Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode. A couple of nukes. As always, I'm your host, Mr. Whiskey. And today I am with Mr. Andrew Ronchetto, and we were going to be talking about mental health and healing and kind of breaking down with so much mental health talk in the past few years with a lot of words becoming very popular, a lot of programs being launched, We're losing some meanings in some important aspects.
We're hyper focusing on certain parts and Mr. Ronquedo is here to help us look at the bigger picture, the other details, make sure we're doing this properly. And Mr. Ronquedo, I want you to start with defining holistic wellness for us because the word holistic, holistic healing, wellness has become a very big word in past few years.
And I think there's a lot of misunderstandings, misuse of it. And so I'd like you to share with us what that means for you and your business and the people you take care of now. Absolutely. And first, thank you so much for having me on, Mr. Whiskey. I really appreciate the opportunity to talk to you and your listeners.
You know, for us at beyond, we look at holistic wellness as all aspects of who you are as an individual. So we traditionally hear a lot of things about like the physical, the mental, the spiritual side of it. And there's lots of apps out there and there's lots of intensity and focus in those areas. But we also see this lack of visibility sometimes, or even interrelationship of those items with things like relationships, economics, surroundings, where we live.
You know, what we're a part of community wise our careers. I mean, it's a third of our life yet it doesn't play a fundamental role. So for us, holistic wellness is really looking at all these aspects. And I think it's important that we think about them comprehensively and look at how we create, and we'll probably get into this, but.
Make conscious decisions about where we place our energy and our focus, realizing that. We can't tackle them all at the same time. So I think it's that being able to come out of the subconscious and go towards the conscious and making those decisions is a big part of helping us move forward as individuals and really being the best of ourselves.
And the last few guests I spoke with, we actually talked about burnout and that's a huge thing because of social media, because of how fast everything is, the constant demand and this pressure to get everything done so instantly to tackle so many projects at once and to be recording all of it and posting all of it at the same time.
A lot of people are stretching themselves then. So I agree. It's very important to. Not try to tackle everything at once and to make a proper plan. And so, Mr. Roncato, how did you get this viewpoint where, you know, we live in such a cluttered world. Everything's all intermingled and things are being left out.
So how did you discover this viewpoint where you said, Hey, We got to look at this other stuff too. What brought about that revelation for you? Well, the beauty of this is I think it's obviously it's slightly different for everyone. And for me and my co founder Stacey, it's totally different, but both of us came about it in a very similar way is about a year and a half ago.
Due to I'll say career and really pushing myself like a lot of folks do being able to handle a lot of stress over multiple years in consulting that stress manifested itself. Essentially, I would argue into some herniated discs in my back. And I know for all those folks out there that have had that happen for any number of reasons, it's no fun.
I was having another baby with my wife. I was not able to pick up our, her current daughter. So, you know, all these things that are so important to your life, just all of a sudden come into focus and clarity and. I was working with a fitness coach at the time and also bringing in a physical therapist and very quickly I started to feel like a traffic cop.
Like here I am, the person who's hurt and nothing against them, their processes. I love these guys. I think they do awesome work. Heck, I still, work with them today. But you know, the systems and the way we talk about things just. Put me in the center of the spot where I was constantly having to navigate through everything myself.
And that, that was frustrating. That it was my recovery journey, so to say to use that term. And I spent more time just trying to figure out who said what, why, when, you know, what is, how do we translate one thing to another? And I think that for me was the fundamental basis of looking to get beyond the platform off the ground is.
You know, our journeys in life are ours. They're individual, not to be selfish, but we got to focus on ourselves a little here, you know, of course, focus on family and everybody around you. But when we don't have technology that helps with that, it's a problem. And when are the practitioners and the advisors and the coaches and the mentors that are trying to help you don't have access to those capabilities where you can bring them in.
So you got to fill out a thousand forms just to get started with them. Right. We're all familiar with that. It's just, it's chaos. And we're a technology advanced society. We've got to be able to do something better here. And that's really what kind of got me into this space and my background in consulting and technology pushed it that way.
So trying to make things simpler so that the people who are on their journey of healing Have less stress. The last thing we want to do is add stress to their life, add all these obstacles and discourage them. So I understand that. And I just want to clarify for everyone listening. It is beyond B E space.
Oh, and not beyond like B E Y. I know they sound a little bit similar. So I just want to clarify for everyone. And I actually want to ask you, Mr. Ron Ketto, Where did that name develop from? And what exactly does that mean to you? And what should it mean to all of us? Well, for me, it's very simple.
The whole aspect and the simplicity of it, of being on, you know, I think I look at it from a transformational perspective and sometimes we want to get after making ourself better. Sometimes we want to be. In the moment and present with what we have and both of those are good places to be.
I think the intentionality behind beyond is that we're consciously making those decisions and have the tools and the assets and the support that help us go through that. And that's the essence of beyond it. It's there. To support you when you need it and out of the way when you don't so being on as this conscious consciousness of how technology can support you rather than take away from you.
Okay. And how long have you had this business for? We launched the business back in April, 2023. So I think we we've all been through a lot after the pandemic. And I kinda got on the tail end of that. Like I was saying, when I got hurt. We put the first version out into the market about a year later.
So earlier this April and we're actually launching a version two here really soon, which is opening up a lot more tools and capabilities. So this idea that we keep refining it in a way that helps all these different. Use cases that people might have, because like we said, we're all unique, right?
Well, first of all, congrats on, well, I guess it's a half a year has passed now since your one year anniversary, but not too long ago you had that one year anniversary. So that's awesome. And thank you who should use beyond and why, what exactly does that process look like?
No, it's a great question. So when we launched it back in April the platform itself, what we really wanted to do is focus on a few key things. And I think these are fundamentally what make us unique from a technology perspective. There's tens of thousands of apps out there. So through the clutter and for us, it's almost in the simplicity aspect of it.
So one of those for me, and I'm sure we could go down a whole rabbit hole on this is how we look at data privacy. So for us, you know, you go into a practitioner, you're somebody and all the information you give to them, it's essentially theirs. You could ask for it, you know, you could fill out probably paperwork to get it, et cetera.
But they have to control it, manage it. You know, do whatever they want to with it and use an individual. Don't really know where it's at. You don't have control over your privacy. And what we did with the platform from an architectural perspective from the ground up is totally flipped that on its head.
When you start off a session with a coach or a mentor, I almost call it like a transaction. You know, you come into the platform for the first time and all the data they collected on you. Is instantly transferred to you. You own it. So the beauty of this is we're looking at it to say, look, you've got practitioners out there that have all this IP.
They're knowledge, you're going to them and now the ownership, which they own, and now the ownership of your data, which you own, comes together to create information and context to help you move forward. And I think that's the beauty of what we're doing here. That's different. Like people talk about web 3.
0 and blockchain, the solving purpose. It doesn't change the problem, which is it has to be a conscious effort on a business side to do that. So that was the first part. And I bring that up because for practitioners, that matters from a business perspective, from a risk perspective, what they have to manage and control, and so we focused on that with them.
The second part of it was for practitioners and where we got started with this on was around digitalizing their services. You could go out and build a website today. But unless you're technically savvy or you wanna spend most of your time and energy there, you, which is not your forte, you're gonna struggle and digitalizing your services as you go from this localized, you know, ho at home type of experience or in a, an office.
When you go to the internet, you globalize. So instantly everything's accessible to everybody. And so if you don't do it the right way, it can cause some massive ramifications for you as a business owner. And so our key here was to help them digitalize their services, but more importantly, not lose themselves when they do it.
You know, this every platform out there has got, you can add a web widget here and a widget there and, but it's their box. You know, they tell you how many boxes you can have, what can be in those boxes. And what we really started to build with beyond is the ability to digitalize your value as a practitioner.
So everything that you got up in your mind, what you collect data wise, what the flow is of your conversations, how you go through kind of this iterative process with your clients to grow over their journey, we can digitalize all of it and give you, we give you a means of doing that. So that was the second part of it.
And then the third part of it for us was really around enabling practitioners to look at technology differently with their clients and doing it in a trusted way, and that is where the two of those things come together, the data privacy and ownership, as well as then I'll say digitalization of the value, like I was saying, and that was where we focused when he is.
So, you know, back to the part of your original question here where we We're looking to help practitioners, mentors, coaches get into the cloud. If they're already in the cloud, rethink about how they're engaging with their clients. And then through that, open it up to their clients. And that was really where we pushed our first step.
Last part I'll say is, you know, from a version two perspective, we're opening that up more broadly, and we're also opening up capabilities for organizations. So all three of these different. You know, dimensions of the same individual now can play a role in their journey. Right. And so first off, I did have a chuckle because I built and run my own website.
And I think being a podcaster. Is one of the most difficult websites to run because you have to update it weekly or however frequently, every time you go to an event so websites require a lot of maintenance and work. So you're definitely very true to that. You know, I never realized it until I made one and having two podcasts at release on, on different days of the week.
I've always got to go back and edit it because you never want your website to not be up to date. You know, you never know. Who's going to look at it? You know, it could be the right person at the right time. And you could have a sloppy website cause you got behind and now it's like, Ooh, Hey, there it is.
And plus I had to, I put every guest, all their information. So it's a lot of work, but to clarify for everyone listening, so beyond isn't. Where people who want practitioners go to find them. It is a tool for practitioners to better manage their coaching and their workflow and their data storage. Is that, is that correct?
At the present time. Yes. Well, we hope as we grow that base of practitioners and coaches and mentors, et cetera, that we'll be able to open it up to flip it the other way. You're not to get too much into how AI can help with that because there's a dimension of it, but the most important part for us is relationships.
So creating those connections with practitioners and advisors. But you know, we'll flip on that switch. I think when there's enough. Momentum going on the practitioner side that then you can come around on the other side as an individual and find somebody to work with. Perfect. So if I was someone who wanted to find a practitioner, I could go to beyond and there would be a, you know, a forum or a list of the different coaches and practitioners, and then maybe even you can tell an AI prompt, like what specifically you're looking for, and it can match you with one of those practitioners that's best suited for you.
Exactly. And here's the part that we haven't talked about yet that I love the most. Even without not, even not having that today doesn't mean you can't do something about it. So version two comes out, we're opening it up for individuals to actually engage in the platform directly themselves. You could start a journey.
Like you don't need to begin with a practitioner. You might just say, I got to put something on paper. I want to go explore the world. And I have no idea how to go about that. I just know it's going to cost a lot of money and I got to do a lot of research, whatever the journey is. The point being is you could get it started and get yourself all your thoughts down on to paper, to the point that then you're ready to engage.
And the best part about the platform is you can engage them directly through the platform and say, Hey, I already got this journey started. I got all this information in there. Let me share it with you. Drop me your email. You can log in. And because I own the data, I'm. You know, providing access to it. I'm not transferring the data at that point, but I'm able to bring them into a journey.
So I think there's an exciting dynamic here about, yes, we hope it'll start from practitioners and bring it out to their clients, but from the other side, you know, relationships kind of go through these flows and, you know, sometimes they're on, sometimes they're off, but the point being is in either case, you're able to manage that as an individual and bring people into it.
Right. And so. I know there's the website. Is there a mobile app? And if not, is that something in the works? Oh, it's definitely in the works. We're mobile ready today. So you could use us on your phone, but you know, I get it. People want to, you know, sometimes quickly get to an app. So it is common.
It's not far off. But like I said, we're making sure that you can still access all the capabilities today, even if you're on, you know, a Samsung device or an Apple device, you choose. Well, and ladies and gentlemen, if making a website isn't hard enough, making a mobile app separate from the website is just as much or more work.
So I just want everyone to know that, but that is awesome. I've learned a lot myself. Yeah, but like you said it is mobile friendly. If you just go to the internet and go to the website, it will work on your mobile device and it will look clean and you can do everything that you could do on the computer.
So. Speaking of computers, I just had to compliment your setup. Do you, are you a gamer or do you like stream or something? You've got multiple monitors. You've got the wall of the nerd, you know, memorabilia. It looks like you might have some other lives you're living here. Well, you know, this is my life right now.
But behind me here, you've got, you know, four monitors. I got, I went a little bit crazy. But it helps me work. Like I've figured out kind of my workflow and how I keep everything straight. So I don't feel like I'm constantly, I hate flipping through, you know, one screen. So yes, this, this setup has kind of hit a sweet spot for me.
I wouldn't say it's for everybody, but that's definitely for work. And I've got a separate one on the other side here where I'm talking with you. I don't feel like I'm always setting up, shutting down everything. I get that that workflow is important and I get the going through all these tabs and stuff.
I get that. My former roommate is one step above you actually, you know, it's not a competition, but he had VR and he had multiple screens and he had, like, he was touching these, he looked insane doing it, obviously, because he's just in the middle of the room and he's got the VR headset on and he's shirtless.
But he had all these different screens. He was doing like Ironman level of stuff. He had like four or five screens and he was interacting it. Like he. Really put money into it though. I mean, he was, he loved VR. He lived in that world. You know, he was always in the VR world for video games, for work, for everything.
And it's interesting to think what the future will be like one day with that. But well, I agree with you, like, I don't know if Apple's still doing it, but those vision pro demos into an Apple store, man, I was blown away. Like I've used various VRS, but I'm like, I could totally see this being a game changer.
You know, it needs, needs some work and that's not a, you know, a, a dis. So to say, because it's already pretty crazy, like, but I'm excited to see where that goes. Cause it's, it's definitely changed in the world. I haven't gotten to try one yet. I will take your recommendation and definitely go try it out.
But focusing on mental health, what I think would be great about it is when people say, go to your happy place, you can actually go to your happy place. You know, you can sit down and be at the beach one level further than I am right now, you know, with the green screen. You could actually. I don't know how realistic it looks like you said it did do some work, but it's like fully immersed, right?
Oh, a hundred percent. Like, I Good old apple, you know, they, they'll sit you down. You got a really comfortable suede seat or nice seat, you name it. Like, and the associates there and she's walking through this demo. But I was like, I just wanna do this casually. I mean, I looked weird 'cause I had a VR headset on.
She didn't, but, you know, she was like right next to me. While we were on the beach or we were up on the mountains, like, I was fascinated by it. And the other cool thing is I didn't have any wands. So she's like, some people are up here, you know, with their hands grabbing everything. She's like, you can do that.
And I was like, no, I want to chill here. Like lay back. Let's, You know, all you see is my hand right down by my waist is kind of clicking and moving and, and she was like, Oh yeah, you can do that too. Like, and she was right. Like, I just, I felt like I was just in immersed in both the technology and the conversation with her.
Which I hadn't felt before with previous VR headsets. Wow. And so how does that work? If there's other people in the room, they just. Or like the only thing that's not VR, I guess, like, wow, that's like, it's phenomenal how they're blending the two. I mean, I would, there, there was I know we kind of got off track on here, but there is a point to why I went to, to look at the VR is it's amazing.
There was another article that they talk with, like Tim cook about 10 years ago, it was. The same VR headset took up like a whole like office building or something crazy like that. And you could hear the humming of the servers behind this massive box coming over your head, like 10 years ago, like to now that it's something you can just hold on your face.
Right. Well, and we're talking right now with my, my Bluetooth sunglasses, for those of you who aren't watching, and it'll get to the point where we can have VR through just like sunglass size things, and then, you know, As a nerd, I'm excited for a real life Pokemon, like if it gets to the point of realistic blending and obviously they'll get more and more realistic looking things, it's going to, it'll be bad.
People are going to lose sight of what's real and what's not, unfortunately. And there's so many dangers, but there's so many good things, which we'll get into like meditation. And a lot of people have trouble actually. You know, quieting out their surroundings, like, for example, single moms who have a bunch of kids running around the house always loud and it can be hard to just like, close your eyes and relax.
But when you feel like you're somewhere else, I know me personally, I'm excited for some people were going to the bathroom and they're sitting on top of a mountain overlooking everything. It's a, it's a feeling, but I think it will be good thing for those escapes and. Since we're on the topic, you know, Mr.
Roncato, what do you do in your life to help you de stress and to heal, especially when you went through those troubling times, especially, you know, I had an uncle with messed up herniated discs and stuff and they had to inject fluid into him and everything. He said it was a painful, awful experience.
One of the worst pains he ever had was having a messed up back. So I can only imagine how stressful that was mentally and physically. Yeah, no, it was definitely a lot. it forced me to obviously rethink what I was doing from a career perspective. Like I needed to slow down. My body was telling me, look, dude, if you don't do something now, there's the only things that are going to get worse.
Right. And. You know, for me, it started, I had to go on this decomp machine. So your James Bond person, I remember Sean Connery, like being pulled apart rapidly, a little bit more a little bit more advanced these days than back then. So it doesn't feel like you're going to pass out, but you know, I was on that for an extended period of time.
I actually still do it now on a regular basis from a maintenance perspective. But what I've, you know, to your question is one for me has been, I'll say, just totally disconnecting from technology. And that's hard because I'm trying to build a technology company, right? Right. Build a company. You need social, you know, we're here.
But I really try to put my phone down. I call them, like digital detox moments. We actually included it in the platform. It's like, yeah, disconnect from us. Like, wait a second. That's kind of counterintuitive. You know, what is a digital detox moment for you versus me? I mean, I've gotten to the point where I can just leave my phone completely off the table.
I could put it across the room and not touch it and just be present with my family at the time. And I'm fortunate to be able to do that. But that's a big one for me is, you know, being able to put the phone away. The other one is, has been to spend time with my family. On the weekends after work, just that ability to see how their day was, watch them grow, because I feel like you, you sometimes say goodbye as they go to school in the morning and they come home and you're like, they're a totally different person.
So being able to spend those times in those moments with them as a great opportunity for me. And then of course time with my wife. She is. A blessing. She is my rock. She makes me, it makes this company possible. So I always thank her as much as I can, because I'd be able to do what I'm doing without her.
And so family is really important for me and taking away that moment. And then, like I said, I do maintenance on physical therapy. I try to walk. I'm still working on my journeys. Like there's other things I want to fit into my life. Right. But that's partly where I'm trying to use the platform being realistic with myself.
Like I'm consciously making these decisions about what I can actually fit in versus what I can't. And that is making me happier. I think that's important. It's just that we're, you know, I might want to be better, but I'm also Understanding of the point I am right now. And I think those, all these things help for me.
I think that goes back directly to what we started with in the beginning, which was tackling so many projects at once, trying to do everything. And I think a lot of business owners or companies or individual entrepreneurs try to do so much and they lose sight of, their mission. Trying to branch out to all these other little.
Assets too, because they see other people are being successful with it or making money with it. But they end up ultimately taken away from the purpose of what their platform or business was created to do. Or, you know, it's, it can be a very negative thing as much as it is positive. So I think that's important to focus on.
And like you said, the digital detox more than ever, I mean, social media and the speed of technology has given everyone FOMO, fear of missing out. Unfortunately, and. It's hard, but we also have to focus on that, you know, you're afraid of missing out of all this stuff across the world that ultimately is not very relevant to your life, you know, there are people, what you're missing out on is time with your family, like I said, your family who's right there, your friends who are right there.
And you're worried about people across the globe, you know, and you should really focus on what's important to you. There's always gonna be social media, right? There's always gonna be those funny clips or those advice and stuff. But you only get to see your kids grow up once, like you said, and every day you lose more of that.
And so I think that's important that people unplug and So I think that's important that people unplug and You said something when you said that you can leave your phone on the other side of the room. I said that's a strong man. Not many people can do that. Everyone always has their phone attached to their hip.
And so, you know, it's But think about it for a second, like, and I, and this isn't like to be a criticism. This is like a digital detox moment for me is that, but I will tell you three years ago, man, deleting the Outlook app as I was going on paternity leave was near impossible. Like, talk about FOMO related to career
Like, we're like so it has been a massive journey for me. So like, I think the most important thing about like digital detox moments is finding something that you're comfortable with. You know, like if it means, just having it on the table next to you, but, so the screen is down, I mean, shoot.
That's progress. Like, it's just how helping yourself get to a point that you're happy with it and you feel in control of it rather than it feeling like it's in control of you. Right. Well, and there's so much anxiety and paranoia of what is there's this, this and that. But, you know, on my previous episode on sleeping, we talked about how people check their phone all throughout the night and then they end up staying up or whatever.
And she said. Do you ever see any notifications that needed to be answered immediately at 1 a. m. or whatever it is? No, everything can wait and I think a lot of people are, you know, there's so much happening in the world, anything can happen that people just are constantly waiting for something to happen that's not going to.
And so, like you said, most people, if they actually let their phone be for some time, most of them would come back and there wasn't some world shattering event, you know. Yeah. If you have some personal stuff going on and you need it, have it, I get it. But most people don't, they just are worried that something's going to happen and it doesn't.
So. Like you said, even just putting the screen down can be a good start or deleting a specific social media app or something on your phone that you just can't seem that you're always like, all right, just a few more seconds on it. And then I'm done. And then doom scrolling goes on for, for forever sometimes.
And I get what you're saying about the outlook. A lot of people can't unplug from work and they're like, what if, you know, what if they need me or something important to know? And I think A lot of reassuring people in our lives will say if they need you, they'll contact you specifically, right? You don't have to worry about.
What's going on at the company while you're not there, right? They gave you the time off to go take care of it. But I think a lot of us are like, I want to know what's going on at work. You know, I have to know, but we need to learn to unplug and focus on ourselves a little bit. And again, as you said earlier in the episode, it's not selfish to do that.
No, a hundred percent. And I just think it's hard. And I think this is where, especially in the U S we have a totally different relationship, you know, with work, with technology, all, all of these factors. So there's a couple of things not to go all quantitative on it, but, when we look at global wellness, in the recent study as of last year, There it's like 10 percent of the world from a career, like a corporate perspective, invest in wellness in some way, shape, or form.
So it's not a lot, but the irony is you start breaking it down by region. And I don't remember the exact numbers, but it was like the U S was like 50%. So we see a lot more of it in our office space or our companies then say Europe or even Asia. What's also interesting is the inverse of that is I want to say that personal reflection and what individuals like in Europe, for example, what they go after and what they see, like, they actually disconnect.
It's fascinating. And we don't get, like, yeah, they're outside or drinking some wine or, spending time with family or friends. I mean, it's crazy, but they disconnect. And I had a friend who was recently there visiting with his family and it was. Fundamentally amazing for him to see that even from a media perspective, when they were talking about everything changing here in the U S he was like, they said it and they moved on to the next thing.
Whereas here we'd spend, you know, two hours dissecting bird the way they looked, what clothes they were wearing, you name it, it was crazy. And so it's just this totally inverse reaction and we spend more on it within our corporations, but we get less from it. And our relationships with technology and social media and everything is so intense.
But when you look at other parts of the world where arguably they, they do show happier happiness, so to say they also spend less time on all of these things. Right. Appreciate it. Well, because they don't have to. So, and it's funny that you mentioned that all, every time I see social media content from other countries, it's always an American who went there or lives there, who is the one filming all of this stuff.
I know I don't see, I mean, trust me, there are influencers out there from other countries, but there's a lot of just America taking their social media and going to other countries and, you know, interviewing them or doing whatever it is, so. Like you said, they spend a lot more time outside and everything.
And people don't realize how powerful it is to go outside just for a little bit. And like you said, even just going for a walk. So we really do need to unplug and a lot of people go outside and then they're on their phone or their laptop outside, which it's better. It is an improvement. It is a step in the right direction, but you should really unplug.
You know, I see all these people at these. You know, at waterfronts or parks or beaches and they're on their phone. And it's like, I don't know, get a sketchbook or sit there. It's like, you know, we're so Americans in particular. So we can't just sit there. Our minds are just thinking about too much stuff all the time.
We can't just relax. So I totally agree with you and ladies and gentlemen, again, In the description for the episode, we will have the link to the be on website
so, Mr. Ron kiddo, before we close off the episode, is there anything else you wanted to share with us? You know, I think we hit on it, but I just, I want to close it off with this. Be the best you, and that best of you is what you see it being, not what somebody else has seen. So I think that's what we should strive for.
I'm gracious for the opportunity to talk with you today about all these different facets and shoot, we could have gone probably five hours longer. I'm sure. But I think how we can help use technology to help with that. Even though we were talking about digital detox is so important and how we make you the center of it is critical to your success and using your relationships to grow as well as important.
So thank you for the time to share. All right. And thank you for everything that you shared. I appreciate it again, ladies and gentlemen, in description below, you can find all the information you need to get in contact. So again, Mr. Ron Kittle, thank you. Thank you so much.
