1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,720 What is the story behind your why? 2 00:00:03,720 --> 00:00:05,440 We'd love to hear that. 3 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:09,520 The story behind what's so important to me, 4 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:13,840 which is, by the way, it's finding the uniqueness, 5 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,760 the magic in people or in brands. 6 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:23,280 The story for me is that I felt growing up 7 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:26,960 that I was not going to amount to much. 8 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:28,600 I wasn't gonna be good enough. 9 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:33,600 I never could perform, in my opinion, as well as others. 10 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:37,100 And I looked at myself very critically. 11 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:42,940 As I went through a young life into my teens 12 00:00:42,940 --> 00:00:46,560 and into my early 20s, I had a few successes. 13 00:00:47,420 --> 00:00:52,420 And one success was I was named Entrepreneur of the Year 14 00:00:53,740 --> 00:00:56,560 for my state, the state of Indiana. 15 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:01,320 And I honestly, going to the award ceremony 16 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:04,200 to learn whether I won it or not. 17 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:06,080 So I didn't know. 18 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:10,360 I took my friends and my family, my employees there, 19 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:13,720 and I honestly felt there was no way I was gonna win this. 20 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,400 I just didn't think I was of that quality. 21 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:22,240 But to learn that, my gosh, out of many, many other 22 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:25,680 really good companies out there and good leaders 23 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:29,860 that I was chosen as Entrepreneur of the Year 24 00:01:29,860 --> 00:01:34,860 gave me confidence and it fueled my passion 25 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:40,220 to look at uniqueness or differentiation and to honor it, 26 00:01:40,220 --> 00:01:42,740 to not look at it as, okay, it's inferior, 27 00:01:42,740 --> 00:01:44,320 or it's not as good as someone else. 28 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:45,180 It's the opposite. 29 00:01:45,180 --> 00:01:46,860 It's like, no, wait a minute. 30 00:01:46,860 --> 00:01:49,300 I do it a certain way, others do it differently. 31 00:01:49,300 --> 00:01:54,300 But the way I do what I do, the way that I go after 32 00:01:54,300 --> 00:01:58,580 looking at the magic in people and trying to really 33 00:01:58,580 --> 00:02:01,660 amplify that has value. 34 00:02:01,660 --> 00:02:03,260 So that's the story behind it. 35 00:02:03,260 --> 00:02:06,580 It's not a one moment story. 36 00:02:06,580 --> 00:02:11,420 It was a build of confidence inside me 37 00:02:11,420 --> 00:02:12,740 for a number of years. 38 00:02:12,740 --> 00:02:16,060 Yeah, I would love to hear more about that. 39 00:02:16,060 --> 00:02:20,500 But in the sense of, if any of an example where 40 00:02:20,500 --> 00:02:24,980 the magic that you saw and what you did with that magic, 41 00:02:24,980 --> 00:02:27,060 I think that would be amazing because there's so many times 42 00:02:27,060 --> 00:02:30,780 I as an owner struggle with seeing the way businesses 43 00:02:30,780 --> 00:02:35,460 do their stuff and I am like, I can show you this, 44 00:02:35,460 --> 00:02:36,860 but then you really want me to go there, 45 00:02:36,860 --> 00:02:38,900 but that's not the path to go there. 46 00:02:38,900 --> 00:02:41,100 And there's a lot that happens 47 00:02:41,100 --> 00:02:43,020 dealing with entrepreneurs and leaders. 48 00:02:43,020 --> 00:02:45,760 So if you have an example, I think it would be amazing. 49 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:50,760 A great example is I was speaking with one of the family 50 00:02:51,620 --> 00:02:56,220 owners of a wonderful business and they create 51 00:02:56,220 --> 00:02:59,200 what's known as a manhole cover or a man lid 52 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,300 for tank trailers that go down the highway. 53 00:03:02,300 --> 00:03:03,980 Now you may say, oh, that sounds really boring, 54 00:03:03,980 --> 00:03:08,460 but it's a very important product because that lid 55 00:03:08,460 --> 00:03:12,540 through the tank trailer is actually a safety device 56 00:03:12,540 --> 00:03:15,460 because a lot of times there are flammable liquids 57 00:03:15,460 --> 00:03:19,740 or powders inside that tank. 58 00:03:19,740 --> 00:03:22,300 And if somebody opens up that lid, 59 00:03:22,300 --> 00:03:23,820 there could be an explosion. 60 00:03:23,820 --> 00:03:28,820 So this company had created a man lid 61 00:03:28,820 --> 00:03:30,740 that had a safety latch. 62 00:03:30,740 --> 00:03:35,420 So I was talking to the family owner who was an engineer 63 00:03:35,420 --> 00:03:39,220 and he was really downplaying it. 64 00:03:39,220 --> 00:03:43,220 He said, it's a latch and we devised it 65 00:03:43,220 --> 00:03:45,900 and if there's too much pressure, 66 00:03:45,900 --> 00:03:48,940 it won't let you open the man lid 67 00:03:48,940 --> 00:03:50,180 and it's not that big of a deal. 68 00:03:50,180 --> 00:03:51,300 And I said, okay. 69 00:03:51,300 --> 00:03:54,220 I said, do you charge more money for this? 70 00:03:54,220 --> 00:03:55,380 And he goes, no, we don't. 71 00:03:55,380 --> 00:03:59,300 And I said, okay, do you have competitors 72 00:03:59,300 --> 00:04:02,700 that have this device, this special latch? 73 00:04:02,700 --> 00:04:05,500 And he goes, no, no, no, we're the only people. 74 00:04:05,500 --> 00:04:07,260 I said, did it cost you money? 75 00:04:07,260 --> 00:04:11,820 And he said, oh, it cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars 76 00:04:11,820 --> 00:04:15,780 to produce this, to create it, to engineer it. 77 00:04:15,780 --> 00:04:19,420 I said, my gosh, well, what do you call this? 78 00:04:20,460 --> 00:04:23,100 And he was silent and he looked at me and he said, 79 00:04:23,100 --> 00:04:25,660 we just call it latch. 80 00:04:26,980 --> 00:04:30,460 And I said, here's something that saves lives. 81 00:04:31,540 --> 00:04:33,280 You don't even charge more money for it. 82 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:35,980 You don't tell people about it 83 00:04:35,980 --> 00:04:38,460 and you don't even have a name for it. 84 00:04:38,460 --> 00:04:43,100 And I said, have you celebrated this with your employees? 85 00:04:43,100 --> 00:04:44,100 And he said, what do you mean? 86 00:04:44,100 --> 00:04:48,140 I said, here you are, you're spending all this money 87 00:04:48,140 --> 00:04:51,000 using the brilliance of your company 88 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:54,140 and you should be celebrating it with your people 89 00:04:54,140 --> 00:04:55,420 and saying, hey, by the way, 90 00:04:55,420 --> 00:04:57,860 this is the kind of company you work for. 91 00:04:57,860 --> 00:05:01,160 And many of you played a big role in this. 92 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,740 Let's look at this as a triumph. 93 00:05:04,740 --> 00:05:08,040 Let's look at this as something that's a badge of honor, 94 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:09,860 something we're proud of. 95 00:05:09,860 --> 00:05:13,160 That's an example, Harry, of the things we do 96 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:17,060 on a daily basis that sometimes we even denigrate. 97 00:05:17,060 --> 00:05:21,660 And my why is I want to find those things 98 00:05:21,660 --> 00:05:24,360 and I want people to understand 99 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:28,300 that they're part of something bigger than themselves. 100 00:05:28,300 --> 00:05:30,460 Yeah, that's awesome. 101 00:05:30,460 --> 00:05:32,340 Thank you for sharing with us. 102 00:05:32,340 --> 00:05:33,180 That was amazing. 103 00:05:33,180 --> 00:05:38,180 My next question for you, Barry, is twofold. 104 00:05:40,260 --> 00:05:43,860 The first part is why do you think in experience 105 00:05:43,860 --> 00:05:47,580 that leaders hide from funding their vision? 106 00:05:47,580 --> 00:05:50,180 And the second part to it is how can those leaders 107 00:05:50,180 --> 00:05:52,340 then lean into funding that vision? 108 00:05:53,780 --> 00:05:55,940 When you're talking about funding their vision, 109 00:05:55,940 --> 00:05:58,940 are you talking about them looking at their vision 110 00:05:58,940 --> 00:06:00,820 and then looking at their vision 111 00:06:00,820 --> 00:06:05,820 and kind ofίναι ahorl you get support? 112 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:07,540 I'm talking about Harry. 113 00:06:07,540 --> 00:06:08,380 Yeah. 114 00:06:08,380 --> 00:06:09,200 Oh sorry. 115 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:10,160 You cut off for a second. 116 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:11,500 I couldn't hear you. 117 00:06:11,500 --> 00:06:12,340 Yeah. 118 00:06:12,340 --> 00:06:13,160 You shut off too. 119 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:17,320 I was asking, I'm asking a question regarding funding. 120 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:19,700 Are you talking about financial funding? 121 00:06:19,700 --> 00:06:21,520 It could be both. 122 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:24,520 A lot of people have answered it 123 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:27,020 as literally financial funding. 124 00:06:27,020 --> 00:06:29,200 And a lot of people have answered this using 125 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:36,200 the lighter version of funding, like your resources, your energy, your time, everything 126 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:38,920 you put into it and funding that vision. 127 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:42,520 You can answer as which are way you will prefer. 128 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:50,880 Well if a leader is truly in any way, shape or form hiding or downplaying what their vision 129 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:58,040 is about, whether they're trying to look for increased money, let's say, or resources, 130 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:05,200 or some sort of funding or belief, I think that it also implies to me that they don't 131 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:09,280 have confidence in what they're all about. 132 00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:15,800 And to me as a leader, we either are all in or we ought to get out. 133 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:18,280 We can't toe the line. 134 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:28,560 And if we avoid rallying our troops or rallying our supporters behind what we're doing, then 135 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:32,220 my question back to the leaders is, why are you doing this? 136 00:07:32,220 --> 00:07:37,360 If you don't believe, why do you think anyone else will? 137 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:41,000 That's true. 138 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:46,780 And how do you think the leaders lean into funding that vision? 139 00:07:46,780 --> 00:07:52,120 The smartest things I can see leaders do and have seen them do, whether it's looking for 140 00:07:52,120 --> 00:08:00,280 money, whether it's looking for resources, whether it's looking for some sort of partnership, 141 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:07,440 is to share the vision, share the importance and the uniqueness of the vision, not just 142 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:13,880 the end result of return on investment from a financial standpoint. 143 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:21,160 I personally believe that return on investment and projections can be manipulated. 144 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:28,280 They are highly overrated because you can have wonderful projections and in reality 145 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:31,360 have almost nothing of value. 146 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:38,060 And I have yet to see somebody who wants me to support their vision and see as I look 147 00:08:38,060 --> 00:08:46,640 at their pro forma, which is basically going to predict what their future is. 148 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:55,120 The extraordinary success is amazing on paper or on a spreadsheet, but the truth is we're 149 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:57,660 all human beings. 150 00:08:57,660 --> 00:09:06,560 And what we need to do is lean into the human aspect of, as a leader, your belief, because 151 00:09:06,560 --> 00:09:15,160 you have to be the face of what people are going to fund, of what people will march behind. 152 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:24,160 And if you show conviction and belief, and by the way, a pretty smart plan, you're going 153 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:25,160 to get support. 154 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:29,160 Yeah, that's awesome. 155 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:30,160 Thank you for sharing that. 156 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:35,080 I think a lot of people miss out on the fact, things that you just mentioned. 157 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:38,040 It's very valuable what you shared today. 158 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:42,920 For audience, I would say, re-listen to that if you didn't hear it so you can understand 159 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:43,920 what exactly he meant. 160 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:44,920 That was awesome. 161 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:50,440 And the next question for you, Barry, is I think you don't get it enough. 162 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:51,800 Just kidding. 163 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:57,160 What tips would you have for entrepreneurs or leaders? 164 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:01,260 I've been asked that many times because I am an entrepreneur. 165 00:10:01,260 --> 00:10:03,800 I did start up with nothing. 166 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:05,520 I am definitely a bootstrapper. 167 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:07,360 I've never had a loan. 168 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:11,280 I never got funding financially. 169 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:19,680 I believe the most important thing an entrepreneur can do is to make sure he or she is producing 170 00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:25,680 a product or service, whatever their company or business is about, that they are proud 171 00:10:25,680 --> 00:10:27,120 of. 172 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:35,520 And I have a real strong message to those who say, let's scale up, let's do 10x, 100x, 173 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:36,920 let's grow. 174 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:45,320 I am opposed to blind growth at the expense of integrity or quality. 175 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:50,680 There are too many entrepreneurs out there that are deluding themselves with the idea 176 00:10:50,680 --> 00:10:57,640 that we can go grow and we can make so much money and just sit back every day and wait 177 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:00,320 for the checks to come in. 178 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:05,680 I offer one serious bit of advice for all entrepreneurs, and that is if you're going 179 00:11:05,680 --> 00:11:13,800 to do anything, grow slower than you would like and be at a higher quality of product 180 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:16,800 and performance. 181 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:17,800 Thank you for sharing that. 182 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:22,240 I cannot emphasize enough what you just said. 183 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:27,040 So I am in a digital marketing space and business growth space as well. 184 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:34,360 And a lot of times you see these bro marketers out there and they're trying to sell you some 185 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:36,320 product and they do it in a bigger scale. 186 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:42,120 They mass produce, they mass text, they mass email campaigns, and this throws so much money 187 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:43,120 in marketing. 188 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:44,120 And they get people. 189 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:51,080 There's a lot of people who fall for that and then they realize, oh my gosh, the marketing 190 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:55,120 will work if my things have this, this, this, and that. 191 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:59,920 And then the marketers won't care about that because they just want their first client 192 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:02,440 and then next client, the next client, the next client, the next client. 193 00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:04,160 And that happens a lot. 194 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:09,680 And I bet there's a lot of other industries out there the same way where people have grown 195 00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:18,160 much faster, much very easy, but realizing that it's to the detriment where their company 196 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:19,680 did not grow with it. 197 00:12:19,680 --> 00:12:25,120 Just the revenue grew and then it just blew back in their face because then they went 198 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:26,880 to an imminent failure. 199 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:27,880 I agree. 200 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:38,400 I think you can become intoxicated with growth, with riches, and you don't think straight. 201 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:46,020 So my learning has been if you're going to do anything, make sure the one or two or three 202 00:12:46,020 --> 00:12:54,760 clients you have are really taken care of great as opposed to having 15 or 15,000 that 203 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:59,420 you don't know and you think that they are satisfied. 204 00:12:59,420 --> 00:13:00,780 Don't assume it. 205 00:13:00,780 --> 00:13:05,240 Make sure that each one is listened to and that you care about them. 206 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:06,240 Yeah. 207 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:10,880 Thank you for sharing that. 208 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:16,600 What would you say in your advice is how do we avoid that? 209 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:22,680 How do we avoid falling into that pit or even see that pit coming? 210 00:13:22,680 --> 00:13:31,600 I think one thing that I try to avoid is I don't want to be a wishful thinker. 211 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:35,480 I don't want to say we're going to do this, this, and that, and we're going to grow to 212 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:41,080 this and we're going to have this, this, this, and that profit and everybody here is going 213 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:42,280 to get such and such. 214 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:50,040 I don't want to create an unrealistic dream that will fuel bad behavior. 215 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:52,600 I don't want to do it. 216 00:13:52,600 --> 00:14:00,880 I want to present a positive dream that is realistic, meaning here's our goal. 217 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:02,860 We want to achieve these things. 218 00:14:02,860 --> 00:14:06,480 If we do, there are a lot of great things that happen, but you know what? 219 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:07,680 It's not about us. 220 00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:10,900 It's not about how much money is put in our bank account. 221 00:14:10,900 --> 00:14:17,160 It's about the performance we give our clients and the way we work with each other. 222 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:19,900 So we're part of this team. 223 00:14:19,900 --> 00:14:24,760 We're not going to look for a get rich quick exit on this. 224 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:29,040 So everybody buckle in, let's do the right things. 225 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:34,400 And you have my 100% commitment as your leader that I will be here for you. 226 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:37,120 I'm not looking for perfection. 227 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:43,320 I will be here to make sure you have the support needed to do the best work of your life. 228 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:49,800 And if we can all do that to some level, we will all experience success. 229 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:51,800 Thank you for being here today. 230 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:54,280 I'm really happy that you tuned into Vision Pros Live. 231 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:59,120 I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward. 232 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:00,680 This is going to get more and more fun. 233 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:02,760 We'll have more and more engagement as well. 234 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:05,080 We'll invite people to participate in the show. 235 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:07,340 And thank you for giving us your time and attention. 236 00:15:07,340 --> 00:15:25,240 Have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.