In July 2022, Dennis Pitocco appeared in my LinkedIn DMs. We had been connected already because of a compilation book I participated in that year (The Four-Fold Formula for All Things Wellness) but the message seemed random to me.

He had read my writing and wanted to offer me an opportunity to write for his publication… one that seemed perfect and aligned.

“No costs. No surprises. No catches. No kidding. Just an amazing group of talented professionals who've joined us over the years to share powerful messages. And unlike other websites, we're completely independent (not advertiser supported), allowing us the freedom to publish good content – even if it's already been published elsewhere, as our Editorial Criteria is centered on timeless, actionable inspiration.”

So, of course, my first thought was “There has to be a catch.”

Turns out, there wasn’t.

And, as it turns out, that interaction completely changed my life.

I started as a writer, but I ended up engaging with a new world of human beings focused on seeing humanity at its best, and living lives of compassion, integrity, connection, faith, dignity, humility, and love.

It’s been so beautiful, and it’s my great honor to have Dennis on View From the Roof this week.

The biggest thing to know about Dennis is that everything he does is “for good” versus “for profit.”

He spent about 35 years in banking, met his wife, Ali, along the way, and they owned businesses all over the world.

Then, about 15 years ago, they sold all the businesses and decided to settle down in Tampa, Florida.

“We were faced with something very few people have, and that is choices… Well, here we were, able economically to do pretty much what we wanted. We weren't ready to retire. We weren't ready to play pickleball. And so we said ‘Let's take some long walks…’”

On those walks, they decided a few things… They wanted to travel, and they wanted to give back. Give back, but not in the sense of “writing checks.”

Both of them independently had a desire to serve humanity on a deeper level… Not just volunteering once a month but truly being with humans, talking with them, delivering meals, aiding non-profits, volunteering on boards, and becoming chairpersons of boards. They wanted to be involved in a deep and personal way.

Dennis also decided around the time they retired that he desired to start a website to keep his mind active. He and Ali wanted to build something they wouldn’t mind visiting every morning, and they were going to break all the rules in the publishing business… because they could.

As he says in this interview, “I went out to a bunch of people that were writing for Forbes, Huffington Post, and other places, and said ‘Tell me what hurts?’

He and Ali logged all of the complaints they received and said “We’re going to do the opposite… You can write whenever you want about whatever you want. It could be poetry, it can be prose, it can be articles, it can be 10 pages long, or 10 words long… The only ground rules we have is at a very basic level it’s got to be respectful and it can't be mean-spirited. Otherwise, share your voice.”

That was the beginning of BizCatalyst 360. 13 years since they started, they have almost 1100 writers on every continent except Antarctica, they published about 30,000 articles, and they’ve won two awards.

What started with long walks continued to include long walks. They served as a daily grounding point for Dennis and Ali. If a decision needed to be made on a direction they may or may not go, they’d add it to their morning walk.

About six years ago, after what began as a small idea grew into “Oh my God, look at the size of this thing,” they decided in order to rediscover humanity, they needed to walk their talk also.

You can serve humanity by working 24/7, but is that really the best way to do it? They decided it was time to take a sabbatical.

Isn’t that something? Something so many of us have trouble with this— the pause. And, it’s necessary for us to connect deeper to what is, and who we are.

They gave their writers dates of which they’d be away, and for three months, BizCatalyst 360 ran on autopilot with all new articles being held in a queue.

During some cross-country travel around the same time, they ran into an old friend in Phoenix that Dennis knew from his days in banking. He told Dennis and Ali about his son passing away suddenly, and that he was planning to carry his ashes across the Camino de Santiago, which is a pilgrimage that's been around for over a century called “The Way of St. James.”

They had never before heard of the pilgrimage, but in a moment of synchronicity, after they had left their friend and arrived in California, they saw that a movie called “The Way” was playing in a theater across from their hotel. The movie was about this same famous pilgrimage. Something was definitely going on.

They decided after the sequence of events to walk 200 miles of the Camino. While adventure played a part in the walk, the depth of it was the connection with one another and themselves. They came back “changed people,” as Dennis says.

Their relationships with others deepened. Those that didn’t grow closer eventually backed off. Things became even more centered in holding that deeper connection with themselves and others.

Since then, the depth and scope of what is encompassed under the umbrella of 360 Nation continues to grow.

Their latest effort focuses on telling the stories of human beings affected by homelessness across the globe.

The project is called “Unsheltered: None of Us Are Home Until All of Us Are Home” and you can read more about it here: https://www.bizcatalyst360.com/homelessness-time-to-debunk-the-myths/

When I asked Dennis how we could help or where any of us could start, he said the most simple and most beautiful thing—

Call someone. Ask how they are. Then, be quiet, and listen.

Is it that simple?

As Dennis wrote in this piece, “Being human is given. But keeping our humanity is a choice. It’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s about US. It’s about serving others and finding ourselves along the way. It’s about stepping back before we charge forward with whatever comes next —taking a momentary breath to stop, reset, and focus on how we can experience a more positively connected universe.”

There’s so much more I could write to surmise this amazing conversation, but I think it’s best you listen for yourself.

If you’d like to read about anything mentioned in this episode, here are the links:

https://www.bizcatalyst360.com/in-search-of-humanity-a-360-perspective/ 

https://www.bizcatalyst360.com/in-search-of-more-with-less/

https://www.bizcatalyst360.com/inside-360-nation/

https://www.bizcatalyst360.com/discovering-magic-at-the-middle-of-a-bench/

https://www.bizcatalyst360.com/homelessness-time-to-debunk-the-myths/

https://allthingswellness.com/unsheltered/

https://santiago-compostela.net/

https://santiago-compostela.net/camino-frances/