Mark Rothschild: Entrepreneur, CEO, Rabbi and Now Writer of "Accidental Wisdom"

SPEAKER_1 (0:04)

Pickleball Media presents the I Used to Be Somebody Show, produced live at the Landau Tiki Bar in Sacramento. Here's our host, Karl Landau.

Carl Landau (0:17)

Welcome to Landau Tiki Bar in the I Used to Be Somebody Show. Who builds a hundred million dollar business, becomes a part time rabbi, and now is a professional writer in Unretirement? I'll explain in a minute. First, I want to thank this month's sponsors. Thank you so much to our loyal sponsor, Capital Advantage Wealth Management. And please check out Gary Surack's very cool new How to Retire and Not Die video series. Following today's interview, we've got two super fun segments. First, we talked to the Unretirement Wisdom with Pros guys. Today, we talked about the secret key to unretirement success. It's not about the money. It's about building a great social connections and how you can do it really easy and fun. That is followed by Pickleball Chronicles with Traver. Traver and I talked about the big M in Pickleball success, momentum, catch it.

Oh, and before I forget, I want you all to know next year's I Used to be Somebody World Tour where it will take place.

Bordeaux, France. In September 2027, in just one year, Diana and I, we really haven't been in France very much before, are really excited.

I've heard the Bordeaux area is the best, and we're going there right in the middle wine crush season. We did a soft announcement last month to past attendings. We already have 18 of the 20 spots are taken. But if you're interested, still go to our website, pickballmediahq.com for all the details. I want to thank one of our listeners, Ted Fireman from Columbus, Ohio, who sent me Mark Rothschild's Substack, Accidental Wisdom. And just to add a note, he said, I think you're going to really like this guy.

I know I'm not supposed to play favorites, but this is one of my all time favorite interviews. I know you're really going to enjoy it. In Mark's 40s, he became a first time entrepreneur and started Right at School. An afternoon program, this company turned into a total monster success. Today, there's programs in 1200 schools across the country, serving tens of thousands of kids. In 12 years, he built the program into a $100 million business.

Mark sold the business just a few years ago. And just as a side note, Mark earlier in his life became a rabbi, which is an entirely different story. But today he calls himself, rightfully so, a writer. He's got 30,000 plus subscribers on his Substack, Accidental Wisdom, which is a wonderful and thoughtful and very funny essays. He writes for all the big time media outlets as well. Sit back and listen to my interview with Mark Rothschild.

Mark Rothschild (3:36)

You lose that authority, you lose that title, and you have to be okay with that.

As many of your guests have said, it's best to start thinking about that before you do it. Because if you think you can't wait for that first day and you're going to just play golf or pickleball or tennis or write that book or do whatever, that's false.

Carl Landau (4:05)

Hi Mark, welcome to the I Used to be Somebody show.

Mark Rothschild (4:08)

Thanks Carl, great to be here.

Carl Landau (4:10)

Yeah, so I know you like to travel around, you like to bounce around, particularly between the Midwest and the West Coast. So where are you today?

Mark Rothschild (4:19)

I am in my San Diego office looking at a beautiful sunshine.

Carl Landau (4:24)

Okay, otherwise, you're in Chicago?

Mark Rothschild (4:27)

Exactly right.

Carl Landau (4:28)

Mark, I want to introduce you to the audience. Mark Rothschild is a writer, speaker, rabbi and entrepreneur. Most recently, he founded Right at School, a national educational enrichment company that he sold in 2023

In unretirement, Mark concentrates on writing, teaching and speaking. He has over 30,000 subscribers on his substack called Accidental Wisdom. His essays appeared in AARP, Kaveller and Chicago Story Press. His work and commentary have been featured on The Moth, The Today Show, National Radio and Podcasts, and he has spoken on stage across the country. We're going to talk about that and a lot more, but first on I Used to Be Somebody Show, we like to play a little icebreaker game. So, Mark, are you willing to play the game?

Mark Rothschild (5:22)

I'm in.

Carl Landau (5:23)

Okay.

The name of our company is Pickleball Media. Mark, what is your Pickleball experience?

Mark Rothschild (5:31)

It is a great place for my family and I to get together and hit. I play a lot of tennis, but when the family is all together, we always go to the pickleball courts down the street and it's a blast.