In this episode of the Creative Collaboration Show, host Chuck Anderson sits down with Phil Herrington, renowned as "Phil the Connector," who shares his journey from traditional sales roles to a focus on relationship-driven networking. Phil emphasizes the significance of building business foundations through networks rather than jumping directly to marketing. Through his Connector Community, he champions collaboration, offering entrepreneurs and service providers a platform to foster meaningful connections. Phil shares insights on networking strategies, highlights the importance of personal development, and discusses overcoming personal challenges like dyslexia through tools like Audible.

Guest Bio:

Phil Herrington, widely known as "Phil the Connector," has an expansive sales background, with experiences ranging from door-to-door sales to telemarketing, and car sales. He leveraged these skills into networking by orchestrating over 5,000 one-on-one meetings. Since moving to Boise, Idaho in 2017, Phil has been dedicated to creating impactful business networks. His Connector Community focuses on collaboration, helping businesses grow through meaningful and strategic connections. Phil is passionately involved in networking education, promoting the philosophy of "Give to Grow," and is a proponent of relationship-focused business practices.

5 Key Points Discussed:

1. Networking Philosophy and Success - [10:15]

- Phil discusses his unique approach to networking that led to selling 70 websites in a year without initial marketing costs.

2. The Connector Community - [18:30]

- Insight into Phil's community that simplifies networking, offers scheduled introductions and promotes collaborative growth.

3. Networking Tips and Strategies - [25:45]

- Phil shares specific strategies like the FORD method and the importance of letting others speak first during meetings.

4. The Role of Virtual Events - [32:10]

- Discussion on the rise of virtual networking opportunities post-pandemic and their effectiveness in connecting globally.

5. Books and Personal Development - [40:22]

- Phil recommends books by Dan Sullivan and discusses leveraging Audible for continued personal growth despite dyslexia.

Main Quote:

"Building genuine relationships is the cornerstone of sustainable business growth; it's not just who you know but how well you know them."

Links:

- Phil Herrington's Website: https://thepaymentexperts.com/

- LinkedIn Profile of Phil Herrington: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philtheconnector/

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Until next time, keep moving forward!

Chuck Anderson,

Affiliate Management Expert + Investor + Mentor

http://AffiliateManagementExpert.com/

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Creative Collaboration Show.

Chuck Anderson here, and we have another great episode for you here

today. Now this show is all about, business

and entrepreneurship, and, I would say entrepreneurship

with a heart. And the majority of our, listeners and

our clients are heart centered entrepreneurs who are

on a big mission, not only to make money

and to promote their products and services, but products and

services that make an impact, a positive impact

into other people's lives. Now, obviously, in that

journey, we have to make connections. We have to meet

people. We need partnerships. We need clients. We need vendors. We need

all of the things that we need. And there is no better

way to get those things than through a

personal, introduction or through a super connector.

So today, I'm very privileged to have a super connector here, with

me today. I have Phil the connector Herrington with me.

And what's special about Phil is that, he can

connect you with nearly anyone. He's connected over

5,000 one on one meetings. And if you don't

know if that's a lot, let me just tell you as someone who's also probably

had that I'd stopped counting after a while. It's a lot.

But so, Phil, it's great to have you on the show, and, we're we've got

some great information here for everybody today. Yeah. Thanks for having me. I'm

super excited to share. Yeah. Awesome. Well, yeah, I think,

Phil, you know, from a, you know, 50,000 foot view, that is that

is my introduction, of you. But, why don't you go ahead and just

share with everybody, your story and a little bit more about

yourself and what you do, and, we'll we'll take it from there.

Yeah. I'll give a little background on where I come from so you can understand

when when I finally found business networking, why I crashed into it so

hardly. Heart that's probably not the right way to say it, but, anyway, it doesn't

matter. I make up words too, man. It's all good. You're in good company.

My wife anytime I make up a word, my wife says, let's just put that

in the, the fictionary. So Yeah. With the p

h. So, I come

from sales. Door to door, I did, MCI long distance

service, so telemarketing. I just dated myself. Yes. You used to have to pay for

long distance service. It wasn't more data on your phone.

Yeah. I did car sales.

My bit my the longest period, I was in merchant services credit card

processing, but I didn't know anybody. So I was a door to

door salesperson, you know, handing out 30 cards

a day to keep poverty away. Right? So, and I loved

it. I loved the the cold call and all that type of stuff.

So but what I did lack in that is there was no

relationships. I was always very good at what I did, made lots of

sales, but I didn't make any, real connections, deeper relationships.

So, in 2000 I'm here in Boise, Idaho. So the end

of 2017, I got divorced, and then so I'm here. I'm in a

new town. I don't know a soul, and I'm like, okay. So who do

I you know, what's my next product? What I'm gonna start going door to door.

Right? So I actually went to the Chamber of Commerce, and I'm like, so where's

the busiest area? How do I where do I go? That type of thing.

And a buddy of mine owned a website company, and

he said, hey, if I put you in BNI, will you go every week? And

I'm all, sure, what's BNI? And so I get in there, and I'm like, everyone

do this one to one thing? This is stupid. Right? Like, the hardest thing for

a salesperson is to get someone just to listen to what they have to say.

Right? So it's a lot of numbers. So I just went at it. I did

I did about 40 to 51 to ones on average a month,

and I was had them coming in, you know, on the hour at the coffee

shops, you know. I had somebody already booking my appointments for me.

I didn't know at the time, but my brain was working in power teams or

collaborations. How do I have this person in health and wellness meet all these

people in health and wellness? So I was doing text introductions, and,

I say I accidentally sold 70 websites that year, but

simply because the numbers never lie. Right? You just keep

doing the numbers. And so, so anyways, that's why I

did so many one to ones because I I didn't know anything else to do.

Right? So so I'm a huge

believer now in, nothing gets in any marketing people out

there, but I don't think when you start your business that you should start by

giving your money away to marketing companies or market at all, because you

need to build your base, and that's through networking. Right? As you said, the

fastest way to a sales and introduction to somebody, and so

you need to get your name out there. You need to build your brand, all

that stuff, but that all takes work. So and that's why it's called

networking. Right?

It definitely is. I mean, we all love it when, you know, a client

just comes in and and and it felt effortless, and, you

know, it's it's like order taking. And, any business that

I've been part of in the last 30 years, that gets to that

point was years in the making. Right? Like, there's all you know,

you're you're you're kinda, like, reaping the harvest of all the

the seeds that you planted, years ago, and,

and that that foundation is the network. And I wish that I

could dial the clock back to my 20 year old self and give him

a little slap and say, hey. That's the most important

thing. It's not the technology. Technology always

changes. It's not your pricing. It's not the

cute name of your product, and,

and and all of that. But but it is the key to relationships. And

I think one of the things that we see all

the time in our business, because as you know, we do affiliate

management and, you know, recruiting affiliates is all about building relationships.

It tends to be so transactional. It's like, if you pay

me, I'll do this. Or or,

or, you know, when the money runs out, then, bye bye.

And, also, when within when it comes to partnerships, we see

it's like, hello. Nice to meet you. Would you like to

partner with me? There's absolutely no,

relationship building in that. So, you know, I know you and I

share that that value for relationships today. It wasn't

always like that for me. What are you noticing out there with the people

that you're working with in terms of, you know, their

approach to transaction? And I I just wanted to also maybe mention

too, do they also have to do 5,000 calls? Right?

Because I know that will scare a few people. Yeah. That would scare a few

people. So, what we've kind of done here at the connector community is

we're, now inviting people to our

network that have put people before profits

and want to collaborate and wanna help you grow. So the people in

in our network, when you reach out to do a one to 1, you're

gonna you're gonna get to do that one to 1, and they're gonna be helpful.

They're not going to what what a friend of mine says pitch slap you. Right?

We've all been on those ones that they immediately go to selling their product, and

they're just they're just doing it wrong, you know. And, so we're all

about, educating people over here how to properly network. Like,

I have a series called give to grow. It's my story about how I came

how I moved from a transactional person to a relationship

building. One, if you do it correctly, it'll feed you for a

lifetime. So, no, they don't have to do the 5,001 to ones. We're

basically this fractional word is, kinda going viral

for the last few years. You know, I'm a fractional CFO or a fractional

emmit, whatever, see see something. Right? Mhmm. So think of me

as your fractional professional networker. So I'm in all

the places that you don't have time to be, and I'm going to all these

events, and I'm inviting back the people that are awesome to our

community. And so, again, when you come in, we're all about eliminating steps.

So one, we don't have any meetings. We let everyone else do their

meetings. We even have people joining us putting all their

meetings on our platform, so other networking deals.

And then we like to have everybody put their calendar link right on their

profile, so again, speeding up the process of connecting.

But when you do get that connection, treat

it right. Right? Nurture that relationship. You know, if you if you

hit it off with somebody and you're just finishing each other's sentences, that's when you

need to set that next one to one before you get off, and then never

let that cycle stop, But you'll only find that with about 10

to 15 people probably, but that's your core group, and that will

feed you for a lifetime as long as you take care of that core. So

I don't know if you agree with that or not. Oh, I 100% agree with

that. And then, you know, I just met, a company not that

long ago, a few weeks ago, where they had over 10 or 2,000

affiliates, and they were complaining because less than 20 of

them were promoting them. And my the

first thing I do whenever I'm consulting with a company is is find

out what their relationship building strategy is. And they looked at

me like, what do you mean relationship building strategy? Like, we gave them

everything, you know, they need. Why aren't they doing anything? And it's

like, because they don't want to, and they don't trust you

yet. And so 100% agree with all of

that. And I still see it even in, you know, the hearts

heart centered, you know, business circles where

there's still a degree of impatience that happens. It's

like, well, I went to this one networking event, and I

didn't meet anybody. Okay. What did you say? How

did you do it? Or or I did meet somebody. I got on a 1

on 1 call with them. Yeah. They're nice, but there's really nothing for

us there. So Mhmm. So, again,

impatience and maybe even a little bit transactional.

So I I I just thought maybe we'll get you to weigh in on that

a little bit. And, you know, like, what should they be

doing to build relationship before

expecting a result or a transaction to occur?

Oh, great question. I love this question. So I even have it in my

series, how to properly do a 1 to 1. So Mhmm. If you go to

do a 1 to 1, let's say you request that 1 to 1,

it doesn't matter actually. If you request it or they request it, I always have

the theory. I let the other person talk first. So if you allow the

other person to talk first, even if they talk the entire half an

hour or an hour, whatever you have time set for that meeting, that's good.

The more they talk, just think of it like, I would say in sales, think

of pennies falling out of their mouth. Right? The more they talk, the more their

more information they're giving you, the more comfortable they feel with you. Let

them talk first. That allows you also to gather your

thoughts and ask them very, very simple questions. You can follow the

Ford method, f o r d. Ask about their

family, their occupation, their recreation, and their

dreams. You get people talking about their dreams and where they're going with their

company or what they're doing with their life, then they feel like

you are totally invested in them. Plus it gives you great,

you know, things to talk about on your next one. Say that was the one

of those ones that you really hit it off. But I would say that number

one thing is, yes, set your one to ones, and if you're if you

if you don't if you don't have money right now, and you're

not co you're not spending at least 50% of your time

on one to ones, then you're missing out. So you need to have your

calendar filled at least 50% with one to ones, to begin

with, and what I did the very beginning was 80%. And I like, I didn't

know I didn't know anybody. I gotta do one to ones. I still today look

at my calendar, and I I meet with 60 to 80 people a month, if

not more. And so, so anyways,

always have it full because, one to 1, if you do it properly

and build those relationship, is sales activity. And if you're not doing sales

activity, you can't ever get the message out about what you do. So anyways but

in the one to 1, they always go first, ask them questions,

get them excited about talking to you, and then you can

tell them about what you do. And never ever ever pitch them on the first

call ever. Even if they want your

service, you set a second meaning because you gotta put a

block between this was a relationship building

activity. If you wanna buy for me, great. Let's set up

another meeting or go to my website or whatever, but don't be like, oh, cool.

Sign you up. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Because

that's not relationship building. That's that's

transaction. And, you know, in the in the JV world

and the affiliate world, occasionally, you'll get

2 people together who, you know, they're just they're just ready to

go, but it is rare. And, you know, there there's

there's times where we can do it, but most of the time, it

does take a few, a few calls

to get to where we wanna go. I mean, I've heard

I heard on another podcast where they referred to it as, like, dating.

And it's like you would never propose marriage on the first date

because it's kinda creepy. So

so I I love how you share and you may have answered this already, but

I just really want people to hear this is because you said,

you know, don't try to, you know, pitch your offer on the on the

first call. How many calls would you

recommend that the average person has, with

with a contact? Oh, maybe before they pitch. You know,

that's a it's a it depends on the people.

Think of them as I like to think of people as my a, b's, and

c's. Mhmm. So my a is gonna be my core group, and I'm gonna continue

to meet with them. Like, every month, I'm gonna, like, get on a call with

them, and we're gonna continue to build out that relationship. You know, my my my

b's might be every quarter, my c's once a year,

that type of thing. Right? Or then some people just are on your newsletter, if

you will. If you didn't you don't necessarily have a

super synergy, but, you know, hey, let's stay on each other's email list.

Right? Mhmm. But, I would say

let's say it this way. You never wanna actually pitch to the person

in front of you. You wanna pitch over their head. So what I

mean by that is the average person knows 200 people. Just living on this

planet, they know a 100 to 200 people. If if

they're a networker, they know about a 1000 people. If they're

a super connector, they know 5,000 or more people.

Right? So what you never wanna try to sell the one person, you

wanna say, the people I'm looking for is and describe that. Right?

So describe, like, you know, like you're selling your affiliate program.

Right? The people I'm looking to connect with are think, and you shoot over

their head, and then they'll every once in a while raise their hand. That's what

we call low hanging fruit. Those are the people who go, oh, well, yeah.

I know people, but I'm interested too. Oh, okay. Cool. Well, I'd love for you

to get involved, you know. Then you direct them on how to get involved. But

if you always shoot over their head, then they never feel like you're pitching them

directly, but you still can share what you're doing.

Mhmm. Well, it's a great way of testing the waters too to just see where

their interest level is. Right? It's like, oh, wait a minute. That that's me.

I I I need that. And, you know, I remember one of my

early mentors saying just say, do you do you know anybody who needs

help with x, or do you know anybody who works

with with these? And and then you and

so you're not saying, do you know? You're just saying, do you know anyone?

They might put their hand up and say, oh, that's me. Or Right.

Or they can, introduce you to to someone else. And that

is one thing that we've we've noticed, and I would love to get you

to weigh in on this is because with our group, we've been

coaching people to say, okay. Well, when you have that introduction call and you get

to know them and they get to know you and you ask that, hey. Do

you know anybody? And

and they can get, get some introductions to additional

people there on the spot. Is that something that you would do on the first

call, or would you not even do that? Oh, no. I think that's those are

great on the first call. You're you're collaborating immediately. Soft. Right? Like, it's

not a big ask. And if you wanted to, even I know a buddy

that goes on LinkedIn and finds out who they're connected to, and he actually will

come and ask for particular people to be introduced to.

So that's another that's another thing you can do. But, yes, I think that if

and I like to do it, by industry. So I'll be like, so what's an

what's an industry that would feed you leads on a regular basis? And they're

say they're a financial adviser. Like, I like to meet bookkeepers, CPAs,

that that that great. I would love I'd love to make some introductions for you.

Is that you know, boom. And then make those introductions. If you can always walk

away giving before you get and then, you know,

go ahead and set that next meeting, they're gonna be, you know,

very grateful. Right? And so you wanna put yourself in a position to be very

grateful. We've we were just talking about this on the last call is, the law

of reciprocity. Sometimes you give give give give give, and it feels like nothing's

coming back, but then it'll come back in a tidal wave. So

just just keep giving, and it'll it'll eventually come back to

you. You know, that is, we're so on the same

page with all of that because and and and I would say to add

to that, you don't give to get. When you give

with the expectation of receiving, it's like, okay. I'm giving this gift, and I

can't wait for them to give back to me. You've just blown it right

there. Mhmm. Because that's not giving.

That's, again, making it transactional. Can

you give in an unconditional way? Maybe you

receive back from that person, but maybe you don't. Maybe you receive back from another

source, and it doesn't matter. And that that's where we we can start to go

very, you know, very, spiritual with that very, very

quickly. But, again, one of

the toughest lessons, you know, in in my 30

year career of being a business owner was

that is to give without expectations

of receiving back. Yeah. And it and it is tough, you know, when

you when you need to make the money to pay the bills. Right. You're looking

for that sale. But, no, you're right. If you if you can

move that and that's why it's smart to get these people that are young in

their business to get them in networking immediately. Well, you

know, that's why we kind of bridge that gap. That's what the connector community

is all about is most businesses go out of business simply because not enough

people know what they do fast enough, and so we wanna bridge that

gap. So if I can introduce you to some awesome people ahead of, you

know, all, you know, quickly, then your the word about your business

gets out faster. So the reason people are doing the

pitch slapping is because they're desperate for money. Right?

And you have to get to a place where you're not no longer desperate for

money, you're just there to help. Right? And so you

wanna build your network too. Like a guy told me, I'll take any introduction because

it's sometimes a tool somebody in my tool belt that I can hand out to

somebody else whether it benefits me or not. You know? Mhmm. And

so you wanna start to, create

your own network. You know? And I always tell people, you need to go

3 deep on every industry because I need to go I

have 3 financial advisers for you. I have 3 bookkeepers for you. I have

3 whatever. You know? So, I think that's how you do it

with the super connector. Well and with the risk of

turning this into sales training, because we could definitely do that,

you can't get out of a sales slump or get out of, you know,

that desperation to make money today while you're in that

desperation mindset. And I I know. I I can say

it today because I'm not there, and I have been there more times than I

care to share. And, it in the moment, it's tough.

But when you can get to the point of going, okay.

Here's what I'm gonna do. Right? And then you get out there and you hit

the networking. And I'll tell you, you know, decade ago, this

it was harder. And you had to go and do this in person, or you

had to go to industry events. Today in this so called,

post pandemic world, we have virtual events.

We Everywhere I know. Every single day, there's an opportunity

to meet someone virtual. You literally do not have to leave your

chair. I was at an event, about 2, 3

weeks ago, and I met, 22 contacts,

just just from just from being there on a

2 hour networking event. And so,

if you don't have anyone to talk to, you can get someone to talk to

very, very, very quickly. So I wanted to, you know,

tell us a little bit more about the, the community because,

I think this is a great resource for

anyone who is looking to make those connections.

And, you know, maybe start with a little bit of, like, who it's

for and and who it's ideal for, and then, a little bit

about how it works. Okay. Great. So, we're here in Boise,

Idaho, so we do have some local businesses here in Boise because that's where I

started my networking. And then now what the real, who

really benefits is anybody that can sell worldwide. So if you're a if

you're a coach, a bookkeeper, it every it seems like a lot

of businesses have figured out a way to pivot, even financial

advisors and home, mortgage

lenders and all that stuff. Now a lot of these businesses can do business nationwide.

And so, the if you can do business nationwide, then this is a

fantastic platform for you. Because I want you to think of it as, like,

you we're we're say we're going by 20, 25 a month. Right? That's

just new opportunities coming in for you all the time. When I say

opportunity, I don't mean a lead, like, 4¢, but it's a new opportunity

for you to meet people. Right? And so, so there so

there's that. And then we're kinda, like I said, staying out of the way. We

don't have the meetings, so we want everyone else to put their events on our

event calendar. So, eventually, what we wanna become is that connection

platform where you'll come to our stuff to see

what all those networking events that you and I are talking about are. Where are

they happening? What's going on? And eventually, I'll get, you know, somebody to put all

that stuff up on our on our platform. So it'll be we'll be the

hub if you will. And then you go read about people's profiles, and

we're really big on skipping all the steps. So their

calendar link is we we like to just say, oh, this guy looks awesome. I

wanna meet with him. Let's do a calendar link, and I'm starting to encourage all

my mem my members to put a video up. Video is so

powerful. Right? A 30 second video about how awesome you are and what

you do, can make a difference because that makes them choose

you to do a one to one with was over somebody else. Right? Mhmm.

And so, we try to keep it we try to eliminate steps. Right? We've

eliminated 1 going to a meeting. We wanna just be the place where you can

find all the meetings and then go right there, read about their profile,

and get right on their calendar. So Any particular

industries that you find this is particularly, effective for?

Yeah. So I, like I said, I have anybody in the coaching world,

anybody in the so a lot of business coaches,

if you think of any, certain website designers, I got a lot of marketing

people, but all marketing people do it a little bit different. Right? I got,

people are actually CMOs. I got, people that

do CRMs. I

got, oh, actually, I have some, VA services in there. So when you're

the the usually, your very first hire is a VA when

you're ready to scale your business. Yeah.

A lot of home service businesses are in there. We'll be looking to

break into other cities later, but, that'll happen. But, yeah, if you if you

can think of if it's a business service that you that

your business you think about your business, what you need, that's probably who's in there.

So, you know, fractional, HR people,

fractional CMOs, those type of things.

Fantastic. Well, it's got some good variety there. And, you know, a a lot

of the people that we work with tend to be service

providers who work with other, you know, coaches or

service providers or entrepreneurs or whatever. So it would definitely be a

great, connection for them.

And, it's it's one that we recommend that if you're

listening into this and you need connections,

this this would be a great thing, for you to check out. So,

Phil, I know that you offer a, a free tour

of the community. You wanna tell us a little bit more about that. Yeah. And

right before this call, I just came off a tour, so I'll explain that. So

we had 6 people on the call, and so we do these tours anywhere from,

you know, if one person shows up, great. We'll do that. But if as much

as 10 people show up, we'll, and when I when I the reason I called

it a tour, I wanted to be kinda fun. I have a fun personality,

and so, we call it the tour because everyone comes on. We'll, have

them go around and introduce themselves. I want them to connect if they if they

can, right, if it makes sense for them to connect so they can put their

contact information in on there. And if you stay on the call, you know, we'll

do that for the first, you know, 20 minutes or so. But if you stay

on the call, I will make sure that you get connections. So because

I just have to go through my phone. I just have to think for a

second. If you tell me an industry that you need to connect with, I'm

going to connect you. So, just plan on staying on that call,

call, and I'll make sure you get introductions. Wow. So they don't only have to

be a member of the community. All they have to do is come to your

free tour, and they're gonna get some connections right there on the spot. It's like

sampling. Right? Yeah. You got you gotta taste it first. Right? You gotta know that

my connections are good. And I figure again, the law

reciprocity is about I'm just giving giving giving giving giving.

They're going want more and to be a part of that family and then

come back and join, or they don't join. That's fine. But it also benefits my

members for them to get connected. So it's that cross pollination that

is super beneficial. So I'm happy to do that.

Awesome. Well, that sounds like an absolute no brainer. So if

you are not actually looking beneath this video for the link right

now, then, then then we failed.

But, you know, go and go and meet Phil,

get the tour of the platform, and get a couple of free introductions.

I mean, you know, especially if you're in a position in your business where you

really, really need those, now is, certainly the time to do that. So if you're

listening in be, on video,

just look right beneath this video. All the links of the 2 connect with Phil

are there. If you're listening to this on podcast, just look

into, the player that you are listening to this

on, and the links are right there in the show notes. You can't

miss them. And while you're there, check out the

link of, how to join the

community as well. And, Phil, do you wanna take just a couple of minutes to

talk about, you know, the community? Like, who are you looking for? Who's

ideal for the community, etcetera. Yeah.

Yeah. Like I said before, anybody that can service businesses nationwide

are fantastic. I I need some more financial advisors.

I need some people maybe that sell life insurance, any of the insurances,

that they can do it if they can do it nationwide.

Those those would be fantastic, but no limited to that. You

know? Also, any service whatsoever. What

else? Oh, and then we we do have 3 plans,

and I won't I won't go into any pricing. I'll just let you know we

have the the traditional DIY. You do it all yourself. We

have the done with you, and we have the done for you. So we'll even

go as far as learn all about your business. So don't if you

think you're too busy, still come because, if

you are too busy, we'll just put those power partners directly on your calendar for

it for you. You'll give us your calendar link, and we'll put them on your

calendar for you. So, of course, that's gonna cost more, but we have all three

models for you so you can benefit from the network. Yeah.

Fantastic resource, especially when it when you're too busy

to go out there and and find the new connections yourself.

Nothing better than just having them on your calendar, and then you

show up to those, 1 on 1 meetings and and go from there. And

they're prevented because, of course, you already know you've done that deep

dive into the business. And so, so there we go.

Well, certainly, when we do some of our larger campaigns, we just might have to

get you, to do that for us. So, because we do a lot of

recruitment for, affiliates and partners and whatnot. So

Fantastic. Yeah. Well, that sounds great. Now before I let you

go, because I know we've covered a lot of ground, and, this

has been this has been really great so far.

One of the things that has been huge for us, and it's a bit of

a theme here on the show, is, you know, personal development and self

growth. And I always say that, you know, your grow business never really

grows beyond the point that you grow yourself. And

for that reason, you know, books have been such a big part of it. You

can see just a few of them back here.

And so but I have thousands of them,

and I have my favorites. So just out of my

own interest, I started asking this question, and I'm curious to see what you'd say.

If you had a favorite book or one that was really

impactful for you or one that you would recommend is just a must

read for anyone, what what what comes to mind for

you? Yeah. So, first off, I'm gonna say, I'm not a big reader because I

have dyslexia. Yeah. So, again, don't let that stand your way because I I use

Audible. Yeah. I'll give you Audible is the way I consume them too. I

cannot stare at a page, but Audible, I you just consume it

so quickly. Good. Yeah. And I always I actually always listen at 2 times

speed, because what I'm looking for in each book, because I'll read

about I'll read 2 or 3 books a month, listening to

them. But what I'm looking for is the nuggets. Right? Yeah. Every every business

owner says it a little bit different. Now what I did, the one I would

suggest if people haven't read yet is there's a 3

book series, by Dan Sullivan and doctor

Benjamin Hart Harding. Yeah. And it goes in this

order, who not how, the gain in the gap, and

then 10 times as faster than 2 times. Mhmm. I

would listen to all three of those in that order. There's

some great stuff in there. Dan Sullivan has been a business coach for over

gosh, I think over 30 years now. Probably longer than that. Yeah. You

think it's longer than that? Could be. Could be. Yeah. And this guy

is his 70. Like, early eighties, late seventies when he started

his first coaching business in Toronto. Mhmm. Yeah. And

so, he he's on there, and it's really good. So he he really,

what I love about the who not how is it teaches you how as

soon as you, procrastinate

on something, you're supposed to hire it out.

And when you hire it out, the money will come in because you're living in

your genius. Right? You're doing the thing you're so anyways, it's a

fantastic book, and he he he he does it on this book because

he has Benjamin Harding write the entire book. He's not even

involved. It's so crazy that he gives them the vision, and then he goes and

writes the whole thing. You gotta you gotta read it. And then the other thing

I'll just give you a tip about Audible. A lot of people don't know this.

If you've had that title for less than 12 months and there's any reason you

didn't like it, they'll give you the give you your credit back. Oh, wow. So

you can just re listen to that as many times as you can, and then

go get another I if you didn't get any value.

There you go. There you go. Yeah. But I'll listen to it sometimes. Yeah. I

have a growing library in my audible. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. But all those ones that, you know, they're less than 12 months old,

but you didn't get anything out of it. You didn't connect with the author. Whatever

the reason is, call them. They'll they'll actually give you all those credits back. They

want you to buy more books. Oh, interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Because they're not

every book has been wonderful, but anything by Dan

Sullivan is is time well

spent. And, I remember meeting him in person back

in 2010. So I attended one of

his workshops. And, and so, yeah, I've read all 3 of

the or listened to, because I'm also an audible listener,

all 3 of those books multiple times. Love and Not How

is amazing. And when you adopt the mindset

of who can help me with this, who could do this for me so

that I I I love how you said it. Live in your genius.

Right? And then, gap in the gain, I mean, you just have to listen

to that book. You just have to because it's

it will change the way you think. And then 10

x is easier than 2 x

is game changing. Absolutely game changing.

And, if you are someone who does not like to waste

time, that's your buck. Mhmm.

Or especially waste time on things that will not work

or only move the needle gradually. You know,

and you know what? I'll say on that 10 times, 2 times, that's where I

came up with the tour idea to put as much as a 100 people in

a me eventually, it'll be a 100 people in the meeting because we have big

vision. But, because the guy said

at the beginning of the year, Dan Sullivan, he takes a 180

days off. Babs is his wife goes and

plans out their trips, and their their team is not allowed to contact

them at all when they're gone. So he takes half the year off and

gets more done than other people do. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And, you know, early stage entrepreneurs are always

grinding. They're working 12, 14 hours days and

and and that and then there be and he did too. And

but he learned that the secret is not to

work harder or to work longer hours.

Sorry, all you Alex Hermozzi fans, but, you know, this is

there there is a smarter and easier way to do this.

And Dan Sullivan has a a tremendous amount of

wisdom, when it comes to that. Bob Proctor was another one

who, again, learned learned

that the secret is not to work harder. Mhmm.

It's it it is through connections ultimately. Who not

how and 10 x is better than 2 x, it comes

down to connections. It comes down to partnerships. It comes

down to hiring the right people, like and you need connections, and you

need good network and the foundation of that. And that's what we've been talking

about here today. So, Phil, this has been amazing, and

I know that I could probably talk to you for another hour, but, we don't

wanna lose our audience. We wanna make sure that they're still on the edge of

their seats. Go connect with Phil. Go attend,

his tour. Go check that out. Get a couple of free connections,

and, and then, you know, leverage those connections into something.

Build and nurture some relationships. That is what Phil and I both

want you to take away from this episode.

So, Phil, thank you. This has been amazing. And before I let you

go, any final words of wisdom or or advice for our

listeners? Yes. So my favorite saying is you have not

because you asked not. So if you don't ask, you're not gonna get, and

that really goes into the whole one to one thing as we're talking now. So

go ask for those one to ones and get them done.

That is brilliant, and I think that's gonna be the the quote of

this episode, and beautiful words to end this episode by.

So, Phil, thank you so much for being an amazing guest. To our

audience, thank you for being here as well. I want this

time to mean something for you. So if there was something that Phil

said or I said or something that we prompted you to

remember or be inspired to do, I would like you to take

one action today towards

that thing that you desire and, yes, solving

problems, whatever. But, you know, something that you desire, I'd like you to

go take one action towards that today. And,

maybe it's something that we reminded you of. Maybe it's a new idea that you

got here, or maybe it's just to go and schedule yourself

in to do the tour with Phil. That would be a great step as well

and get some, free connections. So go ahead and do that. And

remember, never ever give up on your big dream. Keep moving

forward because, that next breakthrough, you

could just be one relationship or one connection or one collaboration

away from that big breakthrough you're looking for in your business. And

so until next time, this has been the Creative Collaboration Show with Chuck

Anderson, and I'll see you on the next one, everybody. Thank you.