How an Entrepreneur Turned Rejection Into Publications (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Hey, Professor Stuckler here. Really excited to share Feli's story. We have Feli joining us today. He went through a tough process of experiencing rejection and managed to pick himself back up, you know, shake the dust off his clothes and submit the paper and get accepted. So look, Feli, great to see you again. Run us through the beginning. Where were you before you started working with me and with FastTrack?

[00:00:26] Speaker 2: Okay, so I was in the middle of my career. I'm running a company, an engineering company, and I thought that, okay, since I already have a master's degree and I'm currently doing a master's degree in management as well, so might as well try to get used to the idea of academia work, right? And then since I'm planning to get a doctorate degree later, so I kind of browsed through some programs of how to get a paper published and then came across your systematic review YouTube video, and I started contacting you from that point on.

[00:01:09] Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember, Feli, when we first got together, we did a road mapping session and you weren't sure whether you wanted to go down a more management path or you wanted to do a paper in more hard sciences that directly linked to your company and industry experience. Maybe share a little bit about what was it like to work together? Did you have any aha moments or light bulb moments?

[00:01:33] Speaker 2: Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, there are plenty of aha moments, especially during the drilling session, the one-on-one session, right, where you kept pushing me to be precise in my framework, precise in my ways of getting the ideas, and then be precise on step-by-step, basically, ways of doing things. That was a big aha moment for me.

[00:02:04] Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember there was this transformational process of, even in your writing, just that detailed orientation, that meticulousness that I remember feeling like, hey, Feli, I'm fierce but loving. I'm in your corner. I want to help you. And it's transformational because once that just sinks in, now you do it automatically. I know you got that first paper out. Now you're on second and third paper. We'll get to that in a second. But I know at some points, it really felt like you were being stretched a bit, but in a growth-oriented way. Is that fair to say? Yeah, for sure.

[00:02:40] Speaker 2: I mean, that's exactly what I think I needed at that point because I kind of underestimated the peer review process. I thought, okay, this must be just another harder level of bachelor or master's level degree homework or dissertation. So I kind of underestimated it. And then during the one-on-one session or during the process, you kind of made me realize that, oh, this is a much tougher work. And this is about adding new knowledge to the pool of knowledge. So this is serious. I got to be serious on this. Yeah.

[00:03:20] Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember, too, at one point, I remember you were using ChatGPT heavily at one point, and I remember getting a call saying, Peli, this looks like it was ready to ChatGPT. And almost saying something like, knock it off. I want you to get the first principles, and then we'll bolt on AI in our enhanced workflows. But yeah, I remember that was maybe a little painful to say, we're going to cut the cord for a moment on AI. What was that? That was, yeah, I know that must have been frustrating at first.

[00:03:52] Speaker 2: Yeah, so, yeah, I mean, in the business environment, right, you are, at least I was being pushed to be quick, right? You're not too pushed of being precise, right? Quick means that the trade-off is being, I mean, you kind of not worry about being precise in that type of environment. And then I kind of leveraged too heavily on ChatGPT. And then, I mean, now I know that Peer Review Journal has a very nice ways of filtering out ChatGPT, right? So now I know that, okay, this is serious. This is serious work. Yeah.

[00:04:39] Speaker 1: Feli, tell us a bit, I know your paper's hot off the press. Tell us where you're at now, and where you're looking to go next. Because I know you've got not just that one, now you almost have the superpower of you've gotten that one start to finish. It's almost like the next paper is just, I mean, you put them together. So you're talking about fast, and you're now fast and precise. But yeah, where are you at now? And where are you going?

[00:05:02] Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, now, my second paper just got accepted. Now it's going through review on a Q1 journal. And then I'm now submitting... Wait, wait, it's accepted?

[00:05:15] Speaker 1: I thought you just submitted it.

[00:05:18] Speaker 2: It's accepted. Now it's on the review process. Actually, one reviewer has already finished the process. Oh, okay.

[00:05:24] Speaker 1: It got past the first hurdle. So it's gone. That's great.

[00:05:29] Speaker 2: Yeah. And second paper has been submitted, I think, two weeks ago. And I haven't gotten a desk rejection. So it could be a good sign.

[00:05:43] Speaker 1: Awesome. Yeah, well, I mean, you're definitely you were getting desk rejections. And I remember we worked on that too, with a cover letter and some tweaks around the abstract to get past that first hurdle, which is fantastic. And I mean, I don't know, Feli, if I told you when we first started, hey, by here in November, you're going to have three papers under one published and two in a review. I don't know, would you believe me?

[00:06:07] Speaker 2: No, not at all. Definitely not. Definitely not. So I guess the biggest takeaway point for me is that through this program, you provide me with the right tools, the right techniques, and the right framework of being precise. I guess a lot of the guys like me coming into the academia or the writing or the peer review journal process, we don't always think of this type of framework where you have to be precise. When you add something in the results or in the discussion session, you're going to have to always go back to the method section. Right. That type of framework, I think that's one of the biggest takeaway for me.

[00:06:58] Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. I remember too, even thinking about the decision, it's knowing sometimes even which details to put in. You can get overwhelmed by a lot of details. I remember with you staying focused, really staying focused on the big question and being able to sniff out which details are important, which are not, was also really helpful. But yeah, Feli, so I know you're an entrepreneur and you mentioned that some of this is helping feed back into your business, which is awesome. What would you say to somebody? I know people started just like you, maybe watching some of our videos. What would you say to anybody who's thinking about working in a research training program? Could be ours, could be somebody else's, but what would you say to them?

[00:07:40] Speaker 2: I mean, you got to do it. It's not only empowering in terms of... Now, it's very empowering to the ways of me doing the business, right? Because now I kind of push my guys to be precise in everything they do. So that kind of precision is very much needed in the business environment where we are taking a lot of risk. Right now, for me, for my guys, it's another level. I can bring that type of techniques, that type of mindset to the team, right? Even if you don't plan to publish, I think this program will teach you a lot of the things that we really need to be successful in our career. Yeah, I highly recommend it.

[00:08:31] Speaker 1: That's awesome. That's transformational. We talk in broad terms as academics about translatable skills, but that is a... I didn't even know you'd get that benefit, that it would help you so directly in your business work. That's awesome.

[00:08:45] Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, definitely. Highly, highly recommend it. I mean, for the fees that you charge, I think, for me, it's a very good deal.

[00:08:59] Speaker 1: We like to think so. It's a small fraction of what people invest in other sources of training, often other universities. We often say, right, go to the university for your degree, come to us to get published. I know you're thinking, too, about a PhD publication down the road. So, let's continue that chat. Veli, I hope to rope you into a live session so people can actually live ask you some questions. If they want to get a hold of you, are you happy if we put your email just below? Yes, for sure.

[00:09:28] Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I'll be happy to do a live session with you, definitely. All right, Veli, thanks for joining us.

[00:09:36] Speaker 1: More to come. Thank you. And congrats, again, on all your success. Thank you so much, Phil. Thank you so much.