Business 35 years, never in a row. Okay. I've
had great success, absolute failure. I had to
start completely over, lost my business, my home.
I had six little kids at the time, my wife, and
I still have six kids. They're just not little
anymore. The reason why I wrote my book, Michael,
because I started seeing patterns with most businesses.
They're all doing the same thing and I want to
be blunt and say doing the wrong things. I did
the wrong things for 20 years. Okay, so no one's
immune to it, to your business. Now recognition,
they want to know, are we doing a good job? Do
you let me know? Do you let everyone else know?
Do you correct me when I'm wrong and don't just
fire me? Do you help me become better? That's
recognition, right? And then the quality pay.
Now notice I said quality pay. Well, I made 50
bucks a day doing kind of the same work. I did
one side job for a guy, worked 10 hours in a
day. He paid me $1 ,000. So I looked at that
$1 ,000 and I went... I did this yesterday for
$50. I think I know my future and getting things
done because the imperfect action is the key
to success. Hey, family. This is a Thriveware
journey. Look, life's too short to just get by
and 2025 is the year to persist. We're here to
grow, build and thrive. This podcast is all about
powerful stories, real talk and practical steps
to help you level up in every area of your life.
Now, if that sounds like something you need,
don't just watch. Be a part of the journey. Let
us know you're here. Do us a favor. If you're
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episode. And if you're watching on YouTube, you
know what to do. Hit that like button, subscribe,
and turn on those notifications so you never
miss an episode. And as we always say, let's
make thriving our new norm. Yo, today on the
Thrive World journey, we have the pleasure of
having a conversation with Richard Walsh, who
is a 30 -year entrepreneur. best -selling author
of the book Escape the Owner Prison and CEO of
Sharpen the Spirit Coaching. He was a Marine,
he is a Marine veteran, champion boxer, and proud
dad of six. He's passionate about helping business
owners create lasting success while loving life.
And I'm really just glad to have that type of
energy here today on the podcast. And Richard,
how are you doing today? I'm awesome, Michael,
and it's great to be here, man. Appreciate you
having me on. Yeah, I'm glad to have you on.
My producer Yvonne and I, we go through people
who we believe that have great stories to tell,
great actionable advice to give. And I know that
you're one of those, one of those individuals.
And so I'm glad to have you here. Richard, what's
on your mind today? Like right now, as we entered
into this conversation. Well, you know, I work
with business owners, right? I love entrepreneurs.
I work with them. And I think what I've seen,
I've been in 30 plus years in the business space,
right? As an entrepreneur and I've been coaching
for seven, eight years now. business owners.
And the reason why I wrote my book, Michael,
because I started seeing patterns with most businesses.
They're all doing the same thing. And I'm going
to be blunt and say doing the wrong things. I
did the wrong things for 20 years. OK, so no
one's immune to it. Right. OK. But so my my mission
became, hey, I want to really help business owners.
I want to help. So I pick a number. Let's help
10 ,000 business owners create freedom, profit,
and impact in their business. That'd be great.
Love to do that. So what I want to do is help
people escape the owner prison. And what the
owner prison is, is that you start a business,
right? You got to work really hard the first
couple of years. No way of getting around that.
You're going to wear a lot of hats, do a lot
of this stuff, figure things out, get some scars.
As I like to say, you get punched in the face
here and there, right? But you're going to keep
going. The problem, Michael, is next thing you
know, 10 years has gone by and you've repeated
the first two, five times. And that's where they're
stuck. They're making a little more money, but
they don't have the freedom. They're not making
the impact. They're really not making real money,
right? Because real money is what makes a difference.
A little bit more is just a raise. Right. Right.
So we want profit to create real freedom because
we all get in business to have freedom. We want
to control our time. We want to go to every one
of our kids games, recitals and everything, anything
else they might be doing. Right. We want to spend
that quality time with our spouse. Right. We
want to take time off and not call in, make sure
the place didn't burn down because I was gone
for three days, that kind of thing. So that became
my big mission. So I love talking about that
and the ways to do that. Like you mentioned in
the intro. with actionable steps, I'm all about
taking action. Yes. Okay. I mean, I can talk
a lot, but when I talk, it's about things to
do and getting things done. Because the imperfect
action is the key to success. You don't have
to be perfect, but you got to move. I think that's
the key, especially across the conversation that
I've been having. And even before the podcast,
it's taking those imperfect steps that move you
forward. I would even put myself in that situation
where I would have to wait till A, B, C, D, and
E were in line for me to actually take action
on F, G, and H. I would have to wait for that,
but it never lined up that way. I have to take
imperfect action. to make my life happen, especially
in the entrepreneurial world. Yeah, it's that
analysis paralysis, right? Yeah. You're getting
ready to get ready. You're trying to make everything
perfect. You want all your ducks in a row. They're
never in a row. I've been in business 35 years,
never in a row. I've had great success, absolute
failure, lost everything in 08, 09, had to start
completely over, lost my business, my home, I
had six little kids at the time, my wife, and
I still have six kids, there's just not a little
anymore. But it's all this stuff that you're
going to constantly adapt, pivot, and make an
attempt to control to get you where you want
to go. So once you're able to embrace imperfect
action, that's when you begin to make headway.
because if you think about it, think about riding
a bicycle or even walking. You know it's impossible
to go straight in a straight line. You're always
adapting to moving on a bicycle, walking. So
what makes you think your business is going to
go on a straight line? It doesn't. It's not.
Right. Exactly. So we want to understand that.
And once you understand, you get it. You plotted
the course. So I'm going from A to B, but in
between there, I'm going to veer a little to
the left. I'm going to come back center. I'm
going to go a little bit to the right. I'm going
to come back center, but you're going to keep
coming back to center. And once you understand
that, that's when you make those adaptations
as you go. So they become a lot sooner. So you
correct quicker, right? And you stay on track.
Can you speak to that mindset though? When someone,
let's just... talk about a startup, um, entrepreneur
having that mindset. They think that everything
has to go perfectly right before the next thing
happens. Can you speak to the mindset of it's
not going to go that way, you know, when they're
in that space? Yeah. When it, when it gets, I
call it, you want to have ignorance on fire.
That's what you want. Ignorance on fire. I mean,
you're just doing it because believe me, you're
not that you're able to continue. adjusting and
moving forward. Like I said, that first two years
is going to be a lot of confusion, a lot of bumps
and bruises, taking stuff through like that.
But you have to understand that that beginning
progress, taking those first steps, it's inertia,
right? Body in motion stays in motion. You're
going to keep moving towards the target. And
that's what really makes the difference. So when
you're new and you're in that startup page, whether
you're just, you got this napkin and you got
this great idea, you thought of one night, now
what? Well, take action, right? You're never
going to know the whole plan. Right. So there's
things, there's additional things we can talk
about you can do to kind of help solidify where
exactly you're going. But it's that launching
part that people get wrong. You know, they hesitate
way too long before getting going. We're going
to do this editing. You went out. Yeah. I don't
know what happened with that. I don't know what
happened either, but it came back in mid conversation.
It was, I don't know if you want to repeat it
again. I totally can. Yeah. Cause I know with
Riverside, when I have Riverside as well, it
keeps going cause it records, but this like completely
dropped me off. I had to sign back in. So that
was weird. Um, it might, it might do it on your
side. So this part will just, yeah. You want
to do it again or you want to do it again? Let's
do it again. I'm a professional. I can do it
twice. Let's just get back to you. So ask me
about the startup thing and we'll take it away
from there. So in this space where entrepreneurs,
they want things to go perfectly straight, right?
But it doesn't necessarily go that way. And in
that space, can you speak to that mindset? Yeah.
So let's take this from the startup. Okay. You
got it. You got a napkin idea. You wrote it out.
You got this great idea. Now you're doing a little
research. You started to put things together.
And then you're going to keep, well, I got to
get this. I got to get this. So I need this much
money. I have to have the right amount of money.
You want to be fully capitalized before you start.
Never happens. Okay. So a lot of these things
that in their head, they think they're supposed
to do. Cause remember, no one really teaches
how to start a business. There's no courses on
that. Really? Right. Really? At least from a
formal education standpoint. So You need to move.
Yeah, there should be. Absolutely. You need to
start making the move. Understand that you're
never going to be fully capitalized. You're never
going to have all the right ideas. You're never
going to have the perfect path. OK, but beginning
and moving is how you get there. You're going
to climb a mountain. It's the first few steps.
You know, there may be a trail or may not, but
you're going to have to navigate this stuff.
So you're always going to be navigating and pinpointing
exactly where you need to go. And that's that
movement. I talk about ignorance on fire. Ignorance
on fire is just I don't know everything, but
I'm going. But I'm going I'm excited to get there
and I'm going to get there and it's gonna I'm
going to figure out as I go. I never my first
business was literally a wheelbarrow on a shovel
and I'm shoveling rock, you know, and I made
like, I don't know, I made 50 bucks a day doing
kind of the same work. I did one side job for
a guy. Worked 10 hours in a day. He paid me a
thousand dollars. So I looked at a thousand dollars.
I went, I did this yesterday for fifty dollars.
I think I know my future. I'm going to do it,
but I can shovel. Every day, I will make a thousand
dollars a day every day. Shelf and rock. So that's
how I began. I didn't have a plan. Right now.
Now, if you can have somewhat of a plan that
of course that's better. Uh, but there's also
times when you like seeing opportunity, I jumped
on the opportunity and that opportunity changed
my entire life. Yeah. I think that sometimes
I guess the saying is preparation next to opportunity.
That creates your luck. Right. Right. Um, you,
You were a Marine veteran. You are a Marine veteran.
You're a champion boxer. Black belt. You're a
black belt. Does that mindset also help you in
your entrepreneurial journey? Yeah, I think it
does, Michael, because it's not something you
think of at the time. Now I have the luxury of
35 years in business. Okay. But I look back and
I do a lot of podcasts and obviously, you know,
and I talk about it and it sure does. You look
back now and go, wow, that, cause it's a mindset,
whether I had it pre the Marine Corps, which
I did, I was a pretty hard, I have a lot of,
I guess they call it grit, right? A lot of perseverance.
I go through a lot to get what I want. I will
endure a lot of pain. I will endure suffering
to achieve what I want to achieve. So, and the
Marine Corps is all, it's all that. Yeah, I can
imagine. Every day. My son is in the Marine Corps
now. He's been in for a year, right? He's going
through all the same stuff. He's doing way better
than I did. He's doing some great stuff. But
it is, and then the next, and then boxing. Every
day, there's four steps to get up to the ring,
right? There's four steps. You climb up, you
climb through the ropes, and you spar. Well,
I sparred six days a week. I was going to be
a champion. I'm going to be great. I want to
do this a lot. Those are the longest four steps
of your life. Every day. It never got easy. Here
I go. Time to take a beating. Throw down from
five or six rounds right to it, then get out
and train and wake up in the morning and run
and do all this stuff. But then there comes the
championship. Then you start to win because you
put in the time. And now, hey, I got plates and
wires. I got a new nose. I got all kinds of neat
things for my time in the ring, right? But it
taught me that everything you have to do, the
perseverance, the grit, the time in the game
is going to pay out at the end. You don't always
know when the end is. Right. But now we've been
to enough ends with multiple businesses. I've
seen different things in helping other people
that I understand the value of it. Right. Sometimes
when you're young or you're just starting out
in that business, it's hard to have the value
like in you, like understand what why am I going
to do this? Or when you're in it and it's 18
months in and you still haven't made any real
money and you're like, you don't. That's when
you have to push through. You have to understand
the value that's going to be. And I'll tell you,
Michael, it's like this interview we're doing,
I hope it helps people because they need to go
to people who have been there and done it. So
they can hear it and go, listen, and you're going
to hear the same story if you talk to anyone
who's been in business more than five years,
seven years, 10 years, you're going to get that
because no one's immune to it. That's what I
think social media and all this other stuff has
really been kind of a detriment to the entrepreneur
because everyone's painting their pretty picture.
It's only the highlight reel. It's never the
suffering, the pain, the no money, the barely
making payroll, getting a loan to keep going
and stuff like that. So people don't really see
that stuff. And I just like to share the reality
of it. Well, that is the reality of it. And one
of the episodes that it was a solo episode and
I mentioned that in where I talked about comparison
and when you watch other people and they're flossing
or they're at a great level in their life you
don't see all the stuff behind what they went
through and with all social media stuff all you
are looking at is the highlights the highlight
reels or what's curated for people to see so
It's not always going to be a highlight reel.
That's exactly what it is, is a highlight reel.
Those are the great moments that you're putting
on display. And when you're in the entrepreneurial
journey, it's not like that. Can you speak to
the time when you actually, 35 years in, you
had businesses and up to, I think you said 2008,
2009, you were dealing with, I guess, a crisis.
Can you talk about that? Yeah. So, you know,
first 20 years in business, so I spent about
20 years building a custom water feature business.
I added steel sculpture to it. I became an internationally
recognized steel sculptor. I was one of the best
water feature builders in the country. Awards
and on committees and accolades. print magazine,
I've been in everything, right? So going really,
really well. Oh, we don't nine comes and everything
financial financially begins to collapse, right?
And constrict. Um, well, I was definitely the
luxury item. Okay. People didn't have to have
a water feature in their backyard, right? They
have to have a sculpture. So let me just tell
you people, they didn't get them. Okay. Right.
November 5th, 2008, I lost a half a million dollars
on that day. Okay. And that was the beginning
of the slope. All right. And the cliff. Let's
forget the slope. It was a cliff. Just straight
dropped off. Things are going, you know, now
we're inching into 09 and I'm like, yeah, this
is not going to happen. I didn't know what was
going to happen, Michael. I knew that we probably
weren't going to make it. I just didn't know
when, but I didn't see us even get through the
year. And I'll tell you, like I said, I had six
small children, four years and younger at the
time. Right. My wife and I see all this stuff
going and I'm like trying to work harder and
do more things to save the business. How are
we going to keep this thing going? It's all about
that. So my whole 20 years and I've been married
nine years at the time, eight, nine years. Right.
But the majority of my building was when I was
single, I could do whatever I wanted to do. I
built, I spent all my time. Everything was my
business. So my whole focus, Michael, was businesses
first. Right. right now that my identity was
in my business right without my business i was
nobody right i and now i built it now i'm in
magazines i'm in all and i'm like i'm nobody
if this doesn't make it what am i going to do
so i was super blessed to have this epiphany
one morning I woke up and I'm thinking about
my kids and I'm thinking how I come home or what
time it is. They all run to me and crawled me
and they love to be with me and we get to hang
out. And then one day in the morning, my four
year olds like running behind my truck in the
driveway crying because I'm leaving. You know,
and I'm looking at that in a rear view mirror.
And of course, I kept going because I got a business
to run, you know. And then I started thinking
on that. I'm like, what am I doing? And I started
thinking like, if I stay on this path where business
is first. It's everything, right? It's got to
be number one. It's got to come first. I got
to support. I got to blah, blah, blah. I'm like,
I'm going to actually destroy my children's futures.
They're going to have broken marriages, failed
relationships, right? They might be good at business,
but that's all they're going to have. They'll
have no quality friendships because everything
will be dedicated to that. Their identity become
that like me. That'll be their mission, right?
So God literally gave me this window to see into
the future. And I got out of bed. I went into
the office and told my office manager, we're
shutting down today. I went to my yard, to my
guys who've been with me over 10 years, the same
crews. And I said, guys, we're finished. We're
wrapping it up this week. I don't know what I'm
going to do, but I'm not going to do this. Because
remember, more is caught than taught with kids.
I can tell my kids, I can tell my kids, and it's
the truth. Like if you, and I know now because
I have six kids, we're all upper teens and twenties
and whatever. And I've seen other ones, but they
do, what they see, not what you tell them. Like
you can tell them all the right stuff and some
of that will sink in. But if you're not congruent
with the way you walk, if you're not walking
that talk, the defaults can be what you did,
not what you said. Yeah, agree. And that was,
that was the big epiphany. I'm like, I, I have
no, they got to see a different part. I have
to change. So I shut everything down. Like we
lost our home anyways, had to relocate, moved
to a different state, started over. I didn't
even know what I was going to do. Right. All
I knew is I was going to do what I did because
it was so it became who I was. So I have even
a video where I'm burning all my uniforms, my
shirt brand new, sort of throwing them on the
fire like I will never be owned by my business
again. That's I like I like that. You know, and
and and I'll give one one. one caveat like so
I owned like everything I had equipment trucks
and trailers and machines and I sold everything
right like the worst time you could possibly
sell probably got 20 cents on the dollar because
I wasn't going to be tempted to do what I did
now I could have probably kept some of that stuff
done some side hustle you know made some money
and everything else but I don't operate that
way I'm all or nothing guy okay this is me I
don't recommend people do what I did okay it
was very stressful so I'm thinking like well
what am I going to do I have to do something
different. I can't do that. So I'm like, well,
I'm a, I love training people. I love fitness,
right? I have, I'm a certified personal trainer
since like early nineties on the boxer black
belt and all this stuff. So I started training.
I go, wow, go to any time fitness. I became a
personal trainer. Okay. Well, I'm a little high
voltage, right? Like, so I, they really didn't
have a program. I built this whole thing and
a year later I'm trainer of the year. Okay. And
so I'm like, well, you know what that means to
an entrepreneur. We go open a gym. I'm going
to go, I'm going to do bootcamp style training.
This is going to be awesome. And I, I did, and
it was really great. So I moved into that. Then
I got back into the construction world, uh, doing
roofing, siding windows. I scaled that business
did that. And that's when people started asking
me, how'd you go from all that in the beginning,
losing everything back to this. Uh, that's how
I put together my book because I started working
with guys and started seeing the patterns. And
that's why I wrote the book. Yeah. How do you
see the dots that you speak about? Like this
is, like you come from, you move, you lose everything,
you move, and you're all in, right? And things
start to connect for you. How does one see the
connection when you're in it? Well, what I had
to do, and this is kind of the painful part,
you have to look at, you have to look back and,
and define all your mistakes. What did I do wrong?
Yeah, go find them. Like, what did I do? Why
couldn't I weather that storm? It's not like
every business in the world went under. Right.
People did really well during that time. People
did well, yeah. Right. Everyone does. Great Depression.
More millionaires were made in that time than
ever in history. Right. But the whole, everyone
was, you know, it was a Great Depression. This
was a similar thing. So I really had to take
a look, a hard look and say, OK, all right, you
were great at what you did. You were number one.
You're out front, but good on a magazine. All
that stuff was all great. But what didn't you
do? Oh, the business part. Okay. You didn't pay
attention to your taxes. You didn't, you didn't
pay attention to what's actually going on. You
didn't manage your money well. You made a ton
of money, you knucklehead. And all you do is
buy equipment and stuff for cash, like an idiot.
I mean, if you know what I'm saying, Michael,
if I just have what I lost, I'd be good to go.
Okay. You really had to take those hard looks
like I can't do that again. Add on to the time.
You learned. Oh yeah. And just like no time for
my kids. How do I build a business now that doesn't
own me? How does it serve me and me not serve
it? So that was it. And it's hard to do that
because that first 20 years, Michael was driven
by ego and pride. I mean, I wouldn't take help
from anyone. And I had billionaire clients. offering
me mentorship and help. What do you know? You
don't build water features. You just own professional
sports teams and manufacturing plants. What do
you know about business? That's the level of
stupid I operated at. That's a good lesson to
learn. I put the ego in a box. I got rid of the
pride. I'm starting over and I'm going to be
open. I'm going to listen to people. How do I
scale? Who's done this already? That became my
new thing. Who's already done this? I am not
the first gym. In the world. Okay, so I started
getting the right mentors the right coaches who
are gonna help me with this stuff Construction
same thing, you know who's done what I want to
do Let's follow those people so that and that
and that sounds super obvious Michael Yeah, but
the reality is like for 20 years now when I started
there was no internet You didn't have coaches
everywhere and it was a little different game,
but it didn't matter. I had great I was I was
serving a high -end clientele High -end clientele,
they're very successful people. People you might
want to hang around and get advice. And actually
apply it, right? So that I didn't do because
I was so full of, I'm getting all the credit.
I'm going to do it by myself. Twice as hard,
twice as long, but I did it. That's my ego, yeah.
Yeah, really tough. So that was my biggest takeaway
to improving myself. And that's the first thing
I start with. Owners when I deal with owners
when I'm coaching them. It's like we got to check
that like where you add on that Yeah, you know,
I think this is that that's a first of all is
a great lesson right to like if you're Allowing
your ego to drive you. I mean you're missing
everything else. Yeah, you know, you're missing
life You're missing, you know on so much And
and sometimes you can look at people and you
know that that's what's driving them right as
opposed to you know whatever valiant reason why
they're doing what they're doing. And you said
that you didn't want your business to allow you
to, I guess, be a prison for you. How does one
not do that for themselves? So I think the strategy
I've come up with is it's called exit strategy.
Okay. So if you're beginning the business, okay,
this is the best time to do your exit strategy
before you launch your business. That's the number
one time to do it. The second best time would
be right now. Okay. So there's only two times.
Okay. And here's, I'll give you the high level
view here. So exit strategy basis is two things.
When and how much. When do you want to exit and
how much do you want? What do you want to take
with you? Right. So it's real simple. OK, 10
years. Pick 10 years and I want and I'm making
up just throwing out a number of 10 million dollars.
OK, so I want to exit for a 10 million dollar
sale and I want to do that in 10 years. OK, whatever
your business doesn't matter what the business
is. So now from that point, I have to go, OK,
well, what would that now I have to reverse from
the end back to today. If that's before you launch,
great. If it's your five years in tenure, whatever
it is, where am I at today? What do I need to
do to accomplish that? So what that does, it
creates a complete roadmap for you from how you
start, when you're hiring your first person,
second, third, fourth, fifth, what kind of market
share do you have? What direction are you going?
Right. What are the metrics every quarter, every
year, five years? How am I going to get there?
I have 10 years. OK, now I want 10 million dollars
to exit. So what is it? What does a business
look like that someone would pay me 10 million
dollars for? What are they looking for? I have
to learn that. So now I understand that. Now,
let's say I'm going to get that 10 million, which
probably means I'm making probably a million
a year in a salary. So I have active business
income that's paying me a million a year. But
if I sell in 10 years and I get 10 million, what
do I lose? A million a year. So now I don't have
that million a year anymore because I gave it
to the new guy. He's going to come and get her
or she, whoever. So now I'm like, OK, well, I
have to replace that too. Again, we're back.
We got 10 years. I got to start acquiring assets.
I have to use that active business income and
get assets that are going to create income for
me. I have to replace a million dollars. So that's
eighty three thousand a month. Yeah. OK. So,
oh, maybe it's real estate. Maybe it's I don't
care what it is, Bitcoin. I don't care what it
is. But like start doing that. So when I get
that 10 million dollar check, I leave. I also
got a million year coming in passively. So if
I don't work again, I got a million year. Right.
I don't I don't have to use my 10 million. to
get by on the million, you know what I mean?
So that money's gone. So what that does, Michael,
becomes an incredible business filter because
as you become successful, your business really
starts taking off. You're going to get a lot
of opportunity put in front of you. You're going
to see it. You're going to be people are going
to, hey, you should do this, right? I got this
great thing and invest in this. So what all you
say is that's a great. I love it. That's great.
Let me run that through my exit strategy. I'm
going to get back to you. Now, does it get me
closer and faster to my exit strategy or does
it detract from it? If it detracts from it, it's
a hard no. Just done. If it gets me closer, I'm
in. Let's make this happen because that's my
goal, right? So it's clear. It's very clear.
Yeah. So it's important. Yeah, it is important.
I was so everything that you were saying it was
for me. It was like start with the end in mind
and you were working yourself backwards. does
anything and does not anything and everything
will match up with what the end is calling for
so how does one recognize those those things
so what you want to do and this is what especially
early in the entrepreneurial stage or journey
if you will what they don't do they don't take
time from a strategic standpoint So they don't
take time to say, okay, well, strategy is knowing
your next move, what's five moves out, right?
So you understand the chess, it's chess, not
checkers, put in the simplest terms, right? Thinking
about moves down the road. But you're so busy
being in the business, you never get to sit back,
look at it and go, oh, wow, if I do this, this,
and this. I'm going to end up over here when
I need to be over there. So what do I have to
do? What are my next three or four moves to get
me on track closer to the closer to the exit?
Right. But they don't take the time to spend
that time where they can say, OK, that makes
sense. OK, yeah, that'll be or they're not going
to the right people to get the right the right
strategy. Right. So, so people start to say,
well, how do I, you know, how do I get this advice?
Well, again, we get coaches, we get mentors,
right? To help us stay on course and understand
the future moves because people will give me
great ideas. They'll call me up. We'll be in
a coach and call him and do this. This is OK.
Yeah. Well, let's let's workshop that real quick
on the phone. So if you do that, do you think
this might happen in that? Oh yeah, no, I didn't
think about that. Well, that's probably what's
going to happen. And then this, this, and then
you're going to be six months setback. Okay.
So, yeah. So, so that's how, you know, you have
to be able to take that time. You have to plan
that time, that strategic time, whether it's
to go spend the day, you just relaxing and dreaming
and thinking like, where are we really going
with this? What have we done so far? What are
the results? Again, tracking your metrics. You
have to measure everything. You got to measure,
yeah. You can't improve what you don't measure,
right? So we got to understand like, OK, how
effective are we? Oh, I got a sales team and
they're closing at about 28 % on average. Well,
good. That is the average. That's 27%. It's like
the national average. So you're average. Yeah.
Success doesn't come by being average. No. Okay.
So you might want to address your sales, right?
Well, we should be at 38 and 39 and 42 and things
like that. Right. So we got, we had to look at
those things, right? That strategy. How do we
change the game? We're not dying. We're not,
you know, we're making money. We're getting by
if you will, but how do we succeed? How do we,
how do we, how do we surpass our competitors?
How are we different? What do we bring into the
marketplace that makes us the obvious and only
choice? What are we doing? That's the things
you got to think of, but you need time to do
that, right? That's not in the day -to -day.
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.theoreansgroup .com. All right, we're done with
the spot. Let's get back to the podcast. Right.
That's one of the conversations that I've had
before is like that's working on your business
and not necessarily always in it. Right. And
it definitely helps with the mindset of, you
know, having the in in mind all this great information
is a really great information and for how do
you stay motivated you personally how do you
stay motivated through all your tough times and
and getting things figured out uh you know I'm
I'm I'm pretty optimistic like probably a little
over the top on the optimism okay at times it'll
drive my wife crazy you know because I'm just
never like Unhappy, you know kind of like it's
gonna be good. It's gonna be good. It's all gonna
be good You know, it's just yeah, I've never
been depressed. So I'm lucky that way Even losing
everything like I'm just people like you are
this is unusual I go. Well, it's just I got to
do the next hand of time to be depressed. You
know the family support I got things to do I
gotta I gotta make things happen. There's no
time to wallow You know, you gotta gotta keep
going again. That could be a Marine Corps mindset
Part of my upbringing and stuff, too, figuring
that out. But I think, really, when you look
at it, how do we continue to motivate myself
every day? Well, I have to set big goals. So
I want to help 10 ,000 business owners create
profit, freedom, and impact in their business.
Well, 10 ,000 is a lot. That's a lot of people
I have to work with. And I don't want to do it
in 10 or 20 years. I want to do it in like five
years. So what do I have to do? I have to reach
people. You don't have to talk to them. I have
to make a difference in their business, you know
So and I actually want to help more people than
10 ,000 is just the business owners Yeah, now
remember I go to a business they have employees
fire 20 50, right? And what do all those employees
have they have families, right? Yeah So my goal
is if the owner in the business can create additional
profit They will then get that freedom and now
they can make the impact and the impact is the
people in their business Yeah, we want everyone
competent. We want to make them better workers,
better skilled so they can, you know, do a better
job. But we also want to make them better people.
So again, this is part of that congruency. I
talked about my kids and more is caught than
taught. Same thing in the workplace. It always
starts at the top. OK, if I can make them better
as people, where do they go with that? They go
home to their families. If that improves their
families, where are their families? They're in
the communities. Now, instead of 10 ,000 people,
I just help millions. Right? Because we changed
their life. We showed them how to run a business
where everyone is actually benefits. Right? Everyone's
working for purpose. And we can talk about that
strategic vision and everything else. But when
everyone on the team is working towards purpose,
they come to work because they're achieving something
real. Right. They're not just putting A into
B. They're not, you know, they're not, you know,
framing a house. There's real purpose while we
do. They understand the full vision of the business.
And that carries with them. to home and their
children. Now they start thinking that way. There's
three things, Michael, that people want to work
for. Number one is purpose. The second thing
is quality feedback or recognition. And then
quality pay. And that's the order it goes in.
Notice pay is third. People aren't driven by
money. They think they are. And you'll think,
hey, he makes more money here. Well, if money
was the number one thing, They would sell you
out for 50 cents more an hour and move down the
road. But that's not what it is, purpose. They
want to know what they do matters. How are they
making the difference what they do every day?
They spend a huge amount of their life at your
work, at your business. Now recognition, they
want to know, are we doing a good job? Do you
let me know? Do you let everyone else know? Do
you correct me when I'm wrong and don't just
fire me? Do you help me become better? That's
recognition, right, quality feedback. And then
the quality pay. Now notice I said quality pay.
We want to take care of our people, but they're
going to earn it. My goal, Michael, with people
who work for me, I want everybody to be an asset,
which means they're free, which means they're
producing more than they're being paid for. They're
bringing more value to what specifically they
do than I'm compensating them for. Makes a lot
of sense. Right. And if we can all build that
attitude, like that's why I teach my kids. Okay.
You deliver more. You're always there early.
And I tell people all the time, Michael, I go,
you can do two things. Okay. There's only two
things you got to do to succeed. Okay. Especially
as an employee. And that is show up while called
early, which, you know, time is late. So show
up early and ask, what else can I do? Those are
the two things you have to do. Cause if you do
it in today's workspace, You'll be a CEO in like
two years. Nobody does it. Everyone is all about
me and what do you owe me and what am I, you
know, I'm doing this for you and you owe me.
It's like show up early and ask what else can
I do? I know that you talk about, you know, the
helping the 10 ,000 people in their businesses
and affecting the leaders who affect their employees,
who affect their families. What impact do you
hope that? the business like the communities
have through what you're doing. Yeah, so I and
communities is is the right word user Michael
because I think as a business owner, you have
incredible influence in your circle in a community
circle, right? Whether you're you're doing 50
million a year or 500 thousand. It doesn't matter,
right? So, impact is like, well, what are you
doing with that business with a portion of the
profits? I have clients that give five percent
of all their profits to one or two organizations
that they choose. Maybe it's a foster care placement
agency. Maybe it's a better woman's shelter.
They choose something and may even get with everyone
on the team like, hey, what should we do? What
does everyone into? You know, I had one client
there in the dog rescues. A huge portion of profits
goes for dog rescues. He's in the rescue dogs.
OK, that's his thing. That's awesome. Right.
That's the beauty. You get to choose. Yeah. Now
you'll see companies like Target. Hey, we give
50 million a year to charities. What charities
are those? I'm not saying they don't do it. I'm
just saying like, okay, it's like 50 million.
Can you wrap your head around that? I understand.
Even the smaller businesses affecting their communities
is just as big and wonderful as Target spending
15 million, whoever they are. That's right. You
have actually, as a smaller business, you have
greater influence than Target does. Way more.
You think so? Oh, absolutely. Because you might
be supporting the Little League team. I don't
know. You might be helping that shelter in your
community. Getting guys off the street, helping
them turn around, things like that. We have a
thing called Gifts Men's Shelter, local that
we do. And it's got 50 guys in there. Yeah, they
got them working their feed them. Okay, they're
turning though. They get not off addiction and
things like that They're doing that kind of stuff.
That's money well spent. Yeah, it is Okay, we
we help we help other organizations who are helping
people already you give to those Right. So like
you know, give an example one of our charities.
It's called Beloit cares. We're in Beloit, Wisconsin
I mean, I didn't create it but our church created
a 501 c3, but we go to all these organizations
that are doing work in the community Right? Like
say a woman's shelter. Okay. Well, we asked,
what do they need? You know, everyone will say
money, but they, you know what they need? Shampoo.
Yeah. You got 50 people. They need, that's a
lot of shampoo over a year. Right? So, okay.
You need shampoo and conditioner. We get a four
by four pallet, big box, tell them at church,
they need shampoo. That thing is filled up in
a week. Yeah. Now that frees up real working
cash. They don't have to spend it on shampoo.
A baby one, we need diaper, we need this. Whatever
they need, we supply it. Yeah. So people can
donate, they go buy a bottle of shampoo and donate.
Right. It's just giving money. Right. There's
nothing wrong with giving money, but when you're
going to specific needs, my son for his Eagle
Scout project did a thing for that men's shelter,
paper products. He had people donate. I mean,
he has a mountain of it. Picture just paper towels
and Kleenex and toilet paper and that takes a
lot of money. Yeah, you got 50 guys Yeah, and
it shows like for a year and he just he had all
this stuff donated That's that's Thousands and
thousands of dollars freed up to do other work,
you know, so it's things like that. That's what
I mean Like you that that's impact, right? No,
that's true You you go there and work as an owner.
I did I go work. I work the night You know, I
make food for them. They do that kind of stuff.
You know, it's little things like that where
you have a much greater impact. Again, you're
walking the walk. You're right. Right. Right.
I think it's important for people to really realize
that and look at that, that even though you may
be a small business, what kind of impact you
can have in your community, it doesn't have to
be 15 million. It could be going to the store.
and buying whatever is needed in that organization
or in that community. I think that's a powerful
scope to look at things through. Because again,
it doesn't have to be 15 million. Yeah. Again,
here's another thing that we all know. We know
how hard running a business is, right? We understand
it's difficult. A lot of people fail in the first
five years when you have it. You've done something
that most people can't or won't do. You're in
a position of authority. You're in a position
of respect because you've done that. So your
hands -on approach, maybe it's mentoring students.
Maybe they get the company. We have a thing here
called, the guy started here called character,
craftsman with character. Craftsman with character,
right? Now the Navy's picked it up and they're
pushing all over the country on this program.
They work like 10 years, but he actually can
sign up for it and they go to a business. Okay,
like every Friday and they spend like two three
hours there and they learn every aspect of that
business So each week for a semester they're
going back to this business for two hours and
they take them through sales And I think I'm
through production and whatever they do, right?
So they really get an understanding how a business
works and what you need and then then they spend
time talking to them about the character aspects
and everything else You know building them up
that this is a great thing to be right? That's
amazing. But as a business you can do that for
for students. So hey Come see, we have a construction
company, a big construction company here in this
town that does that. You get the intern. Hey,
you want to be a mason? OK, go try it. Oh, now
I don't want to be a mason. OK, because they
go find out. But they did it, right? But they
know now they're not going to waste years doing
something they don't want to do. So there's all
this great stuff you can do to help make that
impact. Because again, you're in an incredible
position of influence because you're an American
quote and successful, right? Don't don't attach
a dollar to it. Forget that. It's a position.
You've achieved something that most can't or
won't. Use that. Bring others up. Do some mentoring.
Just come alongside a couple of young people
or even early entrepreneurs. Help them. help
them climb that ladder. Well, I do it for a living
now. My coaching business is helping businesses.
But before that, why I started was because I
started helping all these other businesses, just
giving them the free advice. And that seemed
to be working. That's when I noticed the patterns.
And now I get to coach them so we can accelerate
that stuff. But what a difference it makes. Because
the more businesses that can succeed, that's
what it's about, Michael. They're not competition
to me. We need small businesses succeed in this
country, especially. It's truly the backbone,
but there's profit, freedom and impact. Okay.
If you can maximize those things, if you can
do the business right, you can affect change.
You can have that incredible influence, right?
And you can show other people it can be done.
That's the key. If everyone's saying 97 % fail
all the time, who's going to try it? Right. Right.
I have that note here. freedom, profit, and impact,
which you already covered it. Well, it's important.
I think it's a big thing. One of the big things
I do, Michael, is show business owners there's
hidden, uncovered profit in all their businesses.
They just don't know how to access it. I mean,
I literally can show them, I can show you 100
,000 of profit in your business in less than
three minutes without additional ad spend or
marketing spend. And they're like, oh, okay.
They don't know, right? They just don't know.
And the bigger the business, the more profit
I can find. But even the small ones, it doesn't
matter. And again, remember we began with ignorance
on fire? Okay, well, that's how you start. But
ignorance has to become education. You have to
start learning what business is. The stuff I
didn't do my first 20 years. Too busy being the
guy making cool stuff, you know getting passed
on the back and I'm thinking about the business
Right, right. So learn that so now as you get
that that's where you start to realize a real
profit We can all work hard and make money. There's
no challenge in that right? Okay, we can all
work hard to make money, but it's a couple things
how much you keep and how much can you truly
make? How much can you leverage if your business
make the money not you make the money? Mm -hmm,
right? There's all these Leverage is a powerful
word. With all that being said, is that what
inspired you to write Escape the Owner Prison?
What inspired me, Michael, was my journey. Because
I weave my whole journey, you know, that first
20 plus years and beyond and where it is today,
to inspire others, go look, you can do, success
is a lot of different things. And sometimes it's
really deceptive. Success can be incredibly deceptive.
I mean, I'm making money. I'm getting whatever
I want for the work I do, because no one can
do what I do. So I'm successful, except I lost
everything in like a day. So I wasn't successful,
right? So it's very deceptive. You got to be
careful what you're using as a scorecard. If
I'm just gross revenue, hey, I made $5 million.
I made $1 million. That's not a good scorecard.
It's a terrible scorecard. We'll go back to when
we talked about ego. Gross revenue feeds the
ego. Profit feeds the family. It's about profit.
It's about accelerating your profit. How can
I accelerate that? It doesn't matter if I made
$10 million in gross revenue, but I only took
home $100 ,000. That's not a good trade off.
That thing is broken. You got yourself a broken
business model. We want to fix that. We need
to understand what the real scorecard is. That's
what I mean by it can be deceptive. I like that.
In all of this, what inspires you to stay on
the journey that you're on? Sometimes you realize
you become what you talk about. There's guys
and I'm not a, I do sports. I don't talk about
sports. I don't watch sports. Okay. But there's
guys who they can tell you every guy, every Jersey
number, every whatever. We're in good company,
but that's what they talk about all the time.
Okay. You'll never going to talk about business
here. Never hear him talk about money. Never
achievement on there. They're, they're, they're
living other people's achievement constantly
and they're in it and they're telling the coach
how to coach. Those are my favorite ones. Yeah,
because they know, wow, that was a stupid move.
Okay, genius. Okay. And we get that. So I'll
leave it there because people get offended. But,
but right. So, so I realize, you know what I
talk about business business. You know what?
I love when people are starting a business. I
get in there and start, what are you doing? Oh,
have you thought about this? What about? And
that became like that lifted me up. I mean, I
can do it all day, all day. Talk to people, help
people. You know, I get guys talk me on the way
out of church. Dude, you know, I'm doing that
mobile detail, man. What do you think about this?
Oh, dude, you got to do this. This we're talking
all the way out to the car. Yeah. Nice. Send
them off. Go do that. So so it's like, I love
it. Yeah, I love their benefit to their voice.
But that's how I know that that is whatever.
If something drains you, you know, like you get
it wears you out. It makes you tired. You hate.
Don't do that. It's simple. If it lifts you up,
it energizes you. Do that. How can you get to
do that more? That's the goal. That's what you
figure out. I learned coaching was like, I'm
a trainer. I love to train people, whether it's
fitness. I love teaching people and showing them
a quick, easy way to do things. I get them to
speed very quickly. I have a lot of champ. I
train a lot of champions. My son, hey, you want
to go to the Junior Olympics? Okay, I'll train
you. We'll go to the Junior Olympics. You want
to go on the Marine Corps? Great. We do three
a days for seven months straight. because you
want to go in there. And they and he did it succeeded.
Also, we we get things done. I love to train
it. So so if that stuff energizes me, that's
what I do. You know, is that how you're coaching?
I'm sorry. Go ahead. No. Is that how your coaching
business differs from other coaching businesses?
Yeah, I think it is because what I do, Michael's
really focus on profit centers in the business.
And there's like 40. or more in a business and
people realize, you know, I'll start them with
a simple 12. And what I want them to do is to
realize profit. Let's focus on that. Let's do
some simple things. Little tiny incremental changes.
That's compounding, right? Like compounding interest.
It's as what's his name? I always forget his
name, but he declared it the eighth wonder of
the world. Oh, Einstein. Einstein called compound
interest. the eighth wonder of the world. So
we take that into this. How do we change 3 %
here, 4 % there, 2 % here in these different
areas, and it all compounds into massive numbers.
It isn't, hey, I need a 50 % increase in my marketing.
No, you don't. Let's change 3 % in that. Then
let's go over here and make 3%. Let's cut some
costs by 3%. Let's increase our prices by 3%,
4%. little tiny things and watch when all of
a sudden there's $100 ,000. There's $200 ,000.
So go in and do that, but it's actionable things.
Actionable things, yeah. That's what it's about.
Little bites that you can achieve and not this
massive thing. The bigger the ship, the harder
it is to turn. The longer it takes to make that
turn. So most small businesses are five to 50
employees. You know, they're doing whatever,
$500 ,000 to $5 million, $10 million, whatever.
Those areas, those guys are agile. So we take
these little moves like this, we implement these
things, we can do amazing things. You know, even
if you're a landscaper, I love landscaper, house
landscaper, I love them. Okay, so I love the
home services business, right? You're a plumber,
you're an HVAC guy, you're a carpet cleaner,
you're a landscaper. Bookkeeper these people
we can do amazing things with these people matter
what they do matters, but they leave so much
money hidden in their business They don't get
the they don't get the access and we show them
how so that's that's the fun That it yeah, well
for both And then the person that advice gets
to you know grow their capital so that's I love
and I had to learn this about myself. I get so
much joy from other people's success. There's
no envy. When people succeed and I help them
a little bit with that, that's the reward. It's
not the money. It's really like, look what they
did. When I free them from the owner prison and
one of my client's wives calls me and says, listen,
I never thought this was possible. We just spent
two weeks at the beach with all five of our kids.
He was never on the phone. Unbelievable. Never.
In eight years, I never thought we were going
to get to have this life. And now they get that
life. They get it. So he's not checking in all
the time. He's not worried about this, talking
to clients the whole time. It's like, that's
the reward. That's what I'm doing. That freedom,
it feels good. Yeah. What's one piece of advice
that you wish you would have had earlier in your
career? Two words, get help. You know, I kind
of thought that because you mentioned during
that first 20 years that you didn't seek help
at all. Just understand you don't know anything.
That's the ego thing. Because if you go in dumb,
you only have one way to go. You're only going
to get smart. OK, you're only going to be open
to more help to get smart faster and sooner.
It's called time compression. So like when I
work with someone, they come in for help, I get
to compress 10 years of costs and mistakes, bad
decisions, wrong moves. I can put all that into
a year and now we're in your business. So why
keep getting beat up for five or 10 years and
never get to where you want to go? That's what
getting help is all about. That's one of the
things I love about being a host on a podcast.
I get to have conversations with people like
yourself. If there's a ton of things that I don't
know, I ask from that space, you know, and then
I get the little tidbits and you know, it's like,
Oh, I was doing this all wrong. Maybe I should,
uh, you know, switch. So having getting help
is, is paramount, especially when you're, um,
a beginning entrepreneur. Yeah. And let me add
the second part of that. Okay. It's only three
words. So we got to get help or ask for help
in two words. You want to do hard things. OK,
so what you want to do, whether it's business
and personal, is continuously do hard things.
Now, I don't mean I got to go run a marathon
and then OK, it could be physical. It doesn't
matter. Like the physical, I can do hard thing,
but I do that all the time. So it's not it's
who I am anyways. So it doesn't count. Doesn't
count anymore is a hard thing. I have to do like
stuff on the computer. I have to, those are hard
things for me, okay? So you know, so it seems,
but yeah, I got no problem. I can hit the bag
all day long. I like it. Okay. It feels good.
I like it, but you know, doing some of the business
stuff, you know, and things like that. It's like,
that's more hard for me, but doing hard things
is always going to keep you sharp. It's always
going to be looking for the next thing and it's
internal achievement. Okay. That's what develops
your grit. That's what develops your ability
to stay in the fight. I mean, if you're breathing,
You're in the fight. If you can take a breath,
you're in the fight. You don't take that. Take
that attitude in the business and doing hard
things. Shores you, it strengthens you to continue
the journey and get to where you want to go,
because the more things you learn you can do
that you thought maybe you couldn't. Also, with
a little side note on that, too, is read books
on people who have done really hard things, been
through unbelievably difficult circumstances
and come out the other end. Yeah, because when
you're whining about your Internet or whatever
it is. You think about the guy who was trapped
on ice for two years and the anarchy bringing
28 guys home alive. Like your life isn't that
bad. It's not that bad. You can do it. You can
get through it. I'm sure. Right. A couple of
questions. What are, because because you're,
you have done, you have done this and there may
be people, some entrepreneurs that are listening
or even people that are trying to rebuild their
career. What are the most critical actions that
someone can take in the first 90 to 60 days to
rebuild their business or for somebody who's
trying to get into a new career? What are the
critical for the first 60 to 90 days? I think
the main thing you just said is 60, 90 days.
When we do 30, 60, 90 day goals, whatever they
are, that's the timeframe you want to operate
in as long as you can. You can have a five year
plan. You can have the 10 year exit. I get it.
The dailies, the smaller steps are all done in
small increments like that. So if you set a 30
day goal, you can achieve it, right? You can
measure it. You can hit it head on. Hit a hard,
in fact, you got 30 days to get it done. So you
kind of increases pressure on yourself, but enables
you to make, get real traction and make advancement
30, 60, 90. So that's one thing I would do for
sure. Whatever those goals might be. Okay. Break
them down into the smaller steps. Okay. So if
I got 30 days, well, what do I need to do? Week
one, day one, week one. What does it look like?
We go, we call it a wind strategy. W I N what's
important now. So You're on the third. You're
in the third story. You're in your bedroom. The
building's on fire. Okay, what's important now?
Well, I guess I should get out of bed first.
Okay, what's important now? I asked him I now
head to the door What's important now check the
door for heat? What's important now and I go
there what every step of the way? What is important
right now that I have to do before I get to the
next thing? Understand that to get all the way
down those stairs and outside the building be
safe whatever that looks like, right? It's always
about what's important now. So when you think
that way, that's why those short term goals work
so well, because you can plan that. You can plan
those steps, take the action, and you succeed
continuously, right? Success breeds more success.
That's the inertia. You start winning, winners
tend to win, right? They also tend to lose, but
they come back the next day and play again. Okay,
so we get it. But once you get in that winning
mode, okay, because you discovered how to win.
And that's in small incremental steps. Like that
compounding with the percentages, right? Winning's
the same thing. Don't go for the home run. Get
the base hit. Just keep around the field you
go. Right? Again and again and again. And pretty
soon, you know, you're unbeatable. Yeah, I like
that. And I have to listen to what you said,
because it's sometimes like when you're, when
we're doing this, this job, it's like, I gotta
get to come up with the next question. I try
not to do that. I try to be the moment and listen.
And that was, I'm still listening. I was pretty,
pretty great, and powerful at the same time.
What today we're gonna, you know, wrap it up,
but What is the last thing that you would like
for an entrepreneur to know? What's the story,
last words that you would like to give to impact
somebody's life? I learned a quote. I read a
quote. I read a book a long time ago, probably
30 years ago. It was called The Outdoor Athlete.
Writer named Steve Ilg really cool, right? So
outdoor athlete doing climbing whatever right
working on time basically and he had this thing
in there which he didn't credit anyone So I figured
he said it and I memorized it and I still remember
it I still use it I put it on my gym walls and
this and I'm gonna share that with you because
this is what it's really all about Okay, and
here it is dedication to a goal that never waivers
Resolution. This is the basic principle in the
life of every truly great character He who resolves
upon any great and good end has by that very
resolution clothed himself in power and has scaled
the chief barrier to it. That, I just, I've never
forgotten it. I can just quote it. I can say
it in my sleep because it's, it just says everything.
Yeah. You got to stay in it. Got to stay in it.
Dedicated to a goal, man. You got, you got to
stay in it, man. And that's, and look at great
people. Read the book called Grit by Angela Duckworth.
Grit? Grit. Yep. And so it's it's she's a researcher,
phenomenal. So, I mean, you'll get you can teach
yourself great. It's not like it's not a gift.
Mm hmm. It's it's taught. Right. You can learn
it. And when you when you check out her research
and all the people done great things, it's not
because of the smartest. It's not because they
do their thing really well because of grit. They
don't quit. Right. That's that's who achieves.
No one is excluded from success. Nobody. It's
because of grit. Don't you dare quit. I like
it. I like that. Richard, it's been a pleasure
to have you on here. Throughout the whole conversation,
I have just been soaking in and listening to
what you have to say. And what I love doing this
is, you know, I get to after this, I get to go
back and listen over and over again. and learn
from the minds of people of your stature. And
I appreciate your time and you being here. And
how does this audience get in contact with you
or learn from you or do your program or get your
book? Let's listen to your podcast. Right. So
they go to sharpen the spear coaching dot com.
That's my website. You get everything you need
there. That simulator I talked about, you want
to find that $100 ,000 in profit in less than
three minutes, you can do that on my website
with your own business. You can plug in a couple
of little numbers and poof, you got the whole
thing. It's really awesome. Reach out to me.
Let's do this because this was a really great
conversation. Let's give your listeners a gift.
They go to sharpenthespiritcoaching .com. Just
go to the contact page, send me a one -sentence
email. Say, Richard, I saw you on Michael's podcast.
I'd love to get a copy of Escape The Owner Prison,
the audio version for free and I'll send it to
them. I'll send them the audio version. They'll
have the whole Escape The Owner Prison. I say
that because I want them to listen to it. I want
them to hear it because you're going to see some
basic foundational stuff in there. Weave my story
in there. It's really going to give you a path
to begin. If you're just starting. Nice. If you're
in business now, you're going to go, oh, I gave
it to a I mean, a guy I was talking to as a roofing
company, like a week ago, we're walking out,
we had a Bible study, we're leaving, we're talking
about it. And he's talking about his thing. I
go, Oh, here. And I reached into my bag and I
gave him a scapegoat in prison. He looked at
it and he goes, he read, he goes, that's where
I'm at. I'm like, well, let's talk, you know,
so it's, it, it, it, it's a great thing, but
I'd love to send it to people. It won't cost
them a thing. Just a name and email, just send
me the email and I'll get it to them right away.
And, um, yeah, because this has been a lot of
fun. I can't thank you enough. And I appreciate
you doing that for this audience. And to this
audience, you know, always check out the conversations
that we have, especially with Richard, all the
information will be in the description of this,
you know, this whole setup here. And as we always
say around this time, let's make thriving our
new normal. Thank you, Richard. I appreciate
you.