:34] Marian: Potato farm. Was that- Previously- … the government? … those land, yeah. Yeah. Those lands were belong to somebody. Yeah. But those ha- have been taken and now this mutual, uh, agricultural- Oh … organization was taking care about that. Oh my God, yeah. You know? Nice. So basically nobody was missing those things very much.

[00:16:50] Marian: So the 

[00:16:50] Aaron: people are hap- Wow … the people are happy ’cause they, they get the free potatoes. 

[00:16:54] Marian: Yeah, but I- 

[00:16:55] Aaron: But they’ve taken it from somebody who actually grew it. 

[00:16:56] Marian: Yes. So basically you create the criminals little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And [00:17:00] then the heaviness goes down- Yeah … of course, because y- you cannot have anything.

[00:17:04] Marian: Th- once you cannot even… Yeah, sometimes the, the- And everything you have you have to steal … people are joking here, the people are joking here many time about the car, but, uh, I wanna go to have a driver license. 

[00:17:18] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:17:18] Marian: Badly. As 18 year old, I wanna have a driver license, so I signed up in the age of 15.

[00:17:25] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:17:26] Marian: And I get the, like, month before I get 18, I get invitation. An appointment. Yes. 

[00:17:32] Aaron: To take the test or 

[00:17:32] Marian: to get your license? Three years? N- yeah, you, you have to take the school- Yeah … basically. But yes. You 

[00:17:38] Brad: waited three years to get 

[00:17:40] Marian: your driver’s license? Three years, yes. The waiting list, if you wanna have a land- Oh my

[00:17:45] Marian: line for the phone was, like, 14 years. The, the car was 10 years. 

[00:17:50] Brad: Wait, wait, wait, to have a phone? 

[00:17:52] Marian: To have a phone in home. 

[00:17:55] Brad: 14-year 

[00:17:55] Marian: waiting list? There was no cell phones, you know, at that time. So [00:18:00] it was a- And 

[00:18:00] Aaron: so what y- what year, what year is this? Like, what, what year? 

[00:18:03] Marian: I’m talking about the year of 1985, 1986, you know?

[00:18:08] Marian: Those years where I basically was over 15, 16, you know, and I tried to perceive those things, uh, more correctly, you know, how they are, and then you don’t like it. Mm-hmm. Basically, um, yeah, whole thing was very, very risky. 

[00:18:27] Brad: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. 

[00:18:28] Marian: You know? You, you are living on the edge. You are living on the edge, you know?

[00:18:32] Brad: And you could feel that? 

[00:18:33] Marian: Yes, you can feel that because, um- You come to the pub, let’s say, and you cannot talk badly about communist or about country, about the system, you know? Um, you, you cannot express anything on that side. Mm-hmm. So you can, you can drink some beer and you, you can go to a, a soccer field and play the soccer.

[00:18:55] Marian: That’s all you can do, you know? Things like that, like, uh, to think to have a [00:19:00] business was forbidden. Really? You know, you cannot have- Wow … the, the private, uh, having s- or like the private person having something was forbidden. Mm. You know? So you cannot have, uh, except the flat, a car, and some normal stuff.

[00:19:18] Marian: Mm. You cannot have anything. Mm. You cannot have even the land. Even the land- Mm … you probably have in your name still somewhere in the files, but it was considered it’s government. Everything was government. Everything was- Wow … thanks to the government and, you know. And they were living with, uh, per my opinion, from environmental damages.

[00:19:39] Marian: Mm-hmm. For example, just like, uh, you saw recently in China or something where they produce something and all the residuals goes to the, uh, river nearby. Mm-hmm. You know? Yep. And things like that. The dumping, mm-hmm. Smoke goes outside, you know? So out of that they can produce some money because they [00:20:00] can make things cheaper for the people and things like that.

[00:20:02] Marian: But the, the quality of things were not very, um, satisfying, let’s put it that way. Mm-hmm. In school, you know, when you go to store you only have a certain shoes, you know, so pretty much every second kid has the same, same shoes. Mm-hmm. You know? Or same T-shirt, same things, you know? It’s, um… And then you have to join the other organization for youth, you know, they call pioneers.

[00:20:27] Marian: You kn- you know? And it’s mandatory. You have to join there, and you have to do certain things, you know? Um, yeah, it was a, it was a time where, um, they are leading your life. Now it’s this, now it’s that. You know, after you accomplish that, there will be something different for you. 

[00:20:47] Aaron: Wow. Okay. So as this happens, when does this all change?

[00:20:51] Aaron: I mean, like, ’cause this is, okay, ’85, ’86, right? Like- 

[00:20:53] Marian: Yes. ’88 I go to, uh, army, you know? I go to army at e- ’88. And, um, [00:21:00] um, being on army, it was mandatory y- so you cannot choose anything. 

[00:21:06] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:21:07] Marian: So what I get is, um, I’m not very good swimmer, so they give me a- something to swim, you know? They were evil people- Mm … you know?

[00:21:17] Marian: But, um, uh, where, where I- 

[00:21:20] Brad: They gave you a job where you needed to swim for your job? 

[00:21:22] Marian: Yeah, in, in the army. 

[00:21:23] Brad: Oh my God. 

[00:21:25] Marian: But, uh, I end up to be an electrician, and they start to see the advantage. So there was like, um, power generators course, and they send me to that course because I was supposed to be, uh, on the border between Czech Republic and Austria.

[00:21:41] Marian: Mm. They always do that thing that we were Czechoslovakia, and Slovakians goes to army in Czech Republic, and Czech Republic guys goes to Slovakia, so nobody is close home. Mm-hmm. 

[00:21:52] Aaron: Mm. 

[00:21:52] Marian: You know, the potentially, uh, problematic. So, um, we were building on the, on the border, we were [00:22:00] building those, uh, fences from with electric- Mm.

[00:22:04] Aaron: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm … 

[00:22:05] Marian: you know, inside. And, um, basically then, um, there was a rule that you have to be as a, as a guard of the border- 

[00:22:16] Aaron: Mm-hmm … 

[00:22:16] Marian: it has to be set up the way that in two minutes some of the guards can catch at any point of the whole wall, which was like, uh, 700 kilometers- Oh … on that side. 

[00:22:29] Aaron: Oh, so if you find someone, you need to get to any spot in two minutes.

[00:22:32] Aaron: So they have a lot of guards. 

[00:22:33] Marian: They had a lot of, lot of guards, a lot of stations, you know, and you can be one of the station. You have to have a, a full gun. You are completely, you know… The, w- there was, uh, always the target when you kill somebody- 

[00:22:49] Aaron: Mm … 

[00:22:49] Marian: who goes to the other side, and you kill him You are free of the army.

[00:22:55] Marian: You can go home, no more army anymore. A 

[00:22:57] Aaron: huge reward for you. 

[00:22:58] Marian: Yes, yes, [00:23:00] yes, yes. 

[00:23:00] Brad: To kill somebody who crossed the border. 

[00:23:01] Marian: Yes. Who, who wanna basically leave- Who’s trying to escape. L- yes, escape. 

[00:23:05] Brad: Oh, who’s trying to leave. 

[00:23:06] Marian: Yeah. Your own people. Because he was from, from Czechoslovakia to, uh, Austria. You know, Austria was cap- 

[00:23:12] Brad: I completely thought it was the opposite.

[00:23:13] Brad: I thought- 

[00:23:13] Marian: No. What the Austria- 

[00:23:17] Brad: Oh, my. So if you killed a Czechoslovakian citizen trying to leave the country to get away from communism- Or whatever the citizen would be Sure, it doesn’t matter, but somebody trying to leave the country, leave communism, basically. 

[00:23:27] Marian: Yeah. 

[00:23:28] Brad: You would be then relieved of your duty in the army.

[00:23:31] Brad: Good job. Go home. You did your- Yeah … you did your service. Yeah. Wow. Holy cow. Wow. 

[00:23:36] Marian: Yeah. So that was the thing, and, uh- Did you ever 

[00:23:38] Aaron: shoot somebody? 

[00:23:39] Marian: No, no. Okay. No. But I was pretty good in shooting. 

[00:23:42] Brad: Yeah. 

[00:23:42] Marian: Uh, but I won’t really escape from there. This was very, very, very tough part of the army, where the, where I was, was really big training.

[00:23:51] Marian: You have to have a… Everything has to be perfect. Nobody can es- escape. You, if, you know, it- It’s [00:24:00] crazy … there was even higher thing. If, uh, some of the soldiers… Because remember, when we were redoing the, the wall itself, you have to undo the wall, you know- Mm … then protect this, uh, kind of like part. Section.

[00:24:14] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[00:24:14] Marian: Section. And until it g- it gets built again. 

[00:24:18] Brad: Mm. 

[00:24:19] Marian: So at that time, there was a risk even higher where the soldiers can go through, you know, like, um, my, my mates- Your friend. Yeah, mm-hmm, yeah … you know, my friends, they can go through. And when you kill that, then you are, uh, very, very good, you know? You have a good position.

[00:24:35] Marian: Wow. 

[00:24:35] Aaron: Wow. 

[00:24:36] Marian: So there was, uh, choices of life, you know, basically. And, uh, in, uh, ’88 I, I was there, and in, uh, ’89 I was, uh, part of the- school which was training for the policemen. It was police school. And, uh, the- 

[00:24:55] Aaron: This is during, during military? 

[00:24:57] Marian: During military. Okay. Mm. So we had certain things [00:25:00] over that in school as a military guys, like, um, um, our people were, um, moving those, um, students of the, of the school, uh, by the trucks, by the, by the buses and, and we were kind of make them the services, you know, in that school.

[00:25:21] Marian: So that was little relief. It wasn’t on the army. It was more inside of the country, in the middle of the country, and that ends up really well except in ’89 when I was there, um, there start to be a students’, um, revolution. 

[00:25:38] Aaron: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. 

[00:25:38] Marian: You know? At that time when the, when the wall was almost break, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:25:44] Marian: So that’s what it happened, and we were kind of, uh, bringing those policemens into the street back and forth. I was in charge of the fuel at that time, but there was a lot of buses going back and forth with those, with those, uh, student of police school, which [00:26:00] supposed to be, uh, protecting the system, you know?

[00:26:04] Marian: Mm. So nevertheless, then, uh, after that, shortly, I don’t know, four months, five months, my, my two years were, were finished, so I come home and, um, already start to think what I’m gonna do because the world was free. World was free. 

[00:26:20] Aaron: The wall was done. 

[00:26:21] Marian: Yeah, wall was done. The- 

[00:26:23] Aaron: And, and, and what… And, and so what changed?

[00:26:25] Aaron: Like, you can… Uh, people said, “Hey, you can start a business now”? 

[00:26:28] Marian: Yeah, you can say the communist is, uh- Wow … stupid or whatever, and nobody can tell you anything. It was very unusual. Very unusual. Wow. People were taking the buses, goes to Au- go to Austria and buy the cheapest like the radio or something. It was unbelievable.

[00:26:44] Marian: Everybody was going from village, uh, was going there and trying to look how, wow, it’s super great radio. Yeah. You know? It was just, it was just unbelievable. People make tons of money just to take the van, go somewhere, to [00:27:00] Turkey- Yeah, yeah … or to, to Austria, to Germany- 

[00:27:02] Aaron: Mm-hmm 

[00:27:03] Marian: fill up this with . The cheapest you have-

[00:27:07] Marian: bring it to Czechoslovakia or whatever the, the country is Underdeveloped, ’cause 

[00:27:11] Aaron: they didn’t have anything. 

[00:27:12] Marian: Yes. Yeah. Yes, yes. Wow. And you can become a millionaire the second day. 

[00:27:17] Aaron: Wow. 

[00:27:18] Marian: But I didn’t know that at that time. You know, I just came from the army, was a, um, 20-year-old, you know, guy, and, uh, what I want was car, so I start to…

[00:27:28] Marian: I work o- o- I work on the railway, and in the meantime, I start to do something with, uh, video recorders, and then I start to do something with the cars, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, my first business, real business, was really in 1993, I believe. I start to, um, I get a contact from some Austria company, uh, which was, were doing the furniture, and they need the wood.

[00:27:53] Marian: So I hire some guy which has a wood mill, and then I sit into the truck, go to the [00:28:00] forest, take some wood, cut the wood as they want, and then send them. Mm-hmm. So that’s, that’s where I start to see that the real money can be made. Yeah. You know? The first time. Mm-hmm. Because all the others w- were more like gigs and, or trials.

[00:28:16] Marian: Young, not very experienced p- person, you know? So somewhere there, I, I start with the business, and I started at the pretty much the same time I start with the family. You know? Mm-hmm. With my wife, and we had the first son, and then we go through a wood mill to, uh, bring the, bringing artificial flowers from China.

[00:28:40] Brad: You were buying them and bringing them into the country? 

[00:28:41] Marian: No. First I… Yes, basically. Yeah. But, uh, the way it goes, it’s we start to take those flowers from Poland, because Poland was big country. Mm. The, the border was more simple. You don’t need any stamp or anything. Just like in communist- Mm-hmm … you just can go and come back.

[00:28:59] Marian: You have [00:29:00] to pay the custom fee. So I start to bring the flowers from, uh, Poland. And then the Polish guy one day said to me, “You know, when I go to China, I’m always saying to, to the Chinese, I will take this because I have one Slovakian guy, he’s gonna buy this from me.” You know? Wow. And then he repeat that so many times, w- uh, and, uh, and then he start to owe money to the Chinese guy.

[00:29:24] Marian: And Chinese says, “Hey, wait a moment. So now you are obligate to bring me that Slovakian guy. I wanna talk to him.” “What you are talk about him, uh, always. You are always talking about Slovakian guy. I wanna him… I want you to bring him to Hamburg.” You know, where the Chinese was at that time. So he, he put me in s- to some sort of ve- So, 

[00:29:46] Aaron: so that was you?

[00:29:46] Marian: Yes. 

[00:29:47] Aaron: He- Wow … an invented guy, but he met you and said, “I want you to be the guy.” 

[00:29:50] Marian: Yes. So I, I go there and, um, Chinese ask me, “Why you don’t take the flowers from China?” And I said, “I don’t know, because the people are saying [00:30:00] that from China is too man- too much risk. That the things comes very dirty or blah, blah, blah.

[00:30:06] Marian: It’s uncertain.” So he make me an offer. The offer was that I can take as many people as I want. He is gonna pay for whole trip to China and back. 

[00:30:17] Brad: Hmm. 

[00:30:17] Marian: And the, the, the flowers I will buy from him. 

[00:30:21] Brad: Hmm. 

[00:30:22] Marian: I will pay only when I open the container- 

[00:30:24] Brad: Hmm … 

[00:30:25] Marian: in Slovakia. Hmm. I open the container, check if the quality is good, and if it’s good, I pay him.

[00:30:31] Brad: Hmm. 

[00:30:32] Marian: That was the deal. So then we went four people to China. 

[00:30:35] Aaron: But were you really buying flowers? 

[00:30:37] Marian: Yes. 

[00:30:38] Aaron: Oh, okay. You were buying flowers. Okay. But they were 

[00:30:39] Brad: artificial flowers? 

[00:30:40] Marian: Artificial flowers. Hmm. Yeah. The business of artificial flowers goes from 1994 to 2000, uh, two. You know? But in between- Yeah … there was already some other businesses, you know?

[00:30:52] Marian: So but, um- 

[00:30:54] Aaron: How was your friends? Like, the fr- uh, people that you knew in school and this, did a lot of people start businesses? Like, “Wow, [00:31:00] this is a new thing, we could all do our businesses”? Or were- Nobody … most people just kinda- 

[00:31:03] Marian: Nobody? Nobody. I was trying to look if there is any, any guy from the school which I know, which might be- Yeah

[00:31:11] Marian: useful for business. I, I met them. I didn’t find anything. Uh- What did, what 

[00:31:16] Brad: did they do? 

[00:31:17] Marian: What did they do? They, they work on, um, certain work by now 30, 35 years, you know? They are- They are living like my, my parents were living at that time. 

[00:31:32] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:31:32] Marian: Try to have the pig, try to do something about this, something about that, go to the work every day, morning, evening come home, you know?

[00:31:41] Aaron: Not much change, whether it was communism or not communism. 

[00:31:44] Marian: Not really, because- I mean, like it’s you, you know. Wow. You have to see that the, there was a, the suppression which was at that time. Mm-hmm. Make those people to be suppressed. Mm-hmm. They are still not free. Yeah. Even the system is already changed, they are still not free.

[00:31:58] Marian: Wow. They don’t wanna go [00:32:00] anywhere. They don’t wanna risk anything. Mm. When I talk to them, at about two weeks ago, I was on typical wedding in Slovakia. Oh my God, really the time is stuck, you know? Yeah, they’re stuck in time. The time… Yeah, yes. Yes. Wow. The, the… It, it was unbelievable. And everybody, by their thinking, they create a trage- tragedy in their family.

[00:32:23] Marian: Mm. Um, hear somebody die, hear somebody, um, doing something wrong, somebody’s in jail, somebody get divorce, somebody get this and that. When I listen to that on that wedding, I was kind of like, “Where I am from?” I’m from very different world, you know, where we… I, I didn’t even realize that, you know? Yeah. We don’t have such a thing.

[00:32:45] Aaron: Yeah … 

[00:32:45] Marian: like a major, major, major thing where the, where, where the whole family is kind of like, uh- Mm-hmm, 

[00:32:53] Aaron: going down. 

[00:32:53] Marian: Yeah. Mm. Hit by that. 

[00:32:55] Aaron: Oh. 

[00:32:56] Marian: So yeah. And then, um, after [00:33:00] flowers, I was looking… Because I- we went to China. I w- I was in China probably 40 times even, uh, since 1996, first time I, I went to China. There was a wall, same thing, wall, but it was seven meter tall wall between Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

[00:33:18] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:33:19] Marian: Where if you wanna go to that city, you have to have also certain, uh, you know, document- 

[00:33:25] Brad: Mm-hmm … 

[00:33:26] Marian: so you can go to the Shenzhen, because Shenzhen already had the televisions at that time- Mm-hmm … 1996. Whether we go with my wife out of the Shenzhen to the mainland, and, uh, she is blonde lady, so we had to stop because we had, um, flat tires or something, and you have to have, uh, at least two or three cars at that time to go to m- Mainland China.

[00:33:51] Marian: Mm. So our Chinese arranged that, and his factory was there. So we go there. Now we get fla- flat tires. So we get out of the car, [00:34:00] and they were trying to change the tire very fast. But there was a lady going with, uh, two small Chinese boys, probably about four year old or something like that, and they saw my wife with blonde hair, and they start to cry unbelievably.

[00:34:15] Marian: Unbelievably cry because they never see a person with the blonde hair- 

[00:34:20] Brad: Mm … 

[00:34:21] Marian: at that time. You know? Wow. They don’t have a televisions. When we go- 

[00:34:25] Brad: Mm. 

[00:34:26] Marian: For example, other story was we wanna… We go deeply, deeply into China. Was probably year 1998. Mm-hmm. Very deep into China. And, um, the closest hotel was three hour by car, and it was only four stars, which is not usual in China.

[00:34:44] Marian: So we went to this village, and, um, my wife wants to go to bathroom. There was only one bathroom in the mayor’s office. So they say, “Wait a [00:35:00] moment, we will arrange everything.” And how those people are living here, we were asking. And they say, “Here they go to land.” Nobody’s taking care about that. So we go slowly to the mayor’s office with my wife, Chinese and things like that.

[00:35:16] Marian: And then, um, just before mayor’s office, there is like a huge pile of the garbage. And I ask mayor, and it was, it was even nicely concrete- Stuck … ma- concrete made, uh, some kind of, um, space for garbage can. 

[00:35:36] Aaron: Uh-huh. 

[00:35:37] Marian: And over here you have this, this, those are empty, and then here is the pile big. So I ask mayor, “Hey, what’s wrong here?

[00:35:46] Marian: Why they didn’t clean it?” You know. And then he said, “It’s easy, because the people which had the problem with that, they already leave. They left the village. They don’t live here. So those people which are living here, they [00:36:00] like it like that.” 

[00:36:02] Brad: Whoa. 

[00:36:03] Marian: You know? So it was also part of the culture- 

[00:36:05] Brad: Yeah … 

[00:36:05] Marian: where they brought us bananas, they put on the table, my wife grab them and wants to give to the kids.

[00:36:11] Marian: There was about 30 kids on the, on the backyard- Mm-hmm … of that house where we went, and, uh, they go, “No, no, no, no, no. No,” because once they try, they would want always, and we cannot afford that, you know? Oh, wow. And that was part of the very peculiar situation which happened at that time in, in that particular location where, of course, the bathroom they have to clean, uh, with lot of water.

[00:36:38] Marian: My Chinese has to go and check if it’s okay, and he said it’s, it’s not really, but you can do it, you know? So, So now we go back, and imagine we order probably about two containers of flowers at that time. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Like I said, it’s 1998. Those flowers were… They don’t need to buy almost [00:37:00] anything for that.

[00:37:00] Marian: They just need to harvest some, uh, dry grass and things like that. It was dry- Mm-hmm … kind of flowers. So we order those two containers, and, uh, we go right now to the hotel. And we came to the hotel, and the guy who was in charge of that already was prepared and, uh, invite us to the separate room. 

[00:37:23] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:37:23] Marian: In the separate room, they had already the dinner.

[00:37:27] Marian: Big, pompous din- dinner with a lot of, uh, weird things. Mm. Let’s put it that way. 

[00:37:34] Aaron: No, Chinese food is crazy. Yeah. No, Chinese food, I, I, Chinese food is crazy. 

[00:37:36] Marian: It’s very, very weird, very weird things. Yeah. And those weird things are the most expensive. Oh, yeah. Mm. That’s how they, that’s how they present that, and then we, we tell our Song, “Song, why he did that?

[00:37:48] Marian: We don’t need that.” And then he said, “Because he was so happy, and he feel so honor to give you that,” you know? And then, uh, I told him, “Yeah, [00:38:00] but we will not eat very much that, that, tho- this stuff.” And he said, “Do whatever you want, but I can assure you, he borrow the money for this dinner from everybody from the village because everybody was happy.”

[00:38:13] Marian: So they, they- Mm … give him what they have in order to make an honor of you and buy you that dinner. Yeah. And now you can eat or not, it’s on up to you. Oh, my God. So you have been forced to eat something, you know? Jeez. So we were, you know, so those are kind of like weird, uh, moments in the life- Yeah … which came, you know?

[00:38:36] Marian: And then, and then after those experience, I start to look for new business because the artificial flowers were okay, but I see there is no much potential. 

[00:38:46] Aaron: Okay. 

[00:38:47] Marian: So I was starting to invent something new. Mm. And, uh, my condition where it cannot be brought from China and it cannot be sold in the hypermarket- 

[00:38:56] Aaron: Yeah

[00:38:57] Marian: or in the, in the market, you know? [00:39:00] So I finally found it in Poland, and it was piece of a roof, which I like it. So I start to do the roofing company. Mm-hmm. I do make a postulate that, uh, the company will be international. Mm-hmm. The company will be holding. So and I made it. You know, I made it. Since 2000 I start the company, and we had the seven companies in 2008 when I sold it.

[00:39:24] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:39:25] Marian: You know? Wow. And I probably, if not Scientology, I wouldn’t sold it because, um, with the big company, I was able only to steal from the company two weeks, let’s say, put together two weeks, and go to Copenhagen to try to do something on the bridge. Yeah. 

[00:39:44] Aaron: Okay. So, so, okay, so you’re doing all this business.

[00:39:46] Aaron: So how, so your roofing company does very well. What’s the, what’s the, at the height, the biggest your roofing company? Like how big did your roofing company get? 

[00:39:55] Marian: Uh, it got to, uh- [00:40:00] 28 million turnover. 

[00:40:02] Brad: Mm. 

[00:40:02] Marian: That- 

[00:40:02] Aaron: So yearly sales? 

[00:40:03] Marian: Yes. 

[00:40:03] Brad: That’s good. 

[00:40:04] Marian: Yeah. 

[00:40:04] Aaron: In euros? Dollars? What- 

[00:40:06] Brad: Eu- euros or dollars? 

[00:40:07] Marian: Euros. 

[00:40:07] Aaron: Euros. Amazing.

[00:40:09] Aaron: Um- Pretty, 

[00:40:10] Brad: pretty good. 

[00:40:11] Aaron: So you’re doing business, you’re, you’re running all this stuff, and how did you come across Scientology? 

[00:40:16] Marian: Yeah, because soon as I start that company with roofing, not soon, it’s just, I start, but maybe in, in second year, let’s say in 2002, I hit the wall where I wanna have a… I really had a dream to make a big company.

[00:40:30] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:40:31] Marian: The problem was when I had about 10 people- Mm … maybe a little more, uh, people start to betray me. Yeah. You know? Different stuff happened. Your best friend which, which, which you take into the company, weird things happened, and I was- Yeah, best, best 

[00:40:48] Brad: friend … 

[00:40:48] Marian: kind of like, “That’s, that’s the end of the story.”

[00:40:52] Marian: Mm. If I didn’t find the help, it’s gonna be gone. So I basically find a LRH tech, [00:41:00] uh, for the businesses. It was called Business Success at that time. Mm-hmm. And I go to, um, first course was probably a seminar how to sell. Mm. I took about four, four people with me, uh, from that company. We go there. 

[00:41:14] Brad: How old were you then?

[00:41:15] Marian: I was, uh, 20… No, 32. 

[00:41:22] Brad: Okay. Yeah. Mm. And no English yet? Wow. 

[00:41:24] Marian: No English. Okay. No Eng- Oh … still no, no English. English, the f- because- Wait, 

[00:41:29] Brad: was the s- was the seminar in English? 

[00:41:31] Marian: No. 

[00:41:31] Brad: No. Okay, okay. 

[00:41:32] Marian: No, it was seminar in Slovakia. Okay. Yeah. It was basically seminar, and then there was a productivity and there was plan- planning seminar.

[00:41:39] Marian: That’s all I, I was there for. And then in- And 

[00:41:43] Aaron: at that time, how big was the business? 

[00:41:45] Marian: Um, still, um, 10 people, 12 people, and it was, um, let’s say 80 blah blah blah, about four million. 

[00:41:56] Aaron: Okay. Yeah. 

[00:41:57] Marian: You know? So because I have [00:42:00] to recount. At that time- Yeah, yeah, yeah … there was a Slovakian koruna . 

[00:42:03] Aaron: Oh, 

[00:42:03] Marian: right, right, 

[00:42:04] Aaron: right, right, right.

[00:42:05] Marian: So it’s different, different time, and I have been through, uh, changing money for about at least five, six times. 

[00:42:14] Brad: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:42:15] Marian: You 

[00:42:15] Brad: know? When did it change to the, to the euro? When did that transition happen? 

[00:42:19] Marian: Um, it was in 2003 in Slovakia. Yeah. Czech Republic still have a koruna. Mm-hmm. They don’t have a euro.

[00:42:27] Marian: Mm-hmm. You know? Which I think is advantage, but- Yeah … but it hard to say for. So for now, uh, that’s the euro thing, and, um- Yeah. So I try to grow that, that company from the knowledge, and I start to go up The Bridge in the Czech Republic. For example, um- And so, 

[00:42:46] Aaron: so guys, this is- But why? What? So, so let’s, let’s pause for a second.

[00:42:49] Aaron: So, uh, guys, The Bridge, it’s called The Bridge to Total Freedom. This is, uh, you know, some f- someone who might not know. Um, these are the steps you take in Scientology to get more awareness. 

[00:42:59] Marian: [00:43:00] Yes. 

[00:43:00] Aaron: And so, so what… How, how did you, like… So, so you’re doing this business stuff. 

[00:43:03] Marian: Yeah. 

[00:43:04] Aaron: And seemingly it worked. I mean, you were able to almost 10 times your company in a, in a short amount of time.

[00:43:09] Aaron: But, like- What ended up happening? What, like, what did you see here? 

[00:43:15] Marian: Yeah. So, uh, the first seminar I was on, the, the selling seminar, I saw the emotion of the people goes up- Mm … and they start to play the games in the company when we come back. 

[00:43:28] Brad: The people you brought with you? 

[00:43:29] Marian: Yes. 

[00:43:30] Brad: Oh. 

[00:43:30] Marian: And then I go myself only to the productivity seminar, which was kind of like motivation, um, different kind of things, org board, start to organize the company, you know?

[00:43:43] Marian: Kind of very cool stuff. Mm-hmm. I love it. I love it. 

[00:43:46] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[00:43:47] Marian: Mm. I start to implement some things immediately. There was immediate improvement, and they call me for more seminars, but I don’t wanna go to seminars. I went to, uh, the guy who was [00:44:00] doing the seminars and, uh, I spent whole Sunday in his house just pushing him to give me the source.

[00:44:10] Brad: No way. 

[00:44:11] Marian: Yes, yes. At that time, they were not very willing to give me the source. And then finally he said, “There might be some auditor which moved recently from Prague to Brno.” It’s cities in Czech- Mm-hmm … Republic. 

[00:44:25] Aaron: I’ve 

[00:44:26] Marian: been there. “And you might be, you might be able to go and talk to him. I think he can help you.”

[00:44:31] Marian: Mm. That’s all he said after whole Sunday with his family. 

[00:44:35] Aaron: Mm. 

[00:44:36] Marian: So I- Did he 

[00:44:36] Aaron: tell you what an auditor was? 

[00:44:38] Marian: Not really. 

[00:44:39] Aaron: No. Okay. 

[00:44:41] Marian: So he gives me the number. Did he 

[00:44:43] Brad: tell you it was Scientology or no? 

[00:44:45] Marian: Yeah, already kind of. Just 

[00:44:47] Brad: a, a little 

[00:44:47] Marian: bit. Little bit. Wow. Yes. So at that time, uh, I had the number. I called the guy and the guy says, “Okay, so come this Sunday.

[00:44:56] Marian: We will meet, you know, and, uh, I [00:45:00] will tell you what is needed or what is, what, what, what’s the thing,” you know? So I took all my family. We go, we meet in some, um, market, in some food court of the market- Mm … uh, nearby Brno, basically on the, on the side of the Brno. But he came and he said, “What’s your problem?”

[00:45:22] Marian: So I told him about the problems in the company, in this, in that, you know, I told him, and then he said, “Yeah, I can help you.” Mm. He said, “Yeah, I can help you. If you send me 350,000 on my account and it will be there until Thursday, you can come on Saturday.” 

[00:45:40] Aaron: Well, how much is 350? Is this koruna? Is this dollars?

[00:45:42] Marian: What is- It was koruna. It was koruna … 

[00:45:43] Aaron: how much is that? Is that like a ridiculous amount of money or is it 

[00:45:46] Marian: l- It was at that time probably about, um, $12,000. 

[00:45:51] Aaron: Okay. Okay. Okay. I was thinking- I was like- … 350 th- … whoa … like a koruna I was like, whoa. Like, 350, okay. Okay.[00:46:00] 

[00:46:03] Marian: I was 

[00:46:03] Aaron: like, who is this guy? But it was pretty strict. Okay, so I mean 10 grand is a lot of money, but like- Yeah … 10 grand for a business consultation or any consultation is re- 350,000 is another level. Okay. 

[00:46:12] Marian: Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, geez. You have to really understand that 10,000 was, was compare- comparison to what I am s- here.

[00:46:20] Marian: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Probably 300,000. Wow. Wow. Easily. 

[00:46:23] Aaron: Yeah. 

[00:46:23] Marian: Easily. Yeah. As a value. Yeah, yeah. How much you have to work, how long you have to work, you know? What if… 

[00:46:28] Aaron: Yep. Yep. 

[00:46:29] Marian: So but nevertheless, you know, the guy was very straightforward. He was not this or that, you know? There was no nothing in between. So I said, “I need to get the help,” so I go to him and, um, we did some, uh, introductory things, you know?

[00:46:49] Marian: So I could understand that this is a spiritual thing and what we do, it’s make me better- Mm-hmm … make me some reliefs. And, [00:47:00] uh, and then we did some sort of life repair- Mm … called thing. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know, which is on the beginning. But it was for one day, and then at the end of the day, he said, “So now tomorrow I wanna see your wife.”

[00:47:13] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:47:14] Marian: And she was like, uh, 600 kilometer, let’s say 400 miles. 

[00:47:17] Aaron: Wow. 

[00:47:18] Marian: So I call her, and there was a train coming from my city. She… at that time we had two kids, so she took two kids. She, she gets to Brno by the train, which is sleeping train. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So you can sleep through the night. 

[00:47:32] Brad: Yeah. 

[00:47:33] Marian: So she sleeps through the night, and then I go grab them and bring them to a mission, to a space.

[00:47:40] Marian: And at that time, uh, uh, he said then, “So you take care about the kids. You go to museum or whatever you want, and now we gonna sit.” Mm-hmm. You know? 

[00:47:50] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[00:47:51] Marian: And, um, basically they were there whole day, and then I came back probably about 5:00, 5:00 [00:48:00] evening, and then he give the kids to his wife, and he put us together, you know, in the one room, sit, and, um, ask me, “So now you start.”

[00:48:14] Marian: You know? Which means- This 

[00:48:15] Aaron: is marriage counseling. 

[00:48:16] Marian: Yes. Uh, no, it was a li- started as a life repair. Okay. Okay, okay. You know? But, but he said that we didn’t have the so heavy stuff, so he was confident that this will help us. 

[00:48:27] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[00:48:28] Marian: Mm-hmm. So and then we kind of argue, blah, blah, blah, blah, and, um, say everybody what has some kind of things on the second dynamic- Mm-hmm

[00:48:38] Marian: on the other person, and, uh, it end up amazingly well because we start from zero, basically. 

[00:48:45] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[00:48:46] Marian: We start from the point where everybody knows everything about the other person, and since then we were growing even on, um, even on the bridge or [00:49:00] generally in life all together. Mm-hmm. All together always, you 

[00:49:03] Aaron: know?

[00:49:04] Aaron: So that was like a g- amazing starting point where you… So, so guys, I mean, sounds like you did do marriage counseling, right? I mean, you go and you- Yeah, sounds the same. Yeah, yeah … you say the, the, the wrong things that you’ve done. Wow. The person says the wrong things they’ve done. You share with each other, you’re all 

[00:49:15] Marian: there.

[00:49:15] Marian: It was in, in life too, but, uh, part of it was, since we didn’t have much- 

[00:49:19] Aaron: Yeah … 

[00:49:20] Marian: so it would be- 

[00:49:21] Aaron: Bad things in the relationship and outside. Yeah. Okay. So you guys shared… So you guys then start on the same page, and your relationship was- Amazing … able to grow strong. I see you guys today. Wow. You guys look great.

[00:49:30] Aaron: Yes. Um, wow. Okay, so then- 

[00:49:34] Brad: That was 

[00:49:34] Aaron: intense. So- For that 

[00:49:35] Brad: to 

[00:49:35] Aaron: be the first thing- That was like day number three. Day number three … what did, 

[00:49:37] Brad: what did you think? What did you think when it, it was like, “Okay, now tell her what you did,” and she’s like, you know. What did, what did you think? 

[00:49:44] Marian: Um, since I only kissed my secretary and pretty much that was it, you know- Yeah

[00:49:51] Marian: I didn’t have much. It was not easy for me to say it. Yeah, 

[00:49:54] Brad: yeah. 

[00:49:54] Marian: You know? But somehow he pushed me, you know. Mm-hmm. Yeah. This way, that way, [00:50:00] so I, I said it. I said some other smaller even stuff, and then, uh, um, she had pretty much the same thing. 

[00:50:07] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:50:08] Marian: Yeah. It’s, it’s always- Similar 

[00:50:09] Aaron: level. 

[00:50:09] Marian: Yes. It’s, it’s- Mm-hmm

[00:50:10] Marian: alw- always, you know, it’s never that just one side is guilty. Yep. You know? So to certain degree there was, uh- Mm-hmm … the things were on level, so we did that and that, that was a great, great, fantastic start for the life- Yeah … because you can really start to- Trust your partner, being, you know, on the same page, having the same goals, you know?

[00:50:36] Marian: Because, um, the goals are many, many time modified by your past. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know? 

[00:50:43] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:50:43] Marian: And if you start from levels from zero, then pretty much you know what you want. You know what w- how the life it’s supposed to be even, you know? 

[00:50:53] Brad: Yeah. 

[00:50:53] Marian: So, but still, no any language, so we did few steps on the lower bridge with the guy, [00:51:00] and then I was…

[00:51:02] Marian: We were trying to go to Copenhagen for the services. 

[00:51:05] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:51:05] Marian: So being, having right now the, the big roofing company, I was able to cut two weeks off, you know? 

[00:51:12] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:51:12] Marian: Take those two weeks, goes to Copenhagen, you know. But in Copenhagen, they didn’t have Slovakian auditor. They didn’t have anything, you know, for me.

[00:51:21] Marian: Mm. So they asked me, “You want a Russian or English?” Russian I have learned some time ago. Just kitchen, little bit, so I said, “Russian, probably.” You know? So it was a, it was a challenge, you know? So I said, “If I go this, how I’m doing now, I’m no- never gonna be an OT.” Mm-hmm. Never. 

[00:51:44] Brad: Mm. Mm. 

[00:51:44] Marian: You know, I was looking on OT eight, basically, and, um, and I make a decision to sell the company.

[00:51:51] Marian: Mm-hmm. 

[00:51:51] Brad: Mm-hmm. Wow. 

[00:51:53] Marian: That makes my family, all the people in the company were so upset. It was really good company. [00:52:00] They were so upset. Oh, they were upset that you 

[00:52:01] Brad: sold 

[00:52:01] Marian: it? Yes. ‘

[00:52:01] Aaron: Cause 

[00:52:01] Marian: they wanted 

[00:52:02] Aaron: you to stay, right? 

[00:52:03] Marian: Yes. Yes, yes. Oh, ’cause 

[00:52:04] Brad: they loved you. 

[00:52:05] Marian: Yes. Oh. They, they love all the culture, how we were doing things, you know?

[00:52:10] Marian: So- 

[00:52:10] Aaron: And when you sold it, the people that take it, bought it, did they continue it well, or n- not really? 

[00:52:16] Marian: Uh, in some countries they had their own, so they kind of merge. Okay. And then in the other countries, um, they… Some countries they were doing okay, some countries they were going down- downhill. Mm-hmm. Okay.

[00:52:28] Marian: It’s a corporation which, uh, contains 190 people. Okay. 190 companies in about 75 countries. 

[00:52:37] Aaron: Wow. Mm. 

[00:52:38] Marian: So it’s a big corporation, and I wanna sell to cor- corporation because I wanna know how cor- corporations works. Mm-hmm. 

[00:52:45] Aaron: Mm. 

[00:52:46] Marian: Because I never had the chance. Everything I do in my life, it has the reason to learn.

[00:52:51] Marian: Mm. If I would not learn anything, I wouldn’t do that thing. Mm. You know? That’s what it is. Because [00:53:00] how you… Everything what we have, it’s, uh, basically knowledge- 

[00:53:05] Brad: Mm-hmm … 

[00:53:05] Marian: at the end of the day. 

[00:53:06] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[00:53:06] Marian: Yeah. You will have no money, you will have nothing. As a spiritual being, you will have only knowledge. Mm. So the knowledge is even pushing me to do different stuff, different stuff- And 

[00:53:17] Brad: no one can ever take your knowledge away from you.

[00:53:18] Marian: Yes. Yeah. But, um, I mean- Not even the 

[00:53:21] Aaron: communists. 

[00:53:21] Marian: Not, not even the communists. Not 

[00:53:23] Brad: even 

[00:53:23] Marian: the guys with the little red books. Yes. Nobody. Nobody can do that. But the truth is, you know, with, uh, purpose in life is really to know things, one of the purpose, you know? So, and that has been pushing me up front very much.

[00:53:41] Marian: You know, curiosity, challenge, you know, those kind of things, to start something different, close something. So just a long story short, in 2008 I sold the company, uh, just before, two weeks before [00:54:00] the, the crash happened. 

[00:54:02] Brad: Mm-hmm. Two 

[00:54:03] Marian: weeks? Two weeks before crash happened I get the money on account. So… And, um, I decided to come- 

[00:54:12] Brad: Unbelievable.

[00:54:13] Marian: I decided to come to America- Mm-hmm … and go to FLAG. 

[00:54:16] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:54:17] Marian: Of course, um, 

[00:54:19] Aaron: FLAG- And you know, and your English was pretty much zero. 

[00:54:23] Marian: I will tell you down the road- Okay, well, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay … how the English goes. You know? So, so, uh, we, we came here, choose the house. We had a Polish, uh, real estate agent.

[00:54:36] Marian: Mm-hmm. So he help us, we choose the house. So, uh, when we come on the 1st of August, 2009, we, we… Basically every- everything was ready. We just signed the paper, I send the money, and we had the house. So the house was empty of the furniture. There was no gas. There was no anything. So I tell my agent, “Hey, can you just call around and tell [00:55:00] them to hook up everything what is needed and blah, electricity?”

[00:55:04] Marian: Uh, okay, so and then, um, we were in the house and a guy came, Black guy came, knock on the door because bell was not working. So I opened the door, and he was saying something, and I tried to tell him slowly, “Please.” So, and after him repeating this five times and me repeating five times that I don’t understand, I realize I can call my friend to Chicago.

[00:55:30] Aaron: Mm. 

[00:55:30] Marian: So I call my friend to Chicago, give him the phone, and then he gives me back, and he said he came to turn on the l- the gas. You know? So I told him, “Okay, that’s great, but I have no idea where is the gas or what it is.” He has to find this out, show me what he did, and then he can leave, you know? So he talked to him.

[00:55:52] Marian: Okay, good. Wow. So he show me this, this, this, and that, and he turn on the gas. Same thing with the ele- ele- with electric. [00:56:00] At those times, just so you know, at those times there was a lot of… Like, you wanna call T-Mobile, and they had only the machines. The machines were very- Yeah … very modern at that time. So when we want to have a new phone number, we call the T-Mobile, and we put the, the cell phone on the table on the speaker so everybody from the family can listen, and then we had to repeat three, four times that message so we can understand if we have to press two or one.

[00:56:38] Marian: Yeah, that was the thing. Yeah. 

[00:56:40] Aaron: Wow. So you were very… You basically knew zero English. I mean- Yeah … nothing, nothing. Yeah. Almost zero. You 

[00:56:46] Marian: came here, zero. Yeah, almost zero. It was really, uh, 10 words. 

[00:56:49] Aaron: Okay. Yeah. And so you moved to Clearwater because Scientology is here. 

[00:56:52] Marian: Yes. 

[00:56:53] Aaron: And what was your… Like, did you have a specific goal in mind, like, “Let’s go to America and do…”

[00:56:58] Aaron: What? 

[00:56:59] Marian: For me, it was OT [00:57:00] 8. Okay. You know? Of course, we moved to America only for two years. The plan was two years to- Oh … do the bridge until OT se- uh, until we jump on 7. Okay. On OT 7. 

[00:57:09] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[00:57:09] Marian: So when we are there, we go home. 

[00:57:11] Aaron: Okay. 

[00:57:12] Marian: That was the plan. Even we bought the house, I said, “We can have a house on the beach, no problem.”

[00:57:16] Marian: Mm-hmm. You know? So the plan was for two years. 

[00:57:19] Brad: I, I, I have a question. I want to clarify something. So OT is short for Operating Thetan. Thetan. Mm-hmm. Thetan is a spiritual being. Being. Yep. Operating means you’re doing stuff. Mm-hmm. So, uh, my, my question for you is you said that you saw, you know, that… And that’s a, a state that’s on the Bridge to Total Freedom, and you said that you saw that, and you wanted that.

[00:57:40] Marian: Yes. 

[00:57:40] Brad: Why? What, what made you want that? 

[00:57:43] Marian: Why? Uh, because there was a certain results, and, uh, I already had some, done some lower steps- Mm-hmm … which brings me big, big relief from my life. Mm-hmm. You know? So I know that was the highest point [00:58:00] so that, that I know I wanna go there. Mm. 

[00:58:03] Brad: You know? 

[00:58:03] Marian: So, um, there was no any other motivation at that time.

[00:58:09] Brad: Yeah, it makes sense. You got a benefit and you thought, “Man, let me just- That’s the whole thing … get all the benefit.” Yeah. 

[00:58:14] Marian: Yeah. 

[00:58:14] Brad: Wow. 

[00:58:15] Marian: I had the money because I sold the company, so I was donating, you know, doing this, doing that. Um, the truth is that, um, since I have sold pretty much everything, I didn’t have anything.

[00:58:29] Marian: You know? So we, the only thing we were doing is go up the bridge. Mm-hmm, 

[00:58:35] Brad: mm-hmm. 

[00:58:36] Marian: Take care about kids, bringing them to school, study, go to auditing. 

[00:58:41] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[00:58:42] Marian: That was our program through the day. And, uh, for example, some anecdote. Uh, we were starting with fundamental of thoughts or something like that. So we read the page in English with my wife, and then, uh, next day morning [00:59:00] she ask me, “Do you remember something what we read yesterday?”

[00:59:05] Marian: We, we only did one page. And I said, “I don’t remember word, one word.” So the next day we start from the beginning again. 

[00:59:17] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[00:59:18] Marian: Mm-hmm. You know? And that’s how we go, and it was, uh, everyday work, everyday work, everyday work. So we came 2009, and 2000 and, uh, 14 we attest OT8, basically. 

[00:59:31] Aaron: Wow. 

[00:59:32] Marian: You know? Wow. With everything, with, uh, language and things like that, you know?

[00:59:37] Aaron: You, you told me a story one time of, uh, like, that you’re reading it, and you go, like, you actually don’t know English. I mean, you’re learning English- as you’re doing. Like, it’s all in one. You’re learning the Scientology book, but you’re like, you don’t know English yet, so you’re kind- you’re… That’s how you learned English.

[00:59:56] Marian: Yeah. 

[00:59:57] Aaron: So what is… How? How do you do that? [01:00:00] 

[01:00:00] Marian: And then you start to speak in a store a little bit. They have a very hard time to, to understand you, you know? Very hard time. Like, uh, you know, in Slovakia, we call Monopoly- Mm-hmm … you know the game? 

[01:00:12] Aaron: Yeah. 

[01:00:13] Marian: And then we try to buy it here, and we ask for Monopoly, you know, in the store.

[01:00:17] Marian: Mm-hmm. Nobody could understand. Mm-hmm. 10 people, nobody understand. Hmm. And then finally, uh, we try to look for it and we found it, and when we found it, the l- the lady goes, “Ah, Monopoly.” 

[01:00:30] Aaron: Yeah. 

[01:00:31] Marian: Ah. And 

[01:00:31] Aaron: you’re like, “Monopoly” or whatever. 

[01:00:33] Marian: You know? So it was, it was, uh, challenging. It was challenging. But, um, you know, in church it’s different because there is a lot of people with willingness to understand you.

[01:00:43] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[01:00:44] Marian: You know? Mm-hmm. With willingness to help you. Oh, wow. So it’s a little different. But the normal world was really, really tough. Much tougher, much tougher, you know? Black guy come to your house trying to say something. I probably don’t understand him even today, you know? Mm-hmm. 

[01:00:59] Brad: Yeah. 

[01:00:59] Marian: Some of [01:01:00] them. So it wasn’t, it wasn’t easy.

[01:01:02] Marian: But- Yeah … we just work, work, work, work, work to get through it, you know? 

[01:01:08] Brad: Yeah. 

[01:01:08] Marian: And, um, um- 

[01:01:12] Brad: And what, what changed in your life during that time period? Like how, how did your life change? 

[01:01:17] Marian: Uh, during that time? During the time, um, you know- 

[01:01:21] Brad: Or maybe after, ’cause you were just 

[01:01:22] Marian: very full time … yes, that’s more appropriate.

[01:01:24] Marian: Yeah. Because we were really concentrating on, on that particular thing, you know? So after, after the bridge, I realized I need to start to do b- the businesses again, you know? I was almost, uh, out of money, you know? And, uh, my businesses are always very heavily depends on money because the… if, when you wanna do production, you need to have a space, you need to have a people, you need to have a merchandise, you know, like, a raw material for production.

[01:01:55] Marian: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You need to have, uh, machinery. So it’s very, very [01:02:00] demanding of, of, uh, s- resources. 

[01:02:02] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[01:02:03] Marian: All pr- every production is like that, you know? You have stock of raw material. You have stock of produced material, you know? So it’s very demanding, and I really end up, after ’08, with, uh, just a few money. So everything I have today, I…

[01:02:18] Marian: except the house, is basically what I made since 2000, let’s say, ’15. Yeah. You know? And, uh- And 

[01:02:25] Brad: that’s because during those years you weren’t working. You had just, you know- 

[01:02:28] Marian: Yes … 

[01:02:28] Brad: hit it. Yeah. You got paid out, and then you just lived off of that money- Yes … for the next- Yes, yes … several years. Yeah. 

[01:02:33] Marian: So I fr- I started again from zero.

[01:02:35] Marian: I started from zero probably about 10 times in my life. Mm-hmm. So, but always different zero. But this was from zero of the m- of the money, you know? And I… it was r- really much easier for me to confront business in Slovakia You know? 

[01:02:53] Aaron: Um- Over there ’cause it’s your language and your people, it’s easier. Uh, 

[01:02:56] Marian: the language is not the biggest problem for me.

[01:02:59] Marian: It [01:03:00] wasn’t the biggest problem for me at the time. Okay, okay. But it was really the culture- Mm … the taxes, you know, the, um, the people you know, you know how they behave, you know? Those things were very, very key to, uh, me to succeed. So I start, like, two companies, and then I, I, uh, start over here some marina, which was very careful step.

[01:03:27] Marian: It was some an abandoned place. 

[01:03:28] Brad: Hm. A boat marina? 

[01:03:30] Marian: Boat marina. Oh, wow. I have in Downtown Clearwater marina. 

[01:03:34] Brad: Did you know 

[01:03:34] Aaron: that? Yeah, his… I know his son does a bun- Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes … your son does a bunch of boats. He cleans boats or does some- W- He does something with boats. Sells boats, I forget, something.

[01:03:41] Marian: We bought that place- He 

[01:03:42] Aaron: has some 

[01:03:42] Marian: really nice boats … when it was totally abandoned, nobody wants that, and, uh, today is worth for- fortune. 

[01:03:47] Brad: Wow. 

[01:03:47] Marian: You know? And it was really like, “Oh my God, who is gonna…” It was not worth it. 

[01:03:54] Brad: Wow. 

[01:03:55] Marian: So that was the times, you know? So we b- basically grew [01:04:00] and, uh, I start some supplement company in Slovakia.

[01:04:04] Marian: Right now it has about 60 people. Mm-hmm. You know? Um, I have, uh, 14 companies currently. 

[01:04:11] Aaron: Wow. 

[01:04:12] Marian: Currently I have 14 companies. Wow. You know? And one of the reason wh- You know, the, the super special thing about that is, of course, I did vitamins over there, and then finally I confronted to do the real business.

[01:04:31] Marian: Because marina is not a business. It’s renting out. Mm-hmm. It’s just like you buy the property and you rent it out to some tenants. 

[01:04:36] Aaron: Mm-hmm, 

[01:04:37] Marian: mm-hmm. So I don’t consider that a business. Business for me is 10 people plus. Mm-hmm. You can start to call it business. 

[01:04:43] Brad: Mm-hmm. That’s a good definition. Yeah, ’cause there’s- Yeah, yeah

[01:04:46] Brad: a lot of people who- Yeah, yeah, side hustle … who work… Yeah, they, they do Photoshop on Fiverr and they say, “I have a, I have a graphic design business.” 

[01:04:52] Marian: Yeah. 

[01:04:52] Brad: But it’s just them. 

[01:04:54] Marian: It’s okay. 

[01:04:54] Brad: I agree, it’s not a business. 

[01:04:55] Marian: Everybody, uh- Yeah … everybody knows what they are doing. 

[01:04:58] Brad: Yeah. 

[01:04:58] Marian: So for me, m- [01:05:00] the, the more important at that time to start the business was the factor that finally my wife agreed that she’s gonna help me over here with the business.

[01:05:10] Brad: Hm. 

[01:05:10] Marian: So we were team of two, and that’s how I said, “Okay, so if you go with me…” We have a knowledge because we already had the company in Slovakia. Mm-hmm. So we start to put together the puzzles for here. We, we bought a part of the building small, and then we, we did production over there, and then Corona came.

[01:05:29] Aaron: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. 

[01:05:30] Marian: And Corona was fantastic for that kind of business- Mm … because, uh, a lot of supplements were. So we kind of- We, we were, me, myself, I was doing everything I can. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Saturday, Sunday. 

[01:05:43] Brad: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

[01:05:43] Marian: Period, you know? Because that was the time when you could, you know? The, the customers were even paying us 25% more because i- i- for every bottle- Two days early, yeah.

[01:05:54] Marian: Wow. Yeah, for every bottle you produce this week, for me, I can give you blah money, you know? Wow. [01:06:00] So we were trying to go crazy with that, and that was… Uh, that allow us then to, uh, buy the rest of the building and kind of broaden the production. The, the main building we have currently, it’s about 55,000 square f- square feet.

[01:06:15] Aaron: Wow. 

[01:06:16] Marian: And, uh, we have about almost 100 people over here. 

[01:06:19] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[01:06:19] Marian: Mm-hmm. But that’s, uh, one thing, you know? 

[01:06:22] Aaron: And by the way, have you been there? No, I haven’t. So it’s Bill Bio Labs. It’s literally a few blocks up from here. 

[01:06:26] Marian: Yeah. 

[01:06:27] Aaron: Um, or the, or the other location is a few blocks… Anyway, it’s close. Yeah, yeah. And, uh, it’s incredible.

[01:06:33] Aaron: Yeah. I mean, the amount of the, the, the white suits, the thing, the, the bottle, the labbing, the machines. Yeah. How many machines do you have in that place? 

[01:06:39] Marian: We have about 350 machines. 

[01:06:42] Aaron: 350 machines. Oh my gosh. I mean, it’s, it is intense. And the bottling, the labeling, and the thing, and the se- I mean, there’s a…

[01:06:47] Aaron: That place is amazing when you go there. Oh. Quality control. I mean, the, like- Yeah … the, the thing I just wanna, and why I brought you here, one of the reasons you’re here, is ’cause, like, it’s very good. I- we’ve worked with a lot of different [01:07:00] labs, and a lot of them just- are not good. Slow, delays, problems, and, like, you guys have been very good.

[01:07:08] Aaron: Okay. I mean, we do business together. Thank you for that. So I just, I like hardworking… Regardless, I mean, listen, you came here, no English, no nothing. You, like, started from, from nothing. You’re like, “Let’s start up a business,” and, and it’s very good. I think you guys do fantastic. 

[01:07:21] Marian: Yeah, and, uh, yeah. It’s, uh, it was a lot of work, but it was, uh, fully worth it.

[01:07:28] Marian: I mean, I, um, I always have, uh… Somehow I am like that. If you achieve something in work, that’s the best joy I have. I can no- I, I mean, I don’t know how the other people has, but if you really have good achievement at work, your day is just beautiful. Yes. 

[01:07:49] Brad: Mm-hmm. Yes. 

[01:07:49] Marian: Mm-hmm. 100%. Your day is just beautiful.

[01:07:51] Brad: That’s right. 

[01:07:51] Marian: So I cannot imagine to not produce- Yeah … and then h- have no result, go home with this idea of no [01:08:00] production, you know? 

[01:08:01] Brad: Yeah. 

[01:08:02] Marian: And if, if, if you are doing like that, you realize you cannot produce, then what you realize also, so you probably, your only option is go to a government organization.

[01:08:12] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[01:08:13] Marian: Mm-hmm. And that’s where they are, you know? 

[01:08:15] Brad: You know my solution? If I have a bad day at work, I just don’t go home. 

[01:08:19] Marian: Yeah? 

[01:08:19] Brad: I just stay at work until I did something I can- 

[01:08:21] Marian: No, I don’t have a bad day at work.

[01:08:26] Brad: That’s good. How many, how many customers does your production company have? Just the, the biolab. 

[01:08:30] Marian: Just the biolab? Yeah. Ooh, ooh. I have no idea about that. 

[01:08:35] Brad: Yeah. 

[01:08:35] Marian: It h- but the, but… We even recently, you know, we are working two shifts. We are working two shifts. Uh- Yeah … we are producing about 80,000 bottles, uh, a week, you know?

[01:08:48] Brad: Wow. 

[01:08:48] Marian: Right now currently, we wanna get to, uh, 100 very soon, so we’ll see. We’ll see if we can make it happen. Um, yeah, but then what happened recently, last year, [01:09:00] the Swedish guy with roofs come to me if I wanna buy those companies back. 

[01:09:06] Brad: Oh, wow. You know, I’ve heard- The roofing, 

[01:09:09] Aaron: ROVA … 

[01:09:10] Brad: I’ve heard many people tell that same story.

[01:09:12] Brad: I sold my company, and then 10 years later, I bought it back – 

[01:09:15] Marian: Yeah … 

[01:09:16] Brad: for less than I sold it for. So 

[01:09:16] Aaron: you, you… Are you… What are you thinking? 

[01:09:18] Marian: So we already, uh, bought Slovakia, restart Czech Republic, uh, bought Hungary, Budapest- Mm … and now we are in the process for Bucharest, Romania. 

[01:09:32] Aaron: Wow. You bought- And you bought it for, did you bought it for way less 

[01:09:35] Brad: than you- I- I was just gonna ask the same thing.

[01:09:36] Brad: You don’t have to say the 

[01:09:37] Marian: number, but- Uh, no, no, no. Um, probably one fourth. 

[01:09:41] Aaron: Wow. 

[01:09:41] Marian: But, um- 

[01:09:43] Brad: Of what you sold it for. 

[01:09:44] Marian: Yes. But, uh, the thing is that, uh, many of those companies are bigger as far as the- uh, property and, uh, stuff inside because they are loaded. You have [01:10:00] to imagine that those are, uh, big companies, so they go with environmental, so every building has a solar, every building blah, blah, blah.

[01:10:11] Marian: There is, uh, about 10- 

[01:10:13] Aaron: So the, the inventories, the properties, uh, the physical stuff is 

[01:10:17] Marian: a lot. Is loaded, yes. 

[01:10:18] Brad: Wow. 

[01:10:19] Marian: But they are zombies. 

[01:10:21] Brad: Yeah. 

[01:10:21] Marian: They are zombies inside. There’s no 

[01:10:22] Aaron: push 

[01:10:23] Brad: on the production. 

[01:10:23] Marian: Yeah. For example- And 

[01:10:24] Aaron: sales are gonna be, like, maybe a fourth of what they were, right? Yeah. I mean, like, you’re buying for a fourth- So you have-

[01:10:28] Aaron: ’cause the sales were, like, a fourth. 

[01:10:29] Marian: No, no, no. The sales were not that bad. Profit was really bad. Okay. Okay. Hmm. Like, uh, let’s say, let’s take example of Hungary. Hungary, Budapest, was a company where they pr- they were producing 150,000 euro loss every month. 

[01:10:44] Brad: Every month? 

[01:10:45] Marian: Every month. Ooh. Regularly for last three years.

[01:10:48] Marian: You know? So now there was about seven hun- 78 people in that company. So we came, and, uh, we had to redo that. 

[01:10:59] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[01:10:59] Marian: You know, [01:11:00] completely. Yeah. Yeah. So we, we acquired the company on 1st of January this year, but we were there already from October. 

[01:11:09] Brad: Mm. Mm. 

[01:11:10] Marian: Kind of do little adjustment. Studying. They didn’t give us very much power, but little power, yes, so we can kind of see, observe what is going on and, and make some little changes here and there.

[01:11:20] Marian: Wow. When, for example, in, in Hungary, when we manage in November to get rid of the ED of the company, the director, everybody get relief. Wow. 

[01:11:31] Aaron: Wow. 

[01:11:31] Marian: Everybody get at least one whole step on tone level up. 

[01:11:37] Aaron: Yeah. 

[01:11:38] Marian: Yeah. So that was a- Wow … good thing, and then there was, um, other staff, other people. Um, we get rid of 18 people, and we h- we hire, uh, uh, four people- 

[01:11:50] Aaron: Mm-hmm

[01:11:50] Marian: in Hungary. And since, uh, 1st of January 2026, we took over, and March was first, um, month which was profitable. 

[01:11:59] Aaron: [01:12:00] Wow. 

[01:12:00] Marian: April was 100,000 plus. 

[01:12:02] Aaron: Wow. Yeah. Wow. 

[01:12:04] Marian: Very, very good company. We love it. We love it. Wow. I love it, you know? 

[01:12:08] Aaron: Yeah. Your baby is back to you. 

[01:12:10] Marian: It wasn’t that of a thing for me as it was for my son.

[01:12:15] Marian: Oh. Oh, wow. Oldest son, he never talked me about that, told me about that, that, uh, basically, when I announced that I’m gonna sell my company in 2008, he was broken in heart. 

[01:12:30] Aaron: Mm. 

[01:12:30] Marian: He call this IRC break, but he was broken- And I didn’t know about that. Mm. Why? What? 

[01:12:38] Aaron: He didn’t say. Why, why was he upset? Oh, 

[01:12:40] Marian: why was he upset?

[01:12:41] Marian: Why, why he was upset? Can he tell you now? I will tell you. Yeah. I will tell you. He was upset because from school he always goes to the company and was playing on the forklift. He can load the, the roofs to the truck- 

[01:12:52] Aaron: Mm-hmm … 

[01:12:53] Marian: as a 14, 15-year-old boy, you know? Mm-hmm. Yeah. He was playing with the cranes, sit on the pallet, lift him [01:13:00] up, go around.

[01:13:00] Marian: Oh, wow. Yeah, I… The lot of stuff I didn’t know. But he was very, he was very upset for whole this time. So now it was kind of like, um, you know, everything comes back, you know? It repaired it. Repaired it. Wow. It’s, it’s handled, you know? Is he back 

[01:13:19] Aaron: over there? 

[01:13:20] Marian: He, right now he is there, yes. Okay. Yeah. 

[01:13:23] Brad: Wow, so he really loves that.

[01:13:24] Marian: Yeah, he loves that, especially Slovakia, because that’s where he was growing up, you know? And, uh, and he knows the business, so I kind of involve him into that. That’s kind of, uh, cool I think. I think it’s pretty cool. That’s very cool. You know, it’s, um, it’s really… You can see the, the ama- endless amount of creation, what it could be done in your head, in your mind, you know, with everything around us.

[01:13:55] Marian: Mm. Because that’s really even [01:14:00] my having this from the moment we start to acquire back those companies, get back. Maybe I was surprised and I didn’t know. Mm-hmm. But, but right now really when we start to buy those companies, it’s kind of like come back, you know, to a point with much bigger abilities- Yeah

[01:14:16] Marian: because you were asking what the bridge, you know? So, so basically in all my companies currently, it’s 500 employees- 

[01:14:24] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[01:14:24] Marian: Wow … all together, you know, in many different companies, different things, you know? And, um- It’s not a problem that the people are doing different stuff. Like, I’m doing from flowers to supplements to roofs to a pressure washer- Mm-hmm

[01:14:42] Marian: to a different kind of stuff. Different, different, different. Because there is only one reason for that, and everybody can do that. The company i- the company is people. Yeah. People… Like, if you take this [01:15:00] building and take out all the people, there will be no company. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. There will be a building. 

[01:15:04] Aaron: Yep.

[01:15:05] Marian: So company is a people. So, and the people are m- the only important things which we have in the company, you know? Yeah. Because you can buy the building, you can buy the machine. You know, even the people start the business, start with, uh, finding the right bottle for right product which, which taste as they want.

[01:15:26] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[01:15:27] Marian: And then they are surprised that the people does- doesn’t want their product. Mm-hmm. You know? Because they don’t look at the people, what the people want. Mm-hmm. They look at themself, what they want. Mm-hmm. What they think it’s cool. 

[01:15:38] Aaron: Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

[01:15:38] Marian: You know? 

[01:15:39] Aaron: Yeah. 

[01:15:40] Marian: But I’m very bad on marketing, for example.

[01:15:45] Marian: Because when I say, “Let’s do this,” never work. It’s probably, it’s probably because I’m kind of unique, you know? I don’t represent very well the majority of the population. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So, and [01:16:00] I’m not really on that side. It’s not my pa- p- passion. Mm-hmm. How you say this, you know? Passion, yeah, yeah.

[01:16:06] Marian: Passion. So that’s why I’m not very, very good in marketing or even the sales, you know? Yeah. I sell more my- Listen, 

[01:16:13] Aaron: I think you’re pretty good. To have 500 employees, 14 companies- Something’s going on … many, many millions in sales, I think you’re pretty good. Mm-hmm. 

[01:16:20] Marian: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

[01:16:20] Aaron: I think you’re pretty 

[01:16:21] Marian: good.

[01:16:21] Marian: Yeah, I do some, you know, but it’s very different. That’s why I like B2B. Yeah. You know? 

[01:16:26] Aaron: Mm, business to business. Yes. 

[01:16:28] Marian: Yes, yes. Sell to business people. Yeah, sell to business people. Yeah. Because I can understand them a little better. 

[01:16:31] Brad: Yeah. Mm. 

[01:16:32] Marian: You know? Yep. The, the, the c- customer itself, it’s a little too far from my thinking.

[01:16:38] Marian: Mm-hmm. And that’s why it’s hard for me to kind of predict what they would want. 

[01:16:43] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[01:16:44] Marian: But what business want is very easy, because I can be in your space very easy. Imagine Zula Kitchen, what my need, what my that, you know? Mm-hmm. So, and then I start to think for the people. 

[01:16:56] Aaron: Yeah. 

[01:16:56] Marian: You know? When we do supplements, I want you to be [01:17:00] successful, you know?

[01:17:01] Marian: So I’m thinking about you. You start some idea, and we say, “Okay, we can do your idea, but look, we’ll look about this, about that, because I think this will make you much better, you know? We can still do this and that.” Because I don’t like to get people ideas out. Mm. Mm. That’s the last thing I want, because you never know what kind of postulate on or what kind of data are be- behind that idea.

[01:17:27] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[01:17:28] Marian: Sometimes maybe for the first glance, not very smart idea might turn out as a very bright thing. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You know? Yep. So, um, when the, they ask me the question on the test that, um, if you… I don’t know in English how this goes, because I’m doing in Slovak, but I try to describe- 

[01:17:51] Aaron: Are your ideas insufficiently important to say on a subject which you are not expert at?

[01:17:58] Aaron: Yeah. Something like that. 

[01:17:58] Marian: Yeah, yeah, something like that. [01:18:00] And for a long time I was saying yes, but the last few times I understand that’s very wrong from my perspective, you know? Because you just disturb all people around who understand that. Yeah. You know? It’s just- So you’re 

[01:18:14] Aaron: saying, you’re saying, you’re saying before you used to think that you don’t need, you don’t share your ideas.

[01:18:19] Marian: I share. 

[01:18:19] Aaron: No, he did. You did share the ideas. Uh-huh. Okay, and now you’re saying- 

[01:18:22] Marian: No … I’m 

[01:18:23] Aaron: not gonna share the ideas ’cause you’re not an expert. 

[01:18:25] Marian: In the places where I’m not expert- 

[01:18:27] Aaron: You’re not expert, no, you let the- 

[01:18:28] Marian: Yeah, I’m not gonna push my idea to you- Mm … because I’m not an expert. 

[01:18:32] Aaron: Mm. 

[01:18:32] Marian: If I do that, I will be my mother-in-law.

[01:18:36] Aaron: Yeah, 

[01:18:36] Marian: yeah, yeah. 

[01:18:39] Brad: You know? Maybe his 

[01:18:39] Marian: mother-in-law too. Can you, can you i- imagine your mother-in-law? Yeah, 

[01:18:42] Aaron: I’m telling 

[01:18:42] Marian: you. She is giving you ideas without being an expert in anything. 

[01:18:46] Aaron: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got it. I got it. Okay. Oh, I can tell the dislikes- So you changed, so you changed … from all the mother-in-laws right now.

[01:18:53] Aaron: Yeah, I 

[01:18:55] Marian: get it. I get it. No, no, there is nothing against them. I’m just kidding. They’re different mother-in-laws. No, no, but it’s your child. Yeah, yeah. Yes. But I’m, I’m just [01:19:00] talking generally about the people which are h- Yeah … which are thinking about the self-importance basically- Yeah. Mm-hmm … you know, to, to do something about that.

[01:19:08] Marian: Yeah. Which I don’t know which answer is, uh, good, but I just- Yeah … wanna share that I, I changed this viewpoint, you know- Mm-hmm. Yeah … on those things, because I think, uh, there are very smart people, you know, especially in some areas. I’m not- 

[01:19:21] Aaron: Yeah, yeah, 

[01:19:22] Marian: yeah … smart, like smart in many areas, you know? That’s why you can, you can run the clinic.

[01:19:28] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[01:19:28] Marian: Yeah. You hire very knowledgeable doctor, very knowledgeable whatever. You cannot be better than them. Yeah. You cannot. But you are better than them because you can hire them. 

[01:19:38] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[01:19:39] Marian: Mm-hmm. You can only hire… That was one of the, uh, pushing point for me to go, go up the bridge- 

[01:19:48] Aaron: Mm-hmm … 

[01:19:49] Marian: was that I always wanna hire good people.

[01:19:52] Brad: Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

[01:19:52] Marian: Great people. 

[01:19:53] Brad: Yeah. 

[01:19:54] Marian: And I just read that you only can hire the people up to your [01:20:00] level- 

[01:20:00] Brad: Mm-hmm … 

[01:20:00] Marian: not higher. 

[01:20:00] Brad: Oh, wow. 

[01:20:02] Marian: So if I wanna have a good people, I have to be really good person. Mm-hmm. 

[01:20:06] Brad: Yeah. 

[01:20:06] Marian: You know? 

[01:20:07] Brad: That’s such a great point. 

[01:20:08] Marian: So I was kind of hurry up, so, so- … so I can hire some people. Wow. And, uh, yeah, in, in US, in, uh, BL Bio Lab, I’m hiring people.

[01:20:19] Marian: I’m the one who is doing interviews. 

[01:20:22] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[01:20:22] Marian: I have some help on as far as the, to call the people in and blah or, you know, some. But- It was very vital for me to know the mentality, to know the competitors. Mm-hmm. Let’s imagine you having, uh, someone he- which, who comes from your competitor. 

[01:20:41] Brad: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

[01:20:42] Marian: And now you can ask him whatever the questions here.

[01:20:45] Marian: Mm. Yeah. How they do this? What you were doing in your job? Yeah. Where you take the data? Yeah. What… Yeah. So you know everything. Mm-hmm. In one year, you will know everything about every competitors in your area, everything. [01:21:00] Mm. That’s a good point. Just, uh, just doing that, you know? Yeah. So I even wrote a book because in 2006-

[01:21:10] Aaron: Is it in- 

[01:21:11] Marian: In Slovak … Czech? In 

[01:21:11] Aaron: Slovak. 

[01:21:12] Marian: In Slovak, okay. In Slovak. In 

[01:21:13] Aaron: 2000- If you speak Slovakian, look it up. 

[01:21:14] Marian: Yeah. 

[01:21:16] Aaron: Okay. 

[01:21:16] Marian: Yeah. Sure. People have it, and they like it. They really like it because it’s just describing how we were doing things in, uh, in a roofing company- Mm-hmm … at that time. I just describe, you know.

[01:21:28] Marian: So in division one, we were hiring people like this, like that. In division two, we were doing this, this, this, and that, and everything basically proved by the, by the function, you know? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. How it was. It was growing from zero for, in eight years, you know, to, uh, basically that, that extent. Wow. And in Europe, you have to imagine that you have your public here around is making, at that time probably 550 euro- 

[01:21:57] Aaron: Mm-hmm

[01:21:58] Marian: was the salary. 

[01:21:58] Aaron: Mm-hmm. [01:22:00] 

[01:22:00] Marian: So to collect some, some, uh, good amount of money wasn’t that easy. Yeah. You know? But I think the product was good. The timing was good, you know. It’s important many time. So it’s- 

[01:22:12] Aaron: You gonna translate the book? 

[01:22:14] Marian: Um, I think I need, uh, to write new book 

[01:22:17] Aaron: New book. Okay, 

[01:22:18] Marian: yeah Yeah. Because, uh, what…

[01:22:20] Marian: I do lectures sometimes for businessmans. 

[01:22:22] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[01:22:23] Marian: And, uh, many time to the lecture in Slovakia there is, there is, uh, young people coming. 

[01:22:28] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[01:22:29] Marian: And young people, they have a tendency, they, they are explaining me that they know how to do the business because they, they read Kiyosaki. 

[01:22:37] Aaron: Right, right, 

[01:22:37] Marian: right, yeah.

[01:22:38] Marian: You know? So they read Kiyosaki, and then he said that, um, you knock on the door and you lowball the guy, you know, and then he hate you and, and try to, you know, uh, shoot something after you or do something about this, and angry some. But one of the 10 you can buy the house. Mm-hmm, [01:23:00] mm-hmm, mm-hmm. You know? You go house to house and try to lowball the guys, and every 10 will agree.

[01:23:05] Aaron: Yeah. You 

[01:23:06] Marian: know? 

[01:23:06] Aaron: That’s the Kiyosaki teaching. 

[01:23:07] Marian: Yes. Okay. And some other stuff. Sure. Yeah. Yes. So and I say, “So how many houses you can buy now, even with lows- low price?” None. “So why you are talking about that?” You see? Yeah. So it’s totally the- 

[01:23:24] Aaron: Useless information. Yeah. I mean, what are you… If you’re not, if you don’t even have cash or nothing to buy- Yeah

[01:23:29] Aaron: wh- why is that important? 

[01:23:30] Brad: Yeah. 

[01:23:31] Marian: And that’s the problem of those people, because they get b- they had been at, even here, implanted with you can start business only when you have a money. 

[01:23:41] Brad: Mm. Yeah. Yeah, it’s true. It’s, I mean, it’s not true- Yeah … but that has been definitely drilled in. 

[01:23:47] Marian: Yes. 

[01:23:47] Brad: Yeah. Yeah. The saying is 

[01:23:49] Marian: it takes- But that’s very false.

[01:23:49] Marian: This- Very, very false … 

[01:23:50] Brad: the saying is, “It takes money to make money.” Yeah. It’s not true. 

[01:23:53] Marian: Yeah. It 

[01:23:54] Brad: takes courage to make money. 

[01:23:56] Marian: The mind i- is creating. 

[01:23:58] Brad: Yeah. 

[01:23:59] Marian: Yeah. So the mind can [01:24:00] create the money, you know? Mm-hmm. Yeah, that’s right. If you get a good idea and you work hard, there is no way you cannot make things from zero to whatever you want.

[01:24:08] Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. 

[01:24:09] Marian: You know? So that will be the awesome book because I, I’m really meeting m- young people, and they do have a problem in mind with that. Yeah. They think they, they just wait for opportunity. They just wait for something, I don’t know what. But nobody get the idea, kick his ass, and go for it. 

[01:24:31] Brad: Yeah.

[01:24:32] Marian: Mm-hmm. You know? They all trying to rather look on people which has done that- 

[01:24:36] Brad: Mm-hmm … 

[01:24:37] Marian: 30 years ago, and they are seeing them now, and I wanna be like that. Yeah. And they for- they have forgotten all those steps which were in front. Yeah. And there has been no difference. You did the same way, you did the same way.

[01:24:50] Marian: Yeah. I did the same way as you. It’s just hard work. Yeah. 

[01:24:54] Brad: Yeah. 

[01:24:55] Marian: You know, especially, I mean, there is probably some politicians in Slovakia [01:25:00] which stole some money, but maybe even some in, uh, US. I don’t know. I don’t care. Plenty. Yes, I don’t care, but, uh, normal people, if you don’t wanna be cheater, if you don’t wanna be politician, if you wanna be productive, let’s produce.

[01:25:13] Aaron: Yeah. 

[01:25:13] Marian: You know? Do something nice. That’s, that’s, uh, basically what will be, uh, good to show them what exactly do you need to do in order to get little by little, you know? Yeah. 

[01:25:25] Aaron: Yes. Yeah. So when the book is ready, please let us know. We’ll add it to the notes. Okay, the show notes. There’s a question we ask everybody on here, um, which is, in your own words, what is Scientology?

[01:25:38] Marian: Scientology for me is really the, the, as it describe, is the way how to know how to do things, how things are around us, you know? So it’s, it’s whole philosophy about understanding of life. Mm-hmm. Life related to a, a physical universe, life related to a [01:26:00] p- other people, you know? 

[01:26:01] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[01:26:02] Marian: It’s amazing thing because, uh, the biggest problem in, uh, for people to live is that they don’t know themself.

[01:26:10] Brad: Mm-hmm. Wow. 

[01:26:11] Marian: So, and, uh, Scientology is the way how to know about yourself the most, you know? And, uh, this is the basic, basic of enter into a real world with living lives- 

[01:26:27] Aaron: Mm … 

[01:26:28] Marian: for me. 

[01:26:29] Aaron: Mm-hmm. 

[01:26:29] Marian: Because through the Scientology you can learn things about how to live better life. Mm. How to behave with your children, how to, how to, you know, negotiate with your business partner.

[01:26:41] Marian: Mm-hmm. You, you know, what was the plus, what was the minuses. Even it’s, it’s so easy. I know it’s very uncomprehensible for the, a lot of people because it’s so simple. 

[01:26:55] Brad: Yep. 

[01:26:56] Marian: You know? It’s, uh, more of a- [01:27:00] Um, think like, uh, people would say, “I need to know the people before I, I, um, let’s say deal with him.” 

[01:27:12] Aaron: Mm-hmm.

[01:27:12] Marian: That’s true, you know? But how do you know him if you don’t know yourself? Mm. So you have to know self, yourself before you can look in, uh, in others, you know? Yeah. The people which are looking to others first are never gonna learn. Yeah. You know? Because that’s then the wrong sequence. Mm-hmm. You have to start from yourself.

[01:27:33] Marian: So I think it’s a, it’s a key. For me, it’s a key, always. I’m right now going there for some help because I think I have some chess which I need to play in the business- Mm-hmm … you know? Yeah. And, uh, when something is not clear, I’m, um, I’m looking for Scientology for help. 

[01:27:52] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[01:27:53] Marian: You know? Whether it is in book or it is in, uh, auditing- Mm-hmm

[01:27:56] Marian: you know? So Scientology has answer pretty [01:28:00] much for everything. 

[01:28:01] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[01:28:01] Marian: You know? 

[01:28:02] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[01:28:02] Marian: So yeah, because I wouldn’t be able to even have, uh, 14 companies by me running them. It will be completely crazy. 

[01:28:12] Aaron: Yeah. 

[01:28:12] Marian: You know? Yeah. So the biggest thing is to know the person. You start to trust him, and you put him into his position, and, uh, you teach him how to do that position, and then he can do it, and then you just observe and look for the indicators, for the statistics, you know?

[01:28:30] Marian: And, uh, that’s how you can run the company from US, and the company will be in Slovakia, Romania, or whatever you want. Yeah. You know? And that’s how you can then multiply things, you know, multiply things. Of course, it’s really require good observation. Mm-hmm. Good observation. 

[01:28:48] Brad: Mm-hmm. 

[01:28:48] Marian: Because, uh, it’s very easy to get tangled with

[01:28:52] Brad: Yeah. 

[01:28:54] Marian: True. It’s not that easy then come out of it, you know? Yeah. It’s, even the business, it’s always, [01:29:00] I’m, I’m describing this as a, um, marriage. It’s even more difficult than marriage. Because, uh, once you get your partner in the business, it’s not only his advantage. He’s good seller. Oh, I’m gonna do business with him because he can do this, he can do that, you know?

[01:29:18] Marian: But then you get into it and then you suddenly figure it out that he has a loan, or he has a wife, or the wife has a mother, you know? Or things like that, you know? And that those things are getting complicated later on. Mm-hmm. You know? I do have about four partners in different companies- Mm-hmm … in four different companies, but those people I know for 30 years Yeah.

[01:29:42] Marian: Good. Yeah. I don’t know if, uh, if some of them are less than 30 years. 

[01:29:46] Brad: Yeah. 

[01:29:47] Marian: So that’s, that’s how I have been able to, uh, control all those things without going, you know, crazy a little bit. Yeah. Beautiful. 

[01:29:56] Brad: Very good. Yeah. 

[01:29:57] Aaron: Amazing, Marian. Thank you so much for coming [01:30:00] on. Thanks for sharing. 

[01:30:00] Brad: No problem. Anytime.

[01:30:02] Aaron: All right. Remember, everybody, don’t do 

[01:30:04] Brad: nothing. 

[01:30:05] Don’t do nothing.