WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.759 Business 35 years, never in a row. Okay. I've 00:00:02.759 --> 00:00:04.940 had great success, absolute failure. I had to 00:00:04.940 --> 00:00:07.200 start completely over, lost my business, my home. 00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:09.619 I had six little kids at the time, my wife, and 00:00:09.619 --> 00:00:11.240 I still have six kids. They're just not little 00:00:11.240 --> 00:00:13.099 anymore. The reason why I wrote my book, Michael, 00:00:13.160 --> 00:00:15.779 because I started seeing patterns with most businesses. 00:00:16.100 --> 00:00:18.260 They're all doing the same thing and I want to 00:00:18.260 --> 00:00:20.600 be blunt and say doing the wrong things. I did 00:00:20.600 --> 00:00:23.230 the wrong things for 20 years. Okay, so no one's 00:00:23.230 --> 00:00:25.530 immune to it, to your business. Now recognition, 00:00:25.789 --> 00:00:27.570 they want to know, are we doing a good job? Do 00:00:27.570 --> 00:00:29.250 you let me know? Do you let everyone else know? 00:00:29.350 --> 00:00:31.350 Do you correct me when I'm wrong and don't just 00:00:31.350 --> 00:00:34.429 fire me? Do you help me become better? That's 00:00:34.429 --> 00:00:36.490 recognition, right? And then the quality pay. 00:00:36.630 --> 00:00:38.850 Now notice I said quality pay. Well, I made 50 00:00:38.850 --> 00:00:41.369 bucks a day doing kind of the same work. I did 00:00:41.369 --> 00:00:43.810 one side job for a guy, worked 10 hours in a 00:00:43.810 --> 00:00:46.710 day. He paid me $1 ,000. So I looked at that 00:00:46.710 --> 00:00:49.159 $1 ,000 and I went... I did this yesterday for 00:00:49.159 --> 00:00:52.020 $50. I think I know my future and getting things 00:00:52.020 --> 00:00:54.340 done because the imperfect action is the key 00:00:54.340 --> 00:00:57.460 to success. Hey, family. This is a Thriveware 00:00:57.460 --> 00:01:00.280 journey. Look, life's too short to just get by 00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:03.700 and 2025 is the year to persist. We're here to 00:01:03.700 --> 00:01:06.879 grow, build and thrive. This podcast is all about 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:09.659 powerful stories, real talk and practical steps 00:01:09.659 --> 00:01:12.239 to help you level up in every area of your life. 00:01:12.299 --> 00:01:14.439 Now, if that sounds like something you need, 00:01:14.599 --> 00:01:17.569 don't just watch. Be a part of the journey. Let 00:01:17.569 --> 00:01:20.109 us know you're here. Do us a favor. If you're 00:01:20.109 --> 00:01:22.590 listening on the podcast platform, download the 00:01:22.590 --> 00:01:24.650 episode. And if you're watching on YouTube, you 00:01:24.650 --> 00:01:27.450 know what to do. Hit that like button, subscribe, 00:01:27.709 --> 00:01:30.109 and turn on those notifications so you never 00:01:30.109 --> 00:01:34.290 miss an episode. And as we always say, let's 00:01:34.290 --> 00:01:53.239 make thriving our new norm. Yo, today on the 00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:56.159 Thrive World journey, we have the pleasure of 00:01:56.159 --> 00:01:59.420 having a conversation with Richard Walsh, who 00:01:59.420 --> 00:02:02.340 is a 30 -year entrepreneur. best -selling author 00:02:02.340 --> 00:02:06.560 of the book Escape the Owner Prison and CEO of 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:09.139 Sharpen the Spirit Coaching. He was a Marine, 00:02:09.340 --> 00:02:12.639 he is a Marine veteran, champion boxer, and proud 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:15.620 dad of six. He's passionate about helping business 00:02:15.620 --> 00:02:18.879 owners create lasting success while loving life. 00:02:19.060 --> 00:02:21.259 And I'm really just glad to have that type of 00:02:21.259 --> 00:02:23.819 energy here today on the podcast. And Richard, 00:02:23.860 --> 00:02:26.020 how are you doing today? I'm awesome, Michael, 00:02:26.039 --> 00:02:28.000 and it's great to be here, man. Appreciate you 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:29.979 having me on. Yeah, I'm glad to have you on. 00:02:30.809 --> 00:02:35.370 My producer Yvonne and I, we go through people 00:02:35.370 --> 00:02:39.090 who we believe that have great stories to tell, 00:02:40.050 --> 00:02:43.050 great actionable advice to give. And I know that 00:02:43.050 --> 00:02:45.430 you're one of those, one of those individuals. 00:02:45.710 --> 00:02:48.530 And so I'm glad to have you here. Richard, what's 00:02:48.530 --> 00:02:50.849 on your mind today? Like right now, as we entered 00:02:50.849 --> 00:02:53.500 into this conversation. Well, you know, I work 00:02:53.500 --> 00:02:55.919 with business owners, right? I love entrepreneurs. 00:02:56.060 --> 00:02:58.560 I work with them. And I think what I've seen, 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:01.939 I've been in 30 plus years in the business space, 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:03.840 right? As an entrepreneur and I've been coaching 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:06.120 for seven, eight years now. business owners. 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:08.719 And the reason why I wrote my book, Michael, 00:03:08.780 --> 00:03:11.460 because I started seeing patterns with most businesses. 00:03:11.800 --> 00:03:13.759 They're all doing the same thing. And I'm going 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:16.120 to be blunt and say doing the wrong things. I 00:03:16.120 --> 00:03:18.639 did the wrong things for 20 years. OK, so no 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:22.539 one's immune to it. Right. OK. But so my my mission 00:03:22.539 --> 00:03:24.639 became, hey, I want to really help business owners. 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:26.639 I want to help. So I pick a number. Let's help 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:28.800 10 ,000 business owners create freedom, profit, 00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:30.580 and impact in their business. That'd be great. 00:03:30.819 --> 00:03:33.280 Love to do that. So what I want to do is help 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:35.360 people escape the owner prison. And what the 00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:38.580 owner prison is, is that you start a business, 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:40.300 right? You got to work really hard the first 00:03:40.300 --> 00:03:42.020 couple of years. No way of getting around that. 00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:43.560 You're going to wear a lot of hats, do a lot 00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:45.939 of this stuff, figure things out, get some scars. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:47.719 As I like to say, you get punched in the face 00:03:47.719 --> 00:03:49.740 here and there, right? But you're going to keep 00:03:49.740 --> 00:03:52.180 going. The problem, Michael, is next thing you 00:03:52.180 --> 00:03:54.819 know, 10 years has gone by and you've repeated 00:03:54.819 --> 00:03:57.580 the first two, five times. And that's where they're 00:03:57.580 --> 00:03:59.560 stuck. They're making a little more money, but 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:01.120 they don't have the freedom. They're not making 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:03.919 the impact. They're really not making real money, 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:06.560 right? Because real money is what makes a difference. 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:11.199 A little bit more is just a raise. Right. Right. 00:04:12.719 --> 00:04:15.879 So we want profit to create real freedom because 00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:18.079 we all get in business to have freedom. We want 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:20.019 to control our time. We want to go to every one 00:04:20.019 --> 00:04:22.199 of our kids games, recitals and everything, anything 00:04:22.199 --> 00:04:23.980 else they might be doing. Right. We want to spend 00:04:23.980 --> 00:04:26.220 that quality time with our spouse. Right. We 00:04:26.220 --> 00:04:28.680 want to take time off and not call in, make sure 00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:30.959 the place didn't burn down because I was gone 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:33.660 for three days, that kind of thing. So that became 00:04:33.660 --> 00:04:36.199 my big mission. So I love talking about that 00:04:36.199 --> 00:04:38.339 and the ways to do that. Like you mentioned in 00:04:38.339 --> 00:04:41.860 the intro. with actionable steps, I'm all about 00:04:41.860 --> 00:04:44.360 taking action. Yes. Okay. I mean, I can talk 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:46.699 a lot, but when I talk, it's about things to 00:04:46.699 --> 00:04:48.939 do and getting things done. Because the imperfect 00:04:48.939 --> 00:04:51.819 action is the key to success. You don't have 00:04:51.819 --> 00:04:54.319 to be perfect, but you got to move. I think that's 00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:57.779 the key, especially across the conversation that 00:04:57.779 --> 00:05:00.879 I've been having. And even before the podcast, 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:04.839 it's taking those imperfect steps that move you 00:05:04.839 --> 00:05:09.620 forward. I would even put myself in that situation 00:05:09.620 --> 00:05:14.279 where I would have to wait till A, B, C, D, and 00:05:14.279 --> 00:05:18.959 E were in line for me to actually take action 00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:22.180 on F, G, and H. I would have to wait for that, 00:05:22.199 --> 00:05:28.319 but it never lined up that way. I have to take 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:32.040 imperfect action. to make my life happen, especially 00:05:32.040 --> 00:05:34.740 in the entrepreneurial world. Yeah, it's that 00:05:34.740 --> 00:05:37.740 analysis paralysis, right? Yeah. You're getting 00:05:37.740 --> 00:05:40.319 ready to get ready. You're trying to make everything 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:42.360 perfect. You want all your ducks in a row. They're 00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:45.750 never in a row. I've been in business 35 years, 00:05:45.769 --> 00:05:48.769 never in a row. I've had great success, absolute 00:05:48.769 --> 00:05:51.069 failure, lost everything in 08, 09, had to start 00:05:51.069 --> 00:05:53.670 completely over, lost my business, my home, I 00:05:53.670 --> 00:05:56.050 had six little kids at the time, my wife, and 00:05:56.050 --> 00:05:57.889 I still have six kids, there's just not a little 00:05:57.889 --> 00:06:01.310 anymore. But it's all this stuff that you're 00:06:01.310 --> 00:06:04.209 going to constantly adapt, pivot, and make an 00:06:04.209 --> 00:06:07.310 attempt to control to get you where you want 00:06:07.310 --> 00:06:09.750 to go. So once you're able to embrace imperfect 00:06:09.750 --> 00:06:12.009 action, that's when you begin to make headway. 00:06:14.049 --> 00:06:16.870 because if you think about it, think about riding 00:06:16.870 --> 00:06:19.610 a bicycle or even walking. You know it's impossible 00:06:19.610 --> 00:06:22.129 to go straight in a straight line. You're always 00:06:22.129 --> 00:06:25.490 adapting to moving on a bicycle, walking. So 00:06:25.490 --> 00:06:27.449 what makes you think your business is going to 00:06:27.449 --> 00:06:29.189 go on a straight line? It doesn't. It's not. 00:06:29.899 --> 00:06:32.339 Right. Exactly. So we want to understand that. 00:06:32.339 --> 00:06:34.720 And once you understand, you get it. You plotted 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:38.379 the course. So I'm going from A to B, but in 00:06:38.379 --> 00:06:39.959 between there, I'm going to veer a little to 00:06:39.959 --> 00:06:41.639 the left. I'm going to come back center. I'm 00:06:41.639 --> 00:06:42.680 going to go a little bit to the right. I'm going 00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:44.300 to come back center, but you're going to keep 00:06:44.300 --> 00:06:46.339 coming back to center. And once you understand 00:06:46.339 --> 00:06:48.279 that, that's when you make those adaptations 00:06:48.279 --> 00:06:52.579 as you go. So they become a lot sooner. So you 00:06:52.579 --> 00:06:54.660 correct quicker, right? And you stay on track. 00:06:54.779 --> 00:06:57.920 Can you speak to that mindset though? When someone, 00:06:58.199 --> 00:07:01.970 let's just... talk about a startup, um, entrepreneur 00:07:01.970 --> 00:07:04.230 having that mindset. They think that everything 00:07:04.230 --> 00:07:08.110 has to go perfectly right before the next thing 00:07:08.110 --> 00:07:10.730 happens. Can you speak to the mindset of it's 00:07:10.730 --> 00:07:13.069 not going to go that way, you know, when they're 00:07:13.069 --> 00:07:15.850 in that space? Yeah. When it, when it gets, I 00:07:15.850 --> 00:07:18.029 call it, you want to have ignorance on fire. 00:07:18.410 --> 00:07:21.449 That's what you want. Ignorance on fire. I mean, 00:07:21.629 --> 00:07:23.689 you're just doing it because believe me, you're 00:07:23.689 --> 00:07:26.459 not that you're able to continue. adjusting and 00:07:26.459 --> 00:07:28.420 moving forward. Like I said, that first two years 00:07:28.420 --> 00:07:30.660 is going to be a lot of confusion, a lot of bumps 00:07:30.660 --> 00:07:32.939 and bruises, taking stuff through like that. 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:35.339 But you have to understand that that beginning 00:07:35.339 --> 00:07:37.879 progress, taking those first steps, it's inertia, 00:07:38.259 --> 00:07:40.180 right? Body in motion stays in motion. You're 00:07:40.180 --> 00:07:42.459 going to keep moving towards the target. And 00:07:42.459 --> 00:07:44.660 that's what really makes the difference. So when 00:07:44.660 --> 00:07:46.480 you're new and you're in that startup page, whether 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:48.839 you're just, you got this napkin and you got 00:07:48.839 --> 00:07:51.160 this great idea, you thought of one night, now 00:07:51.160 --> 00:07:53.699 what? Well, take action, right? You're never 00:07:53.699 --> 00:07:56.360 going to know the whole plan. Right. So there's 00:07:56.360 --> 00:07:57.839 things, there's additional things we can talk 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:00.519 about you can do to kind of help solidify where 00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:03.060 exactly you're going. But it's that launching 00:08:03.060 --> 00:08:06.040 part that people get wrong. You know, they hesitate 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:09.740 way too long before getting going. We're going 00:08:09.740 --> 00:08:13.379 to do this editing. You went out. Yeah. I don't 00:08:13.379 --> 00:08:15.000 know what happened with that. I don't know what 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:17.860 happened either, but it came back in mid conversation. 00:08:18.939 --> 00:08:21.019 It was, I don't know if you want to repeat it 00:08:21.019 --> 00:08:23.639 again. I totally can. Yeah. Cause I know with 00:08:23.639 --> 00:08:26.220 Riverside, when I have Riverside as well, it 00:08:26.220 --> 00:08:29.519 keeps going cause it records, but this like completely 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:31.500 dropped me off. I had to sign back in. So that 00:08:31.500 --> 00:08:35.379 was weird. Um, it might, it might do it on your 00:08:35.379 --> 00:08:38.139 side. So this part will just, yeah. You want 00:08:38.139 --> 00:08:40.419 to do it again or you want to do it again? Let's 00:08:40.419 --> 00:08:43.759 do it again. I'm a professional. I can do it 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:48.539 twice. Let's just get back to you. So ask me 00:08:48.539 --> 00:08:49.820 about the startup thing and we'll take it away 00:08:49.820 --> 00:08:54.240 from there. So in this space where entrepreneurs, 00:08:54.700 --> 00:08:57.519 they want things to go perfectly straight, right? 00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:00.340 But it doesn't necessarily go that way. And in 00:09:00.340 --> 00:09:03.159 that space, can you speak to that mindset? Yeah. 00:09:03.179 --> 00:09:05.779 So let's take this from the startup. Okay. You 00:09:05.779 --> 00:09:08.039 got it. You got a napkin idea. You wrote it out. 00:09:08.100 --> 00:09:09.740 You got this great idea. Now you're doing a little 00:09:09.740 --> 00:09:11.700 research. You started to put things together. 00:09:11.950 --> 00:09:13.710 And then you're going to keep, well, I got to 00:09:13.710 --> 00:09:15.809 get this. I got to get this. So I need this much 00:09:15.809 --> 00:09:17.909 money. I have to have the right amount of money. 00:09:17.970 --> 00:09:20.190 You want to be fully capitalized before you start. 00:09:20.289 --> 00:09:22.409 Never happens. Okay. So a lot of these things 00:09:22.409 --> 00:09:24.230 that in their head, they think they're supposed 00:09:24.230 --> 00:09:25.990 to do. Cause remember, no one really teaches 00:09:25.990 --> 00:09:28.330 how to start a business. There's no courses on 00:09:28.330 --> 00:09:30.570 that. Really? Right. Really? At least from a 00:09:30.570 --> 00:09:33.549 formal education standpoint. So You need to move. 00:09:33.669 --> 00:09:35.610 Yeah, there should be. Absolutely. You need to 00:09:35.610 --> 00:09:37.990 start making the move. Understand that you're 00:09:37.990 --> 00:09:39.809 never going to be fully capitalized. You're never 00:09:39.809 --> 00:09:42.190 going to have all the right ideas. You're never 00:09:42.190 --> 00:09:45.029 going to have the perfect path. OK, but beginning 00:09:45.029 --> 00:09:46.929 and moving is how you get there. You're going 00:09:46.929 --> 00:09:48.809 to climb a mountain. It's the first few steps. 00:09:48.909 --> 00:09:50.710 You know, there may be a trail or may not, but 00:09:50.710 --> 00:09:52.129 you're going to have to navigate this stuff. 00:09:52.190 --> 00:09:54.710 So you're always going to be navigating and pinpointing 00:09:54.710 --> 00:09:56.710 exactly where you need to go. And that's that 00:09:56.710 --> 00:09:59.490 movement. I talk about ignorance on fire. Ignorance 00:09:59.490 --> 00:10:01.789 on fire is just I don't know everything, but 00:10:01.789 --> 00:10:04.220 I'm going. But I'm going I'm excited to get there 00:10:04.220 --> 00:10:05.500 and I'm going to get there and it's gonna I'm 00:10:05.500 --> 00:10:07.779 going to figure out as I go. I never my first 00:10:07.779 --> 00:10:09.539 business was literally a wheelbarrow on a shovel 00:10:09.539 --> 00:10:12.200 and I'm shoveling rock, you know, and I made 00:10:12.200 --> 00:10:15.039 like, I don't know, I made 50 bucks a day doing 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:17.659 kind of the same work. I did one side job for 00:10:17.659 --> 00:10:19.899 a guy. Worked 10 hours in a day. He paid me a 00:10:19.899 --> 00:10:23.240 thousand dollars. So I looked at a thousand dollars. 00:10:23.320 --> 00:10:25.940 I went, I did this yesterday for fifty dollars. 00:10:26.019 --> 00:10:28.519 I think I know my future. I'm going to do it, 00:10:28.519 --> 00:10:32.840 but I can shovel. Every day, I will make a thousand 00:10:32.840 --> 00:10:35.460 dollars a day every day. Shelf and rock. So that's 00:10:35.460 --> 00:10:38.759 how I began. I didn't have a plan. Right now. 00:10:38.779 --> 00:10:40.919 Now, if you can have somewhat of a plan that 00:10:40.919 --> 00:10:42.960 of course that's better. Uh, but there's also 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:44.840 times when you like seeing opportunity, I jumped 00:10:44.840 --> 00:10:46.820 on the opportunity and that opportunity changed 00:10:46.820 --> 00:10:50.799 my entire life. Yeah. I think that sometimes 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:55.360 I guess the saying is preparation next to opportunity. 00:10:55.720 --> 00:10:59.100 That creates your luck. Right. Right. Um, you, 00:10:59.210 --> 00:11:03.129 You were a Marine veteran. You are a Marine veteran. 00:11:03.409 --> 00:11:06.450 You're a champion boxer. Black belt. You're a 00:11:06.450 --> 00:11:09.769 black belt. Does that mindset also help you in 00:11:09.769 --> 00:11:15.649 your entrepreneurial journey? Yeah, I think it 00:11:15.649 --> 00:11:17.610 does, Michael, because it's not something you 00:11:17.610 --> 00:11:21.649 think of at the time. Now I have the luxury of 00:11:21.649 --> 00:11:25.720 35 years in business. Okay. But I look back and 00:11:25.720 --> 00:11:27.379 I do a lot of podcasts and obviously, you know, 00:11:27.379 --> 00:11:29.320 and I talk about it and it sure does. You look 00:11:29.320 --> 00:11:31.700 back now and go, wow, that, cause it's a mindset, 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:33.860 whether I had it pre the Marine Corps, which 00:11:33.860 --> 00:11:36.440 I did, I was a pretty hard, I have a lot of, 00:11:36.460 --> 00:11:38.440 I guess they call it grit, right? A lot of perseverance. 00:11:38.620 --> 00:11:41.559 I go through a lot to get what I want. I will 00:11:41.559 --> 00:11:43.899 endure a lot of pain. I will endure suffering 00:11:43.899 --> 00:11:47.039 to achieve what I want to achieve. So, and the 00:11:47.039 --> 00:11:50.860 Marine Corps is all, it's all that. Yeah, I can 00:11:50.860 --> 00:11:53.779 imagine. Every day. My son is in the Marine Corps 00:11:53.779 --> 00:11:55.659 now. He's been in for a year, right? He's going 00:11:55.659 --> 00:11:58.720 through all the same stuff. He's doing way better 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:01.179 than I did. He's doing some great stuff. But 00:12:01.179 --> 00:12:04.259 it is, and then the next, and then boxing. Every 00:12:04.259 --> 00:12:06.460 day, there's four steps to get up to the ring, 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:08.179 right? There's four steps. You climb up, you 00:12:08.179 --> 00:12:10.059 climb through the ropes, and you spar. Well, 00:12:10.059 --> 00:12:11.980 I sparred six days a week. I was going to be 00:12:11.980 --> 00:12:13.100 a champion. I'm going to be great. I want to 00:12:13.100 --> 00:12:15.519 do this a lot. Those are the longest four steps 00:12:15.519 --> 00:12:19.600 of your life. Every day. It never got easy. Here 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:24.379 I go. Time to take a beating. Throw down from 00:12:24.379 --> 00:12:26.279 five or six rounds right to it, then get out 00:12:26.279 --> 00:12:28.419 and train and wake up in the morning and run 00:12:28.419 --> 00:12:30.980 and do all this stuff. But then there comes the 00:12:30.980 --> 00:12:32.860 championship. Then you start to win because you 00:12:32.860 --> 00:12:35.059 put in the time. And now, hey, I got plates and 00:12:35.059 --> 00:12:36.980 wires. I got a new nose. I got all kinds of neat 00:12:36.980 --> 00:12:40.740 things for my time in the ring, right? But it 00:12:40.740 --> 00:12:42.919 taught me that everything you have to do, the 00:12:42.919 --> 00:12:45.559 perseverance, the grit, the time in the game 00:12:45.559 --> 00:12:47.480 is going to pay out at the end. You don't always 00:12:47.480 --> 00:12:50.220 know when the end is. Right. But now we've been 00:12:50.220 --> 00:12:53.059 to enough ends with multiple businesses. I've 00:12:53.059 --> 00:12:54.860 seen different things in helping other people 00:12:54.860 --> 00:12:58.799 that I understand the value of it. Right. Sometimes 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:00.960 when you're young or you're just starting out 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:03.440 in that business, it's hard to have the value 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:07.200 like in you, like understand what why am I going 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:10.620 to do this? Or when you're in it and it's 18 00:13:10.620 --> 00:13:12.519 months in and you still haven't made any real 00:13:12.519 --> 00:13:15.149 money and you're like, you don't. That's when 00:13:15.149 --> 00:13:17.230 you have to push through. You have to understand 00:13:17.230 --> 00:13:19.590 the value that's going to be. And I'll tell you, 00:13:19.730 --> 00:13:21.509 Michael, it's like this interview we're doing, 00:13:21.690 --> 00:13:23.850 I hope it helps people because they need to go 00:13:23.850 --> 00:13:26.509 to people who have been there and done it. So 00:13:26.509 --> 00:13:28.350 they can hear it and go, listen, and you're going 00:13:28.350 --> 00:13:30.149 to hear the same story if you talk to anyone 00:13:30.149 --> 00:13:32.250 who's been in business more than five years, 00:13:32.470 --> 00:13:34.409 seven years, 10 years, you're going to get that 00:13:34.409 --> 00:13:37.350 because no one's immune to it. That's what I 00:13:37.350 --> 00:13:39.710 think social media and all this other stuff has 00:13:39.710 --> 00:13:42.830 really been kind of a detriment to the entrepreneur 00:13:42.830 --> 00:13:44.850 because everyone's painting their pretty picture. 00:13:45.070 --> 00:13:47.529 It's only the highlight reel. It's never the 00:13:47.529 --> 00:13:50.529 suffering, the pain, the no money, the barely 00:13:50.529 --> 00:13:53.090 making payroll, getting a loan to keep going 00:13:53.090 --> 00:13:55.049 and stuff like that. So people don't really see 00:13:55.049 --> 00:13:58.710 that stuff. And I just like to share the reality 00:13:58.710 --> 00:14:01.649 of it. Well, that is the reality of it. And one 00:14:01.649 --> 00:14:04.649 of the episodes that it was a solo episode and 00:14:04.809 --> 00:14:08.850 I mentioned that in where I talked about comparison 00:14:08.850 --> 00:14:15.149 and when you watch other people and they're flossing 00:14:15.149 --> 00:14:18.250 or they're at a great level in their life you 00:14:18.250 --> 00:14:21.549 don't see all the stuff behind what they went 00:14:21.549 --> 00:14:25.610 through and with all social media stuff all you 00:14:25.610 --> 00:14:29.110 are looking at is the highlights the highlight 00:14:29.110 --> 00:14:34.090 reels or what's curated for people to see so 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:38.659 It's not always going to be a highlight reel. 00:14:39.500 --> 00:14:41.460 That's exactly what it is, is a highlight reel. 00:14:41.500 --> 00:14:43.899 Those are the great moments that you're putting 00:14:43.899 --> 00:14:47.019 on display. And when you're in the entrepreneurial 00:14:47.019 --> 00:14:52.320 journey, it's not like that. Can you speak to 00:14:52.320 --> 00:15:01.059 the time when you actually, 35 years in, you 00:15:01.059 --> 00:15:04.460 had businesses and up to, I think you said 2008, 00:15:04.740 --> 00:15:08.539 2009, you were dealing with, I guess, a crisis. 00:15:08.860 --> 00:15:11.519 Can you talk about that? Yeah. So, you know, 00:15:11.620 --> 00:15:13.519 first 20 years in business, so I spent about 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:15.720 20 years building a custom water feature business. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:18.919 I added steel sculpture to it. I became an internationally 00:15:18.919 --> 00:15:21.080 recognized steel sculptor. I was one of the best 00:15:21.080 --> 00:15:24.720 water feature builders in the country. Awards 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:28.220 and on committees and accolades. print magazine, 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:30.120 I've been in everything, right? So going really, 00:15:30.139 --> 00:15:32.299 really well. Oh, we don't nine comes and everything 00:15:32.299 --> 00:15:34.639 financial financially begins to collapse, right? 00:15:34.759 --> 00:15:38.080 And constrict. Um, well, I was definitely the 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:40.600 luxury item. Okay. People didn't have to have 00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:43.159 a water feature in their backyard, right? They 00:15:43.159 --> 00:15:46.440 have to have a sculpture. So let me just tell 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:50.059 you people, they didn't get them. Okay. Right. 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:53.019 November 5th, 2008, I lost a half a million dollars 00:15:53.019 --> 00:15:54.879 on that day. Okay. And that was the beginning 00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:57.269 of the slope. All right. And the cliff. Let's 00:15:57.269 --> 00:15:59.289 forget the slope. It was a cliff. Just straight 00:15:59.289 --> 00:16:02.289 dropped off. Things are going, you know, now 00:16:02.289 --> 00:16:05.110 we're inching into 09 and I'm like, yeah, this 00:16:05.110 --> 00:16:07.830 is not going to happen. I didn't know what was 00:16:07.830 --> 00:16:10.350 going to happen, Michael. I knew that we probably 00:16:10.350 --> 00:16:11.850 weren't going to make it. I just didn't know 00:16:11.850 --> 00:16:13.950 when, but I didn't see us even get through the 00:16:13.950 --> 00:16:15.970 year. And I'll tell you, like I said, I had six 00:16:15.970 --> 00:16:18.350 small children, four years and younger at the 00:16:18.350 --> 00:16:20.899 time. Right. My wife and I see all this stuff 00:16:20.899 --> 00:16:22.899 going and I'm like trying to work harder and 00:16:22.899 --> 00:16:24.879 do more things to save the business. How are 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:26.480 we going to keep this thing going? It's all about 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:29.700 that. So my whole 20 years and I've been married 00:16:29.700 --> 00:16:32.179 nine years at the time, eight, nine years. Right. 00:16:32.980 --> 00:16:35.360 But the majority of my building was when I was 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:37.320 single, I could do whatever I wanted to do. I 00:16:37.320 --> 00:16:39.340 built, I spent all my time. Everything was my 00:16:39.340 --> 00:16:42.740 business. So my whole focus, Michael, was businesses 00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:46.669 first. Right. right now that my identity was 00:16:46.669 --> 00:16:50.129 in my business right without my business i was 00:16:50.129 --> 00:16:53.409 nobody right i and now i built it now i'm in 00:16:53.409 --> 00:16:55.809 magazines i'm in all and i'm like i'm nobody 00:16:55.809 --> 00:16:58.029 if this doesn't make it what am i going to do 00:16:58.029 --> 00:17:00.990 so i was super blessed to have this epiphany 00:17:00.990 --> 00:17:02.960 one morning I woke up and I'm thinking about 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:05.480 my kids and I'm thinking how I come home or what 00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:07.339 time it is. They all run to me and crawled me 00:17:07.339 --> 00:17:09.140 and they love to be with me and we get to hang 00:17:09.140 --> 00:17:12.279 out. And then one day in the morning, my four 00:17:12.279 --> 00:17:14.160 year olds like running behind my truck in the 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:16.339 driveway crying because I'm leaving. You know, 00:17:16.339 --> 00:17:17.420 and I'm looking at that in a rear view mirror. 00:17:17.460 --> 00:17:19.680 And of course, I kept going because I got a business 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:21.960 to run, you know. And then I started thinking 00:17:21.960 --> 00:17:24.299 on that. I'm like, what am I doing? And I started 00:17:24.299 --> 00:17:26.859 thinking like, if I stay on this path where business 00:17:26.859 --> 00:17:28.779 is first. It's everything, right? It's got to 00:17:28.779 --> 00:17:30.240 be number one. It's got to come first. I got 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:32.720 to support. I got to blah, blah, blah. I'm like, 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:35.019 I'm going to actually destroy my children's futures. 00:17:35.299 --> 00:17:37.559 They're going to have broken marriages, failed 00:17:37.559 --> 00:17:40.940 relationships, right? They might be good at business, 00:17:41.220 --> 00:17:43.259 but that's all they're going to have. They'll 00:17:43.259 --> 00:17:45.339 have no quality friendships because everything 00:17:45.339 --> 00:17:47.759 will be dedicated to that. Their identity become 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:50.799 that like me. That'll be their mission, right? 00:17:51.380 --> 00:17:54.119 So God literally gave me this window to see into 00:17:54.119 --> 00:17:57.779 the future. And I got out of bed. I went into 00:17:57.779 --> 00:17:59.660 the office and told my office manager, we're 00:17:59.660 --> 00:18:01.900 shutting down today. I went to my yard, to my 00:18:01.900 --> 00:18:03.859 guys who've been with me over 10 years, the same 00:18:03.859 --> 00:18:05.799 crews. And I said, guys, we're finished. We're 00:18:05.799 --> 00:18:07.779 wrapping it up this week. I don't know what I'm 00:18:07.779 --> 00:18:09.900 going to do, but I'm not going to do this. Because 00:18:09.900 --> 00:18:12.119 remember, more is caught than taught with kids. 00:18:12.779 --> 00:18:17.619 I can tell my kids, I can tell my kids, and it's 00:18:17.619 --> 00:18:20.680 the truth. Like if you, and I know now because 00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:22.960 I have six kids, we're all upper teens and twenties 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:26.039 and whatever. And I've seen other ones, but they 00:18:26.039 --> 00:18:28.660 do, what they see, not what you tell them. Like 00:18:28.660 --> 00:18:30.400 you can tell them all the right stuff and some 00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:32.759 of that will sink in. But if you're not congruent 00:18:32.759 --> 00:18:35.299 with the way you walk, if you're not walking 00:18:35.299 --> 00:18:38.319 that talk, the defaults can be what you did, 00:18:38.460 --> 00:18:41.519 not what you said. Yeah, agree. And that was, 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:44.480 that was the big epiphany. I'm like, I, I have 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:46.839 no, they got to see a different part. I have 00:18:46.839 --> 00:18:49.480 to change. So I shut everything down. Like we 00:18:49.480 --> 00:18:52.200 lost our home anyways, had to relocate, moved 00:18:52.200 --> 00:18:53.779 to a different state, started over. I didn't 00:18:53.779 --> 00:18:55.339 even know what I was going to do. Right. All 00:18:55.339 --> 00:18:57.440 I knew is I was going to do what I did because 00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:00.559 it was so it became who I was. So I have even 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:03.000 a video where I'm burning all my uniforms, my 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:04.619 shirt brand new, sort of throwing them on the 00:19:04.619 --> 00:19:06.599 fire like I will never be owned by my business 00:19:06.599 --> 00:19:09.460 again. That's I like I like that. You know, and 00:19:09.460 --> 00:19:14.240 and and I'll give one one. one caveat like so 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:16.380 I owned like everything I had equipment trucks 00:19:16.380 --> 00:19:19.140 and trailers and machines and I sold everything 00:19:19.140 --> 00:19:20.920 right like the worst time you could possibly 00:19:20.920 --> 00:19:23.119 sell probably got 20 cents on the dollar because 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:25.539 I wasn't going to be tempted to do what I did 00:19:25.539 --> 00:19:27.779 now I could have probably kept some of that stuff 00:19:27.779 --> 00:19:29.700 done some side hustle you know made some money 00:19:29.700 --> 00:19:31.799 and everything else but I don't operate that 00:19:31.799 --> 00:19:35.140 way I'm all or nothing guy okay this is me I 00:19:35.140 --> 00:19:37.519 don't recommend people do what I did okay it 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:40.579 was very stressful so I'm thinking like well 00:19:40.579 --> 00:19:42.700 what am I going to do I have to do something 00:19:42.700 --> 00:19:44.200 different. I can't do that. So I'm like, well, 00:19:44.279 --> 00:19:46.200 I'm a, I love training people. I love fitness, 00:19:46.200 --> 00:19:48.200 right? I have, I'm a certified personal trainer 00:19:48.200 --> 00:19:50.559 since like early nineties on the boxer black 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:52.180 belt and all this stuff. So I started training. 00:19:52.380 --> 00:19:55.059 I go, wow, go to any time fitness. I became a 00:19:55.059 --> 00:19:57.240 personal trainer. Okay. Well, I'm a little high 00:19:57.240 --> 00:19:59.980 voltage, right? Like, so I, they really didn't 00:19:59.980 --> 00:20:01.500 have a program. I built this whole thing and 00:20:01.500 --> 00:20:03.920 a year later I'm trainer of the year. Okay. And 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:05.160 so I'm like, well, you know what that means to 00:20:05.160 --> 00:20:11.559 an entrepreneur. We go open a gym. I'm going 00:20:11.559 --> 00:20:13.140 to go, I'm going to do bootcamp style training. 00:20:13.220 --> 00:20:15.500 This is going to be awesome. And I, I did, and 00:20:15.500 --> 00:20:17.619 it was really great. So I moved into that. Then 00:20:17.619 --> 00:20:19.960 I got back into the construction world, uh, doing 00:20:19.960 --> 00:20:22.160 roofing, siding windows. I scaled that business 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:24.519 did that. And that's when people started asking 00:20:24.519 --> 00:20:27.420 me, how'd you go from all that in the beginning, 00:20:27.500 --> 00:20:30.079 losing everything back to this. Uh, that's how 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:32.480 I put together my book because I started working 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:35.240 with guys and started seeing the patterns. And 00:20:35.240 --> 00:20:38.410 that's why I wrote the book. Yeah. How do you 00:20:38.410 --> 00:20:42.410 see the dots that you speak about? Like this 00:20:42.410 --> 00:20:45.849 is, like you come from, you move, you lose everything, 00:20:45.970 --> 00:20:51.369 you move, and you're all in, right? And things 00:20:51.369 --> 00:20:56.230 start to connect for you. How does one see the 00:20:56.230 --> 00:20:58.690 connection when you're in it? Well, what I had 00:20:58.690 --> 00:21:01.349 to do, and this is kind of the painful part, 00:21:01.630 --> 00:21:05.130 you have to look at, you have to look back and, 00:21:05.450 --> 00:21:09.309 and define all your mistakes. What did I do wrong? 00:21:09.650 --> 00:21:11.910 Yeah, go find them. Like, what did I do? Why 00:21:11.910 --> 00:21:13.789 couldn't I weather that storm? It's not like 00:21:13.789 --> 00:21:16.349 every business in the world went under. Right. 00:21:16.710 --> 00:21:18.230 People did really well during that time. People 00:21:18.230 --> 00:21:20.809 did well, yeah. Right. Everyone does. Great Depression. 00:21:21.210 --> 00:21:22.690 More millionaires were made in that time than 00:21:22.690 --> 00:21:25.150 ever in history. Right. But the whole, everyone 00:21:25.150 --> 00:21:27.450 was, you know, it was a Great Depression. This 00:21:27.450 --> 00:21:29.230 was a similar thing. So I really had to take 00:21:29.230 --> 00:21:31.829 a look, a hard look and say, OK, all right, you 00:21:31.829 --> 00:21:34.690 were great at what you did. You were number one. 00:21:35.159 --> 00:21:37.400 You're out front, but good on a magazine. All 00:21:37.400 --> 00:21:39.460 that stuff was all great. But what didn't you 00:21:39.460 --> 00:21:43.180 do? Oh, the business part. Okay. You didn't pay 00:21:43.180 --> 00:21:45.059 attention to your taxes. You didn't, you didn't 00:21:45.059 --> 00:21:47.339 pay attention to what's actually going on. You 00:21:47.339 --> 00:21:50.299 didn't manage your money well. You made a ton 00:21:50.299 --> 00:21:52.859 of money, you knucklehead. And all you do is 00:21:52.859 --> 00:21:55.819 buy equipment and stuff for cash, like an idiot. 00:21:57.539 --> 00:21:59.640 I mean, if you know what I'm saying, Michael, 00:21:59.640 --> 00:22:02.099 if I just have what I lost, I'd be good to go. 00:22:02.359 --> 00:22:05.039 Okay. You really had to take those hard looks 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:08.380 like I can't do that again. Add on to the time. 00:22:08.619 --> 00:22:11.220 You learned. Oh yeah. And just like no time for 00:22:11.220 --> 00:22:14.519 my kids. How do I build a business now that doesn't 00:22:14.519 --> 00:22:17.680 own me? How does it serve me and me not serve 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:22.200 it? So that was it. And it's hard to do that 00:22:22.200 --> 00:22:25.400 because that first 20 years, Michael was driven 00:22:25.400 --> 00:22:30.539 by ego and pride. I mean, I wouldn't take help 00:22:30.539 --> 00:22:34.399 from anyone. And I had billionaire clients. offering 00:22:34.399 --> 00:22:36.400 me mentorship and help. What do you know? You 00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:38.660 don't build water features. You just own professional 00:22:38.660 --> 00:22:40.880 sports teams and manufacturing plants. What do 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:43.500 you know about business? That's the level of 00:22:43.500 --> 00:22:47.900 stupid I operated at. That's a good lesson to 00:22:47.900 --> 00:22:52.180 learn. I put the ego in a box. I got rid of the 00:22:52.180 --> 00:22:54.900 pride. I'm starting over and I'm going to be 00:22:54.900 --> 00:22:56.839 open. I'm going to listen to people. How do I 00:22:56.839 --> 00:22:59.519 scale? Who's done this already? That became my 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:02.119 new thing. Who's already done this? I am not 00:23:02.119 --> 00:23:05.680 the first gym. In the world. Okay, so I started 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:07.539 getting the right mentors the right coaches who 00:23:07.539 --> 00:23:09.539 are gonna help me with this stuff Construction 00:23:09.539 --> 00:23:12.119 same thing, you know who's done what I want to 00:23:12.119 --> 00:23:14.680 do Let's follow those people so that and that 00:23:14.680 --> 00:23:18.619 and that sounds super obvious Michael Yeah, but 00:23:18.619 --> 00:23:22.000 the reality is like for 20 years now when I started 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:23.559 there was no internet You didn't have coaches 00:23:23.559 --> 00:23:25.799 everywhere and it was a little different game, 00:23:25.799 --> 00:23:28.720 but it didn't matter. I had great I was I was 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:31.519 serving a high -end clientele High -end clientele, 00:23:31.660 --> 00:23:34.759 they're very successful people. People you might 00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:38.059 want to hang around and get advice. And actually 00:23:38.059 --> 00:23:40.599 apply it, right? So that I didn't do because 00:23:40.599 --> 00:23:43.980 I was so full of, I'm getting all the credit. 00:23:44.539 --> 00:23:47.160 I'm going to do it by myself. Twice as hard, 00:23:47.240 --> 00:23:49.519 twice as long, but I did it. That's my ego, yeah. 00:23:50.019 --> 00:23:53.119 Yeah, really tough. So that was my biggest takeaway 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:55.960 to improving myself. And that's the first thing 00:23:55.960 --> 00:23:58.359 I start with. Owners when I deal with owners 00:23:58.359 --> 00:24:00.579 when I'm coaching them. It's like we got to check 00:24:00.579 --> 00:24:03.440 that like where you add on that Yeah, you know, 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:05.599 I think this is that that's a first of all is 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:09.700 a great lesson right to like if you're Allowing 00:24:09.700 --> 00:24:12.599 your ego to drive you. I mean you're missing 00:24:12.599 --> 00:24:15.119 everything else. Yeah, you know, you're missing 00:24:15.119 --> 00:24:20.180 life You're missing, you know on so much And 00:24:20.180 --> 00:24:22.559 and sometimes you can look at people and you 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:24.880 know that that's what's driving them right as 00:24:24.880 --> 00:24:30.440 opposed to you know whatever valiant reason why 00:24:30.440 --> 00:24:34.180 they're doing what they're doing. And you said 00:24:34.180 --> 00:24:37.779 that you didn't want your business to allow you 00:24:37.779 --> 00:24:42.579 to, I guess, be a prison for you. How does one 00:24:42.579 --> 00:24:47.119 not do that for themselves? So I think the strategy 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:49.720 I've come up with is it's called exit strategy. 00:24:50.419 --> 00:24:53.400 Okay. So if you're beginning the business, okay, 00:24:53.619 --> 00:24:55.619 this is the best time to do your exit strategy 00:24:55.619 --> 00:24:57.740 before you launch your business. That's the number 00:24:57.740 --> 00:24:59.859 one time to do it. The second best time would 00:24:59.859 --> 00:25:03.319 be right now. Okay. So there's only two times. 00:25:03.640 --> 00:25:07.539 Okay. And here's, I'll give you the high level 00:25:07.539 --> 00:25:10.720 view here. So exit strategy basis is two things. 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:14.059 When and how much. When do you want to exit and 00:25:14.059 --> 00:25:15.680 how much do you want? What do you want to take 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:19.769 with you? Right. So it's real simple. OK, 10 00:25:19.769 --> 00:25:22.990 years. Pick 10 years and I want and I'm making 00:25:22.990 --> 00:25:24.990 up just throwing out a number of 10 million dollars. 00:25:25.710 --> 00:25:27.650 OK, so I want to exit for a 10 million dollar 00:25:27.650 --> 00:25:30.450 sale and I want to do that in 10 years. OK, whatever 00:25:30.450 --> 00:25:31.910 your business doesn't matter what the business 00:25:31.910 --> 00:25:34.549 is. So now from that point, I have to go, OK, 00:25:34.650 --> 00:25:36.569 well, what would that now I have to reverse from 00:25:36.569 --> 00:25:39.730 the end back to today. If that's before you launch, 00:25:39.730 --> 00:25:41.930 great. If it's your five years in tenure, whatever 00:25:41.930 --> 00:25:44.369 it is, where am I at today? What do I need to 00:25:44.369 --> 00:25:47.440 do to accomplish that? So what that does, it 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:51.099 creates a complete roadmap for you from how you 00:25:51.099 --> 00:25:53.059 start, when you're hiring your first person, 00:25:53.079 --> 00:25:55.059 second, third, fourth, fifth, what kind of market 00:25:55.059 --> 00:25:57.160 share do you have? What direction are you going? 00:25:57.680 --> 00:26:01.799 Right. What are the metrics every quarter, every 00:26:01.799 --> 00:26:05.119 year, five years? How am I going to get there? 00:26:05.140 --> 00:26:08.380 I have 10 years. OK, now I want 10 million dollars 00:26:08.380 --> 00:26:11.180 to exit. So what is it? What does a business 00:26:11.180 --> 00:26:13.920 look like that someone would pay me 10 million 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:17.160 dollars for? What are they looking for? I have 00:26:17.160 --> 00:26:20.059 to learn that. So now I understand that. Now, 00:26:20.299 --> 00:26:22.079 let's say I'm going to get that 10 million, which 00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:23.920 probably means I'm making probably a million 00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:26.299 a year in a salary. So I have active business 00:26:26.299 --> 00:26:28.839 income that's paying me a million a year. But 00:26:28.839 --> 00:26:31.480 if I sell in 10 years and I get 10 million, what 00:26:31.480 --> 00:26:34.859 do I lose? A million a year. So now I don't have 00:26:34.859 --> 00:26:36.220 that million a year anymore because I gave it 00:26:36.220 --> 00:26:39.079 to the new guy. He's going to come and get her 00:26:39.079 --> 00:26:41.079 or she, whoever. So now I'm like, OK, well, I 00:26:41.079 --> 00:26:44.119 have to replace that too. Again, we're back. 00:26:44.279 --> 00:26:47.259 We got 10 years. I got to start acquiring assets. 00:26:47.660 --> 00:26:49.880 I have to use that active business income and 00:26:49.880 --> 00:26:51.839 get assets that are going to create income for 00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:54.279 me. I have to replace a million dollars. So that's 00:26:54.279 --> 00:26:56.819 eighty three thousand a month. Yeah. OK. So, 00:26:56.980 --> 00:26:58.299 oh, maybe it's real estate. Maybe it's I don't 00:26:58.299 --> 00:26:59.920 care what it is, Bitcoin. I don't care what it 00:26:59.920 --> 00:27:02.779 is. But like start doing that. So when I get 00:27:02.779 --> 00:27:05.440 that 10 million dollar check, I leave. I also 00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:08.259 got a million year coming in passively. So if 00:27:08.259 --> 00:27:10.900 I don't work again, I got a million year. Right. 00:27:10.980 --> 00:27:13.359 I don't I don't have to use my 10 million. to 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:15.299 get by on the million, you know what I mean? 00:27:15.559 --> 00:27:18.900 So that money's gone. So what that does, Michael, 00:27:18.920 --> 00:27:21.400 becomes an incredible business filter because 00:27:21.400 --> 00:27:23.440 as you become successful, your business really 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:25.339 starts taking off. You're going to get a lot 00:27:25.339 --> 00:27:27.839 of opportunity put in front of you. You're going 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:29.319 to see it. You're going to be people are going 00:27:29.319 --> 00:27:31.220 to, hey, you should do this, right? I got this 00:27:31.220 --> 00:27:34.960 great thing and invest in this. So what all you 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:36.799 say is that's a great. I love it. That's great. 00:27:36.859 --> 00:27:38.759 Let me run that through my exit strategy. I'm 00:27:38.759 --> 00:27:41.039 going to get back to you. Now, does it get me 00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:44.059 closer and faster to my exit strategy or does 00:27:44.059 --> 00:27:46.880 it detract from it? If it detracts from it, it's 00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:50.900 a hard no. Just done. If it gets me closer, I'm 00:27:50.900 --> 00:27:53.339 in. Let's make this happen because that's my 00:27:53.339 --> 00:27:56.359 goal, right? So it's clear. It's very clear. 00:27:56.799 --> 00:27:59.440 Yeah. So it's important. Yeah, it is important. 00:27:59.660 --> 00:28:01.680 I was so everything that you were saying it was 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:04.279 for me. It was like start with the end in mind 00:28:04.279 --> 00:28:09.890 and you were working yourself backwards. does 00:28:09.890 --> 00:28:12.970 anything and does not anything and everything 00:28:12.970 --> 00:28:16.930 will match up with what the end is calling for 00:28:16.930 --> 00:28:23.710 so how does one recognize those those things 00:28:23.710 --> 00:28:27.569 so what you want to do and this is what especially 00:28:27.569 --> 00:28:30.269 early in the entrepreneurial stage or journey 00:28:30.269 --> 00:28:32.910 if you will what they don't do they don't take 00:28:32.910 --> 00:28:37.049 time from a strategic standpoint So they don't 00:28:37.049 --> 00:28:39.910 take time to say, okay, well, strategy is knowing 00:28:39.910 --> 00:28:44.509 your next move, what's five moves out, right? 00:28:45.210 --> 00:28:47.430 So you understand the chess, it's chess, not 00:28:47.430 --> 00:28:50.130 checkers, put in the simplest terms, right? Thinking 00:28:50.130 --> 00:28:53.470 about moves down the road. But you're so busy 00:28:53.470 --> 00:28:56.789 being in the business, you never get to sit back, 00:28:56.869 --> 00:28:59.849 look at it and go, oh, wow, if I do this, this, 00:28:59.930 --> 00:29:02.009 and this. I'm going to end up over here when 00:29:02.009 --> 00:29:04.049 I need to be over there. So what do I have to 00:29:04.049 --> 00:29:06.390 do? What are my next three or four moves to get 00:29:06.390 --> 00:29:09.589 me on track closer to the closer to the exit? 00:29:09.950 --> 00:29:12.569 Right. But they don't take the time to spend 00:29:12.569 --> 00:29:15.269 that time where they can say, OK, that makes 00:29:15.269 --> 00:29:17.650 sense. OK, yeah, that'll be or they're not going 00:29:17.650 --> 00:29:20.529 to the right people to get the right the right 00:29:20.529 --> 00:29:23.509 strategy. Right. So, so people start to say, 00:29:23.609 --> 00:29:26.509 well, how do I, you know, how do I get this advice? 00:29:26.650 --> 00:29:29.250 Well, again, we get coaches, we get mentors, 00:29:29.250 --> 00:29:31.869 right? To help us stay on course and understand 00:29:31.869 --> 00:29:34.430 the future moves because people will give me 00:29:34.430 --> 00:29:36.690 great ideas. They'll call me up. We'll be in 00:29:36.690 --> 00:29:38.710 a coach and call him and do this. This is OK. 00:29:39.230 --> 00:29:41.950 Yeah. Well, let's let's workshop that real quick 00:29:41.950 --> 00:29:45.509 on the phone. So if you do that, do you think 00:29:45.509 --> 00:29:48.230 this might happen in that? Oh yeah, no, I didn't 00:29:48.230 --> 00:29:50.109 think about that. Well, that's probably what's 00:29:50.109 --> 00:29:51.690 going to happen. And then this, this, and then 00:29:51.690 --> 00:29:54.690 you're going to be six months setback. Okay. 00:29:55.269 --> 00:29:59.269 So, yeah. So, so that's how, you know, you have 00:29:59.269 --> 00:30:01.329 to be able to take that time. You have to plan 00:30:01.329 --> 00:30:04.569 that time, that strategic time, whether it's 00:30:04.569 --> 00:30:07.390 to go spend the day, you just relaxing and dreaming 00:30:07.390 --> 00:30:09.630 and thinking like, where are we really going 00:30:09.630 --> 00:30:12.559 with this? What have we done so far? What are 00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:14.519 the results? Again, tracking your metrics. You 00:30:14.519 --> 00:30:16.460 have to measure everything. You got to measure, 00:30:16.660 --> 00:30:18.420 yeah. You can't improve what you don't measure, 00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:20.599 right? So we got to understand like, OK, how 00:30:20.599 --> 00:30:23.000 effective are we? Oh, I got a sales team and 00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:25.920 they're closing at about 28 % on average. Well, 00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:28.480 good. That is the average. That's 27%. It's like 00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:32.279 the national average. So you're average. Yeah. 00:30:32.660 --> 00:30:36.769 Success doesn't come by being average. No. Okay. 00:30:37.009 --> 00:30:39.849 So you might want to address your sales, right? 00:30:40.150 --> 00:30:43.490 Well, we should be at 38 and 39 and 42 and things 00:30:43.490 --> 00:30:45.309 like that. Right. So we got, we had to look at 00:30:45.309 --> 00:30:47.849 those things, right? That strategy. How do we 00:30:47.849 --> 00:30:49.509 change the game? We're not dying. We're not, 00:30:49.589 --> 00:30:52.829 you know, we're making money. We're getting by 00:30:52.829 --> 00:30:56.869 if you will, but how do we succeed? How do we, 00:30:56.869 --> 00:30:59.450 how do we, how do we surpass our competitors? 00:30:59.819 --> 00:31:02.339 How are we different? What do we bring into the 00:31:02.339 --> 00:31:04.859 marketplace that makes us the obvious and only 00:31:04.859 --> 00:31:07.380 choice? What are we doing? That's the things 00:31:07.380 --> 00:31:09.779 you got to think of, but you need time to do 00:31:09.779 --> 00:31:12.099 that, right? That's not in the day -to -day. 00:31:12.500 --> 00:31:13.799 You don't think about it in your day -to -day 00:31:13.799 --> 00:31:16.339 operations. What's up, Thrivo Journey listeners 00:31:16.339 --> 00:31:19.490 and watchers? Look. If you're someone with big 00:31:19.490 --> 00:31:22.410 dreams of entrepreneurship, but need a flexible 00:31:22.410 --> 00:31:24.970 way to earn income while building your business, 00:31:25.470 --> 00:31:27.369 let me tell you about the Oriens Group. Through 00:31:27.369 --> 00:31:30.230 our partnership with Arise Virtual Solutions, 00:31:30.529 --> 00:31:33.509 you can become a customer support professional, 00:31:33.869 --> 00:31:38.220 AKA CSP and start earning from home on your own 00:31:38.220 --> 00:31:40.779 terms. Arise offers a streamlined certification 00:31:40.779 --> 00:31:43.480 process, getting you trained and ready to work 00:31:43.480 --> 00:31:46.039 with well -known brands all across America. You 00:31:46.039 --> 00:31:48.500 can set your own hours to the clients you want 00:31:48.500 --> 00:31:51.200 to work with and create a work -life balance 00:31:51.200 --> 00:31:53.500 that fits your entrepreneurial goals. The best 00:31:53.500 --> 00:31:56.170 part You don't have to choose between your side 00:31:56.170 --> 00:31:58.849 gig and your business dreams. Being a CSP with 00:31:58.849 --> 00:32:01.089 The Orients Group means you can bring in extra 00:32:01.089 --> 00:32:04.730 income while have the flexibility to focus on 00:32:04.730 --> 00:32:07.549 growing your own venture. Much like I did. Whether 00:32:07.549 --> 00:32:09.990 you're looking to supplement your income or need 00:32:09.990 --> 00:32:13.410 a bridge while building your empire, this is 00:32:13.410 --> 00:32:16.650 the opportunity for you. You interested? If so, 00:32:16.890 --> 00:32:20.109 head over to www .theorentsgroup .com to learn 00:32:20.109 --> 00:32:22.690 more about becoming a CSP with The Orients Group. 00:32:23.089 --> 00:32:25.500 Look here. Support your entrepreneurial journey 00:32:25.500 --> 00:32:27.640 while supporting the Throughout the Journey podcast 00:32:27.640 --> 00:32:31.019 at the same time. All right, one more time. www 00:32:31.019 --> 00:32:34.200 .theoreansgroup .com. All right, we're done with 00:32:34.200 --> 00:32:36.960 the spot. Let's get back to the podcast. Right. 00:32:38.019 --> 00:32:40.980 That's one of the conversations that I've had 00:32:40.980 --> 00:32:43.660 before is like that's working on your business 00:32:43.660 --> 00:32:47.059 and not necessarily always in it. Right. And 00:32:47.059 --> 00:32:50.799 it definitely helps with the mindset of, you 00:32:50.799 --> 00:32:55.630 know, having the in in mind all this great information 00:32:55.630 --> 00:32:59.410 is a really great information and for how do 00:32:59.410 --> 00:33:01.430 you stay motivated you personally how do you 00:33:01.430 --> 00:33:04.950 stay motivated through all your tough times and 00:33:04.950 --> 00:33:09.950 and getting things figured out uh you know I'm 00:33:09.950 --> 00:33:12.750 I'm I'm pretty optimistic like probably a little 00:33:12.750 --> 00:33:15.569 over the top on the optimism okay at times it'll 00:33:15.569 --> 00:33:17.789 drive my wife crazy you know because I'm just 00:33:17.789 --> 00:33:20.970 never like Unhappy, you know kind of like it's 00:33:20.970 --> 00:33:22.690 gonna be good. It's gonna be good. It's all gonna 00:33:22.690 --> 00:33:24.529 be good You know, it's just yeah, I've never 00:33:24.529 --> 00:33:28.529 been depressed. So I'm lucky that way Even losing 00:33:28.529 --> 00:33:31.150 everything like I'm just people like you are 00:33:31.150 --> 00:33:34.569 this is unusual I go. Well, it's just I got to 00:33:34.569 --> 00:33:36.829 do the next hand of time to be depressed. You 00:33:36.829 --> 00:33:38.849 know the family support I got things to do I 00:33:38.849 --> 00:33:40.670 gotta I gotta make things happen. There's no 00:33:40.670 --> 00:33:42.410 time to wallow You know, you gotta gotta keep 00:33:42.410 --> 00:33:45.009 going again. That could be a Marine Corps mindset 00:33:45.600 --> 00:33:48.019 Part of my upbringing and stuff, too, figuring 00:33:48.019 --> 00:33:51.940 that out. But I think, really, when you look 00:33:51.940 --> 00:33:55.279 at it, how do we continue to motivate myself 00:33:55.279 --> 00:33:58.180 every day? Well, I have to set big goals. So 00:33:58.180 --> 00:34:00.440 I want to help 10 ,000 business owners create 00:34:00.440 --> 00:34:02.380 profit, freedom, and impact in their business. 00:34:03.259 --> 00:34:06.000 Well, 10 ,000 is a lot. That's a lot of people 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:08.280 I have to work with. And I don't want to do it 00:34:08.280 --> 00:34:10.820 in 10 or 20 years. I want to do it in like five 00:34:10.820 --> 00:34:13.280 years. So what do I have to do? I have to reach 00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:15.480 people. You don't have to talk to them. I have 00:34:15.480 --> 00:34:17.960 to make a difference in their business, you know 00:34:17.960 --> 00:34:20.019 So and I actually want to help more people than 00:34:20.019 --> 00:34:23.360 10 ,000 is just the business owners Yeah, now 00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:25.719 remember I go to a business they have employees 00:34:25.719 --> 00:34:29.639 fire 20 50, right? And what do all those employees 00:34:29.639 --> 00:34:32.820 have they have families, right? Yeah So my goal 00:34:32.820 --> 00:34:36.280 is if the owner in the business can create additional 00:34:36.280 --> 00:34:38.880 profit They will then get that freedom and now 00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:41.079 they can make the impact and the impact is the 00:34:41.079 --> 00:34:43.800 people in their business Yeah, we want everyone 00:34:43.800 --> 00:34:45.980 competent. We want to make them better workers, 00:34:46.239 --> 00:34:48.300 better skilled so they can, you know, do a better 00:34:48.300 --> 00:34:50.280 job. But we also want to make them better people. 00:34:51.119 --> 00:34:52.699 So again, this is part of that congruency. I 00:34:52.699 --> 00:34:54.559 talked about my kids and more is caught than 00:34:54.559 --> 00:34:57.179 taught. Same thing in the workplace. It always 00:34:57.179 --> 00:34:59.980 starts at the top. OK, if I can make them better 00:34:59.980 --> 00:35:02.320 as people, where do they go with that? They go 00:35:02.320 --> 00:35:04.760 home to their families. If that improves their 00:35:04.760 --> 00:35:06.199 families, where are their families? They're in 00:35:06.199 --> 00:35:09.440 the communities. Now, instead of 10 ,000 people, 00:35:09.480 --> 00:35:11.570 I just help millions. Right? Because we changed 00:35:11.570 --> 00:35:13.389 their life. We showed them how to run a business 00:35:13.389 --> 00:35:16.369 where everyone is actually benefits. Right? Everyone's 00:35:16.369 --> 00:35:18.230 working for purpose. And we can talk about that 00:35:18.230 --> 00:35:20.329 strategic vision and everything else. But when 00:35:20.329 --> 00:35:23.030 everyone on the team is working towards purpose, 00:35:23.610 --> 00:35:26.190 they come to work because they're achieving something 00:35:26.190 --> 00:35:28.710 real. Right. They're not just putting A into 00:35:28.710 --> 00:35:32.010 B. They're not, you know, they're not, you know, 00:35:32.170 --> 00:35:34.829 framing a house. There's real purpose while we 00:35:34.829 --> 00:35:36.849 do. They understand the full vision of the business. 00:35:37.130 --> 00:35:41.280 And that carries with them. to home and their 00:35:41.280 --> 00:35:45.480 children. Now they start thinking that way. There's 00:35:45.480 --> 00:35:47.239 three things, Michael, that people want to work 00:35:47.239 --> 00:35:50.760 for. Number one is purpose. The second thing 00:35:50.760 --> 00:35:53.860 is quality feedback or recognition. And then 00:35:53.860 --> 00:35:56.559 quality pay. And that's the order it goes in. 00:35:56.760 --> 00:35:59.760 Notice pay is third. People aren't driven by 00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:02.320 money. They think they are. And you'll think, 00:36:02.460 --> 00:36:05.019 hey, he makes more money here. Well, if money 00:36:05.019 --> 00:36:07.860 was the number one thing, They would sell you 00:36:07.860 --> 00:36:09.739 out for 50 cents more an hour and move down the 00:36:09.739 --> 00:36:13.800 road. But that's not what it is, purpose. They 00:36:13.800 --> 00:36:16.119 want to know what they do matters. How are they 00:36:16.119 --> 00:36:18.019 making the difference what they do every day? 00:36:18.219 --> 00:36:22.079 They spend a huge amount of their life at your 00:36:22.079 --> 00:36:25.880 work, at your business. Now recognition, they 00:36:25.880 --> 00:36:28.559 want to know, are we doing a good job? Do you 00:36:28.559 --> 00:36:30.940 let me know? Do you let everyone else know? Do 00:36:30.940 --> 00:36:32.840 you correct me when I'm wrong and don't just 00:36:32.840 --> 00:36:36.450 fire me? Do you help me become better? That's 00:36:36.450 --> 00:36:39.190 recognition, right, quality feedback. And then 00:36:39.190 --> 00:36:41.389 the quality pay. Now notice I said quality pay. 00:36:42.809 --> 00:36:45.070 We want to take care of our people, but they're 00:36:45.070 --> 00:36:47.710 going to earn it. My goal, Michael, with people 00:36:47.710 --> 00:36:50.650 who work for me, I want everybody to be an asset, 00:36:51.369 --> 00:36:55.510 which means they're free, which means they're 00:36:55.510 --> 00:36:58.650 producing more than they're being paid for. They're 00:36:58.650 --> 00:37:01.349 bringing more value to what specifically they 00:37:01.349 --> 00:37:05.079 do than I'm compensating them for. Makes a lot 00:37:05.079 --> 00:37:07.199 of sense. Right. And if we can all build that 00:37:07.199 --> 00:37:10.400 attitude, like that's why I teach my kids. Okay. 00:37:10.440 --> 00:37:12.599 You deliver more. You're always there early. 00:37:12.860 --> 00:37:15.679 And I tell people all the time, Michael, I go, 00:37:15.780 --> 00:37:17.460 you can do two things. Okay. There's only two 00:37:17.460 --> 00:37:19.880 things you got to do to succeed. Okay. Especially 00:37:19.880 --> 00:37:23.739 as an employee. And that is show up while called 00:37:23.739 --> 00:37:26.280 early, which, you know, time is late. So show 00:37:26.280 --> 00:37:29.599 up early and ask, what else can I do? Those are 00:37:29.599 --> 00:37:31.519 the two things you have to do. Cause if you do 00:37:31.519 --> 00:37:34.789 it in today's workspace, You'll be a CEO in like 00:37:34.789 --> 00:37:40.349 two years. Nobody does it. Everyone is all about 00:37:40.349 --> 00:37:42.409 me and what do you owe me and what am I, you 00:37:42.409 --> 00:37:44.190 know, I'm doing this for you and you owe me. 00:37:44.429 --> 00:37:46.489 It's like show up early and ask what else can 00:37:46.489 --> 00:37:49.349 I do? I know that you talk about, you know, the 00:37:49.349 --> 00:37:51.409 helping the 10 ,000 people in their businesses 00:37:51.409 --> 00:37:54.829 and affecting the leaders who affect their employees, 00:37:54.909 --> 00:38:00.349 who affect their families. What impact do you 00:38:00.349 --> 00:38:03.230 hope that? the business like the communities 00:38:03.230 --> 00:38:08.230 have through what you're doing. Yeah, so I and 00:38:08.230 --> 00:38:10.349 communities is is the right word user Michael 00:38:10.349 --> 00:38:13.510 because I think as a business owner, you have 00:38:13.510 --> 00:38:17.090 incredible influence in your circle in a community 00:38:17.090 --> 00:38:19.650 circle, right? Whether you're you're doing 50 00:38:19.650 --> 00:38:22.309 million a year or 500 thousand. It doesn't matter, 00:38:22.730 --> 00:38:25.050 right? So, impact is like, well, what are you 00:38:25.050 --> 00:38:28.269 doing with that business with a portion of the 00:38:28.269 --> 00:38:30.699 profits? I have clients that give five percent 00:38:30.699 --> 00:38:33.760 of all their profits to one or two organizations 00:38:33.760 --> 00:38:36.920 that they choose. Maybe it's a foster care placement 00:38:36.920 --> 00:38:38.719 agency. Maybe it's a better woman's shelter. 00:38:39.059 --> 00:38:41.960 They choose something and may even get with everyone 00:38:41.960 --> 00:38:45.219 on the team like, hey, what should we do? What 00:38:45.219 --> 00:38:47.340 does everyone into? You know, I had one client 00:38:47.340 --> 00:38:50.019 there in the dog rescues. A huge portion of profits 00:38:50.019 --> 00:38:53.099 goes for dog rescues. He's in the rescue dogs. 00:38:53.380 --> 00:38:55.659 OK, that's his thing. That's awesome. Right. 00:38:55.719 --> 00:38:58.469 That's the beauty. You get to choose. Yeah. Now 00:38:58.469 --> 00:39:00.730 you'll see companies like Target. Hey, we give 00:39:00.730 --> 00:39:03.150 50 million a year to charities. What charities 00:39:03.150 --> 00:39:05.710 are those? I'm not saying they don't do it. I'm 00:39:05.710 --> 00:39:07.849 just saying like, okay, it's like 50 million. 00:39:07.929 --> 00:39:11.230 Can you wrap your head around that? I understand. 00:39:11.750 --> 00:39:15.030 Even the smaller businesses affecting their communities 00:39:15.030 --> 00:39:19.650 is just as big and wonderful as Target spending 00:39:19.650 --> 00:39:24.389 15 million, whoever they are. That's right. You 00:39:24.389 --> 00:39:27.409 have actually, as a smaller business, you have 00:39:27.409 --> 00:39:29.809 greater influence than Target does. Way more. 00:39:30.050 --> 00:39:32.969 You think so? Oh, absolutely. Because you might 00:39:32.969 --> 00:39:35.329 be supporting the Little League team. I don't 00:39:35.329 --> 00:39:38.750 know. You might be helping that shelter in your 00:39:38.750 --> 00:39:40.889 community. Getting guys off the street, helping 00:39:40.889 --> 00:39:42.869 them turn around, things like that. We have a 00:39:42.869 --> 00:39:45.250 thing called Gifts Men's Shelter, local that 00:39:45.250 --> 00:39:48.769 we do. And it's got 50 guys in there. Yeah, they 00:39:48.769 --> 00:39:50.750 got them working their feed them. Okay, they're 00:39:50.750 --> 00:39:52.590 turning though. They get not off addiction and 00:39:52.590 --> 00:39:54.050 things like that They're doing that kind of stuff. 00:39:54.349 --> 00:39:57.929 That's money well spent. Yeah, it is Okay, we 00:39:57.929 --> 00:40:00.610 we help we help other organizations who are helping 00:40:00.610 --> 00:40:04.590 people already you give to those Right. So like 00:40:04.590 --> 00:40:06.849 you know, give an example one of our charities. 00:40:06.869 --> 00:40:09.070 It's called Beloit cares. We're in Beloit, Wisconsin 00:40:09.070 --> 00:40:11.809 I mean, I didn't create it but our church created 00:40:11.809 --> 00:40:15.690 a 501 c3, but we go to all these organizations 00:40:15.690 --> 00:40:18.619 that are doing work in the community Right? Like 00:40:18.619 --> 00:40:21.280 say a woman's shelter. Okay. Well, we asked, 00:40:21.380 --> 00:40:23.420 what do they need? You know, everyone will say 00:40:23.420 --> 00:40:26.420 money, but they, you know what they need? Shampoo. 00:40:26.940 --> 00:40:28.599 Yeah. You got 50 people. They need, that's a 00:40:28.599 --> 00:40:30.840 lot of shampoo over a year. Right? So, okay. 00:40:30.920 --> 00:40:32.920 You need shampoo and conditioner. We get a four 00:40:32.920 --> 00:40:35.559 by four pallet, big box, tell them at church, 00:40:35.900 --> 00:40:38.000 they need shampoo. That thing is filled up in 00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:41.260 a week. Yeah. Now that frees up real working 00:40:41.260 --> 00:40:44.079 cash. They don't have to spend it on shampoo. 00:40:44.250 --> 00:40:46.389 A baby one, we need diaper, we need this. Whatever 00:40:46.389 --> 00:40:49.730 they need, we supply it. Yeah. So people can 00:40:49.730 --> 00:40:51.829 donate, they go buy a bottle of shampoo and donate. 00:40:52.550 --> 00:40:55.050 Right. It's just giving money. Right. There's 00:40:55.050 --> 00:40:57.409 nothing wrong with giving money, but when you're 00:40:57.409 --> 00:41:00.690 going to specific needs, my son for his Eagle 00:41:00.690 --> 00:41:03.449 Scout project did a thing for that men's shelter, 00:41:04.130 --> 00:41:06.969 paper products. He had people donate. I mean, 00:41:07.010 --> 00:41:10.190 he has a mountain of it. Picture just paper towels 00:41:10.190 --> 00:41:13.639 and Kleenex and toilet paper and that takes a 00:41:13.639 --> 00:41:17.940 lot of money. Yeah, you got 50 guys Yeah, and 00:41:17.940 --> 00:41:20.340 it shows like for a year and he just he had all 00:41:20.340 --> 00:41:24.320 this stuff donated That's that's Thousands and 00:41:24.320 --> 00:41:26.460 thousands of dollars freed up to do other work, 00:41:26.619 --> 00:41:28.059 you know, so it's things like that. That's what 00:41:28.059 --> 00:41:30.780 I mean Like you that that's impact, right? No, 00:41:30.780 --> 00:41:33.639 that's true You you go there and work as an owner. 00:41:33.639 --> 00:41:36.949 I did I go work. I work the night You know, I 00:41:36.949 --> 00:41:38.829 make food for them. They do that kind of stuff. 00:41:38.909 --> 00:41:40.230 You know, it's little things like that where 00:41:40.230 --> 00:41:43.590 you have a much greater impact. Again, you're 00:41:43.590 --> 00:41:45.730 walking the walk. You're right. Right. Right. 00:41:46.190 --> 00:41:50.170 I think it's important for people to really realize 00:41:50.170 --> 00:41:53.289 that and look at that, that even though you may 00:41:53.289 --> 00:41:56.030 be a small business, what kind of impact you 00:41:56.030 --> 00:41:58.969 can have in your community, it doesn't have to 00:41:58.969 --> 00:42:01.750 be 15 million. It could be going to the store. 00:42:01.949 --> 00:42:05.829 and buying whatever is needed in that organization 00:42:05.829 --> 00:42:09.150 or in that community. I think that's a powerful 00:42:09.150 --> 00:42:12.809 scope to look at things through. Because again, 00:42:13.010 --> 00:42:17.530 it doesn't have to be 15 million. Yeah. Again, 00:42:18.369 --> 00:42:19.869 here's another thing that we all know. We know 00:42:19.869 --> 00:42:23.050 how hard running a business is, right? We understand 00:42:23.050 --> 00:42:25.110 it's difficult. A lot of people fail in the first 00:42:25.110 --> 00:42:27.349 five years when you have it. You've done something 00:42:27.349 --> 00:42:31.380 that most people can't or won't do. You're in 00:42:31.380 --> 00:42:34.019 a position of authority. You're in a position 00:42:34.019 --> 00:42:37.139 of respect because you've done that. So your 00:42:37.139 --> 00:42:41.139 hands -on approach, maybe it's mentoring students. 00:42:41.519 --> 00:42:43.260 Maybe they get the company. We have a thing here 00:42:43.260 --> 00:42:45.519 called, the guy started here called character, 00:42:45.519 --> 00:42:47.400 craftsman with character. Craftsman with character, 00:42:47.519 --> 00:42:49.579 right? Now the Navy's picked it up and they're 00:42:49.579 --> 00:42:51.539 pushing all over the country on this program. 00:42:51.739 --> 00:42:53.940 They work like 10 years, but he actually can 00:42:53.940 --> 00:42:56.960 sign up for it and they go to a business. Okay, 00:42:57.000 --> 00:42:59.460 like every Friday and they spend like two three 00:42:59.460 --> 00:43:01.980 hours there and they learn every aspect of that 00:43:01.980 --> 00:43:04.400 business So each week for a semester they're 00:43:04.400 --> 00:43:06.420 going back to this business for two hours and 00:43:06.420 --> 00:43:07.900 they take them through sales And I think I'm 00:43:07.900 --> 00:43:09.579 through production and whatever they do, right? 00:43:09.920 --> 00:43:11.800 So they really get an understanding how a business 00:43:11.800 --> 00:43:14.159 works and what you need and then then they spend 00:43:14.159 --> 00:43:16.059 time talking to them about the character aspects 00:43:16.059 --> 00:43:17.519 and everything else You know building them up 00:43:17.519 --> 00:43:20.780 that this is a great thing to be right? That's 00:43:20.780 --> 00:43:23.219 amazing. But as a business you can do that for 00:43:23.219 --> 00:43:26.150 for students. So hey Come see, we have a construction 00:43:26.150 --> 00:43:27.710 company, a big construction company here in this 00:43:27.710 --> 00:43:30.150 town that does that. You get the intern. Hey, 00:43:30.170 --> 00:43:32.269 you want to be a mason? OK, go try it. Oh, now 00:43:32.269 --> 00:43:34.289 I don't want to be a mason. OK, because they 00:43:34.289 --> 00:43:38.349 go find out. But they did it, right? But they 00:43:38.349 --> 00:43:40.769 know now they're not going to waste years doing 00:43:40.769 --> 00:43:43.170 something they don't want to do. So there's all 00:43:43.170 --> 00:43:45.010 this great stuff you can do to help make that 00:43:45.010 --> 00:43:46.949 impact. Because again, you're in an incredible 00:43:46.949 --> 00:43:49.530 position of influence because you're an American 00:43:49.530 --> 00:43:52.670 quote and successful, right? Don't don't attach 00:43:52.670 --> 00:43:56.340 a dollar to it. Forget that. It's a position. 00:43:56.739 --> 00:43:58.599 You've achieved something that most can't or 00:43:58.599 --> 00:44:02.559 won't. Use that. Bring others up. Do some mentoring. 00:44:03.780 --> 00:44:07.019 Just come alongside a couple of young people 00:44:07.019 --> 00:44:11.820 or even early entrepreneurs. Help them. help 00:44:11.820 --> 00:44:14.360 them climb that ladder. Well, I do it for a living 00:44:14.360 --> 00:44:16.579 now. My coaching business is helping businesses. 00:44:17.219 --> 00:44:19.280 But before that, why I started was because I 00:44:19.280 --> 00:44:21.940 started helping all these other businesses, just 00:44:21.940 --> 00:44:24.340 giving them the free advice. And that seemed 00:44:24.340 --> 00:44:26.159 to be working. That's when I noticed the patterns. 00:44:26.219 --> 00:44:28.980 And now I get to coach them so we can accelerate 00:44:28.980 --> 00:44:32.460 that stuff. But what a difference it makes. Because 00:44:32.460 --> 00:44:35.179 the more businesses that can succeed, that's 00:44:35.179 --> 00:44:38.260 what it's about, Michael. They're not competition 00:44:38.260 --> 00:44:41.840 to me. We need small businesses succeed in this 00:44:41.840 --> 00:44:44.719 country, especially. It's truly the backbone, 00:44:44.739 --> 00:44:47.880 but there's profit, freedom and impact. Okay. 00:44:48.059 --> 00:44:50.260 If you can maximize those things, if you can 00:44:50.260 --> 00:44:53.679 do the business right, you can affect change. 00:44:53.800 --> 00:44:55.900 You can have that incredible influence, right? 00:44:56.219 --> 00:44:58.619 And you can show other people it can be done. 00:44:58.780 --> 00:45:01.639 That's the key. If everyone's saying 97 % fail 00:45:01.639 --> 00:45:04.219 all the time, who's going to try it? Right. Right. 00:45:04.980 --> 00:45:08.550 I have that note here. freedom, profit, and impact, 00:45:08.730 --> 00:45:12.989 which you already covered it. Well, it's important. 00:45:13.349 --> 00:45:14.829 I think it's a big thing. One of the big things 00:45:14.829 --> 00:45:20.949 I do, Michael, is show business owners there's 00:45:20.949 --> 00:45:23.889 hidden, uncovered profit in all their businesses. 00:45:24.230 --> 00:45:26.329 They just don't know how to access it. I mean, 00:45:26.409 --> 00:45:28.710 I literally can show them, I can show you 100 00:45:28.710 --> 00:45:30.489 ,000 of profit in your business in less than 00:45:30.489 --> 00:45:33.030 three minutes without additional ad spend or 00:45:33.030 --> 00:45:36.369 marketing spend. And they're like, oh, okay. 00:45:39.579 --> 00:45:42.179 They don't know, right? They just don't know. 00:45:42.539 --> 00:45:44.300 And the bigger the business, the more profit 00:45:44.300 --> 00:45:46.679 I can find. But even the small ones, it doesn't 00:45:46.679 --> 00:45:51.019 matter. And again, remember we began with ignorance 00:45:51.019 --> 00:45:54.659 on fire? Okay, well, that's how you start. But 00:45:54.659 --> 00:45:57.360 ignorance has to become education. You have to 00:45:57.360 --> 00:45:59.559 start learning what business is. The stuff I 00:45:59.559 --> 00:46:02.510 didn't do my first 20 years. Too busy being the 00:46:02.510 --> 00:46:05.030 guy making cool stuff, you know getting passed 00:46:05.030 --> 00:46:07.130 on the back and I'm thinking about the business 00:46:07.130 --> 00:46:10.329 Right, right. So learn that so now as you get 00:46:10.329 --> 00:46:12.349 that that's where you start to realize a real 00:46:12.349 --> 00:46:15.769 profit We can all work hard and make money. There's 00:46:15.769 --> 00:46:17.889 no challenge in that right? Okay, we can all 00:46:17.889 --> 00:46:20.389 work hard to make money, but it's a couple things 00:46:20.389 --> 00:46:22.650 how much you keep and how much can you truly 00:46:22.650 --> 00:46:25.409 make? How much can you leverage if your business 00:46:25.409 --> 00:46:28.250 make the money not you make the money? Mm -hmm, 00:46:28.570 --> 00:46:31.849 right? There's all these Leverage is a powerful 00:46:31.849 --> 00:46:38.789 word. With all that being said, is that what 00:46:38.789 --> 00:46:42.309 inspired you to write Escape the Owner Prison? 00:46:43.869 --> 00:46:47.630 What inspired me, Michael, was my journey. Because 00:46:47.630 --> 00:46:50.250 I weave my whole journey, you know, that first 00:46:50.250 --> 00:46:53.550 20 plus years and beyond and where it is today, 00:46:54.489 --> 00:46:58.409 to inspire others, go look, you can do, success 00:46:58.409 --> 00:47:01.639 is a lot of different things. And sometimes it's 00:47:01.639 --> 00:47:06.280 really deceptive. Success can be incredibly deceptive. 00:47:06.900 --> 00:47:09.079 I mean, I'm making money. I'm getting whatever 00:47:09.079 --> 00:47:10.760 I want for the work I do, because no one can 00:47:10.760 --> 00:47:14.800 do what I do. So I'm successful, except I lost 00:47:14.800 --> 00:47:19.219 everything in like a day. So I wasn't successful, 00:47:19.219 --> 00:47:22.840 right? So it's very deceptive. You got to be 00:47:22.840 --> 00:47:25.940 careful what you're using as a scorecard. If 00:47:25.940 --> 00:47:29.539 I'm just gross revenue, hey, I made $5 million. 00:47:29.840 --> 00:47:33.480 I made $1 million. That's not a good scorecard. 00:47:33.519 --> 00:47:36.800 It's a terrible scorecard. We'll go back to when 00:47:36.800 --> 00:47:40.400 we talked about ego. Gross revenue feeds the 00:47:40.400 --> 00:47:47.539 ego. Profit feeds the family. It's about profit. 00:47:48.159 --> 00:47:51.039 It's about accelerating your profit. How can 00:47:51.039 --> 00:47:53.300 I accelerate that? It doesn't matter if I made 00:47:53.300 --> 00:47:56.119 $10 million in gross revenue, but I only took 00:47:56.119 --> 00:47:58.920 home $100 ,000. That's not a good trade off. 00:47:59.199 --> 00:48:02.199 That thing is broken. You got yourself a broken 00:48:02.199 --> 00:48:07.179 business model. We want to fix that. We need 00:48:07.179 --> 00:48:10.300 to understand what the real scorecard is. That's 00:48:10.300 --> 00:48:12.820 what I mean by it can be deceptive. I like that. 00:48:13.260 --> 00:48:18.000 In all of this, what inspires you to stay on 00:48:18.000 --> 00:48:21.159 the journey that you're on? Sometimes you realize 00:48:21.159 --> 00:48:27.679 you become what you talk about. There's guys 00:48:27.679 --> 00:48:29.980 and I'm not a, I do sports. I don't talk about 00:48:29.980 --> 00:48:33.800 sports. I don't watch sports. Okay. But there's 00:48:33.800 --> 00:48:36.920 guys who they can tell you every guy, every Jersey 00:48:36.920 --> 00:48:41.559 number, every whatever. We're in good company, 00:48:41.559 --> 00:48:43.900 but that's what they talk about all the time. 00:48:43.900 --> 00:48:45.519 Okay. You'll never going to talk about business 00:48:45.519 --> 00:48:47.579 here. Never hear him talk about money. Never 00:48:47.579 --> 00:48:49.320 achievement on there. They're, they're, they're 00:48:49.320 --> 00:48:51.039 living other people's achievement constantly 00:48:51.039 --> 00:48:53.340 and they're in it and they're telling the coach 00:48:53.340 --> 00:48:57.569 how to coach. Those are my favorite ones. Yeah, 00:48:57.569 --> 00:48:59.610 because they know, wow, that was a stupid move. 00:48:59.789 --> 00:49:01.849 Okay, genius. Okay. And we get that. So I'll 00:49:01.849 --> 00:49:03.750 leave it there because people get offended. But, 00:49:03.750 --> 00:49:07.110 but right. So, so I realize, you know what I 00:49:07.110 --> 00:49:08.789 talk about business business. You know what? 00:49:08.949 --> 00:49:10.429 I love when people are starting a business. I 00:49:10.429 --> 00:49:12.510 get in there and start, what are you doing? Oh, 00:49:12.510 --> 00:49:14.030 have you thought about this? What about? And 00:49:14.030 --> 00:49:17.150 that became like that lifted me up. I mean, I 00:49:17.150 --> 00:49:21.150 can do it all day, all day. Talk to people, help 00:49:21.150 --> 00:49:23.289 people. You know, I get guys talk me on the way 00:49:23.289 --> 00:49:25.070 out of church. Dude, you know, I'm doing that 00:49:25.070 --> 00:49:26.809 mobile detail, man. What do you think about this? 00:49:26.969 --> 00:49:28.889 Oh, dude, you got to do this. This we're talking 00:49:28.889 --> 00:49:30.889 all the way out to the car. Yeah. Nice. Send 00:49:30.889 --> 00:49:34.670 them off. Go do that. So so it's like, I love 00:49:34.670 --> 00:49:38.010 it. Yeah, I love their benefit to their voice. 00:49:38.449 --> 00:49:41.309 But that's how I know that that is whatever. 00:49:41.769 --> 00:49:44.670 If something drains you, you know, like you get 00:49:44.670 --> 00:49:47.050 it wears you out. It makes you tired. You hate. 00:49:47.610 --> 00:49:51.889 Don't do that. It's simple. If it lifts you up, 00:49:51.949 --> 00:49:57.960 it energizes you. Do that. How can you get to 00:49:57.960 --> 00:50:00.599 do that more? That's the goal. That's what you 00:50:00.599 --> 00:50:02.860 figure out. I learned coaching was like, I'm 00:50:02.860 --> 00:50:04.900 a trainer. I love to train people, whether it's 00:50:04.900 --> 00:50:07.440 fitness. I love teaching people and showing them 00:50:07.440 --> 00:50:10.380 a quick, easy way to do things. I get them to 00:50:10.380 --> 00:50:12.099 speed very quickly. I have a lot of champ. I 00:50:12.099 --> 00:50:14.039 train a lot of champions. My son, hey, you want 00:50:14.039 --> 00:50:15.380 to go to the Junior Olympics? Okay, I'll train 00:50:15.380 --> 00:50:18.260 you. We'll go to the Junior Olympics. You want 00:50:18.260 --> 00:50:19.780 to go on the Marine Corps? Great. We do three 00:50:19.780 --> 00:50:21.400 a days for seven months straight. because you 00:50:21.400 --> 00:50:23.699 want to go in there. And they and he did it succeeded. 00:50:23.860 --> 00:50:26.239 Also, we we get things done. I love to train 00:50:26.239 --> 00:50:28.880 it. So so if that stuff energizes me, that's 00:50:28.880 --> 00:50:31.480 what I do. You know, is that how you're coaching? 00:50:31.659 --> 00:50:34.340 I'm sorry. Go ahead. No. Is that how your coaching 00:50:34.340 --> 00:50:36.599 business differs from other coaching businesses? 00:50:37.059 --> 00:50:39.340 Yeah, I think it is because what I do, Michael's 00:50:39.340 --> 00:50:42.760 really focus on profit centers in the business. 00:50:42.820 --> 00:50:45.420 And there's like 40. or more in a business and 00:50:45.420 --> 00:50:47.440 people realize, you know, I'll start them with 00:50:47.440 --> 00:50:50.079 a simple 12. And what I want them to do is to 00:50:50.079 --> 00:50:53.280 realize profit. Let's focus on that. Let's do 00:50:53.280 --> 00:50:56.039 some simple things. Little tiny incremental changes. 00:50:56.699 --> 00:50:59.159 That's compounding, right? Like compounding interest. 00:50:59.460 --> 00:51:01.800 It's as what's his name? I always forget his 00:51:01.800 --> 00:51:04.440 name, but he declared it the eighth wonder of 00:51:04.440 --> 00:51:07.900 the world. Oh, Einstein. Einstein called compound 00:51:07.900 --> 00:51:11.579 interest. the eighth wonder of the world. So 00:51:11.579 --> 00:51:17.019 we take that into this. How do we change 3 % 00:51:17.019 --> 00:51:20.599 here, 4 % there, 2 % here in these different 00:51:20.599 --> 00:51:23.420 areas, and it all compounds into massive numbers. 00:51:24.480 --> 00:51:28.019 It isn't, hey, I need a 50 % increase in my marketing. 00:51:28.280 --> 00:51:30.699 No, you don't. Let's change 3 % in that. Then 00:51:30.699 --> 00:51:32.900 let's go over here and make 3%. Let's cut some 00:51:32.900 --> 00:51:36.579 costs by 3%. Let's increase our prices by 3%, 00:51:36.579 --> 00:51:39.719 4%. little tiny things and watch when all of 00:51:39.719 --> 00:51:42.860 a sudden there's $100 ,000. There's $200 ,000. 00:51:43.539 --> 00:51:46.719 So go in and do that, but it's actionable things. 00:51:47.159 --> 00:51:49.320 Actionable things, yeah. That's what it's about. 00:51:49.380 --> 00:51:52.199 Little bites that you can achieve and not this 00:51:52.199 --> 00:51:56.239 massive thing. The bigger the ship, the harder 00:51:56.239 --> 00:51:59.739 it is to turn. The longer it takes to make that 00:51:59.739 --> 00:52:02.880 turn. So most small businesses are five to 50 00:52:02.880 --> 00:52:06.360 employees. You know, they're doing whatever, 00:52:06.780 --> 00:52:09.199 $500 ,000 to $5 million, $10 million, whatever. 00:52:09.599 --> 00:52:12.360 Those areas, those guys are agile. So we take 00:52:12.360 --> 00:52:14.340 these little moves like this, we implement these 00:52:14.340 --> 00:52:16.920 things, we can do amazing things. You know, even 00:52:16.920 --> 00:52:19.699 if you're a landscaper, I love landscaper, house 00:52:19.699 --> 00:52:22.280 landscaper, I love them. Okay, so I love the 00:52:22.280 --> 00:52:24.380 home services business, right? You're a plumber, 00:52:24.519 --> 00:52:26.739 you're an HVAC guy, you're a carpet cleaner, 00:52:27.039 --> 00:52:29.699 you're a landscaper. Bookkeeper these people 00:52:29.699 --> 00:52:32.360 we can do amazing things with these people matter 00:52:32.360 --> 00:52:35.260 what they do matters, but they leave so much 00:52:35.260 --> 00:52:37.559 money hidden in their business They don't get 00:52:37.559 --> 00:52:40.179 the they don't get the access and we show them 00:52:40.179 --> 00:52:44.199 how so that's that's the fun That it yeah, well 00:52:44.199 --> 00:52:50.139 for both And then the person that advice gets 00:52:50.139 --> 00:52:54.639 to you know grow their capital so that's I love 00:52:54.639 --> 00:52:58.380 and I had to learn this about myself. I get so 00:52:58.380 --> 00:53:00.980 much joy from other people's success. There's 00:53:00.980 --> 00:53:04.880 no envy. When people succeed and I help them 00:53:04.880 --> 00:53:08.679 a little bit with that, that's the reward. It's 00:53:08.679 --> 00:53:11.780 not the money. It's really like, look what they 00:53:11.780 --> 00:53:15.460 did. When I free them from the owner prison and 00:53:15.460 --> 00:53:18.059 one of my client's wives calls me and says, listen, 00:53:18.559 --> 00:53:20.980 I never thought this was possible. We just spent 00:53:20.980 --> 00:53:23.420 two weeks at the beach with all five of our kids. 00:53:23.610 --> 00:53:26.110 He was never on the phone. Unbelievable. Never. 00:53:26.190 --> 00:53:28.389 In eight years, I never thought we were going 00:53:28.389 --> 00:53:30.530 to get to have this life. And now they get that 00:53:30.530 --> 00:53:33.869 life. They get it. So he's not checking in all 00:53:33.869 --> 00:53:35.190 the time. He's not worried about this, talking 00:53:35.190 --> 00:53:37.269 to clients the whole time. It's like, that's 00:53:37.269 --> 00:53:40.289 the reward. That's what I'm doing. That freedom, 00:53:40.289 --> 00:53:45.409 it feels good. Yeah. What's one piece of advice 00:53:45.409 --> 00:53:49.590 that you wish you would have had earlier in your 00:53:49.590 --> 00:53:56.820 career? Two words, get help. You know, I kind 00:53:56.820 --> 00:53:59.699 of thought that because you mentioned during 00:53:59.699 --> 00:54:02.260 that first 20 years that you didn't seek help 00:54:02.260 --> 00:54:06.119 at all. Just understand you don't know anything. 00:54:07.340 --> 00:54:12.039 That's the ego thing. Because if you go in dumb, 00:54:12.719 --> 00:54:14.980 you only have one way to go. You're only going 00:54:14.980 --> 00:54:17.219 to get smart. OK, you're only going to be open 00:54:17.219 --> 00:54:19.260 to more help to get smart faster and sooner. 00:54:19.800 --> 00:54:22.039 It's called time compression. So like when I 00:54:22.039 --> 00:54:23.639 work with someone, they come in for help, I get 00:54:23.639 --> 00:54:26.340 to compress 10 years of costs and mistakes, bad 00:54:26.340 --> 00:54:30.039 decisions, wrong moves. I can put all that into 00:54:30.039 --> 00:54:33.659 a year and now we're in your business. So why 00:54:33.659 --> 00:54:35.539 keep getting beat up for five or 10 years and 00:54:35.539 --> 00:54:37.679 never get to where you want to go? That's what 00:54:37.679 --> 00:54:39.619 getting help is all about. That's one of the 00:54:39.619 --> 00:54:42.719 things I love about being a host on a podcast. 00:54:43.079 --> 00:54:47.119 I get to have conversations with people like 00:54:47.119 --> 00:54:51.019 yourself. If there's a ton of things that I don't 00:54:51.019 --> 00:54:56.199 know, I ask from that space, you know, and then 00:54:56.199 --> 00:54:59.800 I get the little tidbits and you know, it's like, 00:54:59.880 --> 00:55:03.480 Oh, I was doing this all wrong. Maybe I should, 00:55:03.480 --> 00:55:06.699 uh, you know, switch. So having getting help 00:55:06.699 --> 00:55:10.719 is, is paramount, especially when you're, um, 00:55:10.780 --> 00:55:13.440 a beginning entrepreneur. Yeah. And let me add 00:55:13.440 --> 00:55:16.719 the second part of that. Okay. It's only three 00:55:16.719 --> 00:55:19.519 words. So we got to get help or ask for help 00:55:19.519 --> 00:55:23.039 in two words. You want to do hard things. OK, 00:55:23.440 --> 00:55:25.320 so what you want to do, whether it's business 00:55:25.320 --> 00:55:28.619 and personal, is continuously do hard things. 00:55:28.800 --> 00:55:30.860 Now, I don't mean I got to go run a marathon 00:55:30.860 --> 00:55:33.579 and then OK, it could be physical. It doesn't 00:55:33.579 --> 00:55:35.559 matter. Like the physical, I can do hard thing, 00:55:35.579 --> 00:55:38.119 but I do that all the time. So it's not it's 00:55:38.119 --> 00:55:40.619 who I am anyways. So it doesn't count. Doesn't 00:55:40.619 --> 00:55:43.239 count anymore is a hard thing. I have to do like 00:55:43.239 --> 00:55:46.190 stuff on the computer. I have to, those are hard 00:55:46.190 --> 00:55:49.809 things for me, okay? So you know, so it seems, 00:55:50.130 --> 00:55:51.809 but yeah, I got no problem. I can hit the bag 00:55:51.809 --> 00:55:54.190 all day long. I like it. Okay. It feels good. 00:55:54.190 --> 00:55:56.690 I like it, but you know, doing some of the business 00:55:56.690 --> 00:55:58.769 stuff, you know, and things like that. It's like, 00:55:58.829 --> 00:56:01.150 that's more hard for me, but doing hard things 00:56:01.150 --> 00:56:02.869 is always going to keep you sharp. It's always 00:56:02.869 --> 00:56:05.809 going to be looking for the next thing and it's 00:56:05.809 --> 00:56:08.909 internal achievement. Okay. That's what develops 00:56:08.909 --> 00:56:11.130 your grit. That's what develops your ability 00:56:11.130 --> 00:56:13.269 to stay in the fight. I mean, if you're breathing, 00:56:13.500 --> 00:56:15.019 You're in the fight. If you can take a breath, 00:56:15.019 --> 00:56:17.579 you're in the fight. You don't take that. Take 00:56:17.579 --> 00:56:19.260 that attitude in the business and doing hard 00:56:19.260 --> 00:56:22.519 things. Shores you, it strengthens you to continue 00:56:22.519 --> 00:56:24.599 the journey and get to where you want to go, 00:56:24.619 --> 00:56:26.519 because the more things you learn you can do 00:56:26.519 --> 00:56:28.860 that you thought maybe you couldn't. Also, with 00:56:28.860 --> 00:56:31.260 a little side note on that, too, is read books 00:56:31.260 --> 00:56:33.900 on people who have done really hard things, been 00:56:33.900 --> 00:56:36.300 through unbelievably difficult circumstances 00:56:36.300 --> 00:56:38.780 and come out the other end. Yeah, because when 00:56:38.780 --> 00:56:40.619 you're whining about your Internet or whatever 00:56:40.619 --> 00:56:42.880 it is. You think about the guy who was trapped 00:56:42.880 --> 00:56:45.320 on ice for two years and the anarchy bringing 00:56:45.320 --> 00:56:48.960 28 guys home alive. Like your life isn't that 00:56:48.960 --> 00:56:56.000 bad. It's not that bad. You can do it. You can 00:56:56.000 --> 00:56:59.539 get through it. I'm sure. Right. A couple of 00:56:59.539 --> 00:57:02.000 questions. What are, because because you're, 00:57:02.519 --> 00:57:05.659 you have done, you have done this and there may 00:57:05.659 --> 00:57:07.780 be people, some entrepreneurs that are listening 00:57:07.780 --> 00:57:09.980 or even people that are trying to rebuild their 00:57:09.980 --> 00:57:18.489 career. What are the most critical actions that 00:57:18.489 --> 00:57:23.050 someone can take in the first 90 to 60 days to 00:57:23.050 --> 00:57:26.750 rebuild their business or for somebody who's 00:57:26.750 --> 00:57:29.190 trying to get into a new career? What are the 00:57:29.190 --> 00:57:32.889 critical for the first 60 to 90 days? I think 00:57:32.889 --> 00:57:36.730 the main thing you just said is 60, 90 days. 00:57:39.909 --> 00:57:43.550 When we do 30, 60, 90 day goals, whatever they 00:57:43.550 --> 00:57:46.190 are, that's the timeframe you want to operate 00:57:46.190 --> 00:57:49.150 in as long as you can. You can have a five year 00:57:49.150 --> 00:57:51.489 plan. You can have the 10 year exit. I get it. 00:57:52.170 --> 00:57:55.630 The dailies, the smaller steps are all done in 00:57:55.630 --> 00:57:57.690 small increments like that. So if you set a 30 00:57:57.690 --> 00:58:00.230 day goal, you can achieve it, right? You can 00:58:00.230 --> 00:58:03.969 measure it. You can hit it head on. Hit a hard, 00:58:04.090 --> 00:58:06.780 in fact, you got 30 days to get it done. So you 00:58:06.780 --> 00:58:09.380 kind of increases pressure on yourself, but enables 00:58:09.380 --> 00:58:12.019 you to make, get real traction and make advancement 00:58:12.019 --> 00:58:14.860 30, 60, 90. So that's one thing I would do for 00:58:14.860 --> 00:58:18.139 sure. Whatever those goals might be. Okay. Break 00:58:18.139 --> 00:58:20.739 them down into the smaller steps. Okay. So if 00:58:20.739 --> 00:58:22.820 I got 30 days, well, what do I need to do? Week 00:58:22.820 --> 00:58:25.920 one, day one, week one. What does it look like? 00:58:26.019 --> 00:58:30.460 We go, we call it a wind strategy. W I N what's 00:58:30.460 --> 00:58:34.670 important now. So You're on the third. You're 00:58:34.670 --> 00:58:36.630 in the third story. You're in your bedroom. The 00:58:36.630 --> 00:58:40.010 building's on fire. Okay, what's important now? 00:58:40.329 --> 00:58:42.889 Well, I guess I should get out of bed first. 00:58:43.250 --> 00:58:46.489 Okay, what's important now? I asked him I now 00:58:46.489 --> 00:58:49.510 head to the door What's important now check the 00:58:49.510 --> 00:58:52.150 door for heat? What's important now and I go 00:58:52.150 --> 00:58:55.309 there what every step of the way? What is important 00:58:55.309 --> 00:58:57.090 right now that I have to do before I get to the 00:58:57.090 --> 00:58:59.489 next thing? Understand that to get all the way 00:58:59.489 --> 00:59:00.949 down those stairs and outside the building be 00:59:00.949 --> 00:59:03.239 safe whatever that looks like, right? It's always 00:59:03.239 --> 00:59:05.539 about what's important now. So when you think 00:59:05.539 --> 00:59:07.820 that way, that's why those short term goals work 00:59:07.820 --> 00:59:10.920 so well, because you can plan that. You can plan 00:59:10.920 --> 00:59:14.059 those steps, take the action, and you succeed 00:59:14.059 --> 00:59:18.280 continuously, right? Success breeds more success. 00:59:19.159 --> 00:59:21.940 That's the inertia. You start winning, winners 00:59:21.940 --> 00:59:26.159 tend to win, right? They also tend to lose, but 00:59:26.159 --> 00:59:29.219 they come back the next day and play again. Okay, 00:59:29.219 --> 00:59:31.340 so we get it. But once you get in that winning 00:59:31.340 --> 00:59:35.460 mode, okay, because you discovered how to win. 00:59:36.000 --> 00:59:39.519 And that's in small incremental steps. Like that 00:59:39.519 --> 00:59:41.539 compounding with the percentages, right? Winning's 00:59:41.539 --> 00:59:46.000 the same thing. Don't go for the home run. Get 00:59:46.000 --> 00:59:50.480 the base hit. Just keep around the field you 00:59:50.480 --> 00:59:53.739 go. Right? Again and again and again. And pretty 00:59:53.739 --> 00:59:57.599 soon, you know, you're unbeatable. Yeah, I like 00:59:57.599 --> 01:00:00.780 that. And I have to listen to what you said, 01:00:00.820 --> 01:00:02.800 because it's sometimes like when you're, when 01:00:02.800 --> 01:00:05.679 we're doing this, this job, it's like, I gotta 01:00:05.679 --> 01:00:07.820 get to come up with the next question. I try 01:00:07.820 --> 01:00:10.579 not to do that. I try to be the moment and listen. 01:00:11.739 --> 01:00:17.719 And that was, I'm still listening. I was pretty, 01:00:17.960 --> 01:00:20.800 pretty great, and powerful at the same time. 01:00:21.300 --> 01:00:24.400 What today we're gonna, you know, wrap it up, 01:00:24.400 --> 01:00:27.250 but What is the last thing that you would like 01:00:27.250 --> 01:00:32.610 for an entrepreneur to know? What's the story, 01:00:32.869 --> 01:00:35.530 last words that you would like to give to impact 01:00:35.530 --> 01:00:39.789 somebody's life? I learned a quote. I read a 01:00:39.789 --> 01:00:44.150 quote. I read a book a long time ago, probably 01:00:44.150 --> 01:00:48.630 30 years ago. It was called The Outdoor Athlete. 01:00:49.150 --> 01:00:52.030 Writer named Steve Ilg really cool, right? So 01:00:52.030 --> 01:00:53.969 outdoor athlete doing climbing whatever right 01:00:53.969 --> 01:00:56.150 working on time basically and he had this thing 01:00:56.150 --> 01:00:58.349 in there which he didn't credit anyone So I figured 01:00:58.349 --> 01:01:01.829 he said it and I memorized it and I still remember 01:01:01.829 --> 01:01:04.090 it I still use it I put it on my gym walls and 01:01:04.090 --> 01:01:05.949 this and I'm gonna share that with you because 01:01:05.949 --> 01:01:08.329 this is what it's really all about Okay, and 01:01:08.329 --> 01:01:11.750 here it is dedication to a goal that never waivers 01:01:11.750 --> 01:01:14.750 Resolution. This is the basic principle in the 01:01:14.750 --> 01:01:18.380 life of every truly great character He who resolves 01:01:18.380 --> 01:01:21.480 upon any great and good end has by that very 01:01:21.480 --> 01:01:24.659 resolution clothed himself in power and has scaled 01:01:24.659 --> 01:01:27.599 the chief barrier to it. That, I just, I've never 01:01:27.599 --> 01:01:29.840 forgotten it. I can just quote it. I can say 01:01:29.840 --> 01:01:33.219 it in my sleep because it's, it just says everything. 01:01:34.139 --> 01:01:37.719 Yeah. You got to stay in it. Got to stay in it. 01:01:37.780 --> 01:01:39.760 Dedicated to a goal, man. You got, you got to 01:01:39.760 --> 01:01:42.119 stay in it, man. And that's, and look at great 01:01:42.119 --> 01:01:45.320 people. Read the book called Grit by Angela Duckworth. 01:01:45.639 --> 01:01:49.659 Grit? Grit. Yep. And so it's it's she's a researcher, 01:01:49.659 --> 01:01:52.519 phenomenal. So, I mean, you'll get you can teach 01:01:52.519 --> 01:01:55.579 yourself great. It's not like it's not a gift. 01:01:55.880 --> 01:01:59.179 Mm hmm. It's it's taught. Right. You can learn 01:01:59.179 --> 01:02:01.880 it. And when you when you check out her research 01:02:01.880 --> 01:02:04.179 and all the people done great things, it's not 01:02:04.179 --> 01:02:06.239 because of the smartest. It's not because they 01:02:06.239 --> 01:02:08.800 do their thing really well because of grit. They 01:02:08.800 --> 01:02:12.000 don't quit. Right. That's that's who achieves. 01:02:12.119 --> 01:02:16.409 No one is excluded from success. Nobody. It's 01:02:16.409 --> 01:02:20.349 because of grit. Don't you dare quit. I like 01:02:20.349 --> 01:02:25.989 it. I like that. Richard, it's been a pleasure 01:02:25.989 --> 01:02:29.309 to have you on here. Throughout the whole conversation, 01:02:30.090 --> 01:02:33.829 I have just been soaking in and listening to 01:02:33.829 --> 01:02:37.230 what you have to say. And what I love doing this 01:02:37.230 --> 01:02:41.469 is, you know, I get to after this, I get to go 01:02:41.469 --> 01:02:45.260 back and listen over and over again. and learn 01:02:45.260 --> 01:02:50.800 from the minds of people of your stature. And 01:02:50.800 --> 01:02:55.000 I appreciate your time and you being here. And 01:02:55.000 --> 01:02:59.099 how does this audience get in contact with you 01:02:59.099 --> 01:03:03.480 or learn from you or do your program or get your 01:03:03.480 --> 01:03:08.519 book? Let's listen to your podcast. Right. So 01:03:08.519 --> 01:03:11.139 they go to sharpen the spear coaching dot com. 01:03:11.639 --> 01:03:13.340 That's my website. You get everything you need 01:03:13.340 --> 01:03:16.219 there. That simulator I talked about, you want 01:03:16.219 --> 01:03:18.059 to find that $100 ,000 in profit in less than 01:03:18.059 --> 01:03:19.719 three minutes, you can do that on my website 01:03:19.719 --> 01:03:22.239 with your own business. You can plug in a couple 01:03:22.239 --> 01:03:24.280 of little numbers and poof, you got the whole 01:03:24.280 --> 01:03:26.880 thing. It's really awesome. Reach out to me. 01:03:27.679 --> 01:03:29.800 Let's do this because this was a really great 01:03:29.800 --> 01:03:32.440 conversation. Let's give your listeners a gift. 01:03:33.039 --> 01:03:35.300 They go to sharpenthespiritcoaching .com. Just 01:03:35.300 --> 01:03:37.219 go to the contact page, send me a one -sentence 01:03:37.219 --> 01:03:39.960 email. Say, Richard, I saw you on Michael's podcast. 01:03:40.480 --> 01:03:43.039 I'd love to get a copy of Escape The Owner Prison, 01:03:43.159 --> 01:03:45.420 the audio version for free and I'll send it to 01:03:45.420 --> 01:03:47.559 them. I'll send them the audio version. They'll 01:03:47.559 --> 01:03:50.000 have the whole Escape The Owner Prison. I say 01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:51.860 that because I want them to listen to it. I want 01:03:51.860 --> 01:03:53.639 them to hear it because you're going to see some 01:03:53.639 --> 01:03:56.059 basic foundational stuff in there. Weave my story 01:03:56.059 --> 01:03:58.539 in there. It's really going to give you a path 01:03:58.539 --> 01:04:01.420 to begin. If you're just starting. Nice. If you're 01:04:01.420 --> 01:04:03.599 in business now, you're going to go, oh, I gave 01:04:03.599 --> 01:04:06.239 it to a I mean, a guy I was talking to as a roofing 01:04:06.239 --> 01:04:08.539 company, like a week ago, we're walking out, 01:04:08.579 --> 01:04:10.079 we had a Bible study, we're leaving, we're talking 01:04:10.079 --> 01:04:11.960 about it. And he's talking about his thing. I 01:04:11.960 --> 01:04:13.820 go, Oh, here. And I reached into my bag and I 01:04:13.820 --> 01:04:15.300 gave him a scapegoat in prison. He looked at 01:04:15.300 --> 01:04:17.579 it and he goes, he read, he goes, that's where 01:04:17.579 --> 01:04:21.360 I'm at. I'm like, well, let's talk, you know, 01:04:21.420 --> 01:04:24.239 so it's, it, it, it, it's a great thing, but 01:04:24.239 --> 01:04:26.300 I'd love to send it to people. It won't cost 01:04:26.300 --> 01:04:28.360 them a thing. Just a name and email, just send 01:04:28.360 --> 01:04:29.920 me the email and I'll get it to them right away. 01:04:29.960 --> 01:04:31.980 And, um, yeah, because this has been a lot of 01:04:31.980 --> 01:04:36.860 fun. I can't thank you enough. And I appreciate 01:04:36.860 --> 01:04:40.619 you doing that for this audience. And to this 01:04:40.619 --> 01:04:45.260 audience, you know, always check out the conversations 01:04:45.260 --> 01:04:48.000 that we have, especially with Richard, all the 01:04:48.000 --> 01:04:51.699 information will be in the description of this, 01:04:51.900 --> 01:04:55.059 you know, this whole setup here. And as we always 01:04:55.059 --> 01:04:57.900 say around this time, let's make thriving our 01:04:57.900 --> 01:05:00.840 new normal. Thank you, Richard. I appreciate 01:05:00.840 --> 01:05:01.199 you.