 Aloha. Welcome to Keys to Success, which is live on the ThinkTech live streaming network series weekly on Thursdays at 11am. I know you're expecting to see Daniella and John today, but they're off on a much needed vacation and they've asked me to host in their place today which I'm honoured to do. Thank you. My name is Vanessa Perez and welcome to the show. The goal of Keys to Success show is to provide professional and personal development tools and profound insights on how to achieve success in life, career or your business. Jason Kimmel is the CEO of Glacier City Foods located up in Anchorage in Alaska and he joined Daniella and John last week on the show. You can see his words of wisdom at the Newman Consulting Services website at NewmanConsultingServices.com or on their landing page Daniella.org. That's D-A-N-E-L-I-A.org. The theme for today is Dear Past, thank you for the lessons. Dear Future, I'm ready now. Joining me in the studio today is my honoured guest, Master Gunnery Sergeant Martin Trujillo. He's the Operations Chief for the Marine Corps Forces Pacific in Hawaii and they're located up on the Hill of Camp Smith. Mahalo for joining us today Master Gunnery Sergeant Trujillo. Hey do you think it's okay if I call you Marty? Yes please Vanessa, by all means. Thanks Marty. Hey thanks so much for joining us today. Oh thank you. What I'd really like to cover is, you know, if you're able to share a little bit of your wisdom with us and our viewers on what inspired you to join the Marine Corps almost 30 years ago. Oh let's see, coming up on 30 years, back in 1986-87 timeframe. During that time Cold War was a avid football player in the state of Colorado. I saw a photo of you Marty, it was very cool. Very young at that age but was looking for a challenge and in that challenge in Colorado at that time there wasn't a lot of opportunity that was available. Now as I look back 30 years ago I was definitely grateful for the lessons that I had through the coaches and through the educators that allowed me to actually see what opportunities were in were available at that time through the military and what's perpetuated to me where I am now. That's fantastic. Yes ma'am. I know that you know in the Marine Corps you know people have certain jobs to do and that requires a certain level of expertise for pretty much every job in the Marine Corps. Would you like to highlight for us some of the expertise that you've developed over the years? Sure. I grew up, my background was strictly the infantry. Coming up through the infantry most of my time was either in that field or also I was working with the Department of State to work in security throughout the embassies around the world. It's pretty impressive Marty, which sort of embassies did you work in? Well back in 2000, early 1990, 1991, 1992, I'm Belgrade Yugoslavia. During that time I was a young corporal traveling around the world in Yugoslavia and then from there traveled out to Santiago, Chile. During that time when there was some unrest going on in that country, again a young lad that was unafraid and experiencing life for its full potential. That's great. As a gunny went back out from the standard infantry aspect but went back out to the embassies working in Vladivostok, Russia as well as Caracas, Venezuela also had the opportunity to go out to Pyongyang, North Korea as one of the Marines that went forward into Pyongyang with Madeleine Albright at that time. It's a Secretary of State. Wow, you've traveled the world. Traveled the world, yes. How many countries, Marty? Right now it's at about 182 countries, hit all seven continents and again a whirlwind tour that allowed me to see what this great earth had to offer. That's awesome. It's certainly the career for somebody who wants to travel and see the world right. I know that you've had some pretty astounding management portfolios throughout your career as well and in fact I think you've managed a project that was valued at $8 billion even. So I'd like to explore that a little bit more with you. I suppose many people who are hiring veterans don't actually really realize that you have quite significant portfolios in asset management, resource management and financial management. Could you share with us a bit of your experience and then how might veterans actually present that so that hiring professionals value it and understand it and want to grab it, you know? Sure, I completely understand the question about this. I think that a majority of military members look at money almost as non-existent and when I say that I'm not saying that we teach that it's not the case. We look at it from a different window. If something needs to be done in a warfare environment or in an environment that is immediate, we can pretty much grab resources to make it flow to meet the needs of the warfighter or the contingency that the armed forces is out there doing. When you talk resources, what do you mean? Resources is anything and everything. You look at a normal Marine that goes through the pipeline to become a Marine, average cost anywhere from $200 to $400,000. You look at a specialist or someone that's in the special force type environment. Again, there's a cost associated with it, but that resource, when you look at it and account for it in a financial aspect, there is a substantial amount of money there. Yes, ma'am. So when you also look at transportation, you have the resources, the individual, but you also need to get that resource to the location. What does it cost to get that aircraft, a big C5 aircraft, which is a transport aircraft, not only the fuel to get it there, the maintenance to get there, everything else that is transcribed to actually account for how much time is that aircraft going to be there? How long is it going to be standing there? What does the maintenance cost to leave it there and to get it back? And then from there, what is the sustainment piece? So just those three pieces, not only the resource, the actual movement to get that piece there, and then the sustainment ability of that resource, all those pieces fold into that portfolio of just the management perspective of money. And I think you were managing a really huge portfolio with a movement into Afghanistan, right? Was that the project that was valued at $8 billion? Correct. As the operations chief for RC Southwest, this was during the time of 2012 to 2013. And as the Marines were pulling out of that segmented area, one of the options that we had was, again, we were looking at everything as a board member that was on the board that was looking at all the contracts and financial obligations that we had within that region. We saw billions of dollars that was being accounted for, contractors to sustainment to sustainability to equipment to movement. But also with that comes the withdrawal. And as we were looking at the withdrawal and recuperation of gear, whether or not the gear was sustainable, the agricultural limitations, I mean, there were so many different variables. And you look at those daily. And you had a hand in actually trying to process that information, and given it to the decision maker to make sure that he had all the variables ready to go. They're really huge, really huge numbers sometimes with military that I work with. Can you give us some tips or maybe some transitioning military some tips on how they might be able to present their portfolio and their management capabilities in ways that help with their transition? I would think that again, the three variables would be again, the resource. What is the resource would be number one? Number two is the transportation of that resource. Where do I need to get it to? And then third would be this is how do I sustain it? From the young Marine soldier sailor Air Force Coast Guardsmen. Again, even the young one has a viable part towards money. He just doesn't understand it yet because he sees it as I got to move this widget to do this job. If they break it down and really define they're really, you know, responsible for personnel, they're responsible for financial assets or, you know, even the value of equipment and weaponry has a value tag. Correct. Even the most junior military person is responsible for. And I say this when I work with veterans, you know, they can be managing $70,000 worth of assets and they don't realize and I go, lose it or break it. Do you keep your job or do you get any trouble? And that helps them understand you're not responsible. Correct. So thanks for sharing that with us, Marty. I know that on your LinkedIn profile, which is pretty actually impressive, I've got to say, I know one of the ways that you actually present the the, I suppose, resource management portfolio that you have on LinkedIn is you actually break it down and you let people know that you've managed this many employees, you know, this size project and this size value of assets. Is that a great way to be able to help? I think we'll understand. I think from a military aspect, we've got a screenshot of your LinkedIn. That's pretty sharp there, Marty. Perfect. This with help over a year and a half ago, I started learning the impact of LinkedIn. And what it done here specifically for me was allowed me to say that to give my story to show them exactly as you're describing that portfolio aspect of financial, that portfolio aspect of management of personnel, resources and all the variables that allowed me to put it on paper and say this, dear employer, this is exactly what I've done as a 30 year veteran within the service. It's really great way to present it allows them to understand it and value it and see how it applies, you know, to their organization. And I think it's a great way to go and I think if anyone can check out your LinkedIn profile, they'll be able to see some great ways of presenting that expertise. Marty, there's just no doubt that you're loyal. I mean, for anyone to serve 30 years with one organization is really outstanding. And I suppose what we see today with the millennial generations, it's hard to have anybody in a career now for three or four years with one organization, let alone 30. So I hope you'll be able to share with us a little bit of insight about what's kept you around in one job with one organization for so long. Tell us about the people, the work you do, the organization, what's kept you? I think for me, for a 30 years, I mean, there have been challenges. I can say that everyone that's been in the service has met those challenges. But in their heart of hearts, they have a desire to do something more than just themselves and produce something that is almost an intangible asset in relation to I belong to that brotherhood. Over the years, I've had the opportunity to travel to see so many things in this picture. I'm in Vladivostok, Russia with one of the Lieutenant-Colonels. Just being able to see the world, but the people you meet, that is truly what has kept me in the military for as long as I stayed to this point. The spread of cause is really important, particularly with Marine Corps, right? That is correct. I'd say with any service, even within the services, there may be banter, yet in the end, when it's just walking down the street and you get that connection, you truly understand that it is all truly a brotherhood. Yeah, it is. And it's global. Yes, ma'am. And one of the things I like to encourage veterans to do when I work with a lot of transitioning military to prepare them for their next career success. And one of the things that's really important is to find that new tribe once you leave. And that's really about connecting with your brotherhood or sisterhood, or across the globe and the people that really understand your career background. And they'll bend over backwards for you, I promise. It's great. Thanks, Marty. Some of those photos are really terrific to see. You as a young stuff. Yes. Yes. You know, I know that you've travelled so much throughout your career. You've seen the world 120 countries. You've achieved a lot. And and you've probably seen some of the, you know, toughest things that anybody should ever see. But if you were to reflect on your past 30 years, this enjoyable accomplished career, can you share with us two things that that stand out to you as being, you know, two things that you're most proud of accomplishing throughout that career? I think the one of the biggest things was obviously dealt with adversary, you know, adversity and actually came ahead of it. Definitely made myself a marketable entity, became focused and actually wanted to attain my goals. There's the roles and then the goals. But obviously with those goals, attaining them and being focused enough to truly set myself apart from what is what is normal and what is abnormal in a sense. So I'd say roles and goals kept those clean to make sure that I had a goal to achieve at the end. And then the the roles, you know, keeping my honor clean in a sense to literally stand out and say I've done it with all the bigger to do it the right way. It's awesome. It's awesome. I know you've done some some amazing things across the globe. And I think people can tune into LinkedIn profile and learn a little bit more. I like people to when they're looking at transitioning to start thinking about, you know, daydream a lot, you know, encourage that. But, you know, we all have things in our life that we're passionate about, or maybe it's an interest that we've had for the majority of our life. And you have a pretty fascinating one that I hope you might share a little bit with us about. I know that you've been collecting coins since you were a child. One of the things, yes, you're absolutely right. And all these ventures that I've done throughout the countries around the world and even throughout the United States, I'm a numusist, a numismatic coin collector. And I've been doing it since I was a little child. Everything from rare gold coins, rare silver coins, which is great. But I even now I still progress and still go to classes to try and learn more about it as I retire. That's fantastic. Thanks for sharing that, that was Marty. We're about to take a short break now. This is keys to success on think tank live streaming network series weekly, which airs on Thursdays at 11am. Aloha, I'm Chantel Seville, host of the Savvy Chick Show on Think Tech, Hawaii. This show is for you. It's all about inspiring and empowering girls of the future to do what they love, get out there and be healthy, fit and confident. If you're up for that, 11am every Wednesday, I'll see you there. Aloha, my name is Danelia D-A-N-E-L-I-A. And I'm the other half of the duo, John Newman. We are the co-host of Keys to Success, which is live on Think Tech live streaming network series weekly on Thursdays at 11am. Aloha. Aloha. Hey, stand the energy man here. I know you're bored this summer. You're just sitting at home, figuring out what to do, go to the beach, spend some time with Think Tech Hawaii, spend the time thinking about how you can contribute to Hawaii and making it a better place to live, and start watching some of the programs on Think Tech, including Stand the Energy Man. Well, you'll learn all about everything energy, especially hydrogen and transportation. So we'll see you every Friday at 12 o'clock noon, Stand the Energy Man here on Think Tech Hawaii. Aloha. Well, welcome back. This is Keys to Success on Think Tech live streaming network series weekly on Thursdays at 11am. Thanks for tuning in. We encourage you to call into our phone number, which you can see at the bottom of the screen, or join the conversation and tweet us at thinktechhi on Twitter. We've been speaking with Master Gunnery Sargent Martin Trujillo, the operations chief for Marine Corps Forces Pacific in Hawaii. Thanks for tuning in, and we're excited to talk with Marty a little bit more. Our theme for today is thank you past for the lessons. Dear future, I'm ready now. Thanks for coming back. Thank you. So Marty, congratulations. We know that you're fast approaching your 30 year retirement mark, which is pretty phenomenal. And as you get ready now to transition to your new career, what's there for Marty? What's in your future? We know you've probably got another 20 or 30 years left of work in you. What are you daydreaming about doing? And do you know yet where you want to go to? It's interesting, you know, just as we talked about my hobby. One of the things I went back to Colorado. Colorado is my home state. That's where I want to go back to. I want to get back to the seasons. I want to get back to the snow, the autumns, the summers and the springs. In that, all that being said, I have leveraged the LinkedIn aspect to get back to Colorado. And let me explain how I did that in a sense. I went back and as I started learning about LinkedIn about a year ago, one of the things that I did was I used my core group within the institution, the Marine Corps, to get those like-minded individuals that we talked about earlier. But then it started coming to full fruition. I started understanding the power of LinkedIn and what I started doing was looking at from an operational perspective, a project management, program management perspective, going out to Colorado. And in doing so, what I was doing was strategically looking for people that had that same desire that I had in relation to those same subjects and actually started connecting with them on LinkedIn. In doing that, when I went back home about a month ago, I went and spoke with about four of those individuals to start that network on a personal basis and actually open the door for me now to, when I transfer or when I actually walk out of the Marine Corps, already have that door open, now I get to choose what I would like to do or what I'd like to pursue in the future. That's really exciting, Matty. That's really great advice for people is to, you can actually use LinkedIn strategically to find people that you want in your network and engage with them. Do you feel like you've been able to develop really strong relationships with people that you haven't met before? I, without a doubt, as a resume perspective, you look and you see a resume that comes across, it's very dry and mundane. With LinkedIn, you see the whole story on my LinkedIn profile. That's if someone's done it. That's correct. And it takes some time, but I mean it's through trial and error that you're truly going to see what that, what it can actually produce for you. But I think that once, once now that mine is, I wouldn't say it's done because I'm constantly updating the information. It's pretty good, Matty, I should say. But it is open. Coming from the LinkedIn mayhem, it's good to get in there, it's really sharp. But I tell you, Vanessa, if it wasn't for people showing me and asking, hey, well, how, why did you do it this way? Why did it this way? Or I said it that way simply because it became the norm of how people were communicating in that, in that forum. We just saw a screenshot of your LinkedIn profile there and it will actually, I'd call that a portfolio now, so I'd like to encourage people to develop a portfolio or a full body of work. And that includes imagery that helps validate this experience and expertise. And you've been leveraging that very well on LinkedIn. It adds that extra pizzazz and that wow factor and it demonstrates and helps people understand more thoroughly what it is that you do and what you have to offer. So well done on that. And I can see that that has probably made a difference in people being able to trust you more readily if you don't know them, you know, when you're joining their network, right? Yes, yes, without a doubt. That's fantastic. What tips would you offer other veterans who are at the stage now of maybe a year out from transition thinking or what do I do? If they had a year, they have to get started now. I mean, there is on LinkedIn because there is no time to, there's no time better than the present. If they've got three years, now's the time to start. If they've got five years, they need to start looking at how did they start leveraging that in time in relation to evaluations and stuff along that lines to put it on the system. Do you feel that people would get value out of being on LinkedIn for their current jobs? Without a doubt. And the lead up to their transition? Without a doubt because it gives the option for that direct supervisor to give feedback on whether or not that, you know, on what that individual had done. In my case, one of my previous bosses, my operations officer, direct quotes saying right hand man, he is the guy that can fix anything, you know. And the recommendations are really important. We validate your experience and your expertise. And when you have, you know, leaders within your profession giving you a pat on the back, it's very important for your professional credibility and their valuable things that people can start developing right over there. Correct. The lead up to transition. I like to encourage veterans to be on LinkedIn three and four years before their transition, not just create a profile when they're in that transition pipeline. Correct. Without a doubt. They need to have that time in order to draft it, look at it, and then start using that to go out to the network. Because again, if the network stays within the organization, in my case, within the Marine Corps, well, I'll have a great network of Marines, but realistically, I'm not touching what I really want to do. I don't want to be a Marine for 88 years. I want to be a Marine for 30, retire, and I want to go see what else the world has to offer. Right. And use that expertise, that valuable expertise that you have towards your new career. Correct. And LinkedIn really gives you that platform to be able to present it in a really great way. Without a doubt, the best platform that's out there. I, you know, I think transition or leaving the military after 20 or 30 or even 40 years can be a really daunting process. And I suppose really, you know, I hear you talk about LinkedIn and how important it is. Can you offer some other insight or tips for transitioning military? Within the military aspect, again, it's time. That time is you need to get onto a forum such as this or a platform such as this utilizing the technology to order to tell your story. Everyone has a different story that's out there. But again, from the abilities that I had or the opportunities that I had to travel the world to, you know, shake the hand of Colin Powell when he was the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff to go and be the... It's a great fight. I think you need to put on LinkedIn. All of these things, I mean, again, tell the story in LinkedIn that I think a lot of people they don't know but that fascination does not allow for... Doesn't allow for a true conceptual design of where did he come from and understanding why he does it was important. That's a big show of photo. Money. But, you know, we talked about a resume and a lot of people put a lot of effort into a resume and I feel that the LinkedIn profile can represent you, your brand and your professional career story. I think a thousand times better than a resume today in that you can include the images and the recommendations and, you know, the skills endorsement validate your skills as well. So I don't know, would you be encouraging people to put more time into developing their LinkedIn portfolio over a resume? Without a doubt. The LinkedIn portfolio is going to write your resume. I mean, once that portfolio is complete, then it becomes very simple to tailor that resume for whatever job it is. So it's like tailoring it down. Exactly. Yeah. So as I go into my subset or my LinkedIn, I can pull it into a PDF format. There's that great screenshot of Marty's LinkedIn profile in his summary where he really highlights his professional management portfolio. You know, and it's, you know, when you have these valuable assets, it's important to actually present them in a way that hiring professionals understand and value. And that's a really great way, a good example, Marty, of doing that, that, you know, maybe some other veterans could copy you. Oh, sure. No, I would love that. Like, get on and check out your LinkedIn profile. You know, we've talked a lot about the military, but we have a lot of viewers and listeners who aren't in the military. They're in the civilian world and some of them may be looking at re-entering the workforce or changing career. And, you know, this current career marketplace is different than the one five years ago or even 10 years ago. What tips would you offer civilian career changes? Same, same advice. And I'd say that from a perspective of LinkedIn itself. The technology is there and it's already allowing so many, again, even the younger generations, the millennials, the people in the workforce, you've got a figure, we've got four different age gaps that are out there that are competing for these jobs. Right. The platform in this case becomes the technology being LinkedIn and that I think that as the template is, like the template I've already used, becomes really the mainstay to what is the standard on how they can present that information. Right. Whether or not they've done the military is it doesn't matter. It's still applies to everybody from a civilian to a high school individual that's going for their job for the first time. I think so too. You know, it's a high tech new age environment. You really need to present yourself in a tech-savvy way and LinkedIn's a great way to be able to do that. Correct. You know, often for free without necessarily having your own branded website which could cost you thousands and thousands of dollars. Marty, one of the themes for the show is we love to get from our guests what your top three success habits are. So be really interested in you being able to share that with our viewers today. Top three. Top three success habits. I would say number one would be never be afraid to say no to distraction because when you need the skill immediately, in my case, been through worse situations to, you name it, but in worse situations being able to actually execute when you need to. That's number one. Great. Number two, read. We always, we actually always do readers or leaders. Right, as the latest. But I think one of the problems is we always do everything physical, but we never exercise our mind. We forget to do that. It's awesome. It's a good tip. Yes, ma'am. Last one is always compete. Doesn't matter if you win or learn, but you choose to fail. And if you fail, then obviously you just negated everything that you attempt to do. So either you win or you either win or you learn. That's awesome, Marty. That's really fantastic. Great tips. I think people are writing those down as we speak. Look, that time just flew. That was really enjoyable talking to you and learning from you today. And I'm sure our viewers and listeners have got a great deal from you that they can learn from. So thank you so much. So we're out of time. We do need to wrap it up. Thank you so much, Master Gunnery Sergeant Martin Traheo for joining us today on the show. You can view the words of wisdom today from Marty Traheo at NewmanConsultingServices.com or their landing page, denelia.org. Thanks to our viewers and listeners for tuning in. Thanks to our broadcast engineer, Zuri Bender and to Nick Sexton, our floor manager. And of course, great thanks to Jay Fidel, the executive producer who puts it all together for us. Thank you so much for joining us today and be sure to tune in next week. Denelia and John will be back on Thursday at 11am and it's been fantastic being here with you today. Thank you and aloha, everyone.