WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.419 What is up, everybody? Welcome into another episode 00:00:02.419 --> 00:00:04.459 of Vision Pros Live. I've got James Collister 00:00:04.459 --> 00:00:06.120 in the house. He's the founder and principal 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:08.519 of Wonderfish. He has an excellent background 00:00:08.519 --> 00:00:12.839 working at the coveted, I would say, Forbes .com 00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:15.539 as well. I mean, as an entrepreneur, that's like 00:00:15.539 --> 00:00:17.960 one of the holy grails, in my opinion, of publicity 00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:21.300 and him being behind the scenes at that venture 00:00:21.300 --> 00:00:25.210 and also having built out. the power podcasting 00:00:25.210 --> 00:00:27.170 circuit as well i mean there's there's so much 00:00:27.170 --> 00:00:28.989 opportunity for us to lean in and learn from 00:00:28.989 --> 00:00:31.010 james we're gonna be talking about why some businesses 00:00:31.010 --> 00:00:34.329 scale faster and it's not what you think it is 00:00:34.329 --> 00:00:36.229 either so we'll talk about that from a couple 00:00:36.229 --> 00:00:38.429 different angles but again i've got somebody 00:00:38.429 --> 00:00:41.689 who's a legend he's been behind the scenes at 00:00:41.689 --> 00:00:44.210 forbes itself james welcome to vision pros man 00:00:44.210 --> 00:00:48.299 hey jackson i'm so excited Well, me too. And 00:00:48.299 --> 00:00:50.060 I hope the audience is excited. You guys get 00:00:50.060 --> 00:00:52.920 ready for this. So let's dive right into that 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:56.219 and hit hard. Why is it that some businesses 00:00:56.219 --> 00:00:58.520 scale faster? What are some of those secrets, 00:00:58.700 --> 00:01:00.780 James? You give yours, I'll give mine, and we'll 00:01:00.780 --> 00:01:02.759 just give everything we can to this wonderful 00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:05.099 audience of visionaries. Absolutely. I think 00:01:05.099 --> 00:01:06.579 it comes, I mean, obviously it comes down to 00:01:06.579 --> 00:01:08.719 a lot of different things, but if I were to simplify 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:12.760 it, I actually created a four -part framework 00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:14.939 for the way that I approach podcast guesting, 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:17.060 which I don't necessarily need to get into every 00:01:17.060 --> 00:01:19.379 detail, but there's two of the details within 00:01:19.379 --> 00:01:22.819 that framework that I think really answer the 00:01:22.819 --> 00:01:25.680 question, which is having a good frame for how 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:27.439 you approach whatever problem you're solving 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:30.439 and whatever your mission is. Because that's 00:01:30.439 --> 00:01:32.719 the number one thing that you need to clarify. 00:01:32.980 --> 00:01:35.780 And before you can scale, you have to have that 00:01:35.780 --> 00:01:38.299 figured out. And then the second word, believe 00:01:38.299 --> 00:01:40.900 it or not, is feel. Because if you're able to 00:01:40.900 --> 00:01:43.540 connect with individuals, with your target audience, 00:01:43.780 --> 00:01:46.579 with... potential prospects, customers on an 00:01:46.579 --> 00:01:49.980 emotional level, that really gives you such an 00:01:49.980 --> 00:01:54.060 amplifying factor times, whatever you want to 00:01:54.060 --> 00:01:57.480 say, times a thousand where I just feel this 00:01:57.480 --> 00:02:00.480 is everything that I've studied the past handful 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:04.040 of years has pointed to this fact that while 00:02:04.040 --> 00:02:08.069 we're driven in some regards by logic. we're 00:02:08.069 --> 00:02:10.889 we're driven first by emotion and that part of 00:02:10.889 --> 00:02:13.050 our brain is really what helps activate us and 00:02:13.050 --> 00:02:14.750 that's that's there's a reason why all these 00:02:14.750 --> 00:02:18.590 big brands whether it's nike or any car brand 00:02:18.590 --> 00:02:20.270 you know we worked with all these brands when 00:02:20.270 --> 00:02:22.110 i was at forbes there's a reason why you see 00:02:22.110 --> 00:02:24.370 music and you see emotion and storytelling and 00:02:24.370 --> 00:02:26.729 and they're advertising and and you could put 00:02:26.729 --> 00:02:28.710 that you could infiltrate that into your whole 00:02:28.710 --> 00:02:30.909 message and your content so that that's how i 00:02:30.909 --> 00:02:33.659 would answer your question that's huge i have 00:02:33.659 --> 00:02:35.939 the great blessing my friends of being the color 00:02:35.939 --> 00:02:39.060 commentator um he gets to do all the hard work 00:02:39.060 --> 00:02:41.400 when i ask the question i didn't get to add some 00:02:41.400 --> 00:02:43.780 little pieces of silver lining i'm gonna add 00:02:43.780 --> 00:02:47.740 a huge one right now um so problem problem problem 00:02:47.740 --> 00:02:51.870 i do agree to an extent And then the mission 00:02:51.870 --> 00:02:53.969 aspect, we're all about vision. We understand 00:02:53.969 --> 00:02:56.289 you've got to have a clear vision. I just see 00:02:56.289 --> 00:02:59.050 too many people falling in the trap though, of 00:02:59.050 --> 00:03:01.909 trying to exacerbate the problem and the market's 00:03:01.909 --> 00:03:04.810 used to it. And so they teach in cells that people 00:03:04.810 --> 00:03:07.110 buy because of two reasons. And those of you 00:03:07.110 --> 00:03:08.949 in cells are like, yeah, because of problem, 00:03:09.069 --> 00:03:12.090 because of, because of pain and pleasure. And 00:03:12.090 --> 00:03:15.569 you guys are right for the general population. 00:03:16.229 --> 00:03:18.849 That is not how elites make their decision though. 00:03:19.129 --> 00:03:21.090 And that is something that's critical for so 00:03:21.090 --> 00:03:22.650 many businesses to understand. If you're going 00:03:22.650 --> 00:03:24.150 to work with the elite market, if you're going 00:03:24.150 --> 00:03:26.289 to work with high ticket, you have to understand 00:03:26.289 --> 00:03:29.330 that people like LeBron James, you can't convince 00:03:29.330 --> 00:03:31.229 him not to do his workouts no matter how much 00:03:31.229 --> 00:03:33.530 pain it's in. In fact, it's going to drive him 00:03:33.530 --> 00:03:37.349 away from you if you try to leverage pain to 00:03:37.349 --> 00:03:39.490 convince him. In addition, if you try to get 00:03:39.490 --> 00:03:42.409 him to change taco Tuesdays to taco every single 00:03:42.409 --> 00:03:45.270 day, no, he is not going to listen to that. He 00:03:45.270 --> 00:03:48.210 has disciplined himself to master his pleasures. 00:03:48.759 --> 00:03:51.479 Why? If it's not pain and it's not pleasure, 00:03:51.620 --> 00:03:56.189 purpose. Purpose is the third layer and level 00:03:56.189 --> 00:03:59.069 of being able to attract and understand an audience. 00:03:59.169 --> 00:04:01.990 So I'm not saying that you can't talk about pain 00:04:01.990 --> 00:04:04.530 and that you can't talk about pleasure. We have 00:04:04.530 --> 00:04:07.129 to get more sophisticated though. And so James 00:04:07.129 --> 00:04:09.849 is right on track, but my friends, so many misinterpret 00:04:09.849 --> 00:04:12.349 this and get it wrong. They end up using AI to 00:04:12.349 --> 00:04:13.870 create something about pain and pleasure. And 00:04:13.870 --> 00:04:16.430 it's just so gaudy and it's so awful. And it's 00:04:16.430 --> 00:04:18.550 so manipulative that you're not actually going 00:04:18.550 --> 00:04:20.949 to gain traction with that market. Anything you 00:04:20.949 --> 00:04:25.009 mentioned about. pain or problem pleasure and 00:04:25.009 --> 00:04:28.029 purpose has to be so authentically aligned with 00:04:28.029 --> 00:04:29.910 where that person is at that if you miss that 00:04:29.910 --> 00:04:32.709 you are going to end up creating really really 00:04:32.709 --> 00:04:35.430 trashy garbage content that is not going to resonate 00:04:35.430 --> 00:04:37.769 with people james further thoughts on that yeah 00:04:37.769 --> 00:04:39.569 i mean there's definitely there's a lot of nuance 00:04:39.569 --> 00:04:41.410 there and i and i agree with everything that 00:04:41.410 --> 00:04:43.629 you said and the one of the words that stood 00:04:43.629 --> 00:04:47.009 out to me was manipulate because i was on a sales 00:04:47.009 --> 00:04:48.509 call with someone recently i'm not going to name 00:04:48.509 --> 00:04:51.069 his name but he was going through the the motion 00:04:51.069 --> 00:04:55.120 like the the sort of typical drive the pain you 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:57.800 know the how many leads are you getting how many 00:04:57.800 --> 00:04:59.639 you're going through every single factor and 00:04:59.639 --> 00:05:02.100 how much how much what would it mean to your 00:05:02.100 --> 00:05:05.920 business if you did this and it was it was actually 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:09.579 uncomfortable and i and it's my natural reaction 00:05:09.579 --> 00:05:11.600 i just kind of giggled a little bit and he looked 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:13.800 at me and he was like i don't think it's funny 00:05:14.430 --> 00:05:16.350 that you're blah, blah, blah. And it was like, 00:05:16.370 --> 00:05:18.509 he was like trying to make me feel bad. I was 00:05:18.509 --> 00:05:20.790 trying to do the Grant Cardone thing. Yeah, so 00:05:20.790 --> 00:05:23.129 I think there's a balance where you have to, 00:05:23.370 --> 00:05:25.949 like people can read through whatever you're 00:05:25.949 --> 00:05:27.769 trying to do, especially someone in the, I'm 00:05:27.769 --> 00:05:30.589 in the marketing sales world, right? Right. So 00:05:30.589 --> 00:05:33.269 people will, and I think that's why advertising 00:05:33.269 --> 00:05:35.470 tends to get a bad rap where people see it as 00:05:35.470 --> 00:05:37.810 advertising. That's why content tends to perform 00:05:37.810 --> 00:05:40.629 better because people just read right through 00:05:40.629 --> 00:05:41.949 it and say, oh, this is an ad. They're trying 00:05:41.949 --> 00:05:43.310 to convince me to buy something or whatever. 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:45.930 But I think you're right. everything that you 00:05:45.930 --> 00:05:48.470 said there well and it's awesome because it just 00:05:48.470 --> 00:05:50.449 goes hand in hand right there's all these elements 00:05:50.449 --> 00:05:53.870 uh business is not easy my friends it is hard 00:05:53.870 --> 00:05:56.990 um just like doing 100 push -ups a day 100 sit 00:05:56.990 --> 00:05:59.370 -ups and 10 000 steps do that you're gonna be 00:05:59.370 --> 00:06:01.810 in pretty darn good shape um but getting somebody 00:06:01.810 --> 00:06:04.230 to do that is another story and so we've got 00:06:04.230 --> 00:06:06.410 to discipline ourselves to do it um two of my 00:06:06.410 --> 00:06:08.170 other favorite elements my friends of being able 00:06:08.170 --> 00:06:11.329 to scale businesses faster it's people you know 00:06:11.329 --> 00:06:13.029 you gotta have a team and like well i have a 00:06:13.029 --> 00:06:16.129 team There's a right team and a wrong team, right? 00:06:16.170 --> 00:06:18.629 Look at any sports league. There are teams that 00:06:18.629 --> 00:06:21.610 lose every year and then there are teams that 00:06:21.610 --> 00:06:23.529 win and there are those that win consistently 00:06:23.529 --> 00:06:26.870 year after year. Knowing how to create an infrastructure. 00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:30.079 that attracts the right teams is a huge aspect 00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:31.600 of this and we'll be talking about that a little 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:33.920 bit later as well so james before we cut for 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:36.319 a quick break um let's let's dive in a little 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:38.459 bit further into unpacking some of these hidden 00:06:38.459 --> 00:06:41.600 drivers behind scalable businesses that you're 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:43.699 working with right now or with clients as well 00:06:43.699 --> 00:06:46.660 and of course the hidden drivers that are helping 00:06:46.660 --> 00:06:49.240 forbes scale their business because they've obviously 00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:55.420 outpaced all of us yeah absolutely so Where would 00:06:55.420 --> 00:06:57.240 you like me to start? Do you want me to just 00:06:57.240 --> 00:07:01.600 get into kind of how I'm approaching my whole 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:04.259 mission and what I'm doing with Wonderfish? Well, 00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:06.579 that or any hidden drivers that are driving Forbes 00:07:06.579 --> 00:07:08.720 forward. I mean, you can go with this. We're 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:10.180 going to come back and talk about that stuff. 00:07:10.600 --> 00:07:13.680 Yeah. So Forbes is an interesting model where 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:17.370 because I started at Forbes in 2014. And they 00:07:17.370 --> 00:07:19.970 were about four years into this whole digital 00:07:19.970 --> 00:07:22.310 transformation because as most people know, Forbes 00:07:22.310 --> 00:07:24.610 started as a magazine, a print publication, right? 00:07:24.730 --> 00:07:28.910 And that was gradually losing interest, particularly 00:07:28.910 --> 00:07:30.870 from advertisers. I mean, readers were still 00:07:30.870 --> 00:07:33.490 reading the magazine, but you saw the advertising 00:07:33.490 --> 00:07:36.889 subscriptions or the advertising spending in 00:07:36.889 --> 00:07:38.589 the magazine just going down, going down every 00:07:38.589 --> 00:07:42.009 year, right? And I think it was around 2010, 00:07:42.170 --> 00:07:46.199 Forbes decided to launch what? forbes called 00:07:46.199 --> 00:07:48.779 the contributor model which is still around today 00:07:48.779 --> 00:07:51.300 you can be a forbes contributor and i think forbes 00:07:51.300 --> 00:07:54.360 was in a way very much a pioneer in that in that 00:07:54.360 --> 00:07:57.300 space particularly in the business content model 00:07:57.300 --> 00:08:00.139 when it came to opening up the platform because 00:08:00.139 --> 00:08:02.259 previously you had to be a staff writer to write 00:08:02.259 --> 00:08:05.680 for forbes right and there was this concept there 00:08:05.680 --> 00:08:10.259 was this sort of um assumption that you had to 00:08:10.259 --> 00:08:13.040 go to journalism journalism school to be a writer 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:17.180 for forbes and It was kind of a stigma of you 00:08:17.180 --> 00:08:22.019 opening it up to these other outsiders. It got 00:08:22.019 --> 00:08:23.959 a lot of bad press when it happened at first 00:08:23.959 --> 00:08:26.379 because people thought it was going to diminish 00:08:26.379 --> 00:08:29.060 the quality of the content. And to a certain 00:08:29.060 --> 00:08:32.539 extent, sure, like it might not be as well written. 00:08:32.580 --> 00:08:35.440 It doesn't read like, you know, Emerson wrote 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:38.690 it or something. the idea is that they did a 00:08:38.690 --> 00:08:40.970 lot of things the publishing world did a ton 00:08:40.970 --> 00:08:43.129 of things to screw up journalism so yeah you 00:08:43.129 --> 00:08:45.049 might even cover that a little later too but 00:08:45.049 --> 00:08:48.269 they opened it up and it it gave topic what we 00:08:48.269 --> 00:08:51.570 call topic experts the ability to join the conversation 00:08:51.570 --> 00:08:54.370 right and thanks for showing my website and that's 00:08:54.370 --> 00:08:57.250 uh wonderfish .xyz and then the landing page 00:08:57.250 --> 00:08:58.950 that i just launched this morning that you're 00:08:58.950 --> 00:09:01.269 showing is for a webinar or workshop i'm doing 00:09:01.269 --> 00:09:05.429 thursday if you go to go .wonderfish .xyz which 00:09:05.429 --> 00:09:09.029 I could get into. But I think the idea was it 00:09:09.029 --> 00:09:11.470 created more content. It created more conversations. 00:09:11.669 --> 00:09:14.029 But that was the secret to Forbes scaling, believe 00:09:14.029 --> 00:09:17.309 it or not, was opening it up because in that 00:09:17.309 --> 00:09:20.409 day and age, as Google was taking shape and getting 00:09:20.409 --> 00:09:23.350 bigger and bigger, and that was kind of the entry 00:09:23.350 --> 00:09:25.049 point for a lot of people. And then social media, 00:09:25.210 --> 00:09:28.389 it was allowing Forbes to have so many eyeballs 00:09:28.389 --> 00:09:31.490 and so many impressions because the content just 00:09:31.490 --> 00:09:33.309 kept growing and growing and growing. And then 00:09:33.309 --> 00:09:35.460 eventually we opened it up. to what we called 00:09:35.460 --> 00:09:37.600 forbes brand voice which allowed brands to join 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:39.200 the conversation it was just clearly labeled 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:42.779 as brand voice um there was a little bit of a 00:09:42.779 --> 00:09:46.159 pushback in later years i think in the past maybe 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:49.700 maybe five years ago or or maybe four years ago 00:09:49.700 --> 00:09:52.240 i'm not sure exactly where google actually changed 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:55.919 their algorithm and they penalized forbes content 00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:59.879 writers that weren't staff and so i think i think 00:09:59.879 --> 00:10:02.759 to this day yeah because for the longest time 00:10:03.810 --> 00:10:05.750 Well, I can see why they did it. I'm going to 00:10:05.750 --> 00:10:07.889 hit that hard because it's one of the things 00:10:07.889 --> 00:10:11.710 that pisses me off. Every time I read an article 00:10:11.710 --> 00:10:13.750 that is contributor, it's like, okay, what's 00:10:13.750 --> 00:10:16.070 he selling? And you can see right through it. 00:10:16.070 --> 00:10:17.549 It's like, obviously this person has a book. 00:10:17.669 --> 00:10:19.309 Obviously this person has a program they're selling. 00:10:19.490 --> 00:10:22.490 And so they unfortunately ruined the integrity 00:10:22.490 --> 00:10:27.769 of that process. And I think in their defense 00:10:27.769 --> 00:10:30.549 of your contributor, most of them aren't getting 00:10:30.549 --> 00:10:33.950 paid. So they're using the platform to get their 00:10:33.950 --> 00:10:36.389 message. And so I think, yeah, they probably 00:10:36.389 --> 00:10:38.850 should have been smarter about the way. You have 00:10:38.850 --> 00:10:40.649 to be smart. That was the way that we always 00:10:40.649 --> 00:10:42.649 advise even clients that were using brand voice. 00:10:42.769 --> 00:10:45.129 Don't make it salesy. We always said that. Don't 00:10:45.129 --> 00:10:50.470 make it salesy. Make it relevant. Make it useful. 00:10:50.690 --> 00:10:53.730 Add some sort of utility to people's lives. Interesting, 00:10:53.809 --> 00:10:55.789 inspirational, entertaining, whatever it might 00:10:55.789 --> 00:10:58.490 be. But the minute you start to sell, that's 00:10:58.490 --> 00:11:01.669 where people turn away. Well, it kind of goes 00:11:01.669 --> 00:11:04.009 back to using problems, right? And pleasure. 00:11:04.250 --> 00:11:06.929 And it's not a matter of like they failed. It's 00:11:06.929 --> 00:11:09.669 just there's an optimization at all levels, right? 00:11:09.750 --> 00:11:11.950 So Forbes is the opportunity to optimize all 00:11:11.950 --> 00:11:13.970 of us for our brands as we prepare to scale. 00:11:14.210 --> 00:11:16.730 These are things that we can watch out for as 00:11:16.730 --> 00:11:18.269 we're driving. It's like, okay, how do we make 00:11:18.269 --> 00:11:21.009 this pay to play? But how do we make this as 00:11:21.009 --> 00:11:22.769 authentic as possible? And how do we keep learning 00:11:22.769 --> 00:11:25.330 as we go? So they're all really, really valuable 00:11:25.330 --> 00:11:29.330 aspects. And it is neat to hear about. those, 00:11:29.330 --> 00:11:32.309 that business model transitioning from traditional 00:11:32.309 --> 00:11:36.230 to digital. Some people think that nobody's doing 00:11:36.230 --> 00:11:38.169 that anymore. Like everybody's already arrived 00:11:38.169 --> 00:11:40.730 and that's not true at all. I just helped a renovation 00:11:40.730 --> 00:11:43.889 company who's never had any online leads whatsoever. 00:11:44.529 --> 00:11:47.070 They started getting to SEO a couple months ago. 00:11:47.230 --> 00:11:50.559 I mean, we're in 2026. and people are like wow 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:53.440 this doesn't happen oh yes it does um fonda san 00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:56.879 miguel restaurant in austin it was 2012 when 00:11:56.879 --> 00:11:59.059 i started working with them i mean our online 00:11:59.059 --> 00:12:01.340 reservations and websites all that was really 00:12:01.340 --> 00:12:03.620 off to the races and they were still using pen 00:12:03.620 --> 00:12:06.120 and paper and you might you know y 'all might 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:08.200 laugh about that like didn't have a system to 00:12:08.200 --> 00:12:09.980 run their rep no they were top 50 restaurant 00:12:09.980 --> 00:12:12.840 in the world at that point with pen and paper 00:12:12.840 --> 00:12:16.340 still so the transition continues it will continue 00:12:16.340 --> 00:12:20.110 for decades and decades and decades and our opportunity 00:12:20.110 --> 00:12:23.269 as visionaries is how do we leverage these scalable 00:12:23.269 --> 00:12:25.409 factors go ahead james that's funny sorry it 00:12:25.409 --> 00:12:28.149 made me think like i we have two doodles and 00:12:28.149 --> 00:12:30.590 we take them to the to the uh to the groomer 00:12:30.590 --> 00:12:33.990 which is a nightmare in terms of the cost it's 00:12:33.990 --> 00:12:35.769 insane it's like over a hundred dollars these 00:12:35.769 --> 00:12:38.309 dogs groomed but you have to do it because they 00:12:38.309 --> 00:12:40.750 get all mad at it and stuff so i take them to 00:12:40.750 --> 00:12:44.370 the groomer and the the the woman she's she's 00:12:44.370 --> 00:12:47.309 brazilian and doesn't speak very good english 00:12:47.309 --> 00:12:50.049 but um i'm trying to explain who i am she's trying 00:12:50.049 --> 00:12:53.269 to look through the card it's all on paper yeah 00:12:53.269 --> 00:12:55.549 oh this is who you this is what you did last 00:12:55.549 --> 00:12:58.789 time i'm like i'm down in ecuador right now like 00:12:58.789 --> 00:13:01.110 there's everything is done on paper done on paper 00:13:01.110 --> 00:13:03.409 yeah i mean that's the old school way and i'm 00:13:03.409 --> 00:13:05.490 just like you know you can put this into a computer 00:13:05.490 --> 00:13:09.759 like put into a system Yeah. Yep. It is like 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:12.519 even the hotels down here. I mean, everything 00:13:12.519 --> 00:13:16.100 is done on pen and paper still. You got 600 million 00:13:16.100 --> 00:13:19.879 people down here that could use systems and structure 00:13:19.879 --> 00:13:22.200 and learn from it. And there's such a great opportunity 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:24.000 for all of us to be able to contribute to that. 00:13:24.460 --> 00:13:26.600 Abundance is huge visionaries. So being able 00:13:26.600 --> 00:13:29.080 to see that there's opportunities outside of 00:13:29.080 --> 00:13:30.879 our own little paradigms, right, and be able 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:33.179 to see what's behind the curtains, too, of other. 00:13:33.690 --> 00:13:35.070 other different businesses. We're going to come 00:13:35.070 --> 00:13:36.830 right back. We're going to dive in even further 00:13:36.830 --> 00:13:39.990 on how to scale your businesses faster. But my 00:13:39.990 --> 00:13:42.230 friends, how to do it responsibly, that is critical. 00:13:42.429 --> 00:13:44.649 It's not talked about enough. All right. Welcome 00:13:44.649 --> 00:13:48.230 in to Vision Pros Live with Jackson Callum. I'm 00:13:48.230 --> 00:13:50.350 your show host. We'll be doing interviews for 00:13:50.350 --> 00:13:52.990 visionary entrepreneurs and guest leaders who 00:13:52.990 --> 00:14:04.950 are building fantastic visions out there. What's 00:14:04.950 --> 00:14:06.830 up, everybody? Welcome in again to Vision Pros 00:14:06.830 --> 00:14:09.429 Live. I got James Collister with me today. He 00:14:09.429 --> 00:14:11.629 has become a friend. We met through LinkedIn 00:14:11.629 --> 00:14:14.250 comments, probably thanks to Alex Sanfilippo. 00:14:14.250 --> 00:14:15.830 James, feel free to correct me right when we 00:14:15.830 --> 00:14:17.750 come back. We'll bring you back on if it was 00:14:17.750 --> 00:14:19.029 somebody else. We always want to give credit 00:14:19.029 --> 00:14:21.820 where credit's due. And he's got this... this 00:14:21.820 --> 00:14:24.200 podcast power circuit he's got his brand called 00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:26.600 wonderfish he's worked for forbes that's what 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:28.600 we're really focused on as well in the initial 00:14:28.600 --> 00:14:30.639 part of this conversation we're going to be talking 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:33.100 about everything that we can to help you scale 00:14:33.100 --> 00:14:35.360 your visions out and i also want to of course 00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:37.340 provide a few other resources that are super 00:14:37.340 --> 00:14:39.779 important because i just i love to help my friends 00:14:39.779 --> 00:14:42.299 these are not paid sponsors by the way these 00:14:42.299 --> 00:14:44.620 are brands that i actually love and care about 00:14:44.620 --> 00:14:47.200 and yes two of them happen to be clients but 00:14:47.799 --> 00:14:50.320 They didn't become clients because of a transaction. 00:14:50.500 --> 00:14:52.500 They became clients because of the transformational 00:14:52.500 --> 00:14:55.080 relationship we built over time. Speaking of 00:14:55.080 --> 00:14:59.120 that, Dr. Justin and Dr. Shannon Pierce of journeytowellnessplan 00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:02.340 .com. I've known them for eight years. I met 00:15:02.340 --> 00:15:04.519 them when I was speaking at a conference to help 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:07.840 chiropractors and holistic professionals in Plano, 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:11.679 Texas. Shannon was known as this miracle worker 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:16.740 with diseases and illnesses, symptoms that people, 00:15:16.899 --> 00:15:19.220 their doctors were telling them like, hey, you 00:15:19.220 --> 00:15:21.779 really don't have much you can do for this. And 00:15:21.779 --> 00:15:24.080 what a hopeless situation to be in. So if you 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:26.559 know somebody who has health like that, especially 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:30.200 people who are women, she works in women's health 00:15:30.200 --> 00:15:33.580 and does these miracles. And I shouldn't call 00:15:33.580 --> 00:15:35.399 it that probably. It's not a magic wand approach. 00:15:35.639 --> 00:15:37.940 She just understands how the testing works and 00:15:37.940 --> 00:15:39.440 how to use the testing. She went through her 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:42.860 own health life crisis. So I've sent three people 00:15:42.860 --> 00:15:45.000 to her over the last eight years and all three 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:47.440 people that met with Shannon and that I ended 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:49.620 up following up and say, how'd it go? every single 00:15:49.620 --> 00:15:52.440 one of them within weeks and months said jackson 00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:53.980 like i've never met anybody who's been able to 00:15:53.980 --> 00:15:55.840 help me the way that she did and so she's my 00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:57.740 go -to if i find somebody who's got something 00:15:57.740 --> 00:16:00.039 that seems incurable i'm like hey go talk to 00:16:00.039 --> 00:16:02.019 dr shannon she's amazing if you want to meet 00:16:02.019 --> 00:16:03.440 her so if you want me to do an introduction just 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:05.360 let me know you can also go check out and see 00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:07.159 what they're doing with their their six phase 00:16:07.159 --> 00:16:09.679 webinar and their epstein -barr virus webinar 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:12.539 as well uh very very good information for those 00:16:12.539 --> 00:16:16.019 who um who are in having health struggles then 00:16:16.019 --> 00:16:18.549 there's excuse me practice makes permanent with 00:16:18.549 --> 00:16:23.090 jennifer reed guys culture for us at vision pros 00:16:23.090 --> 00:16:26.129 it's vision culture and leadership that drives 00:16:26.129 --> 00:16:28.769 the marketing vision culture and leadership if 00:16:28.769 --> 00:16:30.970 you get those things nailed down you're probably 00:16:30.970 --> 00:16:33.350 going to do far better than if you kind of forget 00:16:33.350 --> 00:16:35.029 or put that on the back burner put those front 00:16:35.029 --> 00:16:37.750 and center that's why i really like promoting 00:16:37.750 --> 00:16:40.629 jennifer reed she's a culture facilitator she 00:16:40.629 --> 00:16:43.610 helps people understand how to tap into eq and 00:16:43.610 --> 00:16:46.110 sq that's emotional intelligence and spiritual 00:16:46.110 --> 00:16:48.450 intelligence when i'm looking to bring somebody 00:16:48.450 --> 00:16:50.409 in to help me with these matters i don't really 00:16:50.409 --> 00:16:52.350 care what piece of paper they have on their wall 00:16:52.620 --> 00:16:54.299 I really don't care where you went to school. 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:56.919 I also don't care what certification you have 00:16:56.919 --> 00:16:58.919 or who you studied with that much and maybe who 00:16:58.919 --> 00:17:00.639 you studied with a little bit. But I want to 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:02.320 know what your experience is like. More importantly, 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:05.480 I want to know why it matters to you. My friends, 00:17:05.539 --> 00:17:07.980 when you ask Jennifer why this matters to you. 00:17:08.410 --> 00:17:10.829 Bring a tissue box. You're going to need it. 00:17:10.930 --> 00:17:14.049 She has every reason in the world for wanting 00:17:14.049 --> 00:17:15.990 to make sure that we all improve in terms of 00:17:15.990 --> 00:17:17.990 our emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence. 00:17:18.170 --> 00:17:20.630 And the byproduct of leaning into that for any 00:17:20.630 --> 00:17:23.890 of your brands is profitability, is cultures 00:17:23.890 --> 00:17:25.569 where people want to belong and come to work, 00:17:25.609 --> 00:17:28.269 is the opportunity to create more holistic relationships, 00:17:28.430 --> 00:17:30.970 which creates more holistic abundance with your 00:17:30.970 --> 00:17:33.329 wealth as well. And we're going to go to the 00:17:33.329 --> 00:17:35.930 water project. The water project I'm not associated 00:17:35.930 --> 00:17:38.519 with. I just support it. We give a little bit 00:17:38.519 --> 00:17:42.359 to it every single month. One of my old colleagues 00:17:42.359 --> 00:17:44.920 convinced me to take a look at it. And honestly, 00:17:45.099 --> 00:17:47.259 I didn't really care. I didn't know to care. 00:17:47.589 --> 00:17:50.730 I had never been thirsty in my life. And so why 00:17:50.730 --> 00:17:52.930 would this matter to me? And then I saw pictures 00:17:52.930 --> 00:17:54.690 like this where this kid's getting water out 00:17:54.690 --> 00:17:56.950 of who knows where. And that's probably the water 00:17:56.950 --> 00:17:58.690 they're going to drink or the water that they're 00:17:58.690 --> 00:18:00.369 going to boil and drink. At least I found out 00:18:00.369 --> 00:18:02.650 here in Ecuador, by the way, when you boil water 00:18:02.650 --> 00:18:04.849 and drink it, it still doesn't do the trick here. 00:18:04.910 --> 00:18:06.809 You've got to do other things. And it's like, 00:18:06.890 --> 00:18:11.529 wow, that's kind of scary. And so these. Parents, 00:18:11.589 --> 00:18:14.369 imagine them having to leave work to go find 00:18:14.369 --> 00:18:16.769 a source of water for their kids or their kids 00:18:16.769 --> 00:18:19.460 having to leave school to go find it. There are 00:18:19.460 --> 00:18:21.960 millions of people who don't have access to one 00:18:21.960 --> 00:18:24.160 of the resources we take for granted most. And 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:26.140 so my hope isn't that one. I don't want to shame 00:18:26.140 --> 00:18:28.700 us. I don't want to make you feel bad. I do want 00:18:28.700 --> 00:18:30.700 to inspire you to at least talk to friends and 00:18:30.700 --> 00:18:32.900 family members about this project because it's 00:18:32.900 --> 00:18:35.039 so uplifting to get to see these pictures, this 00:18:35.039 --> 00:18:37.079 picture of these next kids. They're celebrating 00:18:37.079 --> 00:18:39.660 water more than my kids celebrate Christmas Day 00:18:39.660 --> 00:18:41.400 and my kids freaking love Christmas Day. But 00:18:41.400 --> 00:18:44.160 can you imagine how humbling it would be to be 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:47.000 that grateful for the water that we have? Perhaps 00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:48.619 it would do some good for our lives as well. 00:18:48.490 --> 00:18:50.289 well. So if you can contribute to it, great. 00:18:50.450 --> 00:18:52.910 You can select a project like one of these projects 00:18:52.910 --> 00:18:55.390 right here. If you end up clicking on them, you 00:18:55.390 --> 00:18:57.089 get to see what they're building, how they're 00:18:57.089 --> 00:18:58.589 building it, when they'll build it by how many 00:18:58.589 --> 00:19:00.750 people it's helping. And then when you donate 00:19:00.750 --> 00:19:04.150 to it, the company actually shows you that that 00:19:04.150 --> 00:19:06.250 project's coming to fruition and what it is they're 00:19:06.250 --> 00:19:07.730 doing. I think it's one of the most transparent, 00:19:07.829 --> 00:19:10.390 coolest causes I've ever seen. So my friends, 00:19:10.410 --> 00:19:12.329 we got a billion people to help in this world 00:19:12.329 --> 00:19:14.650 and there's causes outside of this. If you know 00:19:14.650 --> 00:19:17.130 a cause. that you'd like to see me talk about 00:19:17.130 --> 00:19:20.210 on the show or look at and perhaps even donate 00:19:20.210 --> 00:19:22.390 to myself, just drop the link. I promise I will 00:19:22.390 --> 00:19:24.410 take a look at any of those causes that you put 00:19:24.410 --> 00:19:26.470 out there and I'll do my best to try to help 00:19:26.470 --> 00:19:28.630 out with the process. Let's go back to helping 00:19:28.630 --> 00:19:31.369 all of you though. James Kalistra, thanks again 00:19:31.369 --> 00:19:33.130 for being here on Vision Pros Live. Let's keep 00:19:33.130 --> 00:19:37.210 diving into scale. Awesome. And just to correct 00:19:37.210 --> 00:19:40.980 you on one thing. Well, I love Alex from PodMatch. 00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:44.359 The guy that connected us just through chance, 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:46.640 through a comment, because he was on your show, 00:19:46.660 --> 00:19:52.059 was John from Footleads. John Jaramillo. Jaramillo, 00:19:52.200 --> 00:19:54.720 for the Americans, Jaramillo, for those down 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:58.450 in Ecuador. That guy. He did the best podcast 00:19:58.450 --> 00:20:01.529 episode interview of me that I've ever been on. 00:20:01.809 --> 00:20:04.410 John is incredible. So I'm really glad you brought 00:20:04.410 --> 00:20:06.829 that up. And one of my clients is going on his 00:20:06.829 --> 00:20:09.849 show next week. So I'm excited about that. Scott 00:20:09.849 --> 00:20:11.890 Abbott has a book. So he's going on that show 00:20:11.890 --> 00:20:14.750 to talk. Oh, fantastic. Yeah. John is a champion. 00:20:14.829 --> 00:20:16.650 So I'm really glad you brought that up. My friends, 00:20:16.650 --> 00:20:19.109 those of you who don't know, when people like 00:20:19.109 --> 00:20:22.089 us are name dropping. write the names down, go 00:20:22.089 --> 00:20:24.430 look them up, go connect with these people. Like 00:20:24.430 --> 00:20:26.869 it's time to live bigger and you want to build 00:20:26.869 --> 00:20:29.710 a great vision, find great people to build with 00:20:29.710 --> 00:20:32.250 you. That's another huge aspect of making sure 00:20:32.250 --> 00:20:34.390 you find the right teams and skills. So let's 00:20:34.390 --> 00:20:38.430 go into why many great strategies fail to deliver 00:20:38.430 --> 00:20:40.990 the results leaders expect. And before you answer 00:20:40.990 --> 00:20:43.529 that, James. My friends, you're not alone. Like 00:20:43.529 --> 00:20:45.869 I've launched so many projects in my life where 00:20:45.869 --> 00:20:48.670 we've half baked it or where we thought that 00:20:48.670 --> 00:20:50.549 this was going to be the magic cure and help 00:20:50.549 --> 00:20:53.349 us grow and scale. And it just fell flat and 00:20:53.349 --> 00:20:55.369 didn't didn't get to where we wanted it to. So, 00:20:55.430 --> 00:20:57.890 James, what are some of those reasons, the big 00:20:57.890 --> 00:20:59.910 reasons why people end up launching something 00:20:59.910 --> 00:21:02.190 that feels so awesome and it just does not hit 00:21:02.190 --> 00:21:04.569 home the way that they're hoping? Well, I would 00:21:04.569 --> 00:21:06.829 say number one is not having a really clear call 00:21:06.829 --> 00:21:09.150 to action. I think we have so much, there's so 00:21:09.150 --> 00:21:11.069 much noise out there. There's so much going on, 00:21:11.190 --> 00:21:13.210 whether it's advertising messages or there's 00:21:13.210 --> 00:21:16.210 a million decisions we're all making. If you 00:21:16.210 --> 00:21:18.470 could find a way to decrease the cognitive load 00:21:18.470 --> 00:21:21.210 on your audience and just make it super simple, 00:21:21.309 --> 00:21:24.789 like this is what you need to do and why, that's 00:21:24.789 --> 00:21:26.630 it, right? And that's one of the things that 00:21:26.630 --> 00:21:28.849 I help people with when they're going on podcasts 00:21:28.849 --> 00:21:32.390 is having a really, really strong call to action. 00:21:33.479 --> 00:21:35.759 My framework, because they're all F words, I 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:38.599 call it the F word framework. And for the call 00:21:38.599 --> 00:21:41.019 to action, the F word is fetch. And I told it 00:21:41.019 --> 00:21:43.000 to someone recently and she goes, stop trying 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:46.240 to make fetch happen. Remember the mean girl? 00:21:46.299 --> 00:21:49.680 That's right. You know it. But fetch is basically 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:51.940 like give someone an incentive, give them something 00:21:51.940 --> 00:21:54.599 to do. Where do they go? Why? You know, another 00:21:54.599 --> 00:21:57.519 word for it is lead magnet, but in the marketing 00:21:57.519 --> 00:22:00.339 world, but just make it super clear what you 00:22:00.339 --> 00:22:03.990 need them to do. Absolutely. And so we've got 00:22:03.990 --> 00:22:06.049 Wonderfish pulled up. This is your website. Tell 00:22:06.049 --> 00:22:07.670 us about Wonderfish and what you're doing with 00:22:07.670 --> 00:22:09.650 it. And we'll talk about how, for instance, on 00:22:09.650 --> 00:22:11.890 here, there's a form. It's pretty easy to know 00:22:11.890 --> 00:22:13.509 what to do with the form. You get a call to action. 00:22:13.549 --> 00:22:15.789 This is book a call. Very easy to understand. 00:22:15.829 --> 00:22:18.269 So the call to actions, I agree. That's a very 00:22:18.269 --> 00:22:20.430 important element of making sure that people 00:22:20.430 --> 00:22:22.490 know what action they can take with our brands. 00:22:22.650 --> 00:22:24.309 And you just clicked the other one that I was 00:22:24.309 --> 00:22:26.009 going to mention is the authority index, which 00:22:26.009 --> 00:22:28.980 I designed this just to give people. Yeah. I 00:22:28.980 --> 00:22:33.460 got a team. That's your team is key for me behind 00:22:33.460 --> 00:22:35.799 the scenes. I need to add more stuff to my blog, 00:22:35.859 --> 00:22:37.960 by the way. That's really a spare right now, 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:41.500 but you mean it's on point and clear. Exactly. 00:22:42.220 --> 00:22:44.440 So the authority index gives you the ability 00:22:44.440 --> 00:22:48.039 to get a score based off where you stand when 00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:50.380 it comes to your authority in the space and how 00:22:50.380 --> 00:22:54.079 much trust you're able to deliver. earn so it's 00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:56.119 a really good starting point and then what i 00:22:56.119 --> 00:22:58.099 help people with that kind of gets to my mission 00:22:58.099 --> 00:23:01.980 is i help typically founders and really any experts 00:23:01.980 --> 00:23:05.779 i help them find their voice and gain more visibility 00:23:05.779 --> 00:23:08.480 and we do that a number of different ways but 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:11.079 podcast guesting is right now the number one 00:23:11.079 --> 00:23:13.380 thing that i've been focused on and eventually 00:23:13.380 --> 00:23:16.059 i am going to expand to i know event speaking 00:23:16.059 --> 00:23:19.170 is the next area that i'm starting to open up 00:23:19.170 --> 00:23:21.809 to some of my clients i've done some digital 00:23:21.809 --> 00:23:24.990 sort of just regular article pr stuff but what 00:23:24.990 --> 00:23:27.230 i've done with podcast guesting is create a really 00:23:27.230 --> 00:23:32.390 efficient and effective system that leverages 00:23:32.390 --> 00:23:34.829 you know we do let leverage ai all along the 00:23:34.829 --> 00:23:38.950 way but the idea is to create a seamless experience 00:23:38.950 --> 00:23:41.809 for my clients so my clients like i said they're 00:23:41.809 --> 00:23:43.450 founders they're ceos they're people that have 00:23:43.450 --> 00:23:47.599 a lot of expertise and and and they want to get 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:50.240 it out to the world. And so I give them that 00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:52.240 opportunity, but make it a super seamless experience 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:54.440 where they literally just show up and they don't 00:23:54.440 --> 00:23:57.420 have to do a lot of work. I give them right before 00:23:57.420 --> 00:23:59.880 the show, they get a preparation document. I 00:23:59.880 --> 00:24:01.779 know you do that for your guests, but not every 00:24:01.779 --> 00:24:04.039 show does that, right? Oh my gosh, no. Their 00:24:04.039 --> 00:24:06.960 shows are awful, freaking awful. And that failure, 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:09.640 it's like, okay, if we don't take the time to 00:24:09.640 --> 00:24:12.069 think through customer journey mapping. What 00:24:12.069 --> 00:24:14.210 does the experience look like from start to finish? 00:24:14.269 --> 00:24:17.109 If we don't make sure that every single component 00:24:17.109 --> 00:24:20.130 of what people touch is on point, we're going 00:24:20.130 --> 00:24:21.990 to look like every other brand that's out there 00:24:21.990 --> 00:24:23.690 in the market, which means that we're going to 00:24:23.690 --> 00:24:26.809 struggle and fail because 96 % fail within 10 00:24:26.809 --> 00:24:29.950 years and 4 % survive the 10 -year mark. My friends, 00:24:30.029 --> 00:24:32.990 visionaries, you've got to move from creating 00:24:32.990 --> 00:24:36.710 things that to you feel clear, but to your audience 00:24:36.710 --> 00:24:39.940 aren't clear at all. all we have to move towards 00:24:39.940 --> 00:24:42.660 clarity so i'll i'll add a little stack on this 00:24:42.660 --> 00:24:45.440 so when it comes to why many growth strategies 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:48.619 fail to deliver the results leaders expect i 00:24:48.619 --> 00:24:50.039 want to hit on this in an angle that i don't 00:24:50.039 --> 00:24:52.339 think anybody else ever would and that would 00:24:52.339 --> 00:24:55.740 be it's because of what you expect as a leader 00:24:56.690 --> 00:24:59.329 Expectations, my friends, are a vice. And we 00:24:59.329 --> 00:25:01.670 have fallen victim of that for years with quarterly 00:25:01.670 --> 00:25:05.589 expectations. Expectations aligns with the word 00:25:05.589 --> 00:25:09.529 entitlement. Entitlement is a word that ultimately 00:25:09.529 --> 00:25:11.890 puts us in a pretentious category. And now we 00:25:11.890 --> 00:25:13.990 end up condescending. We feel disappointed. Shakespeare 00:25:13.990 --> 00:25:16.589 said it hundreds of years ago. He said, expectation 00:25:16.589 --> 00:25:20.250 is the root of all heartache. So what's the opposite, 00:25:20.369 --> 00:25:22.750 but the virtuous component of still like caring 00:25:22.750 --> 00:25:25.900 and wanting things? Aspirations, hope. Hope, 00:25:25.900 --> 00:25:27.980 now we've destroyed that word too, my friend. 00:25:28.019 --> 00:25:30.160 We say, oh, I hope he doesn't screw that out. 00:25:30.339 --> 00:25:32.680 But no, the idea of hope back in the day was 00:25:32.680 --> 00:25:35.180 a sure belief that something was going to come 00:25:35.180 --> 00:25:38.599 to pass that is good without feeling entitled, 00:25:38.900 --> 00:25:41.059 without being self -righteous and say, I deserve 00:25:41.059 --> 00:25:44.680 having this. And so if we can let go of our expectations 00:25:44.680 --> 00:25:48.619 and put less pressure on our teams, but put more 00:25:48.619 --> 00:25:51.240 support into helping them fulfill things and 00:25:51.240 --> 00:25:53.200 realize that, you know what? Maybe if I launch 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:55.519 this campaign, I shouldn't do as well as Forbes 00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:59.259 .com. Why? Because I'm just Jackson and my brand 00:25:59.259 --> 00:26:01.740 is just Vision Pros Live and my brand is first 00:26:01.740 --> 00:26:04.599 class business with a few thousand followers, 00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:07.119 not millions and millions of followers worldwide. 00:26:07.400 --> 00:26:10.380 So I think sometimes we get so addicted to what 00:26:10.380 --> 00:26:13.140 it is that we feel entitled to have that we end 00:26:13.140 --> 00:26:15.519 up setting a bar for ourselves that we can't 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:18.599 possibly achieve. So you can lower your expectations 00:26:18.599 --> 00:26:21.259 without lowering your output, without disappointing 00:26:21.259 --> 00:26:24.930 yourself by diving into what's called. Use AI, 00:26:25.109 --> 00:26:26.730 look it up, see how it might be able to bless 00:26:26.730 --> 00:26:29.089 your life. So that's one other angle that we'd 00:26:29.089 --> 00:26:30.869 add there. I'm going to put another subject out 00:26:30.869 --> 00:26:34.289 there for us, James. So why is it that some companies 00:26:34.289 --> 00:26:39.630 accelerate while others end up stalling out in 00:26:39.630 --> 00:26:44.890 their process of growth? I think that there's 00:26:44.890 --> 00:26:47.569 one of the words I'll throw in there is system. 00:26:47.609 --> 00:26:49.109 I know this is something that you talk about 00:26:49.109 --> 00:26:50.869 a lot is having a really good system, right? 00:26:51.780 --> 00:26:54.839 And so I learned that the hard way because I'm 00:26:54.839 --> 00:26:57.079 a very creative person. I never really had good 00:26:57.079 --> 00:27:00.140 systems in place in my job. I would just show 00:27:00.140 --> 00:27:03.880 up and our job on the marketing side was to come 00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:07.000 up with ideas for our clients to give. Brother, 00:27:07.160 --> 00:27:08.920 that's why I talk about it so much. I got my 00:27:08.920 --> 00:27:11.099 butt kicked for years screwing up my systems. 00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:12.980 I use a worse word for it. I use infrastructure. 00:27:13.619 --> 00:27:15.640 Infrastructure, yeah, exactly. But yes, I'm with 00:27:15.640 --> 00:27:18.339 you. It's like I don't want people to go through 00:27:18.339 --> 00:27:20.339 the same path I went through. Yeah. And then 00:27:20.339 --> 00:27:22.180 I moved into a management role and I realized 00:27:22.180 --> 00:27:24.000 that things were slipping through the cracks 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:26.640 because we were working on RFPs where clients 00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:28.240 would come to us and they would say, you know, 00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:30.680 we want to give you this RFP. And there's there's 00:27:30.680 --> 00:27:32.420 a whole process that needs to happen. So anytime 00:27:32.420 --> 00:27:34.279 you have something that's like a repeatable process, 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:37.599 that's like that's the perfect time to put a 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:41.079 system in place. So I spent a whole bunch of 00:27:41.079 --> 00:27:44.200 time and this was not a skill that I had intuitively 00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:47.849 or just was born with. But I. at that point in 00:27:47.849 --> 00:27:50.329 time this was a handful of years ago i started 00:27:50.329 --> 00:27:53.150 working with a company called smartsheet and 00:27:53.150 --> 00:27:55.190 there there's a million other project management 00:27:55.190 --> 00:27:58.329 asanas i've i've worked with asana as well they're 00:27:58.329 --> 00:28:01.369 all they're all great but the idea is you have 00:28:01.369 --> 00:28:04.289 a a single source of truth where you put the 00:28:04.289 --> 00:28:06.529 information once it comes in and then you could 00:28:06.529 --> 00:28:09.170 sync it along the lines with other sync it with 00:28:09.170 --> 00:28:12.250 slack you could sync it with salesforce or crm 00:28:12.250 --> 00:28:16.390 or whatever it might be right and So I kind of 00:28:16.390 --> 00:28:18.730 learned that at Forbes. And now in my business 00:28:18.730 --> 00:28:22.329 at Wonderfish, I, from the beginning, have been 00:28:22.329 --> 00:28:24.430 making sure that I have a really good system 00:28:24.430 --> 00:28:26.230 in place. Because at the end of the day, while 00:28:26.230 --> 00:28:29.150 I am a service -based company and providing a 00:28:29.150 --> 00:28:31.309 service as far as getting people on podcasts, 00:28:31.369 --> 00:28:34.230 I'm also kind of a data company where I have 00:28:34.230 --> 00:28:36.329 to have the infrastructure, like you said, in 00:28:36.329 --> 00:28:41.630 place so that I have a repeatable mechanism to... 00:28:42.230 --> 00:28:45.470 deliver this ideal service, right? And so I use 00:28:45.470 --> 00:28:48.009 HubSpot and I've actually automated a lot of 00:28:48.009 --> 00:28:49.750 the process. I've been working with a certified 00:28:49.750 --> 00:28:51.650 automation partner to help automate a lot of 00:28:51.650 --> 00:28:56.309 the processes. And that's helped out a lot. And 00:28:56.309 --> 00:28:59.490 I'm also just making sure that everything is 00:28:59.490 --> 00:29:04.349 put into HubSpot as far as all the data about 00:29:04.349 --> 00:29:07.190 the shows. And now that I'm expanding to other 00:29:07.190 --> 00:29:10.410 platforms like live events. So I actually created... 00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:12.519 in hubspot it's like custom objects so instead 00:29:12.519 --> 00:29:14.400 of a company i have custom objects for each of 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:17.299 all the podcasts all there's all the events all 00:29:17.299 --> 00:29:20.180 the websites so i'm creating a system on a process 00:29:20.180 --> 00:29:21.960 and i'm kind of in a way becoming like a data 00:29:21.960 --> 00:29:24.680 company if you will with like my own first party 00:29:24.680 --> 00:29:27.319 data information on these different shows and 00:29:27.319 --> 00:29:29.400 things like that but i think it's very important 00:29:29.400 --> 00:29:32.400 to have a really good uh system and infrastructure 00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:35.660 in place Oh, it's critical. We will stall out 00:29:35.660 --> 00:29:38.400 if we don't have those aspects in place, my friends. 00:29:38.460 --> 00:29:40.380 And systems and infrastructure is a big part. 00:29:40.480 --> 00:29:42.859 The neat thing is most of us have been some type 00:29:42.859 --> 00:29:45.240 of intrapreneur where we've gotten to work within 00:29:45.240 --> 00:29:47.980 brands and you've gotten to put your own business 00:29:47.980 --> 00:29:50.299 owner style hat on. So I can always look back 00:29:50.299 --> 00:29:53.200 on my life and say, OK, how did Sonic drive in? 00:29:53.480 --> 00:29:55.980 do this um you know okay what about it lifetime 00:29:55.980 --> 00:29:58.299 fitness um what was their onboarding experience 00:29:58.299 --> 00:30:00.799 like for their clients and what can i model out 00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:03.039 of those and so if you have the ability to just 00:30:03.039 --> 00:30:05.119 ask yourself those questions and your own experiences 00:30:05.119 --> 00:30:07.000 the neat thing is you get better and better and 00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:09.019 then you can start to see from the outside like 00:30:09.019 --> 00:30:11.579 i've never worked at slack but i can study their 00:30:11.579 --> 00:30:14.180 brand and see like okay how are they doing their 00:30:14.180 --> 00:30:16.059 onboarding experience let me go through it again 00:30:16.059 --> 00:30:18.099 it's been six months and i can go and see and 00:30:18.099 --> 00:30:20.059 pick up little tricks so there's lots of things 00:30:20.059 --> 00:30:21.599 you can do for yourself but more importantly 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:23.490 you can also train your team members on. And 00:30:23.490 --> 00:30:25.309 now James brought up something that's interesting. 00:30:25.410 --> 00:30:28.069 He said RFP. For those of you who are newer visionaries, 00:30:28.089 --> 00:30:30.970 we're talking about the ability to create a request 00:30:30.970 --> 00:30:34.069 for proposal process. And I went through this 00:30:34.069 --> 00:30:35.769 when we wanted to get the master's tournament 00:30:35.769 --> 00:30:37.829 of Augusta on board at Restaurant Connect. We 00:30:37.829 --> 00:30:39.430 went through that and we did. And we went through 00:30:39.430 --> 00:30:41.230 this when we went to Pebble Beach to pitch them 00:30:41.230 --> 00:30:43.089 on having our restaurant software. We didn't 00:30:43.089 --> 00:30:45.710 win them. And we did the same thing for Kiwa 00:30:45.710 --> 00:30:47.829 Island Golf Resort. We had to fill out their 00:30:47.829 --> 00:30:51.490 RFPs. We had to have our white paper presentations 00:30:51.490 --> 00:30:54.509 in place. We also had to fly out and win. These 00:30:54.509 --> 00:30:57.250 are things that are super important for you as 00:30:57.250 --> 00:30:58.950 you move towards the scale. But I'll simplify 00:30:58.950 --> 00:31:03.809 that. For me, infrastructure attracts either 00:31:03.809 --> 00:31:06.750 bad team members or great team members. And if 00:31:06.750 --> 00:31:08.250 great team members, if you're meeting people 00:31:08.250 --> 00:31:10.589 who are not impressed with your systems and where 00:31:10.589 --> 00:31:12.009 they're at, that is one of the greatest gifts 00:31:12.009 --> 00:31:14.369 to help you realize like, dang, maybe I need 00:31:14.369 --> 00:31:16.710 to improve. what's going on internally rather 00:31:16.710 --> 00:31:18.849 than feel like, well, they think they're better 00:31:18.849 --> 00:31:20.970 than me. No, they don't. They just want to work 00:31:20.970 --> 00:31:22.450 in an environment where they know they can be 00:31:22.450 --> 00:31:24.750 successful and they can't be successful if you 00:31:24.750 --> 00:31:27.589 don't have a good. infrastructure so i'm gonna 00:31:27.589 --> 00:31:29.390 i'm gonna highlight something about this because 00:31:29.390 --> 00:31:32.849 today we have tools that can allow you to actually 00:31:32.849 --> 00:31:36.109 uh use r d as my great friend howie nestel of 00:31:36.109 --> 00:31:38.589 sharkmatic advertising talks about r d stands 00:31:38.589 --> 00:31:40.910 for rip off and duplicate just kidding research 00:31:40.910 --> 00:31:43.029 and development but you're welcome to rip off 00:31:43.029 --> 00:31:45.069 and duplicate what i've created at first class 00:31:45.069 --> 00:31:46.509 business with is you won't get the whole nuts 00:31:46.509 --> 00:31:48.710 and bolts but the other thing you can do is bring 00:31:48.710 --> 00:31:50.750 team members on that help so we have what's called 00:31:50.750 --> 00:31:53.240 a preferred vendor program And in this preferred 00:31:53.240 --> 00:31:56.160 vendor program, we literally have people request, 00:31:56.359 --> 00:31:58.720 submit a request for proposal to work with us. 00:31:58.799 --> 00:32:01.380 They have to learn about our guidelines and how 00:32:01.380 --> 00:32:03.180 we're client centric and the flexibility of our 00:32:03.180 --> 00:32:05.420 framework and consistent quality standards and 00:32:05.420 --> 00:32:07.180 collaborative growth. And you're probably thinking, 00:32:07.220 --> 00:32:09.380 wow, Jackson, most people would just leave this 00:32:09.380 --> 00:32:11.099 page and not want to work with you. Exactly. 00:32:11.769 --> 00:32:13.910 I don't need lazy people to pitch me all day. 00:32:14.049 --> 00:32:15.829 The only people that I want to work with are 00:32:15.829 --> 00:32:17.490 the ones who'd qualify. And guess what? If Gary 00:32:17.490 --> 00:32:19.269 Vaynerchuk came along and was like, hey, Jackson, 00:32:19.269 --> 00:32:20.750 let's work together, he wouldn't have to go through 00:32:20.750 --> 00:32:22.970 this program. I would fly out and meet Gary Vaynerchuk 00:32:22.970 --> 00:32:25.490 in a heartbeat. But this is to drive away the 00:32:25.490 --> 00:32:28.509 people who are constantly trying to sell me something. 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:31.519 And I want them to potentially work with me, 00:32:31.559 --> 00:32:34.460 but they need to go through the entire process 00:32:34.460 --> 00:32:37.039 of helping us recognize that they've actually 00:32:37.039 --> 00:32:38.920 done their due diligence to figure out who we 00:32:38.920 --> 00:32:41.980 are, how they fit into the system. And that helps 00:32:41.980 --> 00:32:44.579 us streamline the process of honoring the potential 00:32:44.579 --> 00:32:46.880 strategic partners who could help us scale and 00:32:46.880 --> 00:32:48.920 grow. I never have to sell somebody. Don't sell 00:32:48.920 --> 00:32:51.619 me. I never have to tell somebody, you know, 00:32:51.619 --> 00:32:53.640 oh, why do I get all these LinkedIn spam messages? 00:32:53.700 --> 00:32:55.259 You know why we get those, my friends? Because 00:32:55.259 --> 00:32:56.980 you're actually becoming notable in the market. 00:32:57.319 --> 00:32:59.339 It's a good thing. Tony Robbins doesn't complain 00:32:59.339 --> 00:33:01.980 about the 10 ,000 pitches he gets per day. He 00:33:01.980 --> 00:33:04.000 creates a system to be able to handle it. And 00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:07.920 most of those people end up buying from him because 00:33:07.920 --> 00:33:10.319 he ended up creating a system that showed people 00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:12.940 that he's got more value than they do. We can 00:33:12.940 --> 00:33:15.220 do that at scale these days so much faster thanks 00:33:15.220 --> 00:33:17.400 to AI, thanks to integrators, thanks to people 00:33:17.400 --> 00:33:18.819 who know how to do that. And James is one of 00:33:18.819 --> 00:33:20.640 those people who was able to help us do that 00:33:20.640 --> 00:33:23.240 on the podcasting side. Moving to the hidden 00:33:23.240 --> 00:33:26.019 leverage points that provide sustainable growth. 00:33:26.119 --> 00:33:28.140 What are some hidden leverage points, James? 00:33:29.240 --> 00:33:31.700 other visionaries can lean into to drive sustainable 00:33:31.700 --> 00:33:34.400 growth yeah before i answer that i just want 00:33:34.400 --> 00:33:36.980 to add because one of the things that came to 00:33:36.980 --> 00:33:39.799 my mind is a lot of times people don't want to 00:33:39.799 --> 00:33:41.880 invest in systems because of the the high expense 00:33:41.880 --> 00:33:44.259 of you know the cost or whatever of that infrastructure 00:33:44.259 --> 00:33:46.579 but one of the things you got to remember is 00:33:46.579 --> 00:33:49.539 the the larger you get the more expensive it's 00:33:49.539 --> 00:33:52.279 going to get Absolutely. It's a mindset issue. 00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:54.460 What's the least amount of water I can give my 00:33:54.460 --> 00:33:56.619 plants and still grow a garden? That's the opposite 00:33:56.619 --> 00:33:59.660 of what we have to do to grow. Exactly. So you're 00:33:59.660 --> 00:34:03.519 better off starting building at a, in a spot 00:34:03.519 --> 00:34:05.640 where you can building the scale essentially, 00:34:05.759 --> 00:34:08.760 right? Where you might not need this, this huge 00:34:08.760 --> 00:34:11.699 system or this, you know, the ability to have 00:34:11.699 --> 00:34:13.699 this amount of compute power data or whatever, 00:34:13.800 --> 00:34:15.219 but at some point you're going to want to get 00:34:15.219 --> 00:34:16.340 there and you're not going to want to have to 00:34:16.340 --> 00:34:18.960 redo your system. My friends go to a free AI 00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:21.739 right now. instead of being hurt by this comment 00:34:21.739 --> 00:34:25.659 go to it and say um ai how can i shift my mindset 00:34:25.659 --> 00:34:28.420 and why would it be valuable to shift my mindset 00:34:28.420 --> 00:34:31.449 if i tell myself i can't afford that What's going 00:34:31.449 --> 00:34:34.670 on in my mind? Just ask AI. Let it dig with you 00:34:34.670 --> 00:34:36.210 a little bit. And then come and talk to people 00:34:36.210 --> 00:34:37.750 like us too, because we're here to nurture and 00:34:37.750 --> 00:34:40.349 help overcome these realities. That is not a 00:34:40.349 --> 00:34:42.650 truth. That is a problem -oriented mentality. 00:34:42.929 --> 00:34:45.309 And you can find solutions to help yourself. 00:34:45.489 --> 00:34:48.530 Every great visionary on the planet has learned 00:34:48.530 --> 00:34:50.849 how to shift their mindset to realize that those 00:34:50.849 --> 00:34:52.869 limiting beliefs do not help us with growth. 00:34:52.989 --> 00:34:54.889 I'm really glad you brought it up, James. We 00:34:54.889 --> 00:34:57.599 can lean in better. So with that. That's one 00:34:57.599 --> 00:34:59.440 of the hidden leverage points of driving sustainable 00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:02.380 growth is not telling ourselves that we can't 00:35:02.380 --> 00:35:04.219 do something and telling us that we can't afford 00:35:04.219 --> 00:35:06.320 something. So you revealed one, even though you 00:35:06.320 --> 00:35:09.559 didn't mean to. What else, James? So you're asking 00:35:09.559 --> 00:35:12.900 for hidden leverage points to drive scale and 00:35:12.900 --> 00:35:15.860 growth? Yep. So to drive sustainable growth, 00:35:16.039 --> 00:35:18.300 what's something that people or visionaries are 00:35:18.300 --> 00:35:21.980 overlooking? And this is one of the things that 00:35:21.980 --> 00:35:24.719 I think. Some people are overlooking. A lot of 00:35:24.719 --> 00:35:26.079 people are starting to realize how important 00:35:26.079 --> 00:35:29.739 it is. But it's not just about the brand identity 00:35:29.739 --> 00:35:34.420 of your company or your corporation. It's about 00:35:34.420 --> 00:35:36.519 the identity of the individual that's driving 00:35:36.519 --> 00:35:38.739 it. And the reason I say that is because we know 00:35:38.739 --> 00:35:43.940 how important it is to drive trust and even likability. 00:35:44.039 --> 00:35:46.099 Trust and likability are two of the biggest factors 00:35:46.099 --> 00:35:48.320 that... people are taking into consideration 00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:50.300 particularly in the b2b space when they're deciding 00:35:50.300 --> 00:35:51.619 who they want to work with because there's so 00:35:51.619 --> 00:35:53.480 many options out there anyone can build a sass 00:35:53.480 --> 00:35:56.340 now anybody can start a company right so you 00:35:56.340 --> 00:36:00.579 really have to have a personal brand you know 00:36:00.579 --> 00:36:02.320 i hate i hate that term because it just it's 00:36:02.320 --> 00:36:04.500 kind of a wishy -washy thing personal brain i 00:36:04.500 --> 00:36:05.820 don't know i guess i don't hate it but it's just 00:36:05.820 --> 00:36:10.070 sometimes people just think of like oh you have 00:36:10.070 --> 00:36:12.929 to be an influencer or you have to you know no 00:36:12.929 --> 00:36:15.449 it's not necessarily about that but it is about 00:36:15.449 --> 00:36:19.170 influence it is about driving trust and and there's 00:36:19.170 --> 00:36:22.469 a lot of ways which we can get into to do that 00:36:22.469 --> 00:36:24.570 because like stay stay authentic and genuine 00:36:24.570 --> 00:36:27.829 as you do it right exactly stay authentic and 00:36:27.829 --> 00:36:30.969 genuine and be human i think it's such a competitive 00:36:30.969 --> 00:36:32.769 moat right now i think we talked about this the 00:36:32.769 --> 00:36:36.909 last time because in this age of ai We are all 00:36:36.909 --> 00:36:39.630 competing with AI and being a human and having 00:36:39.630 --> 00:36:42.210 lived experiences is our competitive advantage. 00:36:42.570 --> 00:36:45.469 And we have to lead into that and be able to 00:36:45.469 --> 00:36:47.610 be human, make connections, go on shows like 00:36:47.610 --> 00:36:51.730 this, go to networking events. And if you don't 00:36:51.730 --> 00:36:53.929 do that, I feel like that's where you will be 00:36:53.929 --> 00:36:56.969 left behind. And I'll upgrade that a little bit. 00:36:57.030 --> 00:37:00.170 I don't mind the I think there is a room for 00:37:00.170 --> 00:37:03.030 a doomsday aspect on this if we fight against. 00:37:03.329 --> 00:37:05.840 And I think that's really the. the one challenge 00:37:05.840 --> 00:37:08.119 that exists there. And so tribal leadership talks 00:37:08.119 --> 00:37:10.880 about this, how people who are, I am great mindset, 00:37:11.019 --> 00:37:13.800 think that you are not. And people who are, we 00:37:13.800 --> 00:37:15.119 are great, think that they are not. You see it 00:37:15.119 --> 00:37:16.639 all the time in advertising where they mudsling 00:37:16.639 --> 00:37:18.559 and say, well, we're the number one. You just 00:37:18.559 --> 00:37:20.880 told everybody else they suck. And like, it's 00:37:20.880 --> 00:37:23.519 not the, it's not the messaging that I resonate 00:37:23.519 --> 00:37:25.400 with because there's another level that they 00:37:25.400 --> 00:37:27.639 discovered when they wrote the book called life 00:37:27.639 --> 00:37:30.619 is great. And in life is great. There is no fighting. 00:37:30.739 --> 00:37:32.780 We realize there's enough oxygen for everybody 00:37:32.780 --> 00:37:35.960 on this planet. And so when with AI, I don't 00:37:35.960 --> 00:37:39.179 compete against AI. AI is something that I can 00:37:39.179 --> 00:37:43.539 compete with. And with that, I can also leverage 00:37:43.539 --> 00:37:45.840 the opportunity. And so can all of you, which 00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:49.360 is why we launched the AI marketplace. AI .firstquestbusiness 00:37:49.360 --> 00:37:52.260 .io. You, my friend, the person listening right 00:37:52.260 --> 00:37:55.610 now, you are. already an AI expert, but perhaps 00:37:55.610 --> 00:37:57.929 nobody's taught you the words and taught you 00:37:57.929 --> 00:37:59.250 where you actually use it. But if you've ever 00:37:59.250 --> 00:38:02.909 curated a music list on Spotify or Pandora, you 00:38:02.909 --> 00:38:05.530 have skills that should be on your resume that 00:38:05.530 --> 00:38:08.210 help you realize how to translate what you do 00:38:08.210 --> 00:38:10.690 to what you can do for a company. And if you 00:38:10.690 --> 00:38:13.710 decide not to do that, then it's not AI who's 00:38:13.710 --> 00:38:16.590 taking your job. It's you. who's deciding not 00:38:16.590 --> 00:38:18.550 to become valuable in the new world economy. 00:38:18.690 --> 00:38:21.690 And so I want to make sure that all of you know, 00:38:21.750 --> 00:38:24.409 you can leverage these systems and you can also 00:38:24.409 --> 00:38:26.630 take the audits that we have one for business 00:38:26.630 --> 00:38:29.070 owners, where that helps you unlock your bottlenecks. 00:38:29.090 --> 00:38:31.909 Where can I leverage AI right now in my business 00:38:31.909 --> 00:38:33.929 to create the systems James is talking about, 00:38:33.969 --> 00:38:36.170 which by the way. You want systems regarding 00:38:36.170 --> 00:38:37.650 podcasting. That's something we're going to come 00:38:37.650 --> 00:38:39.969 right back to is what James does for podcasting. 00:38:39.989 --> 00:38:42.090 And then on the professional side, how do you 00:38:42.090 --> 00:38:44.929 remake your resume and how do you go into conversations 00:38:44.929 --> 00:38:47.630 for job interviews, whether it's your current 00:38:47.630 --> 00:38:50.679 job, trying to get a salary upgrade? or you're 00:38:50.679 --> 00:38:52.699 at your future job you have the chance to reposition 00:38:52.699 --> 00:38:55.320 yourself as an ai expert and that's going to 00:38:55.320 --> 00:38:57.659 carry you for decades to come you will not be 00:38:57.659 --> 00:39:00.480 replaced in the economy if you learn how to leverage 00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:03.019 the skills you already have within you it's like 00:39:03.019 --> 00:39:05.360 me learning spanish i can't be effective in spanish 00:39:05.360 --> 00:39:07.599 unless i learn the language you can't be effective 00:39:07.599 --> 00:39:09.960 in ai unless you learn the language but it's 00:39:09.960 --> 00:39:12.239 so much simpler than you think and it has nothing 00:39:12.239 --> 00:39:14.380 to do with using bananas to create images online 00:39:14.380 --> 00:39:17.519 all the hype that ai people are making you already 00:39:17.519 --> 00:39:19.059 have it within you you don't have to overthink 00:39:19.059 --> 00:39:20.769 it So James, thanks for letting me go off on 00:39:20.769 --> 00:39:24.710 that a little bit. Back to some of the items 00:39:24.710 --> 00:39:27.849 that we're talking about here. What leaders often, 00:39:27.949 --> 00:39:29.969 I wanna make sure we deliver, we got a few minutes 00:39:29.969 --> 00:39:32.289 left, so we gotta go on the fast mode. What leaders 00:39:32.289 --> 00:39:36.530 often misunderstand about scaling and how to 00:39:36.530 --> 00:39:40.829 move from effort -driven growth to... strategic 00:39:40.829 --> 00:39:43.090 growth. Those are both pretty complex, but let's 00:39:43.090 --> 00:39:44.510 try to do our best. I'll do my best to keep a 00:39:44.510 --> 00:39:46.110 30 second pitch on it. You do the same thing. 00:39:46.309 --> 00:39:48.710 So what leaders often misunderstand about scaling 00:39:48.710 --> 00:39:50.750 and how to move from effort -driven growth to 00:39:50.750 --> 00:39:53.050 strategic growth. Okay. And this one, how about 00:39:53.050 --> 00:39:56.269 you go first and then I'll - Oh, I love it. Yes, 00:39:56.369 --> 00:39:58.889 man. Way to reduce it. Perfect. Okay. So what 00:39:58.889 --> 00:40:01.309 leaders often misunderstand about scaling. I 00:40:01.309 --> 00:40:03.750 wrote down and thought through this, guys. I 00:40:03.750 --> 00:40:05.210 see so many people who are busy and excited. 00:40:05.900 --> 00:40:08.039 And they focus on the day -to -day and the week 00:40:08.039 --> 00:40:10.239 -by -week. That's what 90 % of business owners 00:40:10.239 --> 00:40:12.440 are doing versus Dr. Peter Drucker, who taught 00:40:12.440 --> 00:40:14.679 us, don't measure based on days, weeks, and months. 00:40:14.760 --> 00:40:17.199 Measure based on quarters. So turn from busy 00:40:17.199 --> 00:40:20.539 and excited to productive and profitable. Is 00:40:20.539 --> 00:40:22.980 what I'm doing producing a result? And is what 00:40:22.980 --> 00:40:25.119 I'm doing leading to profitability? If not, I 00:40:25.119 --> 00:40:27.019 should probably shelve it. But instead of putting 00:40:27.019 --> 00:40:29.079 daily and weekly pressure on my team members, 00:40:29.219 --> 00:40:31.880 how about I celebrate my team members every day? 00:40:31.900 --> 00:40:33.719 I don't need to hype things up, but celebrate 00:40:33.719 --> 00:40:36.579 with gratitude. my team members on a daily and 00:40:36.579 --> 00:40:39.179 weekly basis and monthly basis and measure the 00:40:39.179 --> 00:40:42.199 results based on quarters and true KPIs. Your 00:40:42.199 --> 00:40:43.639 turn, James. And I think that's probably one 00:40:43.639 --> 00:40:46.460 of the hardest things, you know, it's easier 00:40:46.460 --> 00:40:48.760 said than done in a lot of ways, but it's obviously 00:40:48.760 --> 00:40:51.400 critical and important because the ability to 00:40:51.400 --> 00:40:54.539 zoom in and then to zoom in when needed and then 00:40:54.539 --> 00:40:58.179 zoom out on a weekly or monthly basis to say, 00:40:58.239 --> 00:41:00.440 okay, where are we? Where have we moved the needle? 00:41:00.699 --> 00:41:03.460 And that's super important. i guess the only 00:41:03.460 --> 00:41:07.400 thing that i would add is um the the ability 00:41:07.400 --> 00:41:11.079 and this this kind of piggybacks on that a little 00:41:11.079 --> 00:41:13.099 bit but it's it's it's a it's more about like 00:41:13.099 --> 00:41:16.679 the ability to prioritize because you know there's 00:41:16.679 --> 00:41:19.119 so many shiny objects out there like oh i want 00:41:19.119 --> 00:41:22.440 to do this and um i i read a book um the signs 00:41:22.440 --> 00:41:24.760 of scaling you may have you may i think you might 00:41:24.760 --> 00:41:30.519 have heard of that it's pretty blanking on the 00:41:30.519 --> 00:41:33.400 name i think uh blake something but hardy maybe 00:41:33.400 --> 00:41:36.559 blake hardy uh but just one of the things he 00:41:36.559 --> 00:41:40.179 says in the book is complex systems don't scale 00:41:40.179 --> 00:41:44.659 which is obvious but one of the one of the problems 00:41:44.659 --> 00:41:47.300 i find most entrepreneurs and i've run into this 00:41:47.300 --> 00:41:50.980 is that when you're starting something new learning 00:41:50.980 --> 00:41:53.639 is not scalable because you're new to something 00:41:53.639 --> 00:41:56.119 so like i i decided that i wanted to do a webinar 00:41:56.119 --> 00:41:59.530 and i started using StreamYard, but there's a 00:41:59.530 --> 00:42:01.730 learning curve when you got to get up on, get 00:42:01.730 --> 00:42:03.469 up on StreamYard. How do I, how am I going to 00:42:03.469 --> 00:42:06.489 set up a registration link? Do I want to do registration 00:42:06.489 --> 00:42:08.389 through HubSpot or do I want to do it through 00:42:08.389 --> 00:42:10.630 Squarespace or StreamYard? So there's all these 00:42:10.630 --> 00:42:12.510 like learning things that, and I'm sure there's 00:42:12.510 --> 00:42:14.550 ways, you know, obviously we all talk to AI and 00:42:14.550 --> 00:42:18.710 it helps us to sort of become our guide. And, 00:42:18.710 --> 00:42:21.349 but I think that the biggest thing I will say 00:42:21.349 --> 00:42:26.679 is just. So focus on like what exactly the problem 00:42:26.679 --> 00:42:28.340 that you're solving. Go back to the mission, 00:42:28.460 --> 00:42:31.579 back to the frame part of my framework, which 00:42:31.579 --> 00:42:34.940 is if this little thing that I'm trying out, 00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:36.920 whether it's the webinar, making YouTube channel, 00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:38.940 whatever, if this isn't lining up to that and 00:42:38.940 --> 00:42:41.400 it's not moving the needle, like you said, then 00:42:41.400 --> 00:42:44.019 is it really worth my time? And because I feel 00:42:44.019 --> 00:42:45.420 like the more things that you're doing and the 00:42:45.420 --> 00:42:48.260 more things that you're adding, I think podcast 00:42:48.260 --> 00:42:50.039 guesting is one of those things that it can be 00:42:50.039 --> 00:42:54.780 extremely time consuming. doing it yourself where 00:42:54.780 --> 00:42:56.679 you know you're doing all the research oh my 00:42:56.679 --> 00:42:59.820 gosh i can never do it hours ever ever yeah yeah 00:42:59.820 --> 00:43:01.579 so that's why a lot of the clients that i work 00:43:01.579 --> 00:43:04.679 with they they like to say that um you know working 00:43:04.679 --> 00:43:07.239 with someone like me basically it gives them 00:43:07.239 --> 00:43:09.300 more leverage it takes because if you were to 00:43:09.300 --> 00:43:10.679 add up all the hours that they were to put in 00:43:10.679 --> 00:43:13.079 something like that yeah i think it's smart knowing 00:43:13.079 --> 00:43:15.420 where to outsource yeah things like that but 00:43:16.009 --> 00:43:17.929 That's a big one. I'm going to move to the next 00:43:17.929 --> 00:43:20.230 one. We're going to do a 32nd one this time because 00:43:20.230 --> 00:43:23.929 we're running out. Guys, I'm going to tie podcasting 00:43:23.929 --> 00:43:25.869 right into that. I said something important. 00:43:26.010 --> 00:43:28.230 I said I could never do that. I could never do 00:43:28.230 --> 00:43:31.170 that and be profitable. You can do it, but good 00:43:31.170 --> 00:43:33.309 luck being profitable. Don't go that route, my 00:43:33.309 --> 00:43:35.150 friends. Make sure that you're working with teams. 00:43:35.250 --> 00:43:38.849 How to move from effort -driven growth to strategic 00:43:38.849 --> 00:43:42.670 -driven growth. This is so much easier, but it 00:43:42.670 --> 00:43:46.309 goes against our human nature. And so the real 00:43:46.309 --> 00:43:48.250 secret on this, if you're using AI or you're 00:43:48.250 --> 00:43:51.110 working with team members, either one and both, 00:43:51.369 --> 00:43:54.329 when somebody finishes talking, say the words, 00:43:54.449 --> 00:43:58.659 tell me more about that. Tell me more. Dive deeper, 00:43:58.920 --> 00:44:01.860 my friends. We've got to take interest in what 00:44:01.860 --> 00:44:04.079 others are saying. If we're so busy with our 00:44:04.079 --> 00:44:06.800 own agenda and we've got our own, as they say, 00:44:06.900 --> 00:44:09.099 when you start selling hammers, everything looks 00:44:09.099 --> 00:44:12.219 like a nail. We all want to fulfill our own needs. 00:44:12.360 --> 00:44:14.760 And so we do a horrible job of actually diving 00:44:14.760 --> 00:44:17.340 deeper. And then also when we tell me more about 00:44:17.340 --> 00:44:20.280 that, we can say, all right, now AI or team, 00:44:20.360 --> 00:44:23.800 we need to build the full scale project outline. 00:44:24.619 --> 00:44:28.099 before we get started if we don't scale the outline 00:44:28.099 --> 00:44:30.519 of what's the forecast what are the benchmarks 00:44:30.519 --> 00:44:33.219 what components have to be built for this then 00:44:33.219 --> 00:44:34.699 we're going to end up building something super 00:44:34.699 --> 00:44:36.380 shoddy and yes we're going to put a bunch of 00:44:36.380 --> 00:44:39.860 effort in But busy is broke. We've got to become 00:44:39.860 --> 00:44:41.960 more strategic with what we're doing. Back to 00:44:41.960 --> 00:44:44.739 podcasting and James. This is why Wonderfish 00:44:44.739 --> 00:44:46.860 and companies like his are so important because 00:44:46.860 --> 00:44:49.440 when it comes to PR and media, that's one of 00:44:49.440 --> 00:44:51.099 the greatest things that you can do for your 00:44:51.099 --> 00:44:53.699 brand is you get more and more exposure and awareness 00:44:53.699 --> 00:44:55.500 of what you're doing. Of course, you need to 00:44:55.500 --> 00:44:57.840 build the systems for scalability as well. And 00:44:57.840 --> 00:44:59.539 you need to make sure your promises align with 00:44:59.539 --> 00:45:01.480 what the market needs. And they need to be as 00:45:01.480 --> 00:45:03.900 honest and authentic as possible and transparent, 00:45:04.039 --> 00:45:06.599 much like Elon Musk was when he sold. 180 ,000 00:45:06.599 --> 00:45:08.119 cars from stage. It wouldn't exist for two to 00:45:08.119 --> 00:45:10.659 three years. He was super honest about how long 00:45:10.659 --> 00:45:12.380 things are going to take. And so if you lean 00:45:12.380 --> 00:45:15.340 into that with podcasting, go share your vision 00:45:15.340 --> 00:45:18.449 on podcasts because the danger level is low. 00:45:18.769 --> 00:45:21.650 If you share a vision on a massive stage and 00:45:21.650 --> 00:45:23.610 you fall on your face, that's not going to be 00:45:23.610 --> 00:45:25.630 helpful. Or you get a hundred phone calls and 00:45:25.630 --> 00:45:27.630 you can only take two of them. You just make 00:45:27.630 --> 00:45:29.530 a bunch of people upset that you can't fulfill 00:45:29.530 --> 00:45:32.030 for. So if you can go on podcasts, get your feet 00:45:32.030 --> 00:45:34.369 wet, fall on your face a little bit, learn how 00:45:34.369 --> 00:45:36.289 to become better at what you do, and you will 00:45:36.289 --> 00:45:38.389 find so many opportunities to realize, oh man, 00:45:38.469 --> 00:45:40.230 my call to action wasn't very good. Like James 00:45:40.230 --> 00:45:42.530 talked about, oh man, I didn't really know how 00:45:42.530 --> 00:45:44.190 to talk about the problem or the pleasure or 00:45:44.190 --> 00:45:47.699 the purpose. Use the podcast opportunities to 00:45:47.699 --> 00:45:50.099 learn how to become graceful with your messaging. 00:45:50.500 --> 00:45:53.380 And that will also be one way that you can help 00:45:53.380 --> 00:45:56.320 yourself move to more strategic growth and be 00:45:56.320 --> 00:45:58.559 prepared for it. James, your thoughts on moving 00:45:58.559 --> 00:46:00.360 from effort -driven growth to strategic growth. 00:46:00.679 --> 00:46:02.480 Yeah, it actually reminds me of something that 00:46:02.480 --> 00:46:04.059 happened to me the other day when I was driving 00:46:04.059 --> 00:46:07.219 my car and my cell phone charger fell in between 00:46:07.219 --> 00:46:09.739 the seats. And I went to pull it out and the 00:46:09.739 --> 00:46:11.800 bottom, the base of it where it plugs in got 00:46:11.800 --> 00:46:13.940 stuck. And I'm sitting there, I'm... yanking 00:46:13.940 --> 00:46:16.820 i'm yanking i can't get it out of my seat and 00:46:16.820 --> 00:46:18.920 finally i just realized that like no matter how 00:46:18.920 --> 00:46:20.880 hard i pull it wasn't coming out and all that 00:46:20.880 --> 00:46:23.360 i had to do is literally move the the adjust 00:46:23.360 --> 00:46:25.500 the little thing on the side of my seat and i 00:46:25.500 --> 00:46:27.460 moved my seat back and it came right out and 00:46:27.460 --> 00:46:29.980 i think it's kind of um a metaphor because i 00:46:29.980 --> 00:46:32.519 feel like sometimes like the most obvious things 00:46:32.519 --> 00:46:34.340 are just right in front of us it was like oh 00:46:34.340 --> 00:46:36.260 you just had to do this you just like it's right 00:46:36.260 --> 00:46:39.760 there like just and in my uh current situation 00:46:39.760 --> 00:46:42.769 i've been Lucky enough, I came across someone 00:46:42.769 --> 00:46:47.469 named Miriam Katz. She is an amazing public speaking 00:46:47.469 --> 00:46:49.769 coach. And she's been helping me a little bit, 00:46:49.809 --> 00:46:53.510 tell my story, find my voice. And she does everything 00:46:53.510 --> 00:46:56.869 from voice exercises and things that I know that 00:46:56.869 --> 00:46:58.969 I can improve, but also things that I can bring 00:46:58.969 --> 00:47:01.590 to my clients. So that's why I'm doing a workshop 00:47:01.590 --> 00:47:04.349 with her on Thursday. But I just had this aha 00:47:04.349 --> 00:47:07.400 moment where I said, I can... introduce her to 00:47:07.400 --> 00:47:10.179 my clients and basically embed her as like part 00:47:10.179 --> 00:47:12.980 of my package where they come because i'm not 00:47:12.980 --> 00:47:14.920 just selling getting on podcasts i'm selling 00:47:15.420 --> 00:47:16.980 you know, a transformation, if you will, that 00:47:16.980 --> 00:47:19.780 you could become someone who is more authoritative, 00:47:19.900 --> 00:47:22.920 who's more trustworthy. And she's someone that 00:47:22.920 --> 00:47:24.420 can help me do that. And I don't have to do it 00:47:24.420 --> 00:47:27.840 all on my own. So no, absolutely. Collaboration's 00:47:27.840 --> 00:47:29.920 huge. You pull people together, my friends, one 00:47:29.920 --> 00:47:32.780 plus one equals 11. We have a compound effect 00:47:32.780 --> 00:47:35.059 and we bring great people in. Disney probably 00:47:35.059 --> 00:47:37.800 never turned people down who were willing to 00:47:37.800 --> 00:47:39.940 come in and help him build his vision. We got 00:47:39.940 --> 00:47:42.000 to find greater ways to collaborate. So Vision 00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:44.219 Pros, if you'd like to be on this show, click 00:47:44.219 --> 00:47:46.269 on the button. visionproslive .com. It says be 00:47:46.269 --> 00:47:49.019 our guest. Book your time. Come and talk to us. 00:47:49.159 --> 00:47:50.820 We'd love to have you and hear about what you're 00:47:50.820 --> 00:47:53.320 up to. James Collister, you can find him on LinkedIn. 00:47:53.380 --> 00:47:55.380 You can find him on Google as well. Wonderfish, 00:47:55.460 --> 00:47:56.880 you can check that out, of course, on Thursday. 00:47:57.079 --> 00:47:59.039 You can go check out and see what this webinar 00:47:59.039 --> 00:48:00.699 looks like and what you might be able to benefit 00:48:00.699 --> 00:48:02.900 from on it. So you can also get on podcast stages 00:48:02.900 --> 00:48:05.099 and we will see you guys all on the next episode 00:48:05.099 --> 00:48:07.079 of Vision Pros Live. Thank you for being here 00:48:07.079 --> 00:48:08.960 today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to 00:48:08.960 --> 00:48:11.420 Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to seeing 00:48:11.420 --> 00:48:14.480 your reactions as these episodes continue to 00:48:14.480 --> 00:48:16.179 move forward. This is going to get more and more 00:48:16.179 --> 00:48:18.500 fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well. 00:48:18.539 --> 00:48:20.460 We'll invite people to participate in the show. 00:48:20.559 --> 00:48:22.619 And thank you for giving us your time and attention. 00:48:22.900 --> 00:48:25.559 Have an excellent time building out your vision 00:48:25.559 --> 00:48:26.880 and becoming a vision pro yourself.