Empathy in the Workplace: Insights from a Call Center CEO

Finding the Unicorn in You podcast Episode #63. Host Dr. Jaime G. Raygoza chat with Richard Blank Finding the Unicorn in You is a podcast hosted by Dr. Jaime G. Raygoza, dedicated to empowering professionals to prevent burnout and achieve sustainable success. Each episode features engaging conversations and practical strategies that enhance career trajectories, foster work-life balance, and cultivate resilience. Join Dr. Raygoza and his guests as they explore essential topics in personal and professional development, helping you unlock your unique potential and thrive in your career. We're diving deep into the unexpected moments that transform individuals into "unicorns" in their careers. Join the host, Jaime G. Raygoza, as he interviews a diverse group of guests from different fields and backgrounds, uncovering their unique stories of inspiration, resilience, and transformation. From surprising career transitions to overcoming challenging obstacles, guests share their candid and unscripted experiences with Jaime, offering advice and inspiration for anyone on their own Unicorn Journey. Tune in to hear inspiring individuals share their personal journeys and reveal the key factors that transformed them into unicorns. Season 2 Episode 63: How Letting Go of Negativity Attracts Opportunity In a captivating podcast interview, Richard Blank chronicles his unexpected path from Philadelphia to building a thriving call center in Costa Rica. Fueled by his passion for Spanish, Richard took a leap of faith that led him to a life of adventure. His story reveals the power of following your purpose. Empathy in the Workplace: Insights from a Call Center CEO It doesn't matter what vertical you're in. When I was sitting with the people, you got to hear the gripes, the good and the bad, and the happy and the sad. And it was really their dignity and extending any sort of empathy towards them. This is not an easy job, not for the faint of heart. There is burnout and people can get pissed off. So if you're able to give them second wins, in my case, play pinball with them or just get real with them and letting them know that what they're doing is 10 times harder than some other jobs. And the fact that they're getting a return on their investment with English is fantastic. So if we can address fear and put things in perspective, there's a very good chance these individuals can reset themselves and calm down. https://youtu.be/2aNtJqs6t8E https://youtu.be/zWql-0JcWlE Dr. Jaime G. Raygoza , Finding the Unicorn in You podcast, Richard Blank,Costa Rica's Call Center, Outsourcing, Telemarketing Call Centre, BPO, Nearshore Contact Center, Sales, Entrepreneur, B2B, Business, Podcast, Gamification,Leadership, Marketing, CX, Guest, Money, B2C education, BPO trainer,call centre, contact centre, contact center About the Host Dr. Jaime G. Raygoza is an empowering Life Coach, Author, Speaker, and Podcaster who helps professionals unlock their full potential. His innovative approach shows new and burnt-out professionals to enhance their productivity, leverage their talents, become invaluable key players, aka Unicorns, in their organization, and achieve career success without sacrificing work-life balance. Feeling drained and uninspired in your career? Rainbow Career Coaching helps reignite your passion through personalized one-on-one coaching, transformative group programs like "Unapologetically Confident," engaging online classes and uplifting laughter yoga sessions. Rediscover your motivation, build unshakable confidence, and create the rewarding, fulfilling life you crave with our supportive, expert guidance. I'm Dr. Jaime G. Raygoza, a proud Gay Latino Career Coach. My mission? Providing a supportive, judgment-free space for professionals to gain the confidence they need to show up as their true selves at work. ​I work together with my clients to develop the motivation and strategies to break through those pesky barriers holding them back from their dream careers. My specialties include confidence building, burnout recovery, creating a self-care plan, stress management, resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn setup. Oh, and did I mention I'm a certified laughter yoga leader? Ha, Ha, Ha! Of course, I'll be incorporating some unique practices to help ease anxiety, depression, and mental distress. ​Listen, I know firsthand how burnout and stress can wreak havoc on your life. When I was younger, I piled on so much work/life stress that I suffered through extreme anxiety attacks that seriously impacted my quality of life. As if that wasn't bad enough, I had a major wake-up call when I almost literally worked myself to death. An exhausted, delirious drive home led to a car accident where I nearly lost my life. That experience showed me just how crucial a strong work-life balance is. ​I'm excited to share my story and expertise with your audience. Together, we can break the cycle of overworking and prioritize well-being. Who's ready to bring their full, authentic self to work? Dr. Jaime G. Raygoza, Finding the Unicorn in You podcast , Richard Blank,Costa Rica's Call Center, Outsourcing, Telemarketing Call Centre, BPO, Nearshore Contact Center, Sales, Entrepreneur, B2B, Business, Podcast, Gamification,Leadership, Marketing, CX, Guest, Money, B2C education, BPO trainer,call centre, contact centre, contact center Richard’s journey in the call center space is filled with twists and turns. When he was 27 years old, he relocated to Costa Rica to train employees for one of the larger call centers in San Jose. With a mix of motivational public speaking style backed by tactful and appropriate rhetoric, Richard shared his knowledge and trained over 10 000 bilingual telemarketers. Mr. Richard Blank holds a bachelors degree in Communication and Spanish from the University of Arizona and a certificate of language proficiency from the University of Sevilla, Spain. A Keynote speaker for Philadelphia's Abington High School 68th National Honors Society induction ceremony. In addition, inducted into the 2023 Hall of Fame for Business. Giving back to Abington Senior High School is very important to Mr. Blank. As such, he endows a scholarship each year for students that plan on majoring in a world language at the university level. Hired bassist Garry Gary Beers of INXS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieGjN5H4xPQ Costa Rica’s Call Center (CCC) is a state of the art BPO telemarketing outsource company located in the capital city of San Jose, Costa Rica. Our main focus has been, and will always be to personally train each and every Central America call center agent so that we may offer the highest quality of outbound and inbound telemarketing solutions and bilingual customer service to small and medium sized international companies, entrepreneurs as well as fortune 500 companies. We encourage you to visit one of our call centers on your next personal vacation or business trip to Central America’s paradise, Costa Rica. While you are here, we would recommend taking an extra day of your trip to visit breathtaking virgin beaches, play golf next to the ocean, try your luck at deep sea fishing, explore tropical jungles, climb volcanos or just relax in natural hot springs. Come and see for yourself why call center outsourcing in Costa Rica is a perfect solution for your growing company and a powerhouse in the BPO industry. https://costaricascallcenter.com/en/outbound-bpo-campaigns/ #DrJaimeGRaygoza #FindingtheUnicorninYoupodcast #RichardBlank #CostaRica #CallCenter #Outsourcing #Telemarketing #BPO #Sales #Entrepreneur #B2B #Business #Podcast #Gamification #CEO Start Simple: Build Habits for Success Easier said than done. Why don't we start simple? Why don't people just make their own beds in the morning? Why don't we start there? Maybe wash your car on a Sunday. Treat yourself first and make a routine out of that. Have some sort of structure. And then you'll see, you'll get a lot of first downs and then the touchdowns start coming. Exactly. Preparation and Support: Keys to Adaptation And what would you say were some things that kind of helped you not come back and stick it through? The preparation prior to Costa Rica. Once again, having that strong interest in my teens, majoring it in my 20s, earning some living from it prior to Costa Rica, and even spending my junior year abroad in Spain. And so these are the sort of things that when this opportunity came, it was extremely easy for me to acclimate myself. Plus, I had a very good friend here that owned the call center and my cousin was here. And so it was like an underhand pitch with a wiffle ball. It was crazy. And immediately I was making tons of friends. I shed some skin, spoke the language. The Strength in Vulnerability Are you capable, Jaime, of making yourself vulnerable? You have your best friends before you've told your darkest secrets and they still love you. I believe that with friendships, you can be vulnerable. If you have food on your face, your tie is not straight. And even in business, we have natural attrition here. People will leave me because of a scheduling conflict for the university. Maybe their boyfriend or girlfriend works at Amazon. It could be closer to their home and maybe other lucrative opportunities, but they never get the walk of shame or I yell at them. And when it comes to these sort of situations that you're talking about, I'll call my clients immediately. And I'll let them know what's happening. Simple Steps to Self-Improvement Easier said than done. Why don't we start simple? Why don't people just make their own beds in the morning? Why don't we start there? Maybe wash your car on a Sunday. Treat yourself first and make a routine out of that. Have some sort of structure. And then you'll see, you'll get a lot of first downs and then the touchdowns start coming. Why Costa Rica is a Top Destination I suggest they buy a first-class plane ticket like you did and apply to Costa Rica and come visit me. But if it's plan B, I got an extremely large Facebook fan page, about 111,000 local Costa Rican ticos, and it will give your audience a chance to see the business process outsourcing industry in Central America. Now, for your audience, we're north of Panama, south of Nicaragua. Costa Rica is the only democratic society in Central America. There's no standing army. They put all that money back into education. So there's a 95% literacy rate. Costa Ricans are claimed to have the most neutral English accents. We have companies such as Amazon, HP, Intel, Oracle here because of our infrastructure and our labor force. And finally, we're known for medical tourism and especially ecotourism. You can go to your hot springs and do your zip line and butterfly farms and the most beautiful beaches and surfing in the world. And I've been here for over two decades. Married the Girl of My Dreams. The Power of Starting from Scratch and Delegation What makes them so special? Why are they the moral compass? Why are they the starting quarterback? The greatest thing you could do is to start from scratch. And just keep building again. As long as you're secure with yourself, as long as physiologically you're healthy and you rest and you take care of certain things, then you're capable of expanding and thinking about others. And for me to expand, I needed to delegate. It was the richer trunk. I needed branches and roots. And so I needed leap of faiths. I needed... attorneys and accountants, human resources directors, IT directors, things that I didn't have the time, patience, or even the interest to learn. Introduction to Richard Blank's Pinball Passion Hello, hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Finding the Unicorn and Mew. Today, I have an individual who moved to Costa Rica and began collecting pinball machines. He is the CEO of Costa Rica's call center. And without further ado, I'll let him introduce himself. I have Richard Blank. I'm so happy to be here with you and your audience this evening. Got a really lot of great things to share with you. I'm really excited. So let's start off with the thing that kind of stands out to me. So Pitfall Machines. So what's the story behind that? I'm a generation X. I grew up in the seventies and eighties, $5 at the last year, a whole weekend and pinball machines were the most expensive. And so one man's trash is another man's treasure. And when you have disposable income, you can choose whatever you want to spend it on. And, To me, I love restoring classic pinball machines, retro arcade machines, and especially jukeboxes. And so I have the space. I've got a very nice collection. And really, it just brings me so much joy.