
"When you open your mouth, the world will discover who you really are." - Larry Raskin 38-year veteran in sales and marketing, former VP of Leadership Development, and the man I credit to teaching me how to communicate and build businesses. This one is personal. Larry didn't start in sales, he started in pro baseball. An injury ended that, so he pivoted into the only world he knew: fitness. Managing health clubs through the fitness boom, 10 to 10, six days a week. At some point the math became obvious. The harder he worked, the richer other people got. He was the engine with no equity. So he answered a newspaper ad, walked into a strip mall meeting that looked nothing like the six-figure promise in the listing, and almost left. He stayed because he loved the concept, not the product. Business ownership with income that worked beyond his own effort. And he never looked back. Over the next 38 years became one of the most successful producers, sales trainers and leadership speakers in his company’s history. Then the pandemic hit and Larry went from the top of the mountain back to zero. He didn't coast. He started over. At 43, heart blockages. More stents in 2005. Bypass surgery at 66. Back in the gym after every single one. "It isn't what happens to you. It's what happens in you that matters." Now at Zinzino, a science-backed preventative health company built around test-based, personalized nutrition, he's more fired up than he's been in decades. His philosophy hasn't changed in 38 years: your organization will never outgrow your personal development. Treat it like a business or don't. Find the voices worth emulating. Repeat until it sticks.