1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,960 You have a highlight from the last month that you'd like to talk about. 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:09,780 Um, well, both they, um, you know, like everything in life is intertwined. 3 00:00:09,780 --> 00:00:13,480 Your weekends are intertwined with your work and, and likewise. 4 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:22,520 So, um, actually I had my birthday, uh, last week and so, and then blended into 5 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:28,240 Memorial weekend and actually the launch of my course and so lots, lots to 6 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:28,780 celebrate. 7 00:00:28,780 --> 00:00:30,920 That's a birthday present. 8 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:31,400 Isn't it? 9 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:34,760 As an entrepreneur, it's like when it actually comes to fruition, you're 10 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:37,920 like, yeah, that's cool. 11 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:41,380 So speaking of course, uh, we'll dive right in with that. 12 00:00:41,380 --> 00:00:45,240 So you've got, um, we want to know for visionaries and leaders out there, what 13 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,440 are three resources that you recommend? 14 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:49,500 Absolutely. 15 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:50,200 Uh, and. 16 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:56,600 You know, certainly, um, if you look at the shelf behind me, I'm pretty 17 00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:59,560 obsessed with various, uh, business, business books. 18 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:04,040 Uh, but, um, at the end of the day, I think, uh, through the journey, you 19 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:08,960 realize that some of the foundational books, those that are really, uh, focus 20 00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:14,720 on your mindset and just making the better quality of decisions, right? 21 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:16,960 Making better decisions is what matters. 22 00:01:16,960 --> 00:01:21,800 And so perhaps my first recommendation as a result is Ray Dalio's principles. 23 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:27,200 That's, uh, something that I absolutely loved and I read it multiple times. 24 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:31,600 And every time I read it, I get new insights because there are some books 25 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:35,480 that we just can get what we are ready to get from it at the time. 26 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:38,560 And so that would be my first recommendation for those who haven't 27 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:45,960 read it and really want to be better decision makers for their own, uh, 28 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:50,820 sake, um, and their own, uh, growth, uh, as well as, um, make better 29 00:01:50,820 --> 00:01:52,200 decisions for their business. 30 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:53,960 Um, and their projects. 31 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:57,880 The second book that I loved, uh, is traction. 32 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:02,120 Uh, at the end of the day, attraction, um, trumps all problems. 33 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:07,080 Uh, and so before we learn to fundraise or do whatever else we need to do as, 34 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:11,320 as startup founders in particular, we better figure out traction. 35 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:16,080 Um, and yeah, I love that. 36 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:17,520 I love that book. 37 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:23,920 And then lastly, um, I am excited about my program that just launched how to 38 00:02:23,920 --> 00:02:25,840 get your first paying customers. 39 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:30,280 It is truly the program I wished I had as an first time founder. 40 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,880 And I wanted to build something very practical is if someone takes your hand 41 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:39,080 and walks you through con with confidence and clarity to how to get that early 42 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:39,600 traction. 43 00:02:39,640 --> 00:02:42,400 So that's what the program is about. 44 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:45,800 It's on elevatorlab.com slash program. 45 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:47,000 Paying customers. 46 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,760 Let me drop the link for that right now, cause you did send it over. 47 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:52,200 It'll be easy for people to check out while we're talking. 48 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:58,880 Um, that's something that is incredibly, um, it's deceptively hard to do. 49 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:03,280 Um, there's a lot of people who claim they can help you do that and the right 50 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,280 way, you know, or the, the fastest, et cetera. 51 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:12,320 And, uh, no, I don't, I don't touch that, um, that market with a 10 foot pole. 52 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:17,200 Um, because it's, it's hard to create a program like that, that also incorporates 53 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:17,760 integrity. 54 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:22,120 Um, it's just, it's just so hard, but you've got a, you've got quite the 55 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,840 background, so I'm excited to dive in and take a look into myself, see what's there. 56 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:29,960 Um, now we're going to be diving into your vision. 57 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:33,600 I think I want to circle back to, in fact, I'm not going to circle back. 58 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:34,520 I'm going to do this right now. 59 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:38,320 Um, where does your drive come from? 60 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:39,840 Blada cause you've done a lot. 61 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:42,280 How did you develop the drive that you have? 62 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:44,040 Wow. 63 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:46,680 What, what, what a question, Jackson. 64 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:52,360 Um, I, I think it's a drive for self improvement. 65 00:03:52,360 --> 00:04:01,160 I think I just get this adrenaline rush from picking the next step, the next 66 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:09,080 goal that, um, allows me to learn and become, um, more proficient in the 67 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:14,560 world, more proficient, bigger, better, and support others, um, on the way. 68 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:19,360 I think one of the things I realized, uh, that beyond all of it, the biggest 69 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:24,760 impact that really brings me joy is helping others be part of, you know, that 70 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:30,000 growth and that of course, uh, requires you to grow constantly yourself because 71 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:34,400 you can't really lead others unless you lead by example, I truly believe in that. 72 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:38,640 And so that certainly puts a lot of pressure on me to continue to develop 73 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:41,320 and grow, um, yeah. 74 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:42,360 Oh, that's awesome. 75 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:45,920 Oh, that's self improvement and, and whatever drove you to that. 76 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:49,680 We'll save that for the show or another day. 77 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:53,920 Um, but those of you who are here, Blada's background with eggs, eating with 78 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:57,320 companies, being involved in venture capital and beyond, there's, there's 79 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:01,600 just so much about what she's been able to do, uh, that allows me to just be 80 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:02,600 super excited for this interview. 81 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:04,960 So without further ado, we're going to dive into a little bit of a break. 82 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:05,600 We'll come back. 83 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:08,600 We'll go from there. 84 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:09,000 All right. 85 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,640 Welcome in to vision pros live with Jackson Callum. 86 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:13,640 I'm your show host. 87 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:17,560 We'll be doing interviews for visionary entrepreneurs and guest leaders who 88 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:19,720 are building fantastic visions out there. 89 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,080 Hey, what's up and welcome into another episode of vision pros live. 90 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:35,880 Jackson Callum founder and CEO of first-class business, and I'm excited 91 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:39,080 to have a lot of Latina on the stage today. 92 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:44,120 Uh, this is somebody who is a CEO, startup mentor and advisor at 93 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:48,960 elevator lab.com that's elev eight, the number or lab.com. 94 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:53,160 She's a tech startup founder with an eight figure exit, senior executive, 95 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:58,240 former senior executive at Dell and the Boston consulting group partner at 96 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:02,240 Wharton venture lab, i-club ventures and debut tech. 97 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:06,720 Um, so we've got, we got a whole list of accolades behind what she's 98 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:07,560 been able to accomplish. 99 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:12,280 And I love bringing on guests with that level of depth of experience 100 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:15,920 because there's so many mountains they've been able to see over the top of. 101 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:17,960 And so we're in for a treat today. 102 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:19,920 Have your pens and papers ready. 103 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:23,640 Um, in addition to that, I always want to give resources that can help 104 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:25,360 all walks of life move forward. 105 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:27,800 Um, we do that in the form of these sponsors. 106 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:28,680 We have a new one today. 107 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:32,120 So the first one is of course, Melissa gray with the law spot. 108 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:36,400 Um, I was very close to canceling the show, um, when she applied to be on our 109 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:39,560 show, because I don't like most lawyers, they're pretentious, they're kind of 110 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:42,200 sending, they don't speak to you as a human being. 111 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:46,000 Usually I couldn't have been further from the truth though, with Melissa. 112 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:52,200 Um, Melissa is a nurture first that also has that same type of self improvement 113 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:54,440 discipline skill that Vlada talked about. 114 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:58,880 She wants to bridge the gap between the free solutions out there, like legal 115 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:04,240 zoom and your super highly paid retainers, where the attorney just doesn't care 116 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:07,360 enough about your success as a business owner, which is why she created the 117 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:12,680 lawspot.com I've I went through a $20,000 trademark lawsuit for one of my brands 118 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:14,280 that we already owned the name of. 119 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:20,240 Had we been smart enough to, I shouldn't say smart enough, maybe dedicated, maybe 120 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:24,440 wanting to be wise stewards enough to have counsel in place that we trusted. 121 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:26,840 We wouldn't have had to go through a $20,000 battle. 122 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:30,400 Um, so I highly recommend checking that out and seeing how it might help you as 123 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:33,160 you research, who's going to represent your brand in times of need. 124 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:35,280 Then there's the healing Institute. 125 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:40,800 The healing Institute was created by Permalia par parham and Permalia ultimately 126 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:45,040 helps people with all, with, with healing and all aspects of life. 127 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:49,640 But instead of doing it by herself, she's joining forces with other providers 128 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:50,160 out there. 129 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:55,800 So she's got a catalog of providers and she's building an international wellness 130 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:56,280 community. 131 00:07:56,280 --> 00:08:00,920 This is emotional healing, integrated healing, therapies and coaching. 132 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:06,120 Each one of these, uh, these entities, or rather these categories represents a 133 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:10,120 subject matter where she's pulling experts together to help people know where 134 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:12,440 they can get help for their different circumstances. 135 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:16,760 It might be, uh, you know, a men's health coach might be a women's life coach. 136 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:20,680 Uh, she's trying to gather all the service providers into this one platform 137 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:24,160 so that it's easy to show up and know whether, whether you're looking for 138 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:28,000 somebody in coaching or you're looking for energy healing, you've got your 139 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:29,440 options all in one place. 140 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:32,760 So you can register, uh, today at the link below, there's two different 141 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:34,040 registration options. 142 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:38,880 You can either register as a provider or you can register as a potential client 143 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,680 as well, um, and experience that for what it is. 144 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:44,880 It's going to be really fun to see her expand this over the next several months 145 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:45,400 as well. 146 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:47,480 Then there's the water project. 147 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:50,440 The water project is something that is near and dear to my heart 148 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:53,680 because I make it so, um, what do I mean by that? 149 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:57,040 I have never been without water in my life. 150 00:08:57,040 --> 00:08:59,760 I've never had to worry about where I'm going to get my next cup of water. 151 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:03,520 So when it came across my radar that there was millions of people out there 152 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:05,680 who don't even have access to that. 153 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:08,360 I was like, I just can't ignore this. 154 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:10,960 In fact, I want to do more for it and more about this. 155 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:15,840 So the water project transparently shows you where your money goes towards. 156 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:20,080 If you commit even $5 to one of these communities, they'll actually send you 157 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:21,160 the social media update. 158 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:22,040 They'll take pictures. 159 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:24,880 They'll show you what they did with the project and how it came to fruition. 160 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:28,960 You get to see the general issue, generational impact that you're making 161 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:30,520 in the lives of these individuals. 162 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:34,920 So as long as I'm rocking this microphone and I have the privilege of, of 163 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:38,760 doing a job like this, I feel like it's my responsibility and duty to draw 164 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:40,840 attention to opportunities like this. 165 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:44,920 These kids, they celebrate water, like my kids celebrate Christmas day. 166 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:48,120 And we've got 8 billion people in this world to help. 167 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:51,200 So I hope that we can do more to do just that. 168 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:55,480 Now, if you're in an economic position where you can't help, but you could 169 00:09:55,480 --> 00:09:57,600 share this message with others and please do that. 170 00:09:57,640 --> 00:09:59,520 Just tell people about the water project. 171 00:09:59,560 --> 00:10:02,240 Let's work together to see who we can help out in life. 172 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:06,000 And if you've got another cause that you'd rather see us talk about, then 173 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:07,520 don't hesitate to drop that message. 174 00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:09,360 And don't hesitate to drop that in the comments. 175 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:10,560 It's not a competition. 176 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:13,320 There's a lot of people to serve and we look forward to joining forces 177 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:14,360 with you to do just that. 178 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:19,560 So without further ado, Vlada, thank you so much for joining me on vision pros live. 179 00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:20,560 I'm excited to have you here today. 180 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:22,440 Hello. 181 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:23,720 So happy to be with you. 182 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:25,360 Absolutely. 183 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:30,640 So diving in hot and heavy, what is your vision for those that you serve? 184 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:39,000 My vision is to allow to, to be their supporting force, um, in being their best 185 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:42,160 self, uh, in living the lives they want to be. 186 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:43,560 I love that. 187 00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:47,600 And, and so being their best self, who's they, what, what types of people 188 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:49,400 do you find yourself serving most often? 189 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:50,720 Yeah. 190 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:54,880 So just reflecting on my entrepreneurial journey and building startup, one of the 191 00:10:54,880 --> 00:11:00,480 things I am most proud of is the fact that I'm a business owner and I'm a 192 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:08,240 business owner because I got to hire a lot of, um, teachers and, um, and I'm a 193 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:13,920 big advocate for supporting teachers in that transition to corporate if they 194 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:18,800 desire to do so, uh, because they just have a lot of amazing and transferable 195 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:23,360 skills and it's not only teachers, but there are a lot of people who, um, not 196 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:28,040 based in resume, but their actual skillset are just amazing and, uh, often overlooked 197 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:32,000 in their actual screening and interviewing techniques. 198 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:38,080 And so I was blessed to discover, um, so many talented individuals, uh, who got 199 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:42,720 to grow, uh, and lead, uh, different functions within, uh, class tech from 200 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:47,960 sales to customer success, to marketing, and, uh, you name it, even though they 201 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:51,520 walked in on day one, not knowing a thing about any of those functions. 202 00:11:51,560 --> 00:11:56,360 And, uh, that's just been life-changing for them in terms of, um, what they 203 00:11:56,360 --> 00:12:02,200 did financially was such a, an amazing growth, uh, opportunity for them, uh, to 204 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:08,040 show their leadership, but also, um, because we were serving, uh, schools and 205 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:12,920 families and teachers that allowed them to serve a bigger purpose, a bigger 206 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:18,360 mission, but still be in that alignment with student success, which is what they 207 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:19,160 set out to do. 208 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:23,960 And so in a way that allowed them to be better versions of themselves, but now 209 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:28,280 they're at a bigger scale and, and, and sort of launching into, into corporate 210 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:28,680 world. 211 00:12:28,680 --> 00:12:32,360 So, uh, that was very, very meaningful experience to me. 212 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:36,760 I'm also very excited to support those who want to become entrepreneurs, 213 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:38,840 especially launching their own startups. 214 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:43,560 And that's something I've done informally for years and something I can do now 215 00:12:43,560 --> 00:12:45,160 full-time at Elevator Lab. 216 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:50,440 Um, whether they're aspiring early stage entrepreneurs, uh, moving from corporate 217 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:54,840 startup world, whether they've tried five different startups and it didn't work 218 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:59,880 out and now they want to mentor in someone to, uh, to be the partner that 219 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:03,400 they missed, uh, in their prior attempts at the bat. 220 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:10,040 Um, and so that just, um, really, really is so fulfilling to see folks, uh, be 221 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,760 able to pursue what they want to pursue. 222 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:15,320 And it's never an easy road. 223 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:20,360 No, it's never an easy road, but what's so neat about the, the 224 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:25,240 other side of being a visionary, being an entrepreneur, working in the 225 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:29,720 capacities that you have, you begin to realize that the principles, like you 226 00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:31,160 mentioned Ray Dalio, right? 227 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:34,600 They, they are the same no matter the venture. 228 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:37,240 I saw that as an SEO provider. 229 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:39,240 I did not know a lot about SEO. 230 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:42,440 Matt Cutts, the search director of Google taught us the side of an expert is 231 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:45,640 somebody who will go get the answer, not somebody who knows it all. 232 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:51,560 So as I was building websites with fire departments, um, schools, um, plumbers, 233 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:55,960 HVAC, uh, it did not matter what the industry was. 234 00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:56,360 Right. 235 00:13:56,360 --> 00:13:59,880 It was the same principles over and over and over. 236 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:06,280 And our ability to refine, like our, our commitment to those principles was 237 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:07,480 what ultimately led to the results. 238 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:11,880 So you've, you've done that with class tag to the tune of 5 million users. 239 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:15,240 And we'll be talking about that journey from idea to exit further as well 240 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:19,640 as we go, but thank you for highlighting that this is something that's really, 241 00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:23,080 you know, every entrepreneur and the world can benefit from 242 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:24,440 understanding these principles. 243 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:27,880 Yeah, I absolutely agree. 244 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:33,000 And I think the same applies now as I'm building, um, sort of a mentorship 245 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:36,760 platform, certainly a lot of the same lessons are very transferable. 246 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:40,840 Some of them are new for me, for example, uh, building my personal brand as 247 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:45,400 someone who was hiding behind the company and doing everything in the name of a 248 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:45,880 company. 249 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:48,440 Now I am the product effectively. 250 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:52,200 So that, uh, you know, there are still some new things that I got to learn, 251 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:55,720 which is what makes this journey so fun. 252 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:56,040 Right. 253 00:14:56,040 --> 00:14:57,960 Do you just get to stretch yourself? 254 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:02,520 Um, I actually recently heard something, uh, a quote from Jeff Bezos that I 255 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:03,480 absolutely loved. 256 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:07,480 And he was talking about, we are all given the gifts, right? 257 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:12,760 So for example, you're, um, a great speaker or you're, um, just social or 258 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:13,880 you're great at math. 259 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:18,120 Those are things that they're given by nature and you can't really be proud of 260 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:18,360 them. 261 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:23,320 You can be grateful for them, but the things you are really proud of other 262 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:26,200 things that you've developed yourself. 263 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:26,440 Right. 264 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:30,520 And I sort of, I never thought of it this way, but it really resonated with me 265 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:34,920 because I think that the things I really, you know, it sort of takes pain to, 266 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:36,120 to feel the game, right? 267 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:42,520 To feel that you've persevered and you've, um, you became a different person 268 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:43,080 as a result. 269 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:45,080 That makes a lot of sense. 270 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:48,920 And that's a, that is a fun quote to meditate on and think about. 271 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:52,200 It's one of those things where it's like, you know, okay, as a host, I want to 272 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:53,880 make sure to validate it the right way. 273 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:55,480 But also I'm writing a mental note. 274 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:59,000 Like I got to go ponder such a deep thought, uh, you know, and think about 275 00:15:59,000 --> 00:15:59,880 that further. 276 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:04,680 And, uh, so yeah, what, you know, how does that apply in my life? 277 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:08,840 But it is easy to see when we are developed, when we work hard to develop 278 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:13,720 something, it is far easier, um, to, to feel appreciation for it because we 279 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:17,400 know what we have or put in, in order to establish that. 280 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:21,720 So as far as your personal life goes, what, what's your vision for yourself? 281 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:29,000 My vision for myself is, um, to support, um, hopefully thousands of 282 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:35,160 entrepreneurs out there who want to build a future, um, that they better 283 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:39,000 future that they imagine and to support their visions. 284 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:46,280 I think, um, that really what drives me and motivates me is, um, I've seen how 285 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:51,720 transformative, um, the idea to exit journey is, uh, for me, both in terms of 286 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:54,840 personal qualities, in terms of outcomes that can be life changing. 287 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:57,640 And I want the same for the folks. 288 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:03,400 And I love when people are so passionate about how they want to change the world. 289 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:09,560 And I get to be a small, um, source of energy and source of know-how behind 290 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:14,360 them to just give them a little push that they might need to succeed. 291 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:15,960 I love that. 292 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:19,160 So I'm going to double down on that question. 293 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:25,640 Um, why, why for you do you want to make that happen for you? 294 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:27,880 You've had your, your fix, right? 295 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:33,160 You've got your, um, your accolades and victories and you've helped people 296 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:34,280 along the way. 297 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:36,920 Why do you feel so inspired to do that? 298 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:44,280 I think at the end of the day, everyone comes here with a, with a mission and it, 299 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:48,520 uh, perhaps takes a lifetime to figure out what that mission truly is. 300 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:57,800 But the closest I can come to understanding of that mission is, um, I get energy back by 301 00:17:57,800 --> 00:17:58,920 giving energy. 302 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:03,800 And, and so for me, it just multiplies. 303 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:10,120 And so I feel that when I do, you know, my free events, my programs, one-on-one 304 00:18:10,120 --> 00:18:13,480 mentorship, just the energy gets right back to me. 305 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:18,840 And, um, and, and I think that means that I'm doing something right. 306 00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:20,920 And then I'm doing something I'm supposed to be doing. 307 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:23,480 There's a huge one win in that. 308 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:24,040 That's awesome. 309 00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:26,600 We're going to dive into a dark subject now. 310 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:32,520 So what's the worst leadership experience that you've ever had? 311 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:38,600 When I was the worst leader or someone who was a both. 312 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:51,160 Um, gosh, well, I recently actually posted very openly about a failed M&A experience, 313 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:58,040 which was extremely painful when, uh, we were about to close our series a round, uh, 314 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:04,840 a private equity fund approached us and, um, really wanted to do the deal, wanted to buy 315 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:05,560 business. 316 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:09,800 Uh, everything was aligning and they said, walk away from the term sheet. 317 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:11,560 We, we gonna buy your business. 318 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:15,640 And we went through diligence, everything was moving. 319 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:23,320 And then they pulled out at the 11th hour when, um, when effectively the purchase 320 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:26,040 agreements were already, uh, circulated to the investors. 321 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:32,120 So it was like the very, very last bit a week from that point, basically the deal was 322 00:19:32,120 --> 00:19:33,240 supposed to close, right? 323 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:35,960 That we just had some technicalities back and forth legal. 324 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:38,200 Every other diligence was complete by that. 325 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:39,720 Wow. 326 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:46,120 And, um, so that was certainly like the lowest low for me professionally because. 327 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:49,160 A, I was naive. 328 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:57,320 Um, and I, I felt that at the time I actually let now as a wise theirself, I know that I 329 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:03,880 shouldn't have taken that route, uh, because, um, I just had too much at stake to do it, 330 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:05,640 but it was so, so tempting. 331 00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:09,880 It was so, so tempting to go and all. 332 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:16,280 And, and so I think, uh, that was to me the worst leadership experience because I gave 333 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:17,720 into temptation. 334 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:26,920 I gave into, um, and, and just didn't put, uh, the right, um, protections in place, um, 335 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:33,960 that, uh, can really secure the team can secure the company and, you know, secure, you know, 336 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:35,800 what stakeholders needed to secure. 337 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:44,680 So I got to a very dark, uh, place, um, because, um, you know, because I, um, just didn't know 338 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:45,000 better. 339 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:50,360 And most importantly, through that process, I also, in a way said goodbye to the business 340 00:20:50,360 --> 00:20:52,520 because I already felt like I've sold it. 341 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:52,760 Right. 342 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:58,520 It's been three, four months of that diligence when I sort of already mentally prepared that 343 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:03,480 I'm no longer running the business as of, you know, a couple of weeks from now. 344 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:11,880 And so that required a whole, um, energy shift, shift mentally, right. 345 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:20,760 To a get myself on track because I knew very well that I can't put the company on track, 346 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:22,840 the team on track unless I'm on track. 347 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:29,160 So somehow magically I had to embrace that role again. 348 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:35,320 And that company that I've been building for eight years or the time, maybe six years or 349 00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:42,120 so, um, and love it again in a way, right, because at CEO and leader, you are the source 350 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:43,960 of energy for everything that happens. 351 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:50,120 And the moment you're, uh, your light dims, it just doesn't work the same way, right. 352 00:21:50,120 --> 00:21:57,240 You have to continue to give, um, not only guidance and goals and, and whatever support 353 00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:03,160 and monitoring of whatever else you give, but that energy that pushes everyone forward, 354 00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:03,320 right. 355 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:06,440 That vision. And so I just didn't have it in me. 356 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:18,200 And that required an incredible transformation that thankfully I was able to go through in 357 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:20,200 a very short order. 358 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:27,800 Um, and, um, and to make things, um, anyway, to make things even worse, it was the backdrop 359 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:32,680 of this was the beginning of war in Ukraine where my family was bombed and my team was 360 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:39,720 bombed. So there were a lot of compounding factors at the time, but I, I felt like the 361 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:45,960 worst leader one moment because I gave in, but I'm actually really proud of how we came 362 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:50,200 out of that, but it, it took a major, major transformation. 363 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:55,000 Oh, I think you get a trophy. 364 00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:01,000 Um, for, for that experience, um, on this show, like all the experience we've ever heard 365 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,000 that that might take the cake. 366 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,160 Um, that's a lot to be going on. 367 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:06,760 Thank you for diving into the details. 368 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:11,240 My, my best wishes, uh, to you and the family as well in the process. 369 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:15,640 There's, there's so many things I want to linger on and, and highlight that of what 370 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:19,960 you said, because I think a lot of people think entrepreneurship is easy and simple. 371 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:25,560 You know, they want to oversimplify it and your aspect of like walking us through that 372 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:27,320 mergers and acquisition reality. 373 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:31,880 Um, and now when you're, when you're playing the game of entrepreneurship at the next 374 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:37,080 levels and you're getting to those stages, there's a lot of challenges that there's a 375 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:38,840 lot of potential traps. 376 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:41,400 There's a lot of disappointments that can occur. 377 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:46,600 Expectations can, can be offset offsetting and, and make you feel bad. 378 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:48,600 There's a lot of things that can happen. 379 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:49,800 Make you feel bad. 380 00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:56,520 There's so many things you can't even really comprehend until you're in the middle of that. 381 00:23:56,520 --> 00:24:02,120 It would, and the, what I, what it made me think of was an Olympic swimmer who's swimming 382 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:03,560 the mile, right? 383 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:05,800 And they get to the end of that race, right? 384 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:11,720 They've put everything in it to try to break the world record, putting them at their maximum 385 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:13,240 possible output. 386 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:17,080 And they're about to come out of the water and the ref goes, no, you got to go again. 387 00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:22,680 Um, like, and there's like whatever, it would never happen in the Olympics, right? 388 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:26,280 Nothing would ever occur like that in a professional environment like that. 389 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:33,160 As entrepreneurs, we go through that all the time, you know, and that merge and acquisition 390 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:39,480 is what reminds me like, Whoa, you know, you, you're trying not to mentally quite quit, 391 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:44,120 you know, towards the end of that, or giving your all to the, it doesn't matter which side 392 00:24:44,120 --> 00:24:50,120 you're giving everything you can, and then you've got to, oh my gosh, like just step 393 00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:51,160 right back into it. 394 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:58,280 And there's, there's money that's on the line, but more importantly, that is the resource 395 00:24:58,280 --> 00:24:59,080 in the vehicle. 396 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:01,160 You have your team in that vehicle. 397 00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:08,120 There are people whose lives matter, education, children, there's so much that goes into that 398 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:13,880 that, and then you have to muster, like you said, the strength to shoulder the load that's 399 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:15,560 on you, right? 400 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:17,240 But also that's on everybody else. 401 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:25,720 And I think the glamorizing world of Instagram and Facebook and beyond forgets to think through 402 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,600 these realities and prepare for them. 403 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:32,680 And so I'm grateful for you sharing that because it's just like, wow, that's it. 404 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:38,680 That's a lot of stuff that we should consider as leaders, but also recognize that you said 405 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:40,840 this led you to your proudest moment. 406 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:44,520 This led you to one of the greatest personal victories, perhaps. 407 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,000 I'm sure there's other people on the team who felt the same way. 408 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:53,080 And it's like, I wouldn't sacrifice the hard times I've been through because it usually 409 00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:57,000 fortifies and strengthens the relationships that I have with those that I love. 410 00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,000 So that was beautifully said. 411 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:00,360 Thank you. 412 00:26:00,360 --> 00:26:00,920 Absolutely. 413 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:07,400 And I think, you know, when I reflected this to why did I fall into that trap, right? 414 00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:12,040 It was because I didn't know better because there were not other people, other entrepreneurs 415 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:17,640 and founders who've in the tune of thousands went through the same traumatic experience. 416 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:19,000 They just don't talk about it. 417 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:19,640 Right. 418 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:27,480 And I know that privately, a number of my friends, friends, entrepreneurs came back to me because 419 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:32,040 I've shared privately first and they said, oh, my God, you totally saved my business. 420 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:35,800 You saved even my life because so many entrepreneurs have been so 421 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:39,720 tight in the heap with their businesses that they can't separate it. 422 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:40,280 Right. 423 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:46,200 And then the same, you know, that was one of the main motivations for starting Elevator 424 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:49,560 Lab because, you know, my pain can be your gain. 425 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:50,040 Right. 426 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:56,440 I've, you know, went through a lot of painful experiences, made some mistakes, learned to 427 00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:00,600 do better, learned some things that work and others than don't. 428 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:02,680 And why repeat it? 429 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:03,720 Why start from scratch? 430 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:09,000 Yes, it was absolutely turning to people who have your experiences is absolutely incredible. 431 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:16,360 I've been through maybe a dozen, maybe a dozen mergers and acquisitions, you know, to the 432 00:27:16,360 --> 00:27:22,200 stage where they got to either completion or close to I'm in the middle of one right 433 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:26,920 now that I have equity in and it's been going on for years. 434 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:33,640 And I'm like, you know, like just, you know, I'm in the middle of one right now that I 435 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:35,880 like finish what y'all are doing with this already. 436 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:36,920 Oh, you know, get it done. 437 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:42,120 I'm pretty far removed from it, but there's supposed to be stakeholder meetings. 438 00:27:42,120 --> 00:27:46,920 There's supposed to be all sorts of things that are supposed to happen for something 439 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:48,360 that I'm never going to hold my breath for. 440 00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:54,040 But something that's still important, you know, enough to keep in mind. 441 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:59,080 And, you know, that's there's, there's, there's levels to this that happen. 442 00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:04,280 And you've been through some pretty serious levels of M&A's and behind the scenes on it. 443 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:07,960 I think it's so important for people to prepare for diving into the best. 444 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:10,520 What's the best leadership experience you've ever had? 445 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:14,120 Best leadership experience. 446 00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:19,720 Well, maybe just continue on that story and that transformation just to close the full 447 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:23,880 loop, not that, you know, it's the lower the lows, right? 448 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:24,760 The higher the peak. 449 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:28,120 So I do think it's somewhere in the top of those experiences. 450 00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:37,480 But I think what what I realized is that after that M&A broke, first I did about 10 hours 451 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:43,960 of Pilates because that was the only thing that I needed. 452 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:44,760 Yes, exactly. 453 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:50,680 I needed some sort of medication or sports or some, you know, some substance. 454 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:53,240 And I was like, no, I'm going to go for sports. 455 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:55,960 And I did 10 hours until it physically hurt. 456 00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:57,400 And I was like, okay, now I'm ready. 457 00:28:57,400 --> 00:28:59,960 I slept. And the next morning I had a new plan. 458 00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:05,800 And the new plan was I had to come back to the team and to the investors as a new vision, 459 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:06,040 right? 460 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:12,120 I needed a new vision of how we're going to build a stronger business and how we're going 461 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:14,280 to move forward as a team. 462 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:19,640 And so within effectively a quarter, we turned profitable. 463 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:26,280 So at the time we were scaling as most software companies, not profitable, right? 464 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:28,680 So it was much more focused on rapid growth. 465 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:35,160 But we really had to change our priorities, change sort of key business metrics we're 466 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:39,560 looking at, how we evaluate the project, the priorities and things like that. 467 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:44,680 We also, unfortunately, had to take some cuts from the team. 468 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,080 That was just what was needed. 469 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:50,280 And again, that was the worst and the best. 470 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:54,680 I think I handled it as, you know, as best as I can. 471 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:59,480 But also in a way that was very transparent for the folks that unfortunately had to say 472 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:01,720 goodbye to as well as the folks who stayed. 473 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:11,240 And that required a lot of, again, a lot of speed, but also a lot of human sort of 474 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:14,200 understanding, right, of the pain that other folks are feeling. 475 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:16,760 And so I tried to balance the two. 476 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:20,200 And we came out with a stronger business. 477 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:24,840 So we came out as a stronger, leaner team. 478 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:34,040 And we continue to grow about 30 percent ahead of plan and was exceedingly profitable 479 00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:34,840 business as well. 480 00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,800 So that was a big, big turnaround in a matter of three months. 481 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:39,480 That's amazing. 482 00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:42,440 And it's awesome that it occurred that way. 483 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:49,640 It's always hard to reflect back on those who missed out on the process, whether it's 484 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:54,360 a personal choice on their end or we make a mistake as a leader and somebody doesn't 485 00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:56,600 have that blessing happen. 486 00:30:57,320 --> 00:30:58,520 They don't get to be a part of it. 487 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:06,920 But it's also very important to stay centered around those who remained there and how that 488 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:09,000 affects their lives for the good moving forward. 489 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:10,760 It's a really hard game to balance. 490 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:12,840 So, yeah, absolutely. 491 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:22,200 And I think one of the things that intuitively I opted to do right is to take responsibility 492 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:24,040 that it was my mistake. 493 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:24,680 Right. 494 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:32,920 I was very open with the team and saying, hey, this was so, so good that I got lured 495 00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:39,160 into that based believing words, believing sort of kind of early actions that would 496 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:47,880 indicate that it's a done deal, but then it's just, you know, that didn't unfold in the 497 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:49,960 way we've foreseen it. 498 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:51,800 And I kind of own the mistake. 499 00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:53,320 Absolutely. 500 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:59,320 So principles and I'll add in Darren Hardy's the compound effect because that's also at 501 00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:00,840 play in this leadership example. 502 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:01,080 Right. 503 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:04,520 Again, back to Pilates, you could have chose pills. 504 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:08,440 You could have chose a lot of different things to deal with that circumstance. 505 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:12,440 And there was a compound effect that sounds very positive. 506 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:13,640 I mean, it wasn't there for it. 507 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:14,840 I didn't see it all happening. 508 00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:22,440 But I can just imagine, right, using a physical exercise, a cathartic therapy to allow you 509 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:27,160 to get through the emotions of that, put you in a position of strength to be able to deal 510 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:32,440 with that in a way that had you turned towards other types of substances, you know, would 511 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:34,520 have had a compound effect for a negative. 512 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:36,600 I don't think you would have had the same type of outcome. 513 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:42,360 So as leaders and visionaries out there, it is truly the small decisions that we make 514 00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:48,280 like that one that propel us into a position to make the better decisions that usually 515 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:50,200 lead to the better results as well. 516 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:51,640 We're going to dive in on that. 517 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:52,520 That's one lesson. 518 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:54,600 But I'm going to give you the chance. 519 00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:57,880 This is your opportunity for if and try to play this game with me. 520 00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:02,440 If this was the last chance, Lada, that you had to share a powerful lesson with the world, 521 00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:06,520 what powerful lesson can other visionary leaders learn from your experience? 522 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:12,280 Be yourself and be vulnerable. 523 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:21,240 I think the, you know, as they say, there is only one of you and many of others. 524 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:31,880 And so the only person you need to compete with is you the day before and just get to 525 00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:38,040 more authentic self and just discover more guidance from within. 526 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:42,840 I think a lot of folks are looking for guidance from outside, but there is a lot of guidance 527 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:43,880 that's right here. 528 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:45,880 Wow. 529 00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:48,440 A lot of folks, I'm going to write that down. 530 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:52,520 Are looking for guidance outside. 531 00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:55,000 Help me finish that quote one more time. 532 00:33:56,040 --> 00:34:01,320 A lot of folks are looking for guidance outside, but there is more guidance right inside of 533 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:01,800 you. 534 00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:02,520 That's right. 535 00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:04,920 I love that. 536 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:08,280 That's that is something that resonates super well with me. 537 00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:10,040 That's also why we have the show. 538 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:13,880 Vision pros, you know, it's, it's not about me controlling people's visions. 539 00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:15,320 It's not about somebody's coach control. 540 00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:16,600 No, it's not about me. 541 00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:18,440 It's not about somebody's coach control. 542 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:24,280 No, you have within you what you need to succeed and the ability to find your confidence to 543 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:30,040 lean into that, to really own that is a gift that nobody can give you. 544 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:32,840 You got to, you got to be willing to take that for yourself. 545 00:34:33,720 --> 00:34:36,200 So that resonates. 546 00:34:36,200 --> 00:34:39,320 We're going to dive into more about the headline. 547 00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:43,400 We've talked about the schools and the 5 million student users that are the parent 548 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:44,760 use families that are using that. 549 00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:49,240 And 25,000 schools, we talked about startups and how those go together. 550 00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:52,680 The journey from idea to exit. 551 00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:55,240 We mentioned that you have a program related to that. 552 00:34:55,240 --> 00:34:59,720 This is the time, whatever questions you feel I should be asking, guide me to those, of 553 00:34:59,720 --> 00:35:04,760 course, but whatever you'd like to share in terms of how the program works, how people 554 00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:08,920 can move from idea to exit the next five, 10 minutes. 555 00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:10,120 It's your time. 556 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:12,120 Yeah, absolutely. 557 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:16,840 Well, there are a lot of misconceptions in startup world, right? 558 00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:21,880 And including one that you mentioned about overnight success, right? 559 00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:23,400 Which just doesn't exist. 560 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:25,320 It's been years in the making. 561 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:36,600 And the most important decision actually in the startup journey is what is the problem 562 00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:38,280 you are solving, right? 563 00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:45,720 I think a lot of folks get fixated on building the right product, finding tech co-founder, 564 00:35:45,720 --> 00:35:52,360 kind of getting into the product mode when that's step five in the process. 565 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:59,960 And the first four steps is really understanding who their best position to serve. 566 00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:06,280 That should be step number one, because it takes a really long time to build this business. 567 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:12,680 And you better really like those people and you're really better talking to them for years 568 00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:15,080 and years to come and serving them, right? 569 00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:19,400 And listening to what they like and don't like and want to do better by them and all 570 00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:20,280 of those things, right? 571 00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:23,480 That's why who is really critical. 572 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:31,320 And then it's what and what problem you solve for them, which is the hair on fire problem, 573 00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:39,560 which is so, so difficult to find and is worse every hour you spend on trying to find it. 574 00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:44,840 Because if you start building a solution to a wrong problem, you're going to spend a lot 575 00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:46,920 of money and a lot of time in the wrong place. 576 00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:49,640 And then lastly is the how. 577 00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:56,040 And in the how part, just in summary, it's all about building a business rather than 578 00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:57,400 building a solution. 579 00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:01,720 Because there are many more solutions than there are businesses, right? 580 00:37:01,720 --> 00:37:07,800 It doesn't mean people are willing to pay unless you really found the right problem 581 00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:12,760 to solve and position it in the right way that actually solves their critical pain. 582 00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:18,840 And so, again, the common mistake here is that folks spend years and years and millions 583 00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:25,960 of dollars building that audience or accumulating those users who are just the wrong users. 584 00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:27,240 Maybe they don't have a budget. 585 00:37:27,240 --> 00:37:29,800 Maybe it's not their core problem, whatever that is, right? 586 00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:35,240 So that's a mistake number three, which is really way before you actually like build 587 00:37:35,240 --> 00:37:36,040 something. 588 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:42,520 People in ideal scenarios should be willing to pay to solve their problem, even if your 589 00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:45,320 MVP is so ugly and so bad, right? 590 00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:49,640 But if it's a really important problem, they should want to do it. 591 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:51,820 Wow. 592 00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:55,480 That's a hard thing to resonate with. 593 00:37:55,480 --> 00:38:03,080 Let's healthy debate that because I'm stuck in a little bit of a dilemma too with what 594 00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:03,720 we're building. 595 00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:09,560 We build what people need more than what they want. 596 00:38:11,320 --> 00:38:12,280 And that's a hard sell. 597 00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:16,040 They need what they want. 598 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:16,600 Yes. 599 00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:20,280 A lot of people gravitate towards what they want and ignore what they need. 600 00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:24,680 Think of young kids who want to get married and are not ready for that. 601 00:38:24,680 --> 00:38:26,040 You're not going to talk them out of it. 602 00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:27,560 It's not happening. 603 00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:29,560 They're going to do what they want to do. 604 00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:38,920 Again, the people choose alcohol or going to the bar over spending time with their boy 605 00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:42,040 or their family all day long. 606 00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:45,160 I shouldn't say everybody does it, but those are examples. 607 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:50,680 We spend time on Netflix knowing that we could have played the guitar and developed our talent. 608 00:38:50,680 --> 00:39:05,000 So it's a challenging reality for somebody like myself to say, okay, how do I create 609 00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:13,800 this drive for people to want to buy not only what's ugly, but what they still aren't going 610 00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:18,680 to admit that they should be doing? 611 00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:19,640 Yeah. 612 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:20,920 Yeah. 613 00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:24,920 Well, I think that's a fantastic objection. 614 00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:27,640 And I totally take it. 615 00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:28,360 It's an honest one. 616 00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:29,880 I'm like, man, help me out. 617 00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:30,380 Yeah. 618 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:38,360 Well, at the end of the day, it comes down to what subsegment you're serving. 619 00:39:38,360 --> 00:39:47,640 And if you go through a famous adoption curve, there is early adopters, and then you go through 620 00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:54,760 the stages until you actually become hitting the early majority and then the business is mature. 621 00:39:54,760 --> 00:40:06,200 So in every customer trend, consumer trend, or any trend in general, there is that adoption curve. 622 00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:11,320 And so if you're, let's say, if you're talking about, let's say, something that's a healthier 623 00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:13,080 choice as opposed to not, right? 624 00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:20,760 There is this early adopters who have certain criteria that makes them early adopters that 625 00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:30,760 would actually want to need what you provide as opposed to those who only need it, but they 626 00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:33,560 don't want it because they're not there yet mentally. 627 00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:37,720 And so that's why it's so important to start from that first segment. 628 00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:42,600 And that's something we talk in the program a lot about how you get your early customers, right? 629 00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:47,160 People get overwhelmed with every strategy on earth. 630 00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:49,000 And there are many of them, right? 631 00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:55,240 Instead of saying, I only need a handful of people who have the kind of criteria that make 632 00:40:55,240 --> 00:40:57,400 them an appropriate early customer. 633 00:40:57,400 --> 00:41:05,000 And then you start educating the rest about problem, about solution, and it takes longer, 634 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:06,600 longer, longer to get there, right? 635 00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:11,880 As famous like kind of 95-5 rule, I think it was John Miller, if I'm not mistaken, who 636 00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:12,760 talks about it. 637 00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:18,520 Effectively, a small fraction of the market is in market to buy anything right now, unless 638 00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:22,040 you're selling bread or milk or some of the daily essentials, right? 639 00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:27,640 For most of our services, only a small fraction is buying in this very moment. 640 00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:28,680 Correct. 641 00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:36,920 And so then you need to overlay that fraction that is ready to make that purchase with the 642 00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:37,720 early adapters. 643 00:41:37,720 --> 00:41:39,480 And that's your immediate market. 644 00:41:39,480 --> 00:41:44,120 Everything else go through brewing process in your funnel. 645 00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:45,080 Yes. 646 00:41:45,080 --> 00:41:46,120 I love that. 647 00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:47,400 Thank you for acknowledging it. 648 00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:49,960 I will admit to those who are listening. 649 00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:55,720 I have one of the hardest business models there probably is, going after because not 650 00:41:55,720 --> 00:41:59,640 only that, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs are ready for scale. 651 00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:07,480 They may be in the 5% want to, you know, are in a position to buy, but are they educated? 652 00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:08,600 Right. 653 00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:13,880 There's a huge education process for the people that if we're going to work with them, like 654 00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:16,360 they have to qualify as well. 655 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:18,600 And our qualifications are very, very different. 656 00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:20,520 Our qualifications are very, very difficult. 657 00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:26,840 But can we, can we, if we leverage that as an excuse and say, well, we're just going 658 00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:30,680 to ignore people's wants and force people to eat vegetables, right? 659 00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:31,640 That's a bad attitude. 660 00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:33,000 And I was a leader. 661 00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:39,720 So we don't, we create other means of helping people find what they want, really associate 662 00:42:39,720 --> 00:42:43,960 and believe in what we're up to so they can nurture. 663 00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:46,120 But it's, it's a nurturing based path. 664 00:42:46,120 --> 00:42:49,320 There are far easier business models out there. 665 00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:57,240 Most of you have ideas that are far easier and far more fun to fulfill, frankly, you 666 00:42:57,240 --> 00:43:04,360 know, whether you're selling popsicles, you know, like in a, in a ice cream truck or you 667 00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:11,080 are, you know, I don't know, running a athletic gym for high schoolers who are trying to get 668 00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:12,040 into gymnastics. 669 00:43:12,040 --> 00:43:17,240 The business models out there are so far and wide that you probably have something that's 670 00:43:17,240 --> 00:43:20,600 a little more relatable to every day person. 671 00:43:20,600 --> 00:43:26,040 And even still, you still like the formulas out there are awful. 672 00:43:26,040 --> 00:43:31,720 I highly recommend working with somebody like Lada to figure out how do you see beyond what 673 00:43:31,720 --> 00:43:33,560 you can't see for yourself? 674 00:43:33,560 --> 00:43:33,880 Right. 675 00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:39,560 Because you, you know, you're walking in blind to entrepreneurship and the cliff's edge are, 676 00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:40,280 those are many. 677 00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:43,400 So, so find mentors that you can really trust this for. 678 00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:45,240 I'm super grateful for this, Lada. 679 00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:46,840 This was an awesome conversation. 680 00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:52,680 We're going to have links as well with the show down below the episode. 681 00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:56,760 We'll have links for action steps that you can take to get involved with Lada and her 682 00:43:56,760 --> 00:43:57,400 programs. 683 00:43:57,400 --> 00:43:59,720 We'll try to keep those updated together, of course. 684 00:43:59,720 --> 00:44:03,720 So if the programs change shift or she comes out with a book, this New York Times bestseller, 685 00:44:03,720 --> 00:44:06,120 we'll want to, we'll want to put that on there when that happens. 686 00:44:06,120 --> 00:44:10,680 Also, everybody is listening and all of you visionaries out there, there's a button in 687 00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:11,720 the top right corner. 688 00:44:11,720 --> 00:44:12,920 It says, be our guest. 689 00:44:12,920 --> 00:44:16,440 If you've got a vision to share, you're out there trying to help people out. 690 00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:23,400 It doesn't matter if you have 5 million users like Lada has had or worked at venture capital 691 00:44:23,400 --> 00:44:24,440 firms and beyond. 692 00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:30,600 Even if you are just getting started and you're brand new, if you got a heart to care for 693 00:44:30,600 --> 00:44:36,360 others and you've got the disciplines to move that vision forward, we want you on our stage. 694 00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:38,280 We want this to be the first place that you land. 695 00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:40,840 That's always a fun opportunity for those who make it later. 696 00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:43,720 We can look back and celebrate that and be like, cool, we found that person. 697 00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:47,560 So we do look forward to having you on the show as well. 698 00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:51,560 Also, if you have a comment to question anything like that, please leave it in the, you know, 699 00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:54,120 give us a chance to come to bat and to serve you. 700 00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:58,280 Lada and I will both get in there and connect you to the resources you might need. 701 00:44:58,280 --> 00:45:01,800 Like comment and share this video before I close this out. 702 00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:03,800 Vlada, is there anything else that you'd like to share? 703 00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:07,560 Just make it happen. 704 00:45:07,560 --> 00:45:10,040 Thought counts, but action counts much more. 705 00:45:10,040 --> 00:45:13,800 So whatever you've got on your mind, make it real. 706 00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:15,000 That's right. 707 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:15,560 Vision Pros. 708 00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:17,560 You heard it from Vlada Laquina. 709 00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:18,360 I would agree. 710 00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:20,520 Let's go make this, make these things happen. 711 00:45:20,520 --> 00:45:24,040 We got 8 billion people to serve and we'll see you on the next episode. 712 00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:24,680 Take care, everybody. 713 00:45:24,680 --> 00:45:25,240 Bye bye. 714 00:45:25,240 --> 00:45:26,600 Thank you for being with us. 715 00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:28,600 Bye bye.