1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 We talked last time and I've spoken to several other individuals and guests. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:10,800 And one thing, very few talks about an exit strategy. 3 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:20,100 So when we spoke about it, you said that it would be a great idea for those that are going to start their business to have an extra exit strategy. 4 00:00:20,100 --> 00:00:26,100 What key steps do you recommend for creating an effective exit strategy before they start their business? 5 00:00:26,100 --> 00:00:35,000 So the first thing is two things. You want to have a time stamp like what date, you know, five years, ten years, twenty years, what are you thinking? 6 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:41,000 The second thing is how much is enough? That's a really big question to ask yourself before you start it. 7 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:47,000 I know when we start a business, we all have these ideas of grandeur, right? We're going to make a gazillion dollars. 8 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,000 But let's try to dial it in and go, how much do you really want? 9 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:57,000 Because when you decide how much is enough, you also decide how much work you're going to put in. 10 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:09,000 So it's a really important step to understand because you can be an Amazon or you can be someone only the people who matter know. 11 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:15,000 But you still make a great living and a great exit and everything else, you know, but you're not world famous. 12 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:19,000 But you have an incredibly good living you can make and a great exit and everything else. 13 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:26,000 So the date, which is five years, three years, whatever the plan may be for yourself. 14 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,000 And what you said that was super important is how much is enough. 15 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:34,000 So it takes me back to when you were saying you needed to scale down. 16 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:39,000 Are you so are you at that point when it comes to traveling? 17 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:44,000 You know, so is it in specific areas where you define how much is enough? 18 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:51,000 It has to be because when you want to create, you can create there's standard of living in this quality of life. 19 00:01:51,000 --> 00:02:00,000 Right. Standard of living easily described is you you live to your means, meaning that if you make more, you spend more. 20 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:05,000 You buy the jet ski, you buy the boat, you buy the better car, you do it and you keep it in the bigger house. 21 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:09,000 Quality of living is time. How much time do you have? 22 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:11,000 Where can you spend your time? 23 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:15,000 What things can you invest in both monetarily and personally? 24 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,000 Because you have the margin to do so. You're not caught in your business. 25 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:24,000 So I think that's the decision you need to make. 26 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:31,000 So you define standard living as living in living to your means and then quality of living is basically the time. 27 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:38,000 And you've been doing this for remind me, is it 20 years? 28 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,000 Oh, man, I'm over 30 years in business. I'm almost 35. 29 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:46,000 Yes. I just look really young. Yeah, you do. 30 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:51,000 Definitely do. And and I know these are just going to be random questions, Richard. 31 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,000 So just roll with me. Are you tired yet? 32 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,000 No, I feel like I just getting started. 33 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:59,000 Honestly, I am just ramped up. 34 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:08,000 I'm so so keyed up just to make this vision of helping 10,000 business owners create freedom, profit and impact in their business. 35 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,000 I'm like, I just feel I feels new. I love it. 36 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:16,000 What's what what's that recharge? When did when does that occur? 37 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:25,000 And when do you find it recurring? Because if you're going 35 years, this is a recharge that has had to have happened over and over and over again. 38 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:30,000 Yeah, I think I find the new thing and I don't mean a new thing as in shiny object stuff. 39 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:36,000 I mean, the thing that's going to drive me and excite me, what's the next level in my business I can go to? 40 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:45,000 Or is there another business I need to exit from this and go to that because I'm finding a different skill set or more joy from doing one thing or another. 41 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:52,000 So if something really starts to drag me down, I really have to look at first what I'm doing in that business. 42 00:03:52,000 --> 00:04:02,000 Should I not be doing that? Most likely that's yes. Is there another avenue I should be focused on systemize and delegate that off and get to something that's more energizing for me. 43 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:10,000 So where I'm at now is high energy, a lot of excitement, loving to build, love to coach people, love to help people, love to build a company that does that. 44 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:16,000 So for me, that's really the recharge is getting that new is redefining your vision. 45 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,000 I guess the easiest way to say it. 46 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:28,000 I love that. And you know the saying in corporate world or I guess in any world, but I don't really hear it in the world of entrepreneurship is burnout. 47 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:34,000 Is there such thing of burnout? Oh, yeah. Yeah, for sure. 48 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:43,000 Yeah. And I think what happens to burnout comes from kind of what we talked about last time too is when you're wearing all the hats and you're trapped in your business as that owner person, right? 49 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:52,000 Escape the owner person we want to do. When you have to do everything and you just feel like you're the only one who can do it, burnout is around the corner. 50 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:58,000 You're just not going to be able to maintain that. And I've seen it and it's pretty and it might take 15 years. 51 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:04,000 Yeah. That's the thing. And then you're just haggard. Business doesn't run well. 52 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,000 You've got I mean the list goes on and on with the problems, right? 53 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:13,000 But you stuck out because you don't want to fail. But at the same time, you actually are. Yeah. 54 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:17,000 Because you don't have any freedom from the business. It's a horrible place to be in. 55 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:32,000 So burnout is very real for entrepreneurs. And it's like I said, I remember being in the corporate world and I was getting burnt out from doing the same thing over and over and over again as to a point to where you can do it with your eyes closed. 56 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:43,000 But as I become newer in the entrepreneur world, I don't foresee that because we I believe that my vision is what drove me to it. 57 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:52,000 But I guess in my world, I didn't see that vision ever burning out in a way that I did as the corporate world because everything is changing. 58 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:59,000 So I thank you for answering that. That was that was definitely helpful. 59 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:05,000 And then how do you help business owners move from chasing money to achieving consistent profit and freedom? 60 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:19,000 We speak about freedom a lot. So it's a big deal. And I tell you, if you ask entrepreneurs why they got in business, freedom is usually number one because it's really a control of my time and I do what I want. 61 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,000 I can build what I want. There's no limits. Right. That's all freedom. 62 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:31,000 That's all freedom based. So how we move from chasing money is to understand your vision, to know the real impact you're trying to make with your business. 63 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:36,000 Who are you truly helping? You're helping everyone. OK, can't do that. 64 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:46,000 So who is it specifically your ideal client profile or ICP? Once we understand that, now we can now we can drive, we can serve that person at a high level. 65 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:52,000 Right. So it's really important that we understand who we're serving, how we serve them and why we serve them. 66 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:55,000 Makes a lot of sense. 67 00:06:55,000 --> 00:07:02,000 And it's interesting because social media for myself, as we look at that. 68 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:22,000 I see freedom, but I do see money. You know, I see people wanting the money and it tends to feel like money is what is driving the people and erasing the vision. And sometimes I feel sad when I say that out loud because it can take over such as influencers. 69 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:25,000 Right. They tend to. 70 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:32,000 That's what they want. Right. They want the money and it's and it's a marketing tool. It's two things. It's a marketing tool. 71 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:37,000 Make money now. Make more money. Great market. Who doesn't want to do that? Right. I mean, let's be real. 72 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:47,000 But the second thing is the problem is they get focused on that. They get focused on let's make money. And that's when everything else gets skewed. 73 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:57,000 And again, we go back to quality of life. Yeah. OK. You can make money, you know, but if that's all you're driving for, it's a it's a hollow victory. 74 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:08,000 It's a very hollow victory when you get there, because in order to just make money, there's a lot of compromises are going to be made to your values, your ideals and things like that, because you're going to because your only goal is to make money. 75 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:18,000 That's your only scorecard. And I feel bad for people who are in that position because they'll get to the top of the mountain, Javonka, and they'll sit on their pile of money with no friends. 76 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:25,000 Yes. Yes. They'll have no no real life. They sacrifice everything for that chase of money. 77 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:36,000 You know, but if you can balance it, you can have both. You can be incredibly profitable if you take the step back, slow down, systemize your business, delegate, automate, delegate and eliminate. 78 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:42,000 Right. We talked about you do those three things. You can still make great money and then have a real life. 79 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:50,000 Yeah. You know, you don't spend it all at the office. See, and that's that's that's definitely a shift, a shift in everything. 80 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:56,000 You know, when when marketing is about money, making it and spending it how you want. 81 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:01,000 And I think that there's this belief that the more money you have, the easier things are. 82 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:06,000 But like you said, then there's something else that's off balance because of your focus. 83 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:10,000 That's why I believe it's so important with with your business, sharpen the sphere. 84 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:17,000 Coaching is because you can they can actually understand that. Right. That's nothing that they talk about in school. 85 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:23,000 A lot of the things that you're coaching about, that's not in a business major. 86 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:38,000 And I think that you have you know what? I just had a thought. Have you ever thought about going into a college and I mean, I did a podcast last week for University of Wisconsin business stuff. 87 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:42,000 The the challenges. 88 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:49,000 I'm not throwing it on the bus here, but real world business and collegiate education doesn't really jive. 89 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:55,000 It really doesn't because they can't program it. They can't program. Do this, this, this. 90 00:09:55,000 --> 00:10:01,000 I was telling somebody the other day, you can go to these, you know, score and some place to help you start a business. 91 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:07,000 He's their public assistance, like SBA and stuff like that. They're really good government programs. 92 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:12,000 And they all 95 percent of people never even follow through. That's what they're telling me. I go, well, you know why? 93 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:22,000 I went to one of those in 1987 and it was horrible. Yeah. All it was like, give me this wicked homework of stuff. 94 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:29,000 I had no idea. You have to do all this. I'm like, I thought I have to make money. Yeah. Yeah. OK. And I had to make money. Right. 95 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:35,000 So they've got all this gnarly nasty stuff you've got to do that was just suck the life out of you. 96 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:42,000 You'll have no ambition to create a business. You go, this is the beginning of business. I want nothing to do with it. Yeah. Yeah. 97 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:47,000 Yeah. Teach that way. What do you got? You got a product idea. OK, let's run through it. Let's work it out. Let's build it up. 98 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:55,000 All right. Go sell some. Yeah. Sell it to somebody. Tell your mother. I don't care. Go sell it to somebody. 99 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:58,000 Let's make some money. Let's that's real proof of concept. Right. 100 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:06,000 So we pay for something that's true of a concept, not an A plus on it on an essay about the business you're going to start. 101 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:12,000 You remember they like failed FedEx when they presented theirs in college. Exactly. Yes. Look at them now. 102 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:23,000 Yes. And and that you think about a lot of businesses. I did not believe that Amazon or FedEx or UPS or, you know, would be as big as they are. 103 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:31,000 But I tell you that shift when when we got into the pandemic, it was a different ballgame for all of those individuals. 104 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:36,000 And you you say you you said something that's really important. 105 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:44,000 And that's there are things out there that will help an individual start a business, but it's not textbook. 106 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:53,000 You know, that's that I remember being in college and they're like, OK, now it's real life. Well, they didn't say what real life really was. 107 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:57,000 Right. That's the nose, the ghost, the shows and all of those things. 108 00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:03,000 And so when it comes to it, it's it's it's it's a challenge. Right. 109 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:13,000 So when you are coaching someone, what are the strategies that you use to help business owners maintain a competent team? 110 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:19,000 If it's just themselves and it is growing, how what what strategies do you use? 111 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:23,000 Well, we really go back to that strategic vision. That's one thing in my program that we do. 112 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,000 Yet that's your cornerstone and foundation. Right. 113 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:32,000 So if you don't have that, it's hard to really plan, build and know the real direction you're going. 114 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:38,000 So that's why you get kind of stuck on the hamster wheel because you don't know, you know, who when do you hire this person? 115 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:43,000 When do you hire this person? How do we move forward? When we take our next big market share? 116 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,000 When do we start gaining that? What does that look like? 117 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:51,000 So I think it's just really important to understand if you don't have a vision, how can you go anywhere? 118 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,000 It's just it's so important to have that. And yeah, it's a little bit. 119 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:58,000 It's not complicated, but it's difficult because you really have to walk through this process 120 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:03,000 and understand again the who, the why, the who, the how and the why of your customer. 121 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:09,000 How do I build that in a business for real? Right. Like how is this going to work? 122 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:14,000 So everyone can read it and follow it and get into it and buy into it and drive for purpose. 123 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:22,000 That's really how you do it. So I think without that, you know, the, you know, the people without vision perish. Right. 124 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:27,000 That's the whole thing. You have no vision. You have nothing. You don't stand for anything. You don't drive for anything. 125 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:30,000 You have no you have nothing. You just want to be fed. Yeah. 126 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:35,000 And circus time. Right. It's all that nonsense. So, yeah, that's that's what I think they need. 127 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:42,000 And it's it's one of the things that when I ask that question that really sat with me is the competent part. 128 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:48,000 You know, sometimes you you get to a point where you're watching people make it and make it further than you. 129 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:54,000 They're making more money. You're doing more things and you lack confidence. Right. 130 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:57,000 And then that confidence ends up showing up in your business. Right. 131 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:04,000 And now you look to to not seem like you're competent enough to be able to maintain a business. 132 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:12,000 There is I don't know if I was able to ask you, why do you believe most businesses fail? 133 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:17,000 Well, really, really simply, they don't sell enough product at a high enough price. 134 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:22,000 That's the real reason. OK. We said that. But let's let's do part two on this. I'll give you this other one. 135 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:31,000 I think what they don't understand is when they get it, it's hard work when they get into this. 136 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:35,000 But they really don't. I'll go back to not knowing where they're going. 137 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:40,000 I think they fail because they don't actually get help. Right. 138 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:45,000 So I did my first 20 years. It took a big collapse of what you're trying to take me out. 139 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:51,000 But it was going to happen eventually. Anyways, it just sped up the process because I didn't ask anyone for help. 140 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:57,000 People saw the holes in my business, tried to suggest things. I was unwilling to listen. Yeah. 141 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:01,000 So if you want to compress time, if you want to save 10 years of bad decisions, 142 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:08,000 costs and mistakes and failing business, right, help get the coach, get a mentor, do what you have to do. 143 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:13,000 There's no excuse not to get one these days. I can at least say didn't have the Internet back then. 144 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:20,000 OK. But now it's all at your fingertips. And if you want to not fail, get help. Yeah, I agree. 145 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:25,000 What are the greatest joys of what you do? 146 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:29,000 It is watching businesses escape the owner prison. 147 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:33,000 Guys have been in five, eight years, 10 years, 12 years, whatever. 148 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:37,000 And if they open the door, the business doesn't start, doesn't keep going. 149 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:42,000 They sacrifice their families, their children, all that stuff to this, everything to do in this business. 150 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:46,000 When I flip that and now they have that quality of life. 151 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:51,000 And a wife calls me and says, Rich, I never thought we'd be able to do this. 152 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:55,000 We spent a week on the beach with our five kids. He never he was never on the phone. 153 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:59,000 It was amazing. This is the guy I never thought in eight years of all that. 154 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:04,000 You know, that's the joy when you can do that for people because it's not money. 155 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:12,000 It's they make money. But that that quality of living, that margin of time to be with the real recently got business. 156 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:17,000 So they can do that with their family. But they sacrificed it. So that's it. 157 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:24,000 And it's a lot of sacrifice when when it comes to starting a business or maintaining a business. 158 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:29,000 Give me two things that people sacrifice the most. 159 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:33,000 They'll sacrifice time with family. Number one. 160 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:41,000 They'll also sacrifice being this weird being paid what they're worth or being paid at all. 161 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,000 Everybody else get paid their last to get paid. 162 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:50,000 They'll take this crumbs from the table and they'll sweep it in their hand and they'll take a little nibble because that's all they got. 163 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:55,000 They've messed up their priorities. You are the captain of this ship. 164 00:16:55,000 --> 00:17:00,000 You drive this. This only works because of you. And you're not going to reward yourself. 165 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:05,000 Yeah. That's why you need the right plan so that you get compensated and your people get compensated. 166 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:09,000 If you build it right, you can do both. You don't have to sacrifice making money. 167 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:12,000 And that's that is that is so important. 168 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:22,000 I was just watching this this reel on one of the social media sites and it was talking about tending to fill other people's cups. 169 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:31,000 Right. And then so they gave the analogy of having a dinner party and you're pouring everything for everyone else. 170 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:37,000 And next thing you know, when it's time to pour in your own glass, there's about this much remaining. 171 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:45,000 And so that brings back that that point of you saying to sacrifice being paid at all if you're giving, giving, giving, giving, giving. 172 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:52,000 And you're paying everyone else and you end up last. You end up either with nothing or a little bit of something. 173 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:57,000 So I think that that that those are two great points to make. 174 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:05,000 And I think a lot of people need to understand that those are the things that actually keep you going is family and money. 175 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:09,000 Thank you for being here today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. 176 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:14,000 I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward. 177 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:17,000 It's going to get more and more fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well. 178 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:22,000 We'll invite people to participate in the show. And thank you for giving us your time and attention. 179 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:36,000 Have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.