It Came Crashing Down - Rick Martinez (Entrepreneur, Nurse, & Helper)

Rick Martinez is an entrepreneur with a focus on sharing and helping others share the big life changing moments. He started out as a nurse in the Army before starting a medical staffing company out of his apartment. That company grew into a 600-employee, multi-million dollar enterprise, and when Rick made the decision to sell it he was realizing an entrepreneurial dream- he was going to have a fantastic exit to a business he had built up. As entrepreneurs we always have a big ‘pie in the sky’ goal, but when Rick realized that goal he found that it couldn’t be the end game for him. There had to be something more and he was driven to start looking for what was out there and what was next for him. Rick spent a lot of time searching for something to fill the void he was experiencing, but it wasn’t until a weight lifting accident in 2012 that his life changed. The accident made Rick reevaluate and made him stop all of the other businesses he was working in. He determined to stop doing anything that wasn’t fulfilling him and bringing him joy or happiness. He closed his gyms, he pulled the plug on some investments, and started the BINK project. The BINK project is about sharing life-changing moments, stories, and achieving happiness. “We don’t’ talk about the moments that change our lives because we feel it’s very personal and it should be ours,” says Rick. He believes we should fight the impulse to keep our life-changing moments to ourselves and instead share those moments. He’s found that sharing his BINK moment has been invigorating and liberating. Rick talks about the amazing impact he’s experienced in sharing his BINK moment; he describes the powerful effect he felt in sharing his story with his daughter. Sharing his story with his daughter not only strengthened the bond he has with her, it reminded him that his daughters were not “suspended” even though he often felt he had “suspended” his life with his family when he was working. Rick’s BINK moment changed his life entirely. He no longer lets a day go by without doing something that makes him happy. He works out of his home, outsources everything, and is able to enjoy relationships with co-workers that don’t fall into employer/employee talk. He brings great moments into his life and lets them shape him, build his journey, and build his momentum as he goes. He encourages us to be who we’re supposed to be and let everything else follow from there. We don’t have to wait for 225lbs to crush our legs for us to start doing this, says Rick, it’s something you can start doing now. Given the impact it’s had on him and his life, let's not argue with him and instead join in. Listen to my conversation with Rick here: