Building Community and Connection in Business with David DeLorenzo

**Stephen Sakach** (0:00)
It's like right under your shoulders.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:04)
The Bliss Business Podcast, the show about empathy, connection, and consciousness in business. Today's episode is brought to you by Zero Company, your paid search, social media, and programmatic ad experts.

**Stephen Sakach** (0:18)
Hey DeLorenzo, is that a life size Yoda behind you? Or what exactly is the size of Yoda? Do you think that would be life size or like pretty big?

**David DeLorenzo** (0:26)
It's like 5,000 out of 9,500 ever made.

**Stephen Sakach** (0:30)
Oh wow. Yeah, if you're listening, this won't make any sense, but go tune in to the video version of it, and you can see he's got a little rather large life size version of Yoda. Anyway, welcome back to the Bliss Business Podcast. I'm your host, Stephen Sakach, with my co-host, Mike Liwski. Today's conversation, we're exploring how community, true human connection isn't just a soft asset in business, it's a cornerstone of success. Whether you're building a brand, network, a company culture, the ability to connect with others often determines how far you go. Mike, tell everyone who our guest is today for this conversation. Oh, Stephen.

**Mike Liwski** (1:13)
I am excited to do so. Absolutely. So today, we're thrilled to have David DeLorenzo. Many of you will probably fondly know him as D-Lo. He's an entrepreneur. He's the author of the book Just Getting Started and founder of Bar & Restaurant Insurance. It's a premier insurance agency for the whole hospitality industry. So David isn't just your typical business leader, as you'll find out today on the show.
From his days as a record exec to becoming a trusted advisor to some of the top restaurant and bar owners in the country, he's built a brand rooted in trust, empathy, and service, which we know we love to talk about here on the show, and our audience is very keen on. David is also a published author, motivational speaker, with decades of experience helping entrepreneurs navigate both business growth and that personal reinvention. His book, in fact, Just Getting Started, reflects his belief that life can begin anew at any moment. David's passion for building deep connections is evident in how he shows up as a leader, a creative, and as a community builder, and we're looking forward to learning a lot more about that here today. David, welcome to the show. Thank you for coming on.

**David DeLorenzo** (2:39)
Yeah, thank you for that introduction. That was really nice.
I like to tell people I'm more of a storyteller than really a motivational speaker. I'm not here to motivate anybody. You got to motivate yourself.

**Mike Liwski** (2:52)
That is a great point. And I love that you use the power of stories. So maybe, David, to help us get started, tell us perhaps a little bit about your journey, and then maybe also include for us, what does building community mean to you, right? And why is it at the center of the work that you do?

**David DeLorenzo** (3:14)
So yeah, my journey started at, I think the precipice of it was when I was a kid and I was lying in bed and I had all the 1980 rock posters up. I'm 51 years old right now. And so I grew up in that time of the 80s when Butt Rock was huge and just a huge fan of all those bands from, you know, Poison to Cinderella to ACDC, you name it. Van Halen being my ultimate favorite band ever. And I had a big picture of Eddie Van Halen, big poster of him on there. And I remember being about 12 years old laying in bed just like, oh, you know, one day I'm going to meet him. I was just so enamored with, you know, like what a lot of kids have. They have dreams and passions and things that they, you know, think are, you know, things that are bigger than life to them.
And, you know, fast forward, I'm about, I'm at ASU and I go and I get an internship with Warner Brother Records, which is the label that Van Halen had been during their entire career, actually. And I get an internship and I end up working for Eddie Van Halen. So I've got, yeah, I got a really cool poster over here. I have a wall of fame here. I've got platinum.

**Mike Liwski** (4:22)
Very nice.

**Stephen Sakach** (4:24)
Platinum gold records there, huh?

**David DeLorenzo** (4:25)
Dignatures. So that was one of those things where I tell you that story because what it does is it creates an aptitude for mindset. It creates something that even as a kid, I knew what I was doing to put the energy and the life force out there to bring back in what I wanted. I wasn't necessarily, and this is obviously before phones and all the things that are very distracting to kids nowadays, even adults nowadays, including myself at times.