Adam Torres and Eric Newman discuss Roc Solid Foundation.
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Show Notes:
Roc Solid Foundation partners with over 160 children’s hospitals in the US to provide hospital-ready bags to families whose kids are affected by cancer. In this episode, Adam Torres interviews Eric Newman, CEO & Founder at Roc Solid Foundation, explore Eric’s journey and Roc Solid Foundation.
About Eric Newman
Founder of Roc Solid Foundation, a nonprofit that builds hope for kids fighting cancer. He regularly speaks to groups about his journey – fighting pediatric cancer as a child and now growing a national nonprofit. For more info or to book Eric for a speaking engagement.
About Roc Solid Foundation
Builds hope for kids fighting cancer nationwide through the power of play. We distribute Ready Bags to families just after they hear the devastating news that their child has cancer, and we also provide backyard playsets to kids in treatment. We currently have partnerships with over 150 children’s hospitals that distribute our Ready Bags and have provided playsets to kids fighting cancer across the U.S. For more info, visit
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on Be Our Guest to apply. All right, so today’s guest is Eric Newman, and he’s CEO and founder over at Rock Solid Foundation.
Eric, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks for having me, man. All right, Eric. So I’ve been looking forward to this interview for quite some time. I think it’s gonna be I’m inspired by hearing and seeing the story and I think my audience will be as well. I mean, like the common theme I’m seeing here is man.
You’ve you’ve turned, you know, some experiences that’s like, it’s sometimes knocks some people out and you you’ve. found a way to make it good and, and to make some good out of it and to help a lot of people. You serve thousands of families through your organization. I guess let’s just start just to get us going here.
Maybe just start with Rock Solid Foundation. Tell us a little bit more about the foundation. Yeah, sure. So Rock Solid Foundation exists to love and serve the pediatric cancer community. The reason pediatric cancer is so important and valuable to me is I’m a childhood cancer survivor. When I was three years old, I was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer.
They gave my parents close to a 10 percent survival rate for me. So I went through all the, the cocktails, the chemo, the radiation. They ended up taking close to three quarters of my liver out. But here I am 30 some years later, cancer free. So with me having pediatric cancer, right? That would give me enough to really want to give back.
But I was the second child, three years old when I was diagnosed. And my dad’s brother. Dad’s sister, second child, three years old. She was diagnosed with leukemia. Fought the battle just like me. And then my dad’s sister, or brother, second child, three years old. Was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.
So there was three of us, then there was two of us, and then my second cousin, Shannon, relapsed at 16. And the leukemia ended up taking her out with a vengeance. So there was three, there was two, and then there’s just this guy here. So pediatric cancer is very, very close. I’ve been an entrepreneur ever since I could even remember.
I think my earliest memory is trying to hustle some candy. To some of my neighbors man, so I’ve just how old were you then roughly? What was you were the candy guy? I was you were the candy guy. I was the baseball card guy how old were you that roughly? I probably fourth grade.
I would say. Yeah That’s legit. We would have been friends man. We would have been friends I’d have been like let’s go do some deals on the playground. Come on. Yep I had a backpack full of candy I realized I could go buy a blow pop from one of the big stores for 10 cents and sell it for 50 cents and so That was my first entrepreneurial type of experience.
I had two backpacks, man, one of candy and one of books, man. What a, what an amazing story. And at what point did you did you, and the reason I asked this question is because one of the things that we’re big on at mission matters and that we focus on a lot is like life mission, like how somebody can tell, you know, that they’re following their passion or their calling and, to realize when they’re on that path.
past. So for you, obviously this affected you, you know, three years old. Like you, you didn’t even have a concept probably at that point of like one day there’s going to be a business, like that’s a given or an organization or a nonprofit. But when did, was it a progression to where you’re like, this is my life’s work, right?
This is where I’m going to spend a significant amount of my time and effort and skill. Was it a progression? Was there a moment? Like, how did you know, like this was the one for you? Well, it was so great question, man. So it was a curbside moment and I think true entrepreneurs and really the pain into purpose moment happens when you’re down.
Right? So I was on a curb and in 2008, I’ve been an entrepreneur. I’ve started probably 11 businesses. Oh, you said 2008. So that’s the wreck. That’s the financial crisis. Go ahead, man. I was, I just, I cringed , when you said that. Go for it, man. I’m already in pain. Yes. So I was in construction. I was invested in real estate and I ended up losing everything in 08.
It sounds like a horrible song. Lost my dog, my girl and all. I’m sorry to hear that, man. I know you’ve gone past it, but every time I hear that story, I just like to say, I’m sorry, man. Go, go ahead. No, it’s good, buddy. Like, I can’t even say the word or the year 2008 without like cringing. So but man, like I did what any responsible businessman would do.
Like I drained my bank account and went to Costa Rica and I had to find myself. Right. And where, I found myself, this was before Costa Rica became bougie, right? So this was where you would have to backpack. Man, I was in a beautiful setting and I had never, I had surrounded by hundreds of people, but I was on my hammock and I’d never felt so alone in my entire life.
And I just, I hit my knees and this isn’t a faith statement or anything. I just yelled out to anything or anyone that was listening. And in that moment, I felt like God made a mistake keeping me and not keeping Shannon. Shannon was so much better than me. Right. So I chased everything that the world said I should have.
But when I lost everything that the world said I should have, guess what? The world was nowhere to be found. So I was on my curbside moment on my knees, screaming, ugly crying. And man, in that moment, I just got a sense of peace of a four letter word, not a cuss word it was just H O P E. And I circled that in my journal and I ended up coming back because I ran out of money from Costa Rica And dude, I decided to like I went on this full search right of trying to find chase something besides Money fame power all of that stuff and I combined my cancer knowledge that I had Two pains in my life my cancer knowledge and the devastation loss of losing everything in my life And then those two worlds collide what looked like The end for me Was really the stepping stone and the building block for my future.
So if you’re listening, right. And I believe this in my core is like, what you may think is the end. If you do a little bit more soul searching and looking could be the catalyst for your future. And that’s that mindset shift that everything switched for me, and that was 16 years ago. So , I’ve been trying to figure that out for the last 16 years.
Man, what’s interesting about that, first off, that I have to acknowledge that, what a story, that moment, that time, and it’s, it’s interesting to me, because sometimes people get it just like you did, like, they have that moment of, like, clarity, for others, it’s kind of like a progression, and there was, like, and then all of a sudden, they wake up one day, and they’re like, oh, my gosh, like, okay, yeah, I have been living it, so I think, Yeah.
Yeah. You know, it can happen a lot of different ways. And the reason I say that it’s just so that somebody’s listening. They don’t just like go, go to Costa Rica, start hanging out. No, I’m just, yeah, don’t do that. I don’t recommend that. I have the IRS chasing me. My attorneys were trying to find me. So like, don’t do that.
Do as I say. Yeah, man. Like, I had nowhere to go though, bro. Like, everything that I held a value to. Value I was like, I just ran from it like right and I called my attorneys I’m like don’t indict me right because I was like that’s the most biggest word that I could think of like i’m gonna pay everybody back I just I had to disconnect.
But it’s been a progression like it sounds sweet, right? I narrowed it down in a matter of like 20 second nuggets, but dude i’m still evolving over the last 16 years Right. I’m still evolving becoming who i’m truly supposed to be because the founder You Is not always the best ceo, right? So i’ve been on this journey on how I lead with my head and my heart Success and significance.
So that’s what i’ve truly been searching the last couple of years What are some of the things that, kind of helped , you get over that hump or have been helping you, right? Because we’re always evolving. I like the way you say that. Like, whether it’s mindset or strategies or just like, I like to always maybe throw on some tools too, like from other people’s journeys.
I’m like, what helped you get to where you’re at? Yeah, so I try to read a hundred books a year. I am not successful at that, but that’s, that’s, that’s my BHAG, Big Hairy Audacious Goal, right? Jim Collins. Do you, what’s your, what’s your minimum that you accept? Do you, I’ll bite, like, what’s your minimum?
Is it like 20? No, no, no, no, no, this year I’m at 67. Oh, amazing. So over 50, so over 50 is the minimum. I’m just throwing out numbers. I don’t know. Yeah. Minimum is 50. But so hear me, I didn’t start there. I hadn’t read a book. Probably like I from my and the reason I’m so fixated on that is like I didn’t really learn to read until like fifth or sixth grade because I didn’t have something called like chemo brain right I didn’t learn like other kids bro and like It just set me back.
And then when I realized I couldn’t read, you know, you’re sitting in class and you start to read ahead to make sure that you knew what the teacher was going to call you on to try to read. When it came to me, I would act out. So I would get sent out into the hallway so I wouldn’t get joked on. So like, I think I’m so fixated and fascinated on reading because I’m constantly in this place of showing myself and the world that I can do anything.
And my dad used to lean over and say that to me. He’s like, remember you’re a Newman and there’s nothing in this world you can’t do because you beat cancer. And so that’s just something that’s been instilled in me. So I try to read this year. I’m at 67. So reading is one thing and even now bro, like with AI you can do all this like hey Give me a brain dump on whatever book that you’re looking to read and you can have four statements that will tell you the whole book so I do that.
I do seven healthy habits every single day and I make sure that that I can take those on the road because I do a lot of traveling and so one of them’s making my bed, right one of them’s having just some meditation quiet time So I do seven healthy habits a day You And then I work out nonstop, and I wish I would have had six pack ribs or like abs, but I’m not but I have to run.
I have to do that. So, mental, physical, emotion, emotional and spiritual is what I try to kind of camp out on. And I think those are some of the things that have helped me. So, reading, find a mentor and I’m a dreamer, and I write everything down. And I journal every single day, too. So I write everything down because if you think about it going to bed and you think about it waking up Write it down And then tell someone about it Yeah, something very tactile about that.
Like I’m a fan, I’m a fan of writing and I’m a big fan of that process of reading that just happens to be how I learn and I just and I, whenever I want to really like, like immerse myself in something, like I try to crush like tens of thousands of pages on it. So when I first was in finance, like that’s how I taught myself finance really.
Like, I mean, I have my series everything you can think of. And I had a 14 year career in that business as my long term die hard listeners know. But that’s how I learned when I went into entertainment. Like I literally immersed myself in that business through books and I started studying it all the way back from, I mean, way back when, all the way to present every single form, every single, like, was a significance or a change in the industry.
And I really, so I’m a fan of that immersion side and the tactile side of writing, whether it’s physical writing or typing, whatever you got to do to get your,, to get it programmed in your head. But I’m a huge fan of that. And I just think I mean, you’re just, I feel like you can reprogram yourself really at any moment or just we’re computers, right?
At a certain, on a certain level. And if you, immerse yourself for long enough into something, like you’ll be surprised. Like I didn’t even, I had no finance background, I had no investment background, nothing, but you know, consume 40, 000 pieces of paper or 40, 000 pages and study and outline for two years and you’ll be pretty decent and more than most people will say.
Okay. Right. No, I think that’s how you do it with where the world is, too, with what’s at our fingertips, man, like I try once a quarter. This is my like, I love the two year strategy. I have to do bite sized nuggets, right? So once a quarter, I just try to choose one thing that’s, that’s in front of me that I try to become an expert at once a quarter.
And it’s usually themed by the whole year. And someone I read somewhere, it’s like 66 days, just try it for 66 days. And dang for me, I’m like, well, how about I just try it one day at a time? Right? So I promise you I’m not sitting here like I have it all figured out. I don’t have the short term like you do.
I go for one thing once a decade, . That’s, oh man. So that’s why you’re like finance. Finance. And I go deep. I’m one of those. Go deep. People like, I just, I can’t help it. When I started my podcast and when I started this media company, the difference, I support the entire podcasting community and I would never say anything negative about anybody.
I would just say that the difference is I’ve done over 6, 000 interviews now, and I’m looking at the next 20, 000 interviews, but that’s going to look like versus like, it’s just, , I put out a year worth of content every week and all quality interviews and quality and talking to amazing individuals like yourself with real stories.
So I’m not talking. I’m not talking about repurposing something on AI or like, you know, and I’m not against that, whatever, like everybody. I know. I’m not dogging any of that. But you know what I mean? I’m going to have to add some little mini quest or something.
I like your, your concept of like adding something. Maybe it’s not going to be what I fixate on with my obsessive personality, , but I feel like I do need some diversions and some little mini quests. , I’m going to take that. But I like your, I like your rootedness though, man. Like, so I know like I’m an entrepreneur, so I have 999 ideas a day.
I don’t man. I have zero ideas. That’s why I have, I have so many ideas, but I’ve served my team. They’re like, Hey, great idea. So I created something. It’s called a parking lot. So I write all my ideas in because now this organization is growing. We got 30 people part of our team work throughout the country.
Congratulations, that’s amazing. Go ahead. Thank you, but I can’t come into 30 people like I have this great idea Like and then I’m like never mind tomorrow. I’m going to do something different. So Not if you want them to follow you, that’s for sure. I’m learning, like I said, like, but I’ve surrounded myself around people that can go deep.
Right. So I have an executive team of five. So they allow me to be the visionary and we implemented traction EOS, entrepreneurial organizational system. So we rolled that out through our organization and there’s a book that I read. If you haven’t read it and you’re running any type of nonprofit for profit traction is a phenomenal way to hold people accountable.
And it helps visionaries like myself and entrepreneurs not ruin their calling by creating all the ideas. So I admire you going deep, right? So like, I was like, man, I wish I could do that. Yeah. No, it’s all good. I want to spend some of the time we have left going further into Rock Solid Foundation because I mean, you partner with well over a hundred, correct me on the numbers, but well over a hundred children’s hospitals.
And you’re doing a lot of good. good work. So let’s spend some time on rock solid foundation and also really how people can get involved. So maybe tell us and congrats again, over 30 employees and 30 people working on this. Like this is, that’s a big deal. So let’s get into that. Yeah. So rock solid foundation, we’re partnered now with over 180 children’s hospitals throughout the country.
So we, what we do is, so we have two moments that we fixate on in rock solid. One of them is we deploy rock solid ready bags to families and we partner with hospitals. And when a family finds out their child has cancer they’re not prepared to stay in the hospital. So what we do is we pack these bags that deploy to the hospitals, and when the parents hear the worst news of their life, that their child has cancer the doctor is worried about their physical needs, keeping the child alive, in walks a social worker and then has a blue rock solid ready bag, and they put it down and be like, listen, these are, these are people that will be your guide.
On the Helen back. So we’re able to do over 5000 of those bags this year. Our goal is 16, 000 throughout the country. And we’re partnered with about over 180 hospitals so far. So that’s what hope looks like when it’s not for what you would hope for at all. There’s no way I can take away cancer from these families, but I can change how they fight.
And that’s one way is the Rockefeller Ready Bag. And then the other one is, I truly, Adam, I truly believe that that play defeats cancer. So it doesn’t cure it, but if we can allow these kids to escape cancer just for a second by putting a playset in their backyard, and when they come around the corner and they see the playset for the first time that we’ve provided guess what they’re not thinking about?
It’s okay. Yeah. So we deploy a couple thousand play, a couple thousand families a year through the gift of play. And we’ve been doing that for 16 years too. And we partner with the community. The community helps us build. And we’re just the middle man that partner with the hospitals that help find the amazing kids that we love and serve.
So those are the two things that we do. And it’s we’re fixated on moments, life happens in moments and I just, we try to encourage the world and the families to own the moment not miss it because of all the movement and how busy we make ourselves. Hmm. How do, how do people get involved?
Like just in general, whether it’s donating, whether it’s brand partners, whether it kind of run down the list of, cause people listen to this and they, have no idea that an organization like this exists and maybe they were affected personally or in their own home, or maybe they were affected, you know, their, their own family and they haven’t, and they want to get involved.
How do they do that? For more information, you can find, go to our website, rocksolidfoundation. org, and rock is spelled R O C the K did fall off. So it’s rocksolidfoundation. org. You can go to any social media platforms, our YouTube channel. But the biggest need that we need, like the biggest call to action is if, like, there are kids out there fighting and Rock Solid Foundation’s not there.
I would just ask you, check us out go to any of those channels and see if this connects with you. And then there’s many ways you can help us pack some bags, you can help us build some play sets and you can help us change the lives of kids fighting cancer. That’s amazing and I think it’s, it’s interesting to me and I always, you know, the fact that you were able to change and to grow this organization and to affect this many lives, how many, I mean, I don’t need an exact number, but I’m just curious.
How many bags have been like given out throughout the years in general? And I would say, I know there’s a ton, man. I’m not holding you to this. I’m not, I just, I’m just curious, man, because it’s because you deserve credit. You’re you and your team, by the way, your team, you know what I mean? I know it takes a community to do this.
I would say over like 60, 000 families so far. But the whole world, right? So there’s 16, Families a year that are diagnosed kids a year. That’s our U. S. Mark is that’s what we’re aiming for. And then we’re hoping to deploy 16, 000 bags in April of 2026 and then rock solid foundation is looking at 400, 000 globally to be able to love and serve throughout the world.
So I believe that this is what I was put here on this earth to do. The mission that rock solid foundation matters to me. And I’m on this quest to try to find people that want to help the pediatric cancer community. So that’s my job is to cast a vision and try to inspire people to love and serve these families at Ground Zero.
That’s amazing. But one more time, that website so that we can make sure to get that our audience gets that. Yep. The website is RockSolidFoundation. org and rock is spelled R O C. Fantastic. And for everybody listening to that, just so you know, we’ll put the links in the show notes so that you can just click on it and head right on over and speaking to the audience.
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And Eric, man, I appreciate you and all the good work you’re doing. So thank you. Hey, thanks for having me, buddy.