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Welcome to the Thrivewell Journey. We're a new podcast dedicated to empowering

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entrepreneurs to uncover and embrace their purpose here on earth. As multi

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faceted human beings, we strive to navigate our financial, mental, physical,

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and spiritual well-being. And that's what this podcast is all about. We're here to

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inspire, uplift, and equip you with the tools to thrive on your journey to

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greatness. All we ask in return is your support. One, subscribe to our YouTube

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channel or to download the podcast from your favorite platform. Your engagement,

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it helps us grow and attract incredible guests who will enrich your life with

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valuable insights and wisdom. Now in turn, we promise to keep bringing you

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content that enlivens, edifies, and elevates your journey, not just as an

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entrepreneur, but as a human being. And with that, I want to thank you for being

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a part of the Thravo journey. What's the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make when

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they're too focused on working in their business instead of on it?

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I don't know if there's anybody who's ever been lying on their death bed and

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looking up at their loved ones and their last words saying, I wish I had worked

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more. So if you zoom out, all of us have the same destination,

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like, life-wise. We're all ending up dead at some point. But we do have

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this time between now and whenever that moment is. Why not be intentional in

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terms of how we spend that time? So to your question though about what are

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some of the challenges for folks that have started a business trying to

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figure this all out, be mindful of what it is you're building and why you're

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building. I think sometimes when I talk to founders, I hear this, there's

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not a definitive idea of what is the trying to build. There's just this

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bigger, bigger, bigger mentality. But if we step back and you look at why

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you're building your business and what you want it to be, right, that can bring

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some clarity. So in any business, there's only three directions it can go.

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Like, there's only three ways that a business ends up. We know the one

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direction we all end up, but the businesses have three, right? One.

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Yeah.

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Oh.

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Feed up, fill it, and dump it on. Feed up, fill it, and dump it on.

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We'll eat it and dump it on. Yeah.

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Let's get it.

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Welcome back to another episode of the Thrive World Journey. Today's guest is

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Jeremy B. Shapiro, a serial entrepreneur focusing on size, technology, and

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information marketing. Since 1998, Jeremy has been guiding entrepreneurs to

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break free from the grind of solarpreneurship and step into the business

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ownership. Through masterminds, coaching, and consulting, he uncovers hidden

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opportunities, helping business owners maximize profits, scale smarter, and

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achieve the freedom they set out for financially and personally.

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Fees on NPR, ABC News, and other news sources and global publications.

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Jeremy brings decades of expertise and passion for empowering others.

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So let's just go ahead and dive into this journey of insights and

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strategies of success with Jeremy B. Shapiro. How are you doing, Jeremy?

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Awesome. Thanks so much for inviting me on. Stoked to be here.

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I am happy you're on. And you know, so funny because you have the initial

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in your name that I found out. And then I use the initial in my name as a

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moniker, you know, that's just kind of how it happened as an actor.

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You are a serial entrepreneur, right? Mm-hmm.

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What gave you the bug to be an entrepreneur, period, to get you on that journey?

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Yeah, I've been an entrepreneur like my entire career and beyond. Even back,

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like, you know, as a kid, I had little businesses, right?

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You know, as kids sometimes do. But my first, like, real business was during

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high school. And it got to the point that was growing.

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And when I was at university, you know, part way through my second year,

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I had this really, you know, difficult decision to make.

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My businesses were growing. My team was growing.

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Client base was growing. And I was, like, getting up towards about 40

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hours a week of running my business, but also trying to take on a full course load.

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So at the time I thought, like, oh, this is just a little bump in business.

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I'll get this sorted out and then get back to school.

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Mm-hmm. And so I thought I'd just take a semester off and return.

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And I still haven't gone back. And, you know, my wife, you know, tells me

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when she first met me and I shared, oh, yeah, I'll be going back to school.

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She took one look at me and was like, nah, this guy's not going back.

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It's not happening. You know, here we are 25 years later,

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I still haven't gone back to school.

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Well, it sounds like you found your calling and you found your path.

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Yeah, you know, entrepreneurship is not for everyone, but for those of us

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who do choose to go down that path is so powerful, right?

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It provides, if done right, this really, really incredible,

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what I call entrepreneurial freedom.

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That's, you know, made my life wonderful in so many, so many ways.

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I am provided really great freedoms in terms of how we spend our time,

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where we spend our time and so on.

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The idea of like not having that is just so otherworldly at this point.

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But, you know, I understand for, you know, for some folks,

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that's where they're at and entrepreneurship may be the path to,

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you know, to not be in that nine to five.

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For people who don't know, Jeremy B. Shapiro and Michael Burke,

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why would they need to kick it with us on this podcast today?

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Well, you know, in terms of what our listeners are, you know,

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going to be finding out about and why they're here today, a lot of that comes

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down to, you know, seeking out this idea of entrepreneurial freedom,

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understanding what that is and what that path looks like to get there,

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who it's for, who it's not for, and, you know, what you might encounter along the way.

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You started, you started your business in high school.

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So you were, you know the world of being a solopreneur, right?

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Yeah.

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Take us back to the moment when you realized you wanted to shift from the

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solopreneur to actual business owner.

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What sparked that change?

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Yeah. So I'll answer that in two ways.

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That's a really good question, right?

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For myself, you know, I remember being at the point, you know, I'd worked as part

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of a team, even in high school businesses.

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And as I was scaling up one of, you know, my first real businesses post high school,

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I got to a point many entrepreneurs get to where you sort of run out of hours

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in the day and you realize one of a few things can happen.

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Either one, you bring on more skilled folks who know things better than you

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and sort of a good tip for our listeners is hire people smarter than you, right?

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Or two, you just realize that you can't take care of any additional clients

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or do additional work, even if it's coming your way, just because you're out of time.

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Right? So we start, you know, leveraging, leveraging time and others better.

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And so for me, that came down to bring, you know, other team members on to work

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one-on-one with clients.

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It also came down to bring on a project manager to oversee, you know,

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hires and training and management and client relationships and all that.

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So that was sort of, you know, one of the inflection points for me.

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But I also remember really vividly when my wife and I had first met early on

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when we were dating, I remember being out for dinner, the two of us, you know,

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nice to top in a nice restaurant, looking across the table at each other,

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getting to know each other as you do on those earlier dates.

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And here I was with this incredible woman who I didn't realize at that time

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would be my wife, right?

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You know, we're just dating at this time.

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And I had my phone with me.

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And I kept, you know, looking over and checking my phone and, you know,

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client called at some point and excuse myself to take care of that.

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And here I was thinking I was the hero, being there for my clients and taking

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care of them.

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And it wasn't until I was sitting across from, you know, my wife that I realized

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there's more than just that.

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And what am I doing trying to divide my time between getting to know this

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incredible woman and taking care of my clients?

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So there was really a turning point there where I said, you know what?

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After, you know, quote, business hours, my phones, you know,

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unsilent, not available, I'll check emails and messages in the morning.

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Right. And so I got to really be fully present and, you know,

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and get to know who she was.

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And then even when it wasn't being out of dates, just, you know,

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doing anything else in the evenings, I was very tuned into where I was,

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what I was doing socially or in the community or anything else.

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And then during business hours was very focused and, you know,

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on point in terms of the business side of things.

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And that was just a matter of retraining clients and resetting

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the expectation for what normal was.

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Hmm. You know, that's great.

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When you, when you're talking about that, with the word that came up

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in my mind was balanced.

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Like when you're starting a business and you're seeing yourself as a solopreneur,

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but want to take your business to another level, don't necessarily know how.

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Balance doesn't seem like it's in the vocabulary.

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How does one create that?

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Yeah, sometimes it can be a bit of a push and a pull, right?

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Some, you know, some things get more of your attention at certain points

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of your life than others or in certain parts of your week, your day and so on.

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The thing that doesn't work well is trying to split your time in one moment.

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Right. So, you know, many of our listeners can probably probably relate

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to trying to get work done while also being present with your kids.

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Right. You got the phone in your hand and you're saying,

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uh-huh, uh-huh, while you're trying to do something and you're not tuned in to them.

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And you're also not doing a good job at, you know, whatever it is you're doing

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on your phone. So you're sort of doing a terrible job of both. Right.

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Yeah. Pick one, do a really good job.

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Be fully present for that, then shift over and do the other, you know,

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when you create that time for that.

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You know, I don't have kids, but I do have, have great or grand,

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have you want to say it, nephews and nieces, uh,

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they tend to want to spend a lot of time with me. Um, what I do love about

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owning my own business and as an entrepreneur is that I can create my time

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as time freedom, even though there's a lot of work to do.

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I still can say, you know what, I'll put that to the side for right now

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and let me spend time with them and I can, I can choose that.

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Yeah. That's entrepreneurial freedom.

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And that's giving you freedom of choice in terms of how you spend your time.

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And that's so powerful.

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Regular nine to five doesn't afford you that.

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No, it does not.

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What's the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make when they're too focused

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though on working in their business instead of on it?

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You know, I don't know if there's anybody who's ever been lying on their

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deathbed and looking up at their loved ones and their last words saying,

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I wish I had worked more. Right.

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Uh, so if you zoom out, like all of us have the same destination.

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Right. Like, life wise, we're all, you know, we're all in an update at some point.

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But we do have this time between now and whenever that moment is,

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why not be intentional in terms of how we spend that time?

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Right. Yeah.

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I still remember when my kids were younger, we, um, we had met someone else

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socially, um, just, you know, like those groups where you meet up with other

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newer parents and these two parents handed me a business card for their kid.

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And when I say kid, I mean like a five, six month old.

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Right. Okay.

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Uh, I thought that was like that tickled me that they had a business card for the

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kid, but it had like a nannies phone number and the parents phone numbers on

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there. And it was like, you know, a text for play date kind of thing.

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Um, as we just got talking and both parents were attorneys and they hated

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their jobs, like hated the work they were doing.

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They were working crazy hours and it was miserable.

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But their plan was we're going to put in five, they did the math, right?

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Like we do this for five years, right?

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We pay off law school, all the rest of that.

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We got enough in the bank and then we're done.

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They don't have to work anymore.

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And like that was their plan.

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So from a financial standpoint on a spreadsheet, maybe those numbers look great.

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Right.

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And their plan was, you know, to work, work, work, and then rebalance and don't

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do any work and be fully present for it.

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That time would be a six year old, a six year old who wouldn't have known their

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parents for the first six years of their life.

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Right.

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Yeah.

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So like, I remember looking at that and just thinking like, how wild is that

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balance that you're thinking to go all in, you know, on one side, imagine if you

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drove your car like that, right?

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Taking a hard 90 degree right and a hard 90 degree left, right?

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Going back to your point earlier about, you know, balance, right?

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Balance is about making the small corrections about, you know, is about a lane

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change, not, you know, aggressive U turns on the highway.

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There's, there's, um, this is when I learned what balance is for me.

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Like, like riding a bike, right?

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We learn how to ride it.

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We don't know balance about riding a bike until we practice it.

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And sometimes we go to the left or to the right and finally, you know, we, we

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know balance, right?

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We, we sometimes don't have to get on the bike for years, but you get back on it

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and you know, balance, you feel balance.

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And the only thing that you sometimes need to do is just correct it a little to

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the right, correct it a little to the left and you have balance.

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And I think that for me made me realize, you know, it's not like you're

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saying a hard left or a hard right.

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You know, it doesn't, that doesn't necessarily work for me.

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Yeah.

226
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Uh, it's, it's these small corrections, right?

227
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We've probably all heard the story about, you know, when pilots are heading

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to your destination, right?

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They don't just take off from the airport, point and direct direction and go.

230
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Right.

231
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They're constantly making the small course corrections all along the way.

232
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Right.

233
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And that's okay.

234
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Right.

235
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Right.

236
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Even the tiniest, you know, one degree difference in terms of where they're trying to go.

237
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Left unchecked could have you in a completely different state by the time you

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land or a different country.

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Right.

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So to your question though, about like, you know, what are some of the challenges,

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um, you know, for folks, um, that have started a business and are trying to figure

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this all out, um, be mindful of, you know, what it is you're building and why you're

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building.

244
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Right.

245
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I think sometimes when I talk to founders, I hear this side, you know, there,

246
00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:08,120
there's not a definitive idea of what is the trend of build.

247
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There's just this bigger, bigger, bigger mentality.

248
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Right.

249
00:14:11,680 --> 00:14:15,200
But if we step back and you look at like why you're building your business and what

250
00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:17,920
you want it to be, right, that can bring some clarity.

251
00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:21,880
So in any business, there's only three directions it can go.

252
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Like there's only three ways that a business ends up.

253
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We know the one direction we all end up, but the businesses have three, right?

254
00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:30,200
One is you pass the business on to your kids.

255
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Now, like, look, does that really happen a lot these days?

256
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Not really?

257
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Can it?

258
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Sure.

259
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And if you think you're going to be one of those, you know, rare breeds that will

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pass on to your kids, ask yourself, like, are your kids really going to want to

261
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continue on with your business?

262
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Do they want it?

263
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Yeah.

264
00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:44,040
Right.

265
00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:47,240
Like, and oftentimes, even when you think that's the plan, your kids, your

266
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grown up kids, you know, won't agree with you.

267
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So, you know, let's just set that aside.

268
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Might it happen?

269
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Sure.

270
00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:53,600
But that's not usually the likely path.

271
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Right.

272
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The second option, and this is unfortunately the direction most businesses go, is

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you run it into the ground, right?

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You got a good thing going, you watch a peak, you watch it, you know, head down

275
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and then you just turn that sign over and, you know, the shop is closed,

276
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you're out of business and that's that.

277
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You close a chapter in your life, right?

278
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I've had businesses like that.

279
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I've seen clients with businesses like that.

280
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And that's not the greatest direction to go.

281
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It's your baby, right?

282
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It's your business.

283
00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:20,040
It's built for everything you put into it.

284
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Do you really want to just build it to close up shop?

285
00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:26,040
It's not the greatest direction, but that is where almost all businesses go.

286
00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:26,560
Right.

287
00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:30,960
The third option though, is you build your business and you sell it.

288
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So given those three choices, pass it on to your kids who don't want it, right?

289
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Run it into the ground or build a business to sell it.

290
00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:44,480
Most folks with that perspective look at that third option and now we get to ask,

291
00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:50,520
how do we build our business so it provides for us in our life and supports the lifestyle

292
00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:53,360
and everything we want now and in the future, right?

293
00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:56,680
And that often comes down to building a saleable business.

294
00:15:56,680 --> 00:16:00,360
Now, if your business is just you, how saleable is your business?

295
00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:03,080
That can be really tough.

296
00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:07,480
So when we start looking at, you know, that perspective of building a business to sell it,

297
00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:12,120
and we start asking the question of how do we make a saleable business that often comes

298
00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:16,720
down to having the right systems and the right people to run those systems.

299
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The less dependent the business is on you and the easier it is for someone else to step

300
00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:25,480
in and run and own that business, the better.

301
00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:26,480
Right.

302
00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:30,960
And you talk about freedom as optionality.

303
00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:31,960
I think that's what you use.

304
00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:34,760
What does that mean in a business sense?

305
00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:36,320
Is that what you're talking about there?

306
00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:37,320
Yeah.

307
00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:41,720
So entrepreneurial freedom, you know, when I define that really comes down to that optionality,

308
00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:43,120
that freedom of choice, right?

309
00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:47,120
It's choosing what you do, who you do that with and when you do that, right?

310
00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:51,120
Now, if you're working a regular job, there's someone else telling you where you need to

311
00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:54,760
be and when and what you're going to do during that time, right?

312
00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:57,560
So like that's the exact opposite of what we're talking about.

313
00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:04,080
So as you grow in your business and you hire other folks to build out your team, right?

314
00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:08,000
Nobody is saying that with entrepreneurial freedom, it means you're on a desert island

315
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:11,920
sipping, you know, umbrella, you know, drinks, you know, for the rest of your days.

316
00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:14,560
Like not many of us actually want that.

317
00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:18,920
And if you think you do try it for a week, you might get over that pretty quick, right?

318
00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:22,240
Generally, we're in the business we're in because we love it.

319
00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:24,920
We're passionate about it and we really enjoy what we're doing.

320
00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:28,320
So when you have the entrepreneurial freedom, it's not saying you don't have to work in

321
00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:29,320
your business, right?

322
00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:30,800
It means you get to choose what you do.

323
00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:35,120
If there's a part of the work you do or part of the, you know, one of the roles in the

324
00:17:35,120 --> 00:17:37,200
company, you can continue doing that.

325
00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:41,840
You can be selective about which clients you work with, which projects you take on, right?

326
00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:43,920
You can do the jobs in the company that you love.

327
00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:48,680
Maybe that's you are really great at and love being in the visionary or you're the inventor,

328
00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:49,680
right?

329
00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:50,680
Or the product person.

330
00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:52,080
Maybe you love being on the front lines.

331
00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:54,000
Maybe you love being the chef in the kitchen, right?

332
00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,960
You can still do all these things, but it means you now can choose which roles you're

333
00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:04,360
doing in the business and really love, you know, the time you do spend in your business.

334
00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:11,440
When someone's growing their business, some business owners, I would say I'll use the

335
00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:12,440
word stuck.

336
00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:16,240
Sometimes they feel stuck and like they can't grow the business though.

337
00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:20,520
What do you typically start to identify the growth opportunities within the business?

338
00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:21,520
Yeah.

339
00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:26,920
So business growth, when we look at companies that are scaling typically has like these S

340
00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:28,560
shaped curves, right?

341
00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:31,480
You sort of flat line and maybe there's some slow growth and there's some inflection and

342
00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:33,680
you start to get that hockey stick, right?

343
00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:38,080
Most folks think like once you hit that hockey stick, it just goes up, up, up into the moon.

344
00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:44,120
The reality is if you let time go on that hockey stick starts to flatten out and plateaus

345
00:18:44,120 --> 00:18:45,120
again.

346
00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:46,320
And that's okay, right?

347
00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:48,000
So what caused that, right?

348
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,920
It might be a new sales channel, a new partner you're working with, it might be a new product

349
00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:55,120
launch you have, it might be some great press coverage.

350
00:18:55,120 --> 00:19:00,840
It could be any of these different things that cause that growth to go up, but then

351
00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:01,840
it plateaus.

352
00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:06,560
So our goal is to stack those S's, right?

353
00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:10,160
So as you're coming off the tail end of one, you're hitting that growth on the next S curve,

354
00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:11,160
right?

355
00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:12,680
Now, none of us have a crystal ball.

356
00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:16,200
We don't know what exactly is going to cause that, but we have some good ideas of the things

357
00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:20,400
that can help to create that next bump as one's tailing off to be starting that next

358
00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:21,720
one, right?

359
00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:28,200
So when we're filling plateaued, that's typically because we don't know how we got where we

360
00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:33,480
are and we can't play that same tape again and get the same result.

361
00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:36,680
And so we're feeling stuck, right?

362
00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:42,600
We've worked with businesses where you have a pay-per-click campaign going and for every

363
00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:46,000
dollar you put into your ads, you're getting $4 in sales back, right?

364
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,560
So you double down and now you're getting like a one to three return.

365
00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:52,400
So you double down and now you're getting like a one to two return.

366
00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:54,520
And then at some point, like it just becomes less effective.

367
00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:57,000
You can't keep scaling that forever, right?

368
00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:00,400
We've even seen where you have a campaign that's running that's producing a reliable,

369
00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:05,880
predictable outcome and then there's changes and suddenly that campaign's running negative.

370
00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:07,880
So you thought you had it all figured out, right?

371
00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:11,760
You thought you could put it on autopilot, but in the game of business, right?

372
00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:17,440
These unexpected things that come up and what was working for before doesn't work tomorrow.

373
00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:22,720
So when we're feeling stuck, going back to that same playbook of what worked before won't

374
00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:24,000
always get you unstuck.

375
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:27,160
So we've got to zoom out, right?

376
00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:31,600
When we do the actual strategic work on the business as opposed to the day-to-day work

377
00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,760
in the business, we can start to get unstuck.

378
00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:40,480
But if we're limited to just the ideas we have in our own minds, we're going to be stuck

379
00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:42,120
with just the ideas we have.

380
00:20:42,120 --> 00:20:44,960
So how do we get the fresh ideas?

381
00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:47,600
How do we find out the blind spots?

382
00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:50,520
How do we learn about opportunities we didn't know about?

383
00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:54,880
A lot of that comes down to surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals also on this

384
00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:55,880
entrepreneurial journey.

385
00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:59,680
We're going to share with you what they're up to, what's working, what's not working

386
00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:00,920
and so forth.

387
00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:04,280
And the format for these is often in a mastermind setting, right?

388
00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:08,720
Napoleon Hill talks about this whole mastermind concept in his book, Thinking Grouge from

389
00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:09,720
the 1930s, right?

390
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:15,000
And it comes down to when you have two or more people in the room at the same time working

391
00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:17,080
in harmony on common goals and all.

392
00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:21,400
You have the creation of this third mastermind.

393
00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:25,160
If you've ever had the experience of brainstorming or trying to solve a problem on your own, and

394
00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:28,400
then you talk to someone about it, sometimes just talking about it out loud with somebody

395
00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:31,680
else can help you find a solution.

396
00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:36,520
Sometimes just improving with someone or spitballing ideas or whiteboarding something out collaboratively

397
00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:41,680
with others unlocks a whole new idea that you never would have found individually, right?

398
00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:44,560
But together you're able to uncouple.

399
00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:49,400
But really the most important part of surrounding yourself with individuals and sharing what's

400
00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:55,120
going on is you get exposure to the things you didn't know you didn't know.

401
00:21:55,120 --> 00:21:59,720
And that is where time and time again behind the closed doors of a mastermind group, I've

402
00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:02,320
seen those key pivots in businesses.

403
00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:04,640
That's where I've seen entirely new businesses launched.

404
00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:09,480
I've seen existing businesses pivot, new sales channels, added new products launched, all

405
00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:14,640
from getting exposure to the ideas of what folks didn't know they didn't know.

406
00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:16,800
And that's where you get unstuck and unblocked.

407
00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:21,160
It's from that peer advisor, from that third party perspective.

408
00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:26,600
Yeah, you know, you don't know what you don't know and you don't know that you don't know

409
00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:27,720
that you don't know.

410
00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:33,040
So you need that core group of people that can give you insight.

411
00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:36,600
So you brought up the mastermind.

412
00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:40,320
I know that you have Bay Area, mastermind, is that correct?

413
00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:41,320
Yeah.

414
00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:42,320
Okay.

415
00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:47,600
Can you explain what makes structured mastermind powerful for entrepreneurs?

416
00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:49,880
I know you said a little bit about it.

417
00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:51,560
What's the secret sauce in that?

418
00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:56,960
Yeah, so what I think is really interesting is everyone who comes into the room, right,

419
00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:59,240
there's some sort of superpower you have.

420
00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:00,800
There's something you're really good at.

421
00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:04,120
There's something you find easy that others find challenging, right?

422
00:23:04,120 --> 00:23:05,880
Maybe you're amazing at marketing.

423
00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:08,440
Maybe you are a fantastic operations person.

424
00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:09,520
You're excellent at hiring.

425
00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,280
You've got something you're really good at in business, right?

426
00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:17,400
So everyone comes into the room with the things they know they know, right?

427
00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:22,080
Now the reason people are finding us and coming into a closed door mastermind is because they're

428
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:23,240
feeling stuck, right?

429
00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:25,480
There's some big burning question you've got.

430
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:27,240
Something's keeping you up at night.

431
00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:31,160
There's something that you look at and you're like, if I only had an answer to that one

432
00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:36,480
question, my goodness, I'd be so unstuck and I could just go a million miles an hour, right?

433
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:41,320
But when you have a question, right, you can seek out answers.

434
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:42,720
You can find a coach.

435
00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,040
You can find a consultant.

436
00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:49,180
You can find a book, take a course, go to an event, like go to a library.

437
00:23:49,180 --> 00:23:50,180
You can search online.

438
00:23:50,180 --> 00:23:53,400
When you have a question, you can find answers, right?

439
00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:56,080
So people usually come into the room with that big question and looking for an answer

440
00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:57,800
to that question.

441
00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:00,440
But here's what I find so interesting, right?

442
00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:03,400
When each person has their hot seat, right?

443
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:07,520
Our guests expect they're going to get the most notes and ideas during their own hot

444
00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:10,000
seat where they get answers to their question.

445
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:14,160
But the real value, like all the pages of notes that people take are not from their

446
00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:15,680
own hot seat.

447
00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:18,080
It's actually from everyone else's hot seat.

448
00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:21,800
It's when we get the deep dive into everyone else's business that we get that perspective,

449
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:22,800
right?

450
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:28,120
It's when we have that collaborative conversation where people have differing points of view,

451
00:24:28,120 --> 00:24:30,400
where they challenge assumptions, right?

452
00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:32,520
Where they call people on their BS, right?

453
00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:36,320
Where they lovingly nudge someone towards the thing they don't want to be doing, right?

454
00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:39,140
These are the opportunities.

455
00:24:39,140 --> 00:24:40,640
These are the insights.

456
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:45,560
These are the pivots that are so, so game-changing for individual business owners, both professionally

457
00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:49,200
in their business and sometimes really even personally in life, right?

458
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:54,560
They're with other people on Spaceship Earth here on this journey of life who have life

459
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:58,400
experience, who've been through the challenges, the trials, the tribulations and really have

460
00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:01,560
that powerful perspective that can be so, so helpful.

461
00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:06,720
So to your question about that secret sauce, a lot of it comes down to curating the right

462
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,160
room of people, right?

463
00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:13,880
I know the things I look for when we're bringing in prospective members is we want lifelong

464
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:14,880
learners.

465
00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:19,080
These are folks who are actively reading books, taking courses, going to events, right?

466
00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,880
Taking the sword and getting better themselves, right?

467
00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:25,240
That's a really good indication of someone who's going to be a good fit in our room,

468
00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:26,240
right?

469
00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:30,400
We also want folks who are open-minded, right?

470
00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:36,160
Because if people are giving you input and ideas and you don't want to hear it, well,

471
00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:39,320
then you're not going to get a whole lot of value from their perspectives in the room,

472
00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:40,520
right?

473
00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:44,840
Being open to loving feedback is really, really important.

474
00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:48,200
On the flip side, we also want folks who aren't just there to receive but are also there to

475
00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:52,720
bring their own expertise from their superpower who can contribute to that room and bring

476
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:54,680
their unique perspectives as well.

477
00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:59,160
So we see folks who are just quietly observing or wanting to be a fly on the wall.

478
00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:02,120
That's not going to be a great member in the room, right?

479
00:26:02,120 --> 00:26:07,560
Because they're just sort of receiving information but not participating actively in that conversation.

480
00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:08,640
So we look for that as well.

481
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,920
So there's a bunch more, but at a high level for really any group that you're going to

482
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,480
create or be a part of, you want to make sure it's a curated group.

483
00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:19,360
It's not just a matter of someone who has a credit card that will clear and they can

484
00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:20,360
fog a mirror, right?

485
00:26:20,360 --> 00:26:24,920
You want to know there's an application process that members are being screened and that

486
00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:29,480
you're getting the right folks in the room that are going to both bring and get value

487
00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:30,480
from that group.

488
00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:37,400
That's powerful to be just, I know that it should be a give and take and give, but it's

489
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:45,280
really powerful just to be in that room with people who have like, where I like-minded.

490
00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:50,280
People that are looking for answers just as much as the next.

491
00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:58,600
Can you share one of your biggest entrepreneurial failures or successes?

492
00:26:58,600 --> 00:26:59,600
Just as a lesson.

493
00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:02,040
Yeah, for sure.

494
00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:07,680
So for one of my businesses that we're building up, it was building and growing really fast.

495
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:09,560
We're doing really well.

496
00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:11,640
And we were a geographically located business.

497
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:15,720
We're tied to one geography just by nature of the business.

498
00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:19,280
And there was a period where we were just getting phenomenal press coverage.

499
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:24,600
It was like almost every day we were on TV, radio, print.

500
00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,360
It was just constant media coverage, which was wonderful.

501
00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:33,120
And at one point we got picked up by a publication that had really tremendous readership.

502
00:27:33,120 --> 00:27:36,920
And overnight the inquiries from all around the country were coming in.

503
00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:43,540
And we people asking if they could license or franchise or learn about how to run our

504
00:27:43,540 --> 00:27:45,360
business model in their geography.

505
00:27:45,360 --> 00:27:50,680
At the time we looked at that and our response was like, yeah, that's great.

506
00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:51,680
We're not doing franchises.

507
00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:55,840
We're not doing licensing because we're going to be in your territory soon anyways.

508
00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:56,840
We sort of had that.

509
00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:57,840
We did it here.

510
00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:00,440
We'll do it everywhere model.

511
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:05,800
So we appreciated the inquiries, but we really thought we could do it all on our own.

512
00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:07,920
The short version of the story is we did not.

513
00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:10,600
That was one of those businesses that sort of peaked and we watched it sort of crest

514
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:15,680
over right around that time actually and just go down, down, down.

515
00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:19,600
And really the big, big lesson I take away from that multi-million dollar business that

516
00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:24,400
really turned into nothing was that really was a well-timed business in terms of where

517
00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:25,400
the markets were.

518
00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:28,320
We had a lot of interest that we could have done a lot with.

519
00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:30,260
We could have licensed the business model.

520
00:28:30,260 --> 00:28:33,000
We could have explored that franchise route.

521
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:35,160
We could have trained folks on how to run this kind of business.

522
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:39,720
There's so much we could have done, but instead of looking at the pie as a pie that can be

523
00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:44,640
bigger that we have a slice of, we looked at it and said we want the whole pie.

524
00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:49,480
And it being too big of a project for us to take on on our own, when we could have leveraged

525
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:55,520
the passion, expertise, budget, leadership in others.

526
00:28:55,520 --> 00:29:01,520
So the takeaway from that is when you do have the opportunity to have folks be a business

527
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:06,240
owner in an area and help you to expand that business, that can be a really, really positive

528
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:07,240
thing.

529
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:10,760
I had the opportunity years ago to head out to Ann Arbor.

530
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:12,960
There's a company out there at Zingerman's.

531
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:18,480
And one of the cool things that they did as a business is they really worked their way

532
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:20,000
up their supply chain.

533
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:24,960
So they started off as a deli near college campus and they were successful.

534
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:26,440
They were running a really great deli.

535
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:31,240
When they looked at their expenses, they realized one of the biggest expenses for rolling out

536
00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:34,760
sandwiches all day long was bread.

537
00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:37,760
So they said, well, what if we opened our own bakery?

538
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:42,000
And so they did, they opened a bakery and the bakery's first customer, their big wholesale

539
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:43,400
customer was the deli.

540
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:48,600
So the deli suddenly took the biggest expense category and the money was now going to themselves

541
00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:50,680
as a separate business.

542
00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:54,960
That bakery then also went on to get other wholesale customers, restaurants, stores,

543
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:58,040
distributors, and so on, and sell direct to consumers.

544
00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:00,480
So they now had two businesses running.

545
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:04,640
The cafe then, the deli then looked at their expenses and said, well, the next big expense

546
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:06,560
we have is dairy, right?

547
00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:08,240
They've got cheese for all their sandwiches.

548
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:09,240
They've got milk.

549
00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:12,440
They have cream cheese for their bagels, all these different things.

550
00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:13,440
So what does one do?

551
00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:15,440
Well, they went and opened a dairy.

552
00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:16,440
So suddenly,

553
00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:18,000
They're versifying real well.

554
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:19,000
Right?

555
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:22,640
So now they're bringing in the cheese, the milk, everything else to the deli.

556
00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:26,020
And by the way, the bakery also needs dairy products.

557
00:30:26,020 --> 00:30:30,640
So the dairy had two big customers at the get go, but then also expanded and had all

558
00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:33,600
these wholesale customers and direct to consumer and so on.

559
00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:36,720
So you can imagine the story repeats and goes on again and again.

560
00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:40,280
I think at some point it's like a dozen businesses they have, you know, this whole family of

561
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:42,320
businesses, right?

562
00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:45,200
So they're supporting each other and their businesses in their own right.

563
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:47,200
And so there's two things I want to share on that.

564
00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:51,280
You know, one for our listeners is if you look at scaling up, one of the things you

565
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:53,120
can do is look at your supply chain.

566
00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:55,360
What's your biggest expense?

567
00:30:55,360 --> 00:31:00,200
That might actually be the bigger real business there, not just the one that you're running.

568
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:04,800
But two, one thing I think that Zingamans did really, really well there was for each

569
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:11,880
one of those businesses, it was run as its own business with a co-founder, partner, entrepreneur

570
00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:12,880
running it.

571
00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:13,880
Right?

572
00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:23,960
So the coffee importer, the cafe, the deli, the bakery, the dairy, these all had a general

573
00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:26,160
partner running that business.

574
00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:27,360
Right?

575
00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:28,800
So that let them expand.

576
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:33,360
It wasn't one person trying to retain control over all of it and run everything.

577
00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:36,200
Can you imagine what your day would look like trying to run that variety of businesses all

578
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:37,200
day long?

579
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:39,600
Too many, not enough hours.

580
00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:40,600
Right.

581
00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:45,640
So, you know, really the lesson I got from sort of, you know, my own, you know, passing

582
00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:50,440
the peak in that business that I've seen done better elsewhere is this idea of leveraging,

583
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:55,080
you know, leadership and others and having them run things as a business unit, separate

584
00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:57,080
business and so on.

585
00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:59,880
What's up Thriveau Journey listeners and watchers?

586
00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:05,000
Look, if you're someone with big dreams of entrepreneurship but need a flexible way to

587
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:09,960
earn income while building your business, let me tell you about the Orients Group.

588
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:15,400
Through our partnership with Arise Virtual Solutions, you can become a customer support

589
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:21,840
professional, aka CSP and start earning from home when your own terms.

590
00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:26,760
Arise offers a streamlined certification process, getting you trained and ready to work with

591
00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:29,600
well-known brands all across America.

592
00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:34,520
You can sit your own hours, choose the clients you want to work with and create a work-life

593
00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:37,240
balance that fits your entrepreneurial goals.

594
00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:42,240
The best part, you don't have to choose between your side gig and your business dreams.

595
00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:47,800
Being a CSP with the Orients Group means you can bring in extra income while having the

596
00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:53,240
flexibility to focus on growing your own venture, much like I did.

597
00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:57,200
Whether you're looking to supplement your income or need a bridge while building your

598
00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:01,040
empire, this is the opportunity for you.

599
00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:02,040
You interested?

600
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:07,880
If so, head over to www.theoriancegroup.com to learn more about becoming a CSP with the

601
00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:08,880
Orients Group.

602
00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:14,040
Look here, support your entrepreneurial journey while supporting the Thrabo Journey Podcast

603
00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:15,200
at the same time.

604
00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:19,960
All right, one more time, www.theoriancegroup.com.

605
00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:22,760
All right, we're doing the spot.

606
00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:27,160
Let's get back to the podcast.

607
00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:33,640
That leads into the next question, which is like systems and strategies for entrepreneurs

608
00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:34,640
or solar entrepreneurs.

609
00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:37,680
Let me make this distinction first.

610
00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:43,320
What's the distinction between solarpreneurship and entrepreneurship?

611
00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:49,800
Being a solopreneur, you are an entrepreneur, but you're running everything yourself.

612
00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:54,400
Moving beyond solopreneurship, you're still an entrepreneur, but you're starting to leverage

613
00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:55,400
others.

614
00:33:55,400 --> 00:34:01,200
You're building out your team, whether it's a contractor or third-party vendor like a

615
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:07,160
bookkeeper or a virtual assistant or a part-time person overseas.

616
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,960
Those are all ways of extending beyond just being a solopreneur.

617
00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:16,880
Of course, hiring your first full-time employee also gets you out of being a solopreneur.

618
00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:21,880
Even then, you can still be in the world of what Robert Kaisaki would call self-employed.

619
00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:25,160
For our listeners who aren't familiar, Robert Kaisaki wrote this great book called Cashflow

620
00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:26,160
Quadrant.

621
00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:30,400
In it, he defines these four different quadrants that you go through from being an employee

622
00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:31,400
to an investor.

623
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:36,840
It's the two middle ones we actually care about for the purpose of our conversation here.

624
00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:41,440
That is going from being self-employed to being a true business owner.

625
00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:43,600
There's a huge chasm between those two.

626
00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:47,640
Even though the way he draws it is just these four quadrants that look the same, you pull

627
00:34:47,640 --> 00:34:48,920
those two squares apart.

628
00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:51,520
There's a huge break in the middle there.

629
00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:55,040
How do we know if you're self-employed or if you're a true business owner?

630
00:34:55,040 --> 00:35:00,320
The litmus test that I use is if you close your eyes and imagine for a moment, what would

631
00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:04,720
happen in your business if you stepped away from your business for a day?

632
00:35:04,720 --> 00:35:10,040
I mean desert island away on a plane for a day, no cell phone, no text messages, totally

633
00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:11,040
offline.

634
00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:17,960
What would happen if you stepped away for a week or for a month or for three months?

635
00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:22,960
If you can step away from your business for one to three months, when you come back to

636
00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:27,960
your business, are you the same as when you left?

637
00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:30,320
Has the business grown in your absence?

638
00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:34,520
Or do you come back to a dumpster fire and everything's gone wrong?

639
00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:37,280
For many folks, the answer is the latter.

640
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:41,280
You can't imagine stepping away for days, let alone weeks or months from your business.

641
00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:46,160
However, true business owners can do just that.

642
00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:53,400
The only way you can do that is with people and systems.

643
00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:59,800
If you an exercise I love doing with my clients is we map out the org chart for your business,

644
00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:03,560
not the people, but the roles in your company.

645
00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:07,360
Then we fill in the faces or names of who has each of those roles.

646
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:11,640
If you're a solopreneur, it's going to be your name in all those boxes.

647
00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:14,800
Your first hire or first thing you outsource is going to free you up from one of those

648
00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:15,800
boxes.

649
00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:21,360
Let's take the two most common roles I see earlier stage founders hire for.

650
00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:24,600
One is front line customer service like things.

651
00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:28,800
The other is bookkeeping, accounting, and so forth.

652
00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:32,880
As you bring on that first hire for one of those roles, it's going to take you out of

653
00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:34,840
that box.

654
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:37,840
That gives you time back in your day.

655
00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:40,400
The question is what do you do with that time?

656
00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:43,840
One of my clients I was working with was a solopreneur.

657
00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:51,200
For him, he recognized that if his clients had a problem with his hardware that was running

658
00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:54,800
their stores and they couldn't reach him, they were offline.

659
00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:56,600
That was a problem.

660
00:36:56,600 --> 00:36:59,720
He felt the need to always be by his phone.

661
00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:00,720
That's good.

662
00:37:00,720 --> 00:37:01,720
It's his business.

663
00:37:01,720 --> 00:37:04,640
He was trying to enjoy his name on the line.

664
00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:06,520
That's a good thing.

665
00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:10,000
But it also meant that this was a guy who loved mountain biking, who loved being out in nature

666
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:12,520
and riding his bike in the mountains.

667
00:37:12,520 --> 00:37:15,120
Well, there's not a whole lot of cell phone coverage there.

668
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:20,640
What he wasn't doing as a new business owner was doing the one thing that recharged him

669
00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:24,680
that was good for his mental well-being, his physical well-being, that gave him that space

670
00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:25,840
and all those good ideas.

671
00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:30,840
That was so good for him in so many ways because he felt he had to be there.

672
00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:36,640
The first thing we did is we said, well, what do we need to do to get you back in the mountains

673
00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:39,200
from time to time and give you that space?

674
00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:42,280
That came down to hiring a customer service person.

675
00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:46,240
He found someone overseas who was able to answer his phone during business hours, respond

676
00:37:46,240 --> 00:37:51,480
to customer emails, and be there as that first on a defense to help customers out.

677
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:54,360
Does that mean that he just suddenly went out and was riding his bike 40 hours a week

678
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:55,360
in the mountains?

679
00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:56,360
No, of course not.

680
00:37:56,360 --> 00:38:02,480
It meant he got out for a bike ride now and then, but it also meant he was freed up from

681
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:05,520
firefighting all day long and being on the front lines.

682
00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:10,120
He could reinvest that time in the business on higher value tasks.

683
00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:12,520
That meant he could work on product.

684
00:38:12,520 --> 00:38:14,760
He could work on sales.

685
00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:18,960
He could get newer and bigger accounts for the company, and he could do all the things

686
00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:24,600
to grow the company because he was freed up from having to do front-line customer service.

687
00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:29,320
This goes back to working on your business as opposed to being in your business and also

688
00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:35,520
leveraging the people that can do the things that you don't have to do.

689
00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:41,320
There's tons of people that can do the things that you don't want to do that they want to.

690
00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:43,560
Well, people who can do the things you don't want to do.

691
00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:47,920
There's also people who can do the things that you are doing, but they can do it better

692
00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:50,120
than you.

693
00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:54,400
A little hiring wisdom for folks is if you can hire people who are better at the job

694
00:38:54,400 --> 00:38:57,200
than you are, then you're doing great.

695
00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:00,640
Again, I'll use that second example I shared about bookkeeping.

696
00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:05,000
Many small business owners, if they're doing their books, which you should be, are doing

697
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,160
it on their own.

698
00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:08,880
That's not a great use of your time.

699
00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:13,120
Even when I was a teenager and had my first business, one of my earliest hires as a teen

700
00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:16,200
was a bookkeeper and an accountant.

701
00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:19,240
That was both for the business, for myself, and so on.

702
00:39:19,240 --> 00:39:24,120
That freed me up to focus on building the business and not needing to do all the day-to-day

703
00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:25,120
work of that.

704
00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:29,840
And someone, by the way, who was far smarter at this stuff than I was to a kid.

705
00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:36,160
Who knew all the legalities, the complexities, what to do with the strategies and all that,

706
00:39:36,160 --> 00:39:40,800
who I could go to and ask advice and seek counsel from, not just someone who came to

707
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:44,080
me and said, what's next, boss?

708
00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:49,680
I had a client, the CEO of this multimillion-dollar company, and he was really excited because

709
00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:53,000
he had found a VA to do some work for him.

710
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:57,880
This was someone overseas, I think at the time, it was like $2 an hour to do some tech

711
00:39:57,880 --> 00:39:58,880
work for him.

712
00:39:58,880 --> 00:39:59,880
And he was ecstatic.

713
00:39:59,880 --> 00:40:03,480
He was like, look, this is like, throw away money, and I've got someone 40 hours a week

714
00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:05,280
to do anything he needs.

715
00:40:05,280 --> 00:40:11,160
The problem was, this person was constantly bugging the CEO, asking for things.

716
00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:17,880
Every time the CEO needed something done, he wanted to fully delegate that.

717
00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:20,480
But what he was doing instead was he was abdicating.

718
00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:23,640
There's a big difference between delegation and abdication.

719
00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:29,000
He was tossing this, I like to say, through over the fence to this VA and just one of

720
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:33,320
the results, but the VA was constantly coming back and asking for clarifications, wanting

721
00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:40,160
to understand and asking how to do things, and was wasting way more of the CEO's time.

722
00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:42,400
Then had he hired someone skilled.

723
00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:46,560
In the end, he had brought me on to help out with this.

724
00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:48,680
We already had a great arrangement.

725
00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:52,680
I said, look, this is taking weeks to get done.

726
00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:55,600
I'm considerably more expensive.

727
00:40:55,600 --> 00:41:00,680
Orders of magnitude more expensive, but this will be done in a day.

728
00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:02,960
He was like, I just need this done.

729
00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:07,520
Over the course of that day, I had no questions for him, didn't need to bother him at all,

730
00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:11,280
and we were able to just execute, get it done, and deliver the final result that I knew he

731
00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:16,120
needed because I had the high value expertise that he was paying me for.

732
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:22,320
Instead of someone who the work was abdicated to who ended up taking more time and it never

733
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:25,520
got done, no matter how much it was spent.

734
00:41:25,520 --> 00:41:30,080
Hire folks who are smarter than you at the job you're hiring for.

735
00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:31,720
This can now be your counsel.

736
00:41:31,720 --> 00:41:34,960
They can now help to advise you and they can do a better job than you could ever have hoped

737
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:36,960
to do on your own.

738
00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:37,960
Exactly.

739
00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:46,080
That allows me to ask the next question, which is, how can entrepreneurs, how can entrepreneurs

740
00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:52,440
that are designed their business as such, just create more time freedom?

741
00:41:52,440 --> 00:42:00,800
Because I know for me, time freedom is an example of success because I have the time

742
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:03,720
to create what I want to create.

743
00:42:03,720 --> 00:42:05,720
How do entrepreneurs do that for themselves?

744
00:42:05,720 --> 00:42:06,720
Yeah.

745
00:42:06,720 --> 00:42:08,960
And I love that you've created that for yourself.

746
00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:13,120
It's so valuable to me, to my clients, and so forth.

747
00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:19,000
I really value the family time we have every morning and the traditions we have around

748
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:22,440
the morning, the evenings, the weekends, and so on as a family and to be able to be so

749
00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:29,360
present for all of that, even when things come up during the day or whatever that is.

750
00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:32,760
That's really valuable to me as an entrepreneur and I know is so valuable to the folks I work

751
00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:33,760
with.

752
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:34,760
How do you create that?

753
00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:35,760
How do you get that time?

754
00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:40,120
Well, a lot of that comes down to having the right systems and the right people to run

755
00:42:40,120 --> 00:42:41,120
those systems.

756
00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:44,880
So, that exercise I was sharing that I run through with my clients, where we create that

757
00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:49,040
org chart and then we put the names in there.

758
00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:54,960
The next evolution of that is to figure out which of those boxes we can systematize the

759
00:42:54,960 --> 00:43:01,680
role that we can then remove your name from and task that system to a person.

760
00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:08,240
Now, look, when we create systems and you then get someone using that system, it's going

761
00:43:08,240 --> 00:43:09,640
to go in one of three ways.

762
00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:13,720
The ideal that we want is that the person runs the system and gets the result that you

763
00:43:13,720 --> 00:43:15,160
want.

764
00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:17,440
That's our ideal and that's where we're going to move towards.

765
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:23,200
But the reality is, earlier on, the most likely outcome is the right person is going

766
00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:27,800
to follow your system and get a different result and it just means the system wasn't

767
00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:28,800
there yet.

768
00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:29,800
Right?

769
00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:30,800
Exactly.

770
00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:32,080
Something we thought was obvious someone else didn't realize.

771
00:43:32,080 --> 00:43:33,080
Right?

772
00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:37,360
So, this comes down to just iterate on the system, understand what you thought was obvious that

773
00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:40,120
the other person didn't correct and update the system.

774
00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:41,120
These aren't written in stone.

775
00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:45,080
These are living documents that you should be reviewing and updating as you go.

776
00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:49,040
As you go through the iterative process, you'll end up with a good system that others can

777
00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:51,640
use and get a predictable outcome.

778
00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:56,760
Then what we'll have over time is someone will use the system and not get the outcome

779
00:43:56,760 --> 00:44:02,040
you wanted and the system will have been fine, but the person didn't follow the system.

780
00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:03,040
Right?

781
00:44:03,040 --> 00:44:06,600
And so, that then is a coaching moment of working with that person to get them back on track

782
00:44:06,600 --> 00:44:11,120
using the system or maybe that role just isn't for them and that's also okay.

783
00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:12,120
Right?

784
00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:16,880
But we move from it being a system problem to a person problem to then the system person

785
00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:18,920
alignment gets you the outcome that you want.

786
00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:19,920
Right?

787
00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:23,360
So, there's an iterative process I use with my clients that helps to slowly extract them

788
00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:28,360
from more and more of those roles within the business that lets that business operate

789
00:44:28,360 --> 00:44:29,360
without them.

790
00:44:29,360 --> 00:44:30,360
Right?

791
00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:32,680
There's always going to be things that you can do in the business or you should be

792
00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:34,600
doing in the business and that's okay.

793
00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:39,120
It's not an overnight, you know, you flip a switch and suddenly you're not needed in

794
00:44:39,120 --> 00:44:40,120
the business.

795
00:44:40,120 --> 00:44:41,120
It's a process.

796
00:44:41,120 --> 00:44:42,120
Got it.

797
00:44:42,120 --> 00:44:51,360
Talking about processes, can you share a specific habit or practice that has significantly

798
00:44:51,360 --> 00:44:56,120
contributed to you and your personal professional success and growth?

799
00:44:56,120 --> 00:44:57,120
Yeah.

800
00:44:57,120 --> 00:44:59,400
So, this whole idea of like a mastermind.

801
00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:02,840
I remember the first time I was in a mastermind setting.

802
00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:06,720
This is, you know, 20 plus years ago, I had no idea what I was getting into.

803
00:45:06,720 --> 00:45:10,400
It was thankfully, you know, because of a business partner who, who's not the power

804
00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:14,360
of this and who recommended, you know, reading, thinking, grow rich and who understood this,

805
00:45:14,360 --> 00:45:19,880
you know, this idea of a mastermind had brought me into that environment and it was really

806
00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:20,880
powerful.

807
00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:22,720
Suddenly being surrounded by other individuals, right?

808
00:45:22,720 --> 00:45:27,480
Who were also on this entrepreneurial path, who are also seeing success, albeit in different

809
00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:35,120
ways and being able to share challenges, share successes and get that feedback, that acknowledgement,

810
00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:38,800
that motivation and the insights was really, really powerful.

811
00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:46,160
So for me, that whole mastermind process has been so impactful over decades.

812
00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:51,280
The conversations that I've had behind the closed doors of a mastermind have led to literally

813
00:45:51,280 --> 00:45:56,600
like back of the envelope businesses, business ideas, discussions around that.

814
00:45:56,600 --> 00:46:01,880
And then the launch of multiple multimillion dollar businesses, just from the conversations

815
00:46:01,880 --> 00:46:07,000
behind the closed door, the rapid iteration, the test marketing of it, the MVP launch and

816
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:12,040
so on has proven ideas out and, you know, allowed me to launch businesses.

817
00:46:12,040 --> 00:46:17,000
If it weren't for those conversations, you know, I'd probably be still doing the same

818
00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:22,160
things, you know, that it was then, you know, or falling into happenstance.

819
00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:28,320
Instead, it was around intentionally investing my time, intentionally investing my money,

820
00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:33,000
intentionally investing my resources, focus and so on to surround myself with like-minded

821
00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:37,040
growth focused individuals who wanted nothing but the best for me.

822
00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:42,520
These weren't clients, these weren't partners, these weren't, you know, customers, investors.

823
00:46:42,520 --> 00:46:45,400
These were other folks on that same path, right?

824
00:46:45,400 --> 00:46:47,640
And that has been so, so, so impactful.

825
00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:51,120
And then the second thing is what we're talking about with systems and people, right?

826
00:46:51,120 --> 00:46:56,160
Is, you know, freeing yourself up by creating systems and then bringing on team members

827
00:46:56,160 --> 00:46:59,560
to run those systems.

828
00:46:59,560 --> 00:47:00,560
Good habits.

829
00:47:00,560 --> 00:47:03,400
That's a good habit.

830
00:47:03,400 --> 00:47:13,600
On this podcast, we really dove into life as a purpose driven life, even with entrepreneurs

831
00:47:13,600 --> 00:47:20,000
like if you're, this is your business, like you said, if you had to love it, you know.

832
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:26,000
What does purpose play in creating a business for entrepreneurs and that can support their

833
00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:27,000
freedom?

834
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:28,000
Yeah.

835
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:33,800
So it's good to understand what it is you're trying to build and why, right?

836
00:47:33,800 --> 00:47:35,640
And who you're serving, right?

837
00:47:35,640 --> 00:47:40,240
I had heard for years and years, this whole idea of like, your company should have core

838
00:47:40,240 --> 00:47:41,240
values.

839
00:47:41,240 --> 00:47:43,320
You need like your mission, vision, purpose, all this great stuff.

840
00:47:43,320 --> 00:47:44,760
Love it, right?

841
00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:49,520
The number of speakers I heard from the stage talk about this, you know, was a lot.

842
00:47:49,520 --> 00:47:52,040
You know, podcasts talk about this, books would talk about this.

843
00:47:52,040 --> 00:47:55,520
I go and get the latest, greatest book on figuring this out.

844
00:47:55,520 --> 00:47:59,160
And it would just sort of reiterate the same point of like, you should have this stuff

845
00:47:59,160 --> 00:48:01,000
figured out for your company.

846
00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:04,880
But nobody wanted to actually explain how to do that.

847
00:48:04,880 --> 00:48:05,880
How to do it.

848
00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:06,880
Exactly.

849
00:48:06,880 --> 00:48:07,880
Yeah.

850
00:48:07,880 --> 00:48:11,000
And that was until I came across the book, Traction by Gina Wickman.

851
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:16,440
That was like the first book that as I dug into it, it broke down for me a tactical guy,

852
00:48:16,440 --> 00:48:17,440
right?

853
00:48:17,440 --> 00:48:20,840
And I was like, step by step, here's the conversation to have and here's what to do.

854
00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:26,480
And so it was so eye-opening to finally have the roadmap, the blueprint, the process to

855
00:48:26,480 --> 00:48:33,000
go from I want mission, vision, purpose and core values to have the output be those things.

856
00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:36,960
And so I was so excited about, you know, reading this and finally having this, you know, I

857
00:48:36,960 --> 00:48:40,960
got a copy of the book, you know, for my team members and on one of our planning calls,

858
00:48:40,960 --> 00:48:45,600
I, you know, I let them know, hey, you guys all now have a copy of the book.

859
00:48:45,600 --> 00:48:49,160
Next Tuesday, we're going to be diving into this and we're going to start the process

860
00:48:49,160 --> 00:48:52,440
of figuring this stuff out for our company, right?

861
00:48:52,440 --> 00:48:55,920
And so I shared that on the call, sort of teed this up.

862
00:48:55,920 --> 00:48:59,080
And then we moved on with, you know, the next, next stuff on the agenda.

863
00:48:59,080 --> 00:49:02,760
And we're talking about something that one of our clients was looking for.

864
00:49:02,760 --> 00:49:06,520
And there was some functionality in one of our products that a client wanted.

865
00:49:06,520 --> 00:49:10,240
And as we were talking about it, there's sort of always the easy answer, right, that would

866
00:49:10,240 --> 00:49:13,520
take care of that one client's one need, right?

867
00:49:13,520 --> 00:49:18,160
Over there is sort of the better solution, which more broadly would take care of that

868
00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:22,000
client's needs and a whole lot of other needs, right?

869
00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:25,440
So as we're talking about this, we're like, yeah, like we, we could implement this change

870
00:49:25,440 --> 00:49:30,360
for that one client, but like, look, if we're going to do it, like we should do it right.

871
00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:34,880
And one of my team members said, like, you know, I think that might be one of our core

872
00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:35,880
values there.

873
00:49:35,880 --> 00:49:37,880
I'm like, what's that?

874
00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:38,880
Right?

875
00:49:38,880 --> 00:49:41,080
Like that was an earlier part of the agenda of the meeting.

876
00:49:41,080 --> 00:49:44,200
And she said, like, no, I think you just hit on one of our values.

877
00:49:44,200 --> 00:49:47,440
Like if we do something, we do it right.

878
00:49:47,440 --> 00:49:49,920
And like, I'm like, that's really good.

879
00:49:49,920 --> 00:49:54,440
You know, we weren't going to have a conversation until Tuesday on the whole core values thing,

880
00:49:54,440 --> 00:49:59,520
but like look at the team already surfacing some of these values we had as an organization.

881
00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:03,600
And so that was a really, really valuable process to go through.

882
00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:08,720
Because what's fascinating is whether you document your mission, vision, purpose and

883
00:50:08,720 --> 00:50:10,760
values or not.

884
00:50:10,760 --> 00:50:13,120
Like they all exist within your organization.

885
00:50:13,120 --> 00:50:14,120
Right?

886
00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:18,280
So do you want to just go to what the default is that, you know, the values everyone is

887
00:50:18,280 --> 00:50:20,320
living or do you want to be more intentional about it?

888
00:50:20,320 --> 00:50:22,400
And if you can't tell, intentionality is really important.

889
00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:23,400
It is important.

890
00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:27,720
So, you know, I'm plural listeners, you know, attraction is a great book, read through that,

891
00:50:27,720 --> 00:50:29,520
and then go apply that process.

892
00:50:29,520 --> 00:50:33,920
In fact, I loved it so much, like my wife and I sat down so we could have a conversation

893
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:39,680
about like, well, what are our values, mission, vision, purpose and all that for us as a family?

894
00:50:39,680 --> 00:50:42,480
And that was like a really insightful, fun thing to do as a family.

895
00:50:42,480 --> 00:50:48,280
In fact, I know many folks who have done that process and have, you know, taken those values

896
00:50:48,280 --> 00:50:50,400
they have created a fun name for it.

897
00:50:50,400 --> 00:50:54,400
One of my friends created placemats for the family that lists out, you know, all their

898
00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:57,920
values so at every meal, right, their placemats, you know, have this.

899
00:50:57,920 --> 00:51:01,040
Others have made like wall art for this, you know, for the living room, the kitchen, so

900
00:51:01,040 --> 00:51:02,040
on.

901
00:51:02,040 --> 00:51:03,040
That's pretty cool.

902
00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:04,880
So it's not just something you talk about, but it's something you, you know, can can

903
00:51:04,880 --> 00:51:06,400
formalize much more.

904
00:51:06,400 --> 00:51:07,400
Yeah.

905
00:51:07,400 --> 00:51:10,120
And like a living document just make it living.

906
00:51:10,120 --> 00:51:11,120
Yeah.

907
00:51:11,120 --> 00:51:12,120
Yeah.

908
00:51:12,120 --> 00:51:13,120
That's pretty great.

909
00:51:13,120 --> 00:51:18,760
I had a different question, but it just slipped my mind.

910
00:51:18,760 --> 00:51:23,920
So I'm just, I'm just go ahead and move forward.

911
00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:27,800
You have the, the base, is it Bay Area?

912
00:51:27,800 --> 00:51:28,800
Is Bay Area?

913
00:51:28,800 --> 00:51:29,800
Yes.

914
00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:30,800
Bay Area.

915
00:51:30,800 --> 00:51:31,800
Okay.

916
00:51:31,800 --> 00:51:35,240
How does, how does, how do, how do, no, is that for everyone?

917
00:51:35,240 --> 00:51:38,360
Is it just in the area or is it for, for everywhere?

918
00:51:38,360 --> 00:51:42,800
You know, it's funny, like, like many brands, you start off sort of geographically confined

919
00:51:42,800 --> 00:51:47,120
and then as you grow, you realize that, you know, folks in Texas still want Boston chicken,

920
00:51:47,120 --> 00:51:48,120
right?

921
00:51:48,120 --> 00:51:54,160
So the, the origins of us are here in the Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area.

922
00:51:54,160 --> 00:51:57,400
But one of the interesting things that happened during the pandemic is as we shifted to a

923
00:51:57,400 --> 00:52:02,000
virtual model for a little bit before coming back to in person, we had folks were finding

924
00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:04,760
us not just around the country, but around the globe.

925
00:52:04,760 --> 00:52:09,800
And so our reach really extended beyond just, you know, that immediate Bay Area.

926
00:52:09,800 --> 00:52:14,480
You know, and as you fast forward, we had some folks who stayed virtual, you know, other

927
00:52:14,480 --> 00:52:17,960
folks were thrilled to come back in person and join us for any of our different events

928
00:52:17,960 --> 00:52:18,960
that we have in person.

929
00:52:18,960 --> 00:52:21,320
But we also, you know, it's a hybrid setup.

930
00:52:21,320 --> 00:52:25,080
So we've had folks who joined us virtually from, you know, around the globe that can

931
00:52:25,080 --> 00:52:29,680
still participate, not just in the meetings we have, but really the community we have

932
00:52:29,680 --> 00:52:34,880
for our members, founders and established entrepreneurs at large between the meetings.

933
00:52:34,880 --> 00:52:37,360
And that's really where a lot of great resources to get shared.

934
00:52:37,360 --> 00:52:41,480
That's really where, you know, folks are able to ask for input or get feedback, not just

935
00:52:41,480 --> 00:52:45,120
add a mass for my meeting, but really from other folks between meetings as well.

936
00:52:45,120 --> 00:52:48,360
So you can, you can do it virtually and in person as well.

937
00:52:48,360 --> 00:52:49,360
Yeah.

938
00:52:49,360 --> 00:52:50,360
Correct.

939
00:52:50,360 --> 00:52:51,360
Okay.

940
00:52:51,360 --> 00:52:54,360
Just your insights on this new generation.

941
00:52:54,360 --> 00:52:58,240
I have, you know, again, grand nephews, great nephews, whatever you want to call it,

942
00:52:58,240 --> 00:53:04,480
growing up and I see them and I asked them, you know, what, what do they want to do?

943
00:53:04,480 --> 00:53:08,560
They have the more of the mindset of business, business, they want to have their own business

944
00:53:08,560 --> 00:53:13,520
and hopefully, you know, when I, as my business grows, like earlier, maybe I can leave it

945
00:53:13,520 --> 00:53:14,520
to them, but who knows?

946
00:53:14,520 --> 00:53:15,520
You know what I mean?

947
00:53:15,520 --> 00:53:24,200
They, what do you see business, small businesses and growing, growing businesses in the generation

948
00:53:24,200 --> 00:53:26,320
Z and generation Z alpha?

949
00:53:26,320 --> 00:53:27,320
Yeah.

950
00:53:27,320 --> 00:53:28,320
Yeah.

951
00:53:28,320 --> 00:53:30,880
You know, I think there was this idea for a long time, like when you build a company,

952
00:53:30,880 --> 00:53:34,760
you've got to build this, you know, a business with hundreds, thousands, you know, tens of

953
00:53:34,760 --> 00:53:37,560
thousands of employees, right?

954
00:53:37,560 --> 00:53:39,360
And there's this idea that, you know, bigger is better.

955
00:53:39,360 --> 00:53:42,600
You've got to be, you know, expanding, growing, growing, growing.

956
00:53:42,600 --> 00:53:45,840
What I've seen a lot more of these days is, you know, actually hearkening back to sort

957
00:53:45,840 --> 00:53:49,400
of that pre-industrial era, smaller business, right?

958
00:53:49,400 --> 00:53:53,320
That, you know, it's okay to have a business that's only five of you, right?

959
00:53:53,320 --> 00:53:57,080
You can have a successful business that's you and an entirely virtual team.

960
00:53:57,080 --> 00:53:58,080
Right?

961
00:53:58,080 --> 00:54:03,600
It's okay to have a business that the goal is not just bigger, bigger, bigger.

962
00:54:03,600 --> 00:54:08,560
So I see a lot more businesses these days that are like the old days supporting the

963
00:54:08,560 --> 00:54:10,840
business owner, the community and the family, right?

964
00:54:10,840 --> 00:54:14,640
And not looking to be, you know, the next, you know, Silicon Valley, Ducatcorp.

965
00:54:14,640 --> 00:54:19,240
And I love that because when you're on this path of it's got to get to this, you know,

966
00:54:19,240 --> 00:54:24,200
$10 billion plus valuation, like that sets you on this very specific path.

967
00:54:24,200 --> 00:54:30,280
There's a book I love called Small Bets and, you know, the whole idea behind that book

968
00:54:30,280 --> 00:54:34,680
is that when companies get bigger, right, a lot of their innovation or what made them

969
00:54:34,680 --> 00:54:38,800
a huge company was these tiny bets they made, right?

970
00:54:38,800 --> 00:54:43,920
And when companies embody that in their culture, that allows them to innovate and try things

971
00:54:43,920 --> 00:54:45,880
and be okay with failure, right?

972
00:54:45,880 --> 00:54:48,560
When you're a small business, you try something out, it doesn't work, that's okay, you move

973
00:54:48,560 --> 00:54:49,800
on.

974
00:54:49,800 --> 00:54:52,000
When you're a huge company, you can't do that.

975
00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:58,520
And so the book talks about how like, you know, the HPs and the Dells and these sort

976
00:54:58,520 --> 00:55:02,960
of really big companies, I think they're talking about Hyundai at some point, that they sort

977
00:55:02,960 --> 00:55:07,440
of had this mantra of like, if it's not a billion dollar idea, right, it's not worth

978
00:55:07,440 --> 00:55:08,440
talking about.

979
00:55:08,440 --> 00:55:13,240
Because for a company that size, unless it's going to be this multi-billion dollar thing,

980
00:55:13,240 --> 00:55:15,960
like it's not going to make a big difference.

981
00:55:15,960 --> 00:55:21,000
But all the multi-billion dollar ideas, as it were, right, the only way you know it's

982
00:55:21,000 --> 00:55:24,160
that big of an idea is because it's already established and developed and you've missed

983
00:55:24,160 --> 00:55:25,160
that innovation window.

984
00:55:25,160 --> 00:55:29,040
And now you're just following on and building on something that's already there.

985
00:55:29,040 --> 00:55:30,040
Right?

986
00:55:30,040 --> 00:55:33,920
So when you're a small company, you can pivot quick, right?

987
00:55:33,920 --> 00:55:38,580
So many startups and so many smaller companies start doing one thing, realize their message

988
00:55:38,580 --> 00:55:40,840
to market matches isn't there.

989
00:55:40,840 --> 00:55:44,360
They try a different market, they shift the product, they adjust things.

990
00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:47,240
And it's, you know, the third or tenth iteration is really where they hit the stride and they

991
00:55:47,240 --> 00:55:50,400
find the real growth, right?

992
00:55:50,400 --> 00:55:52,560
An established company can't do that.

993
00:55:52,560 --> 00:55:56,240
And so in the book, one of the stories they talk about that I love is, you know, Amazon

994
00:55:56,240 --> 00:56:02,600
was really well known in its earlier days or even, you know, to today for having a culture

995
00:56:02,600 --> 00:56:03,600
of innovation.

996
00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:06,560
Like as part of your reviews as an internal employee, the question is like, well, what

997
00:56:06,560 --> 00:56:07,560
experiments are you doing?

998
00:56:07,560 --> 00:56:08,560
What are you testing?

999
00:56:08,560 --> 00:56:09,560
What are you trying out?

1000
00:56:09,560 --> 00:56:10,560
Right?

1001
00:56:10,560 --> 00:56:15,080
They really wanted to keep fostering that sense of innovation, which was good because Amazon

1002
00:56:15,080 --> 00:56:16,080
tried a lot of things.

1003
00:56:16,080 --> 00:56:21,640
So for example, if you recall, Amazon had, I think it was like Amazon marketplace, they

1004
00:56:21,640 --> 00:56:23,400
were trying to take on eBay, right?

1005
00:56:23,400 --> 00:56:28,160
They saw eBay growing and they said, well, we're going to do the same thing.

1006
00:56:28,160 --> 00:56:30,720
And they tried it out, right?

1007
00:56:30,720 --> 00:56:36,520
In the end, after years of running their marketplace, they still only ended up with

1008
00:56:36,520 --> 00:56:39,240
2% of the market share.

1009
00:56:39,240 --> 00:56:43,320
eBay was still the big, you know, online auction place.

1010
00:56:43,320 --> 00:56:46,680
Amazon, despite their size, everything else just couldn't compete.

1011
00:56:46,680 --> 00:56:48,960
And so they ended up shutting that down.

1012
00:56:48,960 --> 00:56:52,000
Now if you were a small company, that's just another day in business, right?

1013
00:56:52,000 --> 00:56:53,640
You tried something that didn't work any more hard.

1014
00:56:53,640 --> 00:56:54,640
Right.

1015
00:56:54,640 --> 00:56:57,960
But for a company the size of Amazon, man, shareholders and the board were calling for

1016
00:56:57,960 --> 00:57:01,560
a business head like he's got to go like he tried this and he failed.

1017
00:57:01,560 --> 00:57:03,520
That's a screw up and he's got to, he's got to get gone.

1018
00:57:03,520 --> 00:57:05,200
It's a whole different arena.

1019
00:57:05,200 --> 00:57:06,200
Right?

1020
00:57:06,200 --> 00:57:09,240
But business came back and said like, no, right?

1021
00:57:09,240 --> 00:57:13,720
It's actually our culture of innovation and us trying things out that have led to all

1022
00:57:13,720 --> 00:57:17,240
the greatest things that have made Amazon what it is, right?

1023
00:57:17,240 --> 00:57:24,280
Their whole subscribe and save, click to buy, Amazon Prime, all of these were mere experiments

1024
00:57:24,280 --> 00:57:26,760
they tried out, right?

1025
00:57:26,760 --> 00:57:30,240
They got some traction and saw success and those are like the things that make the company

1026
00:57:30,240 --> 00:57:31,240
who they are today.

1027
00:57:31,240 --> 00:57:32,240
Right.

1028
00:57:32,240 --> 00:57:36,640
So it's only because of the culture of innovation and keeping that alive, which is really hard

1029
00:57:36,640 --> 00:57:41,800
for them to big company, but they were able to act like a startup and have things like

1030
00:57:41,800 --> 00:57:42,800
AWS, right?

1031
00:57:42,800 --> 00:57:46,240
Amazon Web Services, which runs most of the world now, right?

1032
00:57:46,240 --> 00:57:48,240
All these things come from that culture of innovation.

1033
00:57:48,240 --> 00:57:53,680
So continue to do that, but don't feel like you've got to be a huge company, right?

1034
00:57:53,680 --> 00:57:57,960
You can have a small business that serves you and your community well and takes great

1035
00:57:57,960 --> 00:58:03,440
care of its team members and is not trying to become huge, but can be, you know, an innovative

1036
00:58:03,440 --> 00:58:05,520
and still small successful business.

1037
00:58:05,520 --> 00:58:11,600
Yeah, a couple of podcasts ago, we were talking about innovation and it's really great with,

1038
00:58:11,600 --> 00:58:18,520
especially with small businesses, just be purposeful of who you are and innovate, you

1039
00:58:18,520 --> 00:58:23,440
know, and if you need to pivot, pivot, you can do that as a small business.

1040
00:58:23,440 --> 00:58:24,440
Yeah.

1041
00:58:24,440 --> 00:58:30,080
When you know, like this is just a broader question you can ask a lot.

1042
00:58:30,080 --> 00:58:34,520
If you know what success looks like, like that airline, you know, the airplane pilot,

1043
00:58:34,520 --> 00:58:37,680
you know, adjusting courses as you go, if you know what success looks like, you can

1044
00:58:37,680 --> 00:58:40,640
course correct to make sure you hit that, right?

1045
00:58:40,640 --> 00:58:45,200
And that applies to like, when you create a system for someone, is it clear what success

1046
00:58:45,200 --> 00:58:48,400
looks like for running that system, right?

1047
00:58:48,400 --> 00:58:52,600
When you're hiring someone, is it clear what success looks like for that role, right?

1048
00:58:52,600 --> 00:58:54,880
When you're building your company, is it clear what success looks like?

1049
00:58:54,880 --> 00:59:00,400
The more clarity you have on the stuff, the more easily you can decide what to do and

1050
00:59:00,400 --> 00:59:02,360
more importantly, what not to do.

1051
00:59:02,360 --> 00:59:06,880
Otherwise, you might just end up being a typical OO shiny entrepreneur who's constantly jumping

1052
00:59:06,880 --> 00:59:11,520
at the next idea, next opportunity, next marketing channel and not seeing things through to completion,

1053
00:59:11,520 --> 00:59:12,520
right?

1054
00:59:12,520 --> 00:59:15,680
And saying yes to everything at the expense of like the one thing that really matters.

1055
00:59:15,680 --> 00:59:18,280
So be intentional and clear on what success looks like.

1056
00:59:18,280 --> 00:59:19,280
Be intentional.

1057
00:59:19,280 --> 00:59:20,280
Sometimes it's good to say no.

1058
00:59:20,280 --> 00:59:22,840
It is really good to say no.

1059
00:59:22,840 --> 00:59:27,480
Because you can't follow every path that OO like I think you said OO something.

1060
00:59:27,480 --> 00:59:28,480
OO shiny.

1061
00:59:28,480 --> 00:59:29,480
OO shiny.

1062
00:59:29,480 --> 00:59:30,480
Yeah.

1063
00:59:30,480 --> 00:59:31,480
That shiny object.

1064
00:59:31,480 --> 00:59:32,480
That's great.

1065
00:59:32,480 --> 00:59:33,480
That's great.

1066
00:59:33,480 --> 00:59:34,480
That's great.

1067
00:59:34,480 --> 00:59:35,480
It's not always there.

1068
00:59:35,480 --> 00:59:36,480
Yeah.

1069
00:59:36,480 --> 00:59:39,480
Look, one of the things that makes a lot of us entrepreneurs, I find this for like three

1070
00:59:39,480 --> 00:59:42,640
checkpoints that entrepreneurs go through, right?

1071
00:59:42,640 --> 00:59:46,200
One is that like we see gaps in the marketplace, right?

1072
00:59:46,200 --> 00:59:48,240
We see opportunities where others don't.

1073
00:59:48,240 --> 00:59:51,960
We see a problem where like this could be better, right?

1074
00:59:51,960 --> 00:59:54,080
Most folks just accept it and move on.

1075
00:59:54,080 --> 00:59:56,160
We see an opportunity.

1076
00:59:56,160 --> 00:59:57,160
Opportunity.

1077
00:59:57,160 --> 00:59:58,160
Right?

1078
00:59:58,160 --> 00:59:59,560
But that's only because that OO shiny mentality.

1079
00:59:59,560 --> 01:00:00,560
Others don't see it.

1080
01:00:00,560 --> 01:00:01,560
They don't see it.

1081
01:00:01,560 --> 01:00:02,560
They don't see it.

1082
01:00:02,560 --> 01:00:03,560
They don't see it.

1083
01:00:03,560 --> 01:00:04,560
That's the tunnel vision on.

1084
01:00:04,560 --> 01:00:05,560
We see what could be better.

1085
01:00:05,560 --> 01:00:08,560
The second thing is we see a solution to the problem, right?

1086
01:00:08,560 --> 01:00:09,560
There you go.

1087
01:00:09,560 --> 01:00:11,460
We don't, where others might just see the problem and complain about it.

1088
01:00:11,460 --> 01:00:14,680
We see the problem, but also a solution, right?

1089
01:00:14,680 --> 01:00:16,560
And that's like the innovator in us, right?

1090
01:00:16,560 --> 01:00:17,560
That's the part of us.

1091
01:00:17,560 --> 01:00:20,080
It's like, hey, I bet there's an opportunity here.

1092
01:00:20,080 --> 01:00:21,440
Let's do something about it.

1093
01:00:21,440 --> 01:00:27,680
But that brings us to the third point where others might see a problem and also see a solution.

1094
01:00:27,680 --> 01:00:31,560
Most successful entrepreneurs do the third thing, which is we execute on it.

1095
01:00:31,560 --> 01:00:32,560
We do something about it.

1096
01:00:32,560 --> 01:00:33,560
There you go.

1097
01:00:33,560 --> 01:00:34,560
We see the problem.

1098
01:00:34,560 --> 01:00:36,680
We create a solution and we go with it.

1099
01:00:36,680 --> 01:00:41,760
We get it to market and we actually build a business with that.

1100
01:00:41,760 --> 01:00:44,960
That is, that makes, that's the difference.

1101
01:00:44,960 --> 01:00:49,280
You know, and for people who do listen to the podcast that are not entrepreneurs, these

1102
01:00:49,280 --> 01:00:56,360
are, these are ideals that you can actually apply in your life as well.

1103
01:00:56,360 --> 01:01:01,480
As a, as a, you know, being a boss in your, in your career or, you know, growing your

1104
01:01:01,480 --> 01:01:05,800
family and making it a success the way that you want to make a success.

1105
01:01:05,800 --> 01:01:09,440
So it's not just an entrepreneurship that you can take these ideals.

1106
01:01:09,440 --> 01:01:13,120
So that's, that's really good, good information.

1107
01:01:13,120 --> 01:01:14,120
Thank you.

1108
01:01:14,120 --> 01:01:17,000
You had, you, so you, you recommended two books, traction.

1109
01:01:17,000 --> 01:01:18,880
Who was that by?

1110
01:01:18,880 --> 01:01:20,480
Tractions, Gina Wickman.

1111
01:01:20,480 --> 01:01:21,880
And then small bets.

1112
01:01:21,880 --> 01:01:28,240
Yeah, small bets is, sorry, it's little bets.

1113
01:01:28,240 --> 01:01:29,240
Little bets.

1114
01:01:29,240 --> 01:01:30,240
Yep.

1115
01:01:30,240 --> 01:01:32,720
Little bets is Sims.

1116
01:01:32,720 --> 01:01:35,720
Peter Sims.

1117
01:01:35,720 --> 01:01:37,120
Sims here.

1118
01:01:37,120 --> 01:01:38,120
Okay.

1119
01:01:38,120 --> 01:01:39,120
Yep.

1120
01:01:39,120 --> 01:01:41,760
And the other one we're talking about, catch flow quadrant by Robert Kayasaki.

1121
01:01:41,760 --> 01:01:42,760
Robert Kayasaki.

1122
01:01:42,760 --> 01:01:43,760
Yep.

1123
01:01:43,760 --> 01:01:44,760
All right.

1124
01:01:44,760 --> 01:01:45,760
So yeah.

1125
01:01:45,760 --> 01:01:46,760
Yeah.

1126
01:01:46,760 --> 01:01:47,760
We cover a handful of stuff.

1127
01:01:47,760 --> 01:01:48,760
I'll send you stuff for show notes as well.

1128
01:01:48,760 --> 01:01:49,760
That's cool.

1129
01:01:49,760 --> 01:01:51,600
It'll be in there.

1130
01:01:51,600 --> 01:01:53,680
So we got those three recommendations.

1131
01:01:53,680 --> 01:01:57,920
You know, people should go ahead and check those out as well as your mastermind.

1132
01:01:57,920 --> 01:02:00,400
How does one get in touch with you and your mastermind?

1133
01:02:00,400 --> 01:02:04,360
Yeah, you can find out about the mastermind group, how to test drive a mastermind, how

1134
01:02:04,360 --> 01:02:07,600
to start a group on your own, what makes a good group and everything.

1135
01:02:07,600 --> 01:02:09,600
All that is at Bay Area Mastermind.com.

1136
01:02:09,600 --> 01:02:12,840
I also chat about this stuff, you know, quite a bit on LinkedIn.

1137
01:02:12,840 --> 01:02:16,440
So you can also find me at, you know, Jeremy Shapiro on LinkedIn.

1138
01:02:16,440 --> 01:02:18,080
And you have Instagram as well.

1139
01:02:18,080 --> 01:02:19,080
I do.

1140
01:02:19,080 --> 01:02:20,080
Yeah.

1141
01:02:20,080 --> 01:02:21,080
Okay.

1142
01:02:21,080 --> 01:02:24,960
So Instagram, LinkedIn and the actual website itself.

1143
01:02:24,960 --> 01:02:35,960
And before we go, can you leave, listen, there's one piece of advice, a story, last words about

1144
01:02:35,960 --> 01:02:41,200
anything that you want to leave or just break in free from the entrepreneurial grind.

1145
01:02:41,200 --> 01:02:44,280
If you could leave those last words, what would it be?

1146
01:02:44,280 --> 01:02:50,120
So you know, whether it's parenting or running a business or, you know, doing whatever it

1147
01:02:50,120 --> 01:02:52,680
is you're doing in life, right?

1148
01:02:52,680 --> 01:02:59,080
I always find comfort in the idea that there are generations of people across the world,

1149
01:02:59,080 --> 01:03:04,160
thousands of years who have faced similar challenges and have found a way through.

1150
01:03:04,160 --> 01:03:07,680
So you're probably not the first person to face the challenge you think is unique and

1151
01:03:07,680 --> 01:03:09,080
special to you.

1152
01:03:09,080 --> 01:03:12,600
There are others out there who have faced similar challenges and found a way through.

1153
01:03:12,600 --> 01:03:18,480
So when you're feeling blocked or plateaued or stuck, right, you don't need to go at it

1154
01:03:18,480 --> 01:03:19,480
alone.

1155
01:03:19,480 --> 01:03:22,640
And when you're in an entrepreneur, it can be lonely at the top, but surround yourself

1156
01:03:22,640 --> 01:03:27,060
with like-minded individuals and be open about sharing what's really going on.

1157
01:03:27,060 --> 01:03:31,040
You'd be surprised how often someone else has a similar experience that they don't talk

1158
01:03:31,040 --> 01:03:37,720
about that can lens the expertise, the resources, whatever it is to you when you need it most.

1159
01:03:37,720 --> 01:03:41,280
All you have to do is share what's really going on with the right folks and you'd be

1160
01:03:41,280 --> 01:03:45,520
surprised who can, you know, who can unblock you and who can, you know, bring you the resources

1161
01:03:45,520 --> 01:03:47,760
and expertise that you need.

1162
01:03:47,760 --> 01:03:48,760
That's good.

1163
01:03:48,760 --> 01:03:50,560
That's really good.

1164
01:03:50,560 --> 01:03:55,240
And I want to thank you, Jeremy, for being on the Thoreville Journey podcast.

1165
01:03:55,240 --> 01:04:00,520
You have tons of information that I'm still, I'm going to have to digest and look through

1166
01:04:00,520 --> 01:04:04,080
the show notes myself again.

1167
01:04:04,080 --> 01:04:09,880
And for our listeners or watchers, they can always go to the Facebook, the Thoreville Journey

1168
01:04:09,880 --> 01:04:15,640
podcast on Facebook to get, you know, some of the show notes and also clips of this video

1169
01:04:15,640 --> 01:04:21,200
of the podcast so they can, you know, attune a little bit more.

1170
01:04:21,200 --> 01:04:24,600
So again, thank you, Jeremy, for being on the podcast.

1171
01:04:24,600 --> 01:04:29,880
And as we always say around this time, let's make thriving our new normal.

1172
01:04:29,880 --> 01:04:30,880
Thank you, Jeremy.

1173
01:04:30,880 --> 01:04:33,320
Thanks for inviting me on the show and let's make thriving our new normal.

1174
01:04:33,320 --> 01:04:34,320
I love it.

1175
01:04:34,320 --> 01:04:35,320
All right.

1176
01:04:35,320 --> 01:04:48,000
So, I guess I'll take a couple more places.

1177
01:04:48,000 --> 01:04:52,960
I'm moving really quickly.

1178
01:04:52,960 --> 01:05:02,340
I'm going to quit this game.