EPISODE OVERVIEW
Duration: Approximately 35 minutes
Best For: Trapped entrepreneurs who feel like they own a job rather than a business
Key Outcome: Understand the critical distinction between owning a job and owning an asset, and discover the delegation framework that frees you from 100 weekly interruptions
He rode his motorcycle from Rio de Janeiro to the Atacama Desert. Then across Patagonia to the end of the world. Rafael Pinho can switch off completely when he's on the road. The thing is, most business owners he works with cannot switch off at all.
THE BOTTOM LINE
You started your business for freedom. Somewhere along the way, that freedom turned into a different kind of prison. You feel like you own a business, yet the business owns you just as much as your former employer ever did. Rafael Pinho, valuation expert and Co-Founder of TD Pine Advisors, has spent years helping trapped entrepreneurs make a critical shift. From owning a job to owning an asset. This episode lays bare the uncomfortable truth that your business might look successful on the outside while you're drowning on the inside. Rafael shares his own transformation from pulling 18-hour days as a CFO to learning the delegation skills that changed everything. More importantly, he reveals why running your business as if you would sell tomorrow creates the freedom you actually wanted in the first place. Whether you want to sell, pass it to your children, or simply collect mailbox money from a beach, the path starts here.
WHY THIS EPISODE MATTERS TO YOU
You will discover why "sad clown syndrome" affects business owners just as much as comedians, and what that means for your mental health when you cannot show anyone the truth behind your success facade.
You will learn the exact question to ask your team that reduced one business owner's interruptions from 100 per week down to five, giving them back hours of strategic thinking time.
You will understand why your inability to delegate is destroying your team's confidence and motivation, creating a cycle that keeps you more trapped.
You will recognise the true cost of continuing to work in your business instead of on it. Your health, your relationships, and the very freedom you started this journey to find.
KEY INSIGHTS YOU CAN IMPLEMENT TODAY
Your Business Is Either a Job or an Asset
Rafael makes a powerful distinction. You think you own a business. You actually own a job. The business owns you as much as your former employer ever did. Because you transformed this job into a genuine asset, you create options. Sell to an outside investor. Pass it to your children. Hand it to your employees. Or simply step back and let the money arrive while you live your life. That transformation requires intentional work on systems, not just harder work on tasks.
The 80% Delegation Rule Liberates You
If someone on your team can do a task 80% as well as you can, let them do it. Let them make the mistakes. When you constantly correct and intervene, you knock their confidence. They feel they are doing it wrong. Their motivation drops. They stop loving their job. Your attempt to help actually creates dependency and resentment. The trapped entrepreneur who cannot delegate stays trapped.
One Question Eliminates 100 Weekly Interruptions
A business owner tracked his time and discovered he had roughly 100 interruptions per week where team members needed help. One simple rule changed everything. When you bring me a problem, bring three possible solutions. Then let them implement one of those solutions. Do not tell them how. If the outcome will only be 70% perfect and it will not cost reputation or money, let them do it anyway. That business owner went from 100 interruptions to five. He reclaimed his time for strategic work.
The Sad Clown Syndrome Applies to You
Comedians suffer from sad clown syndrome. They sell funny, so they must look happy and entertaining constantly. Inside, many suffer depression they cannot show. Business owners face the same trap. On the outside, your business must look good. You must appear successful. Inside, when you are alone comparing yourself to the 25-year-old who made four billion, you feel like a failure. You cannot share this with your spouse or children because you fear they will not see you as the role model you are trying to be. This isolation makes the trap even tighter.
Run Your Business Like You Would Sell Tomorrow
If you run your business as if you would sell it tomorrow, you will operate at the closest possible level to perfection. You will build the most efficient systems. You will document everything. You will create a business that does not depend on you. Even if you never want to sell, this mindset creates the freedom you originally wanted. Exit ready does not mean selling. It means having options.
GOLDEN QUOTES WORTH REMEMBERING
"You feel like you own a business. You actually own a job. The business owns you as much as your former employer owned you." - Rafael Pinho
"I didn't know something existed for middle-aged men called sad clown syndrome. Business owners suffer from it too. On the outside, the business has to look good. In the inside, they're like, I'm a failure." - Rafael Pinho
"Learning to delegate was the most liberating experience of my life." - Rafael Pinho
"You cannot pour from an empty glass. We give so much to other people that we don't keep anything for ourselves." - Roy Castleman
"If you run your business as if you would sell tomorrow, you're going to be the closest possible to perfection and the most efficient place you could be." - Rafael Pinho
QUICK NAVIGATION FOR BUSY LEADERS
00:00 - Introduction: Why motorcycling teaches business owners to switch off their minds
04:30 - The prison you built: How entrepreneurs create their own cages
08:45 - Delegation disasters: Why your helping actually hurts your team
12:20 - The AI overwhelm trap: Why new tools create more problems without clarity
16:15 - Sad clown syndrome: The hidden mental health crisis affecting business owners
22:40 - Roy's personal story: From hospital bed to thriving through wellness practices
26:30 - The 80% rule: How to delegate without losing control
30:15 - From 100 interruptions to five: The one question that changes everything
33:00 - TD Pine's approach: Transforming your job into a sellable asset
GUEST SPOTLIGHT
Name: Rafael Pinho
Bio: Rafael Pinho is a valuation and financial strategy expert and Co-Founder of TD Pine Advisors. He works with growth-minded business owners to bring clarity to their numbers, model their future, and make decisions that increase enterprise value rather than just revenue. His background spans private equity, real estate, and capital markets, where he has led transformative financial outcomes and built investor confidence.
Connect with Rafael:
Website: www.tdpineadvisors.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafaelpinho/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tdpineadvisors
YOUR NEXT ACTIONS
This Week: Track every interruption you receive from your team for five working days. Count them. See the real number. This awareness alone will shift your perspective on where your time actually goes.
This Month: Implement the three solutions rule. Tell your team that when they bring you a problem, they must also bring three possible solutions. Let them execute one without your intervention.
This Quarter: Schedule a session with a trusted advisor to assess whether your business is a job or an asset. Map out the specific systems and processes needed to make it exit ready, even if you never plan to sell.
EPISODE RESOURCES
Book mentioned: Free to Lead (explains F3 and sad clown syndrome for men)
Book mentioned: Who Not How by Dan Sullivan
Organisation mentioned: F3 (Fitness, Fellowship, Faith) for men's accountability and wellness
Framework mentioned: Eisenhower Matrix for prioritisation
Business operating systems mentioned: EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System), BOS UP
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READY TO ESCAPE THE TRAP?
Take the Freedom Score Quiz: https://scoreapp.atpbos.com/
Discover how trapped you are in your business and get your personalised roadmap to freedom in under 5 minutes.
Book a Free Strategy Session: https://www.atpbos.com/contact
Let's discuss how to build a business that works WITHOUT you.
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CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST, ROY CASTLEMAN
Roy is the founder of All The Power Limited and creator of Elevate360, a business coaching system for entrepreneurs ready to scale without burnout. As a certified Wim Hof Method Instructor and the UK's first certified BOS UP coach, Roy combines AI automation, wellness practices, and business operating systems to help trapped entrepreneurs reclaim their freedom.
Website: www.atpbos.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roycastleman/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@allthepowerltd
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::Good morning, good evening, good afternoon wherever you are in
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::the world. So today I'm joined by Rafael, who is
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::a partner of somebody we've had on the podcast before,
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::Brandon TPA Pine Advisors. And we going to discuss some
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::things that are really important for business owners. Subjects around
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::partnerships and agreements and understandings. A subject close to my
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::own heart at the moment is it's the thing that
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::I'm going through right now. Welcome to the show. Thanks
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::for having me. Yeah, those topics are very excited. So
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::I'm excited about this conversation. First of all, we met
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::last week and you told me a little bit bit
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::about you and your travels around the world on your
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::motorbike. Let's start there. Tell us your two epic journeys
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::that you've told me about. I'm sure there are many
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::more, but just share a bit. All right. I'm a
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::chap that it's hard to get my head turned off
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::from work, from business, from problems. I'm always the internal
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::voice is always going very early. Found that motorcycling has
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::a way to get you out of that. Basically, if
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::you're not paying attention to the road, chances are you're
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::going to get killed. And I don't want to get
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::killed. So I pay attention to the road and that
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::turns my head off for that to be effective. In
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::my case, it takes a while to really turn off.
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::So I tend to go long, long distances. And with
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::that came the passion for okay. When you are on
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::a motorcycle, it's amazing when you see the landscape change
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::and you smell it differently. Just the other day, for
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::the first time ever, I had my son with me
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::just around where we live and he said it himself
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::that it's amazing. Same places we've been around the car
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::time and time again, just smell different. They feel different.
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::Being on a motorcycle, I'm like, welcome to why it's
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::thrilling. And on that into the journeys. Love to plan
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::and go on long trips. So as I'm a Brazilian
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::and used to live down in Brazil, I did basically
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::three great journeys. One, the first one I planned was
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::the Estrada Real. It's the Royal Road, the first road
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::that the Portuguese built in Brazil. It's called BR000 for
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::that reason. And it was where the gold would flow
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::through and believe it or not, still 70, 80% off
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::road. So it's amazing. Now they built modern roads around
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::it at the time was just for horses. But anyway
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::it's perfect for motorcycling. So I did that and also
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::did from Rio de Janeiro to the Atacama Desert and
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::back, which is across South America pretty much coast to
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::coast. And that was an amazing journey. The Atacama Desert
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::is a place it should be in everybody's bucket list,
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::is the closest you're going to be from Mars. Actually,
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::NASA has a station close to San Pedro de Atacama
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::you can visit that shows that they are training their
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::astronauts there. That's an amazing site, the little station they
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::have there. And then that got me interested in the
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::Andes because through that journey I had to ride over
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::the Andes and it was an amazing experience. And I
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::said, okay, I should do more Andes stuff. Guess what?
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::Three years ago now, sorry, I've ridden all the way
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::down to Ushuaia from the using the east coast of
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::South America and then back up through the west coast,
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::pretty much going back and forth through the Andes in
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::the Chilean and Argentinian border. Amazing journey. Patagonia is the
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::closest you can get to be close to God on
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::Earth. It's amazing. That just. That fills me with so
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::much respect. But it also. This is the journey that
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::business owners want, right? They want to be able to
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::do this. We do this job because of freedom. We
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::get into this job because we really want some freedom.
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::I love entrepreneurs. I think entrepreneurs are the best breed
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::in the world. And the reality is, unless we can
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::get the knowledge that both you and me provide, we
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::end up creating ourselves, our own prison. And it just
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::becomes a tighter and tighter cage around you. That's absolutely
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::true. I talked about that with my clients all the
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::time. Most, a lot of them are corporate escapees. There
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::must be a better way. And I want to create
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::that better way. Fast forward five, 10 years, they're back
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::in the prison. It's just a different one. And that's
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::why I normally tell them, okay, you feel like you
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::own a business, you actually own a job. The business
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::owns you as much as your former employer owns you
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::now. Can we take that job and turn into an
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::asset? That whole distinction from job to asset, by the
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::way, Roy, I'm going to spoil it right now actually
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::writing a book with that exact same title. From Job
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::to Asset. It's almost done, should be out soon. That's
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::the journey, right? They didn't sign up for that journey,
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::but they need to go over that journey to be
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::able to be where you just mentioned they wanted to
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::be. So that building that, it's so exciting because I
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::can see how that's something that they want, they crave,
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::they wanted that in the first place. But for the
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::reasons we can go in detail that normally doesn't happen.
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::Just touching on those reasons. There's so many different ways
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::that you can get trapped, and delegation is a key
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::one. I can do it better than somebody else. I
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::help everybody all the time to fix what they're doing
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::wrong, rather than. I call it the 80% rule. If
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::they can do it 80% as well as you can,
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::then let them do it. Let them make the mistakes.
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::When you're trying to help all the time, you're actually
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::knocking everybody else's confidence. Because every time you say do
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::it this way and do it that way and do
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::it this way, your team feel they're doing it wrong.
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::Right. And if they feel like they're doing it wrong,
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::then their motivation goes down. They don't. They don't love
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::their job anymore. Entrepreneurs aren't the same as normal people.
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::I'm unemployable. I'm just totally unemployable. Yeah. And I'm unemployable
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::because I have the entrepreneurial mind mindset. And I go
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::into a job and I see 10 different ways to
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::do it better. And I'm always driving and driving. But
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::that's not like 98% of the world are not like
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::that. They have a different mindset and a different approach.
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::And we have to, as entrepreneurs, respect that and understand
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::that and give them what they need to feel the
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::best. Having that very discussion just the other day, and
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::I love Roy, I use the 80, 20 rules to
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::explain that, just as you just did. So we're connected
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::at some higher level there. And I was having that
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::conversation with a business owner the other day. So this
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::guy, we're supposed to be on recurrence. We should be
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::talking about these things and progressing with his process just
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::derailing and things are getting behind and we are late
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::in things that we should have done already. And I'm
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::finally calling him, what's going on, man? I have no
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::time right now. You know what's happening. I'm just having
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::teen problems. People that I knew of, both are leaving.
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::I'm like, what? Guess what? The problem is not the
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::people. The problem was the client. Because as I started
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::to ask, and by the way, he's very like you
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::and me, very driven guy, wants to build things, want
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::to break and build things, and doesn't understand that 98%
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::of the people are not like that. They need a
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::clear task, a near expectation, a clear deliverable, and those.
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::And they won't be like him. They will see problems
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::and anticipate them, start building when that's. That was his
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::expectation. So the problem that you just described is very
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::real. I was dealing with it like a week ago,
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::and we had the exact same conversation that you just
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::talked about. Amazing. Yeah. And without a shadow of a
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::doubt, a very different world now in the last six
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::months even. And the next 12 months is going to
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::be even more. There's going to be an even higher
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::level of upheaval. And for us business owners, it's
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::actually a problem. It's a real problem because you look
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::at Claude, you look at a chatgpt, you look at
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::the different agents that you can run and all these
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::things. And we go out and we see something. We
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::see an opportunity to make something better. Right. So we
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::go through this process and we're like, okay, cool. I've
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::had this list in the back of my head for
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::so many years. Of all these things, I know I
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::should do better. So we start seeing a solution to
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::one problem. And I really encourage people, my clients, I'm
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::like, okay, just let's fix the problem. That's going to
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::need. Move the needle the most. Right. Because what you
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::end up doing with all those opportunities, you see all
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::these problems and you just. I'm going to fix all
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::these problems. Now where what you should have done is
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::cleared yourself some time, because time is your biggest asset.
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::Time and clarity for a business owner or king. Right.
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::So instead of clearing yourself some time, you've actually given
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::yourself more overwhelm than you had before. Yeah. When you.
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::And I want to say to do lists and task
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::lists are probably a thing of the devil was created
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::to break us in some shape or form. And the
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::moment they became electronic and adding an item became typing
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::a single thing, it just made it worse. I've actually
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::met a person that had a 1,000 items to do
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::list. And I'm like, what? Yeah, I just throw
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::things in there and someday I'll tackle them. And I'm
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::like, this is not. Anyway, right back to you. That
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::prioritization is deep key to adding the value. And it's
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::the key to get joy out of that process. Because
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::now you see you're moving. So again, not trying to
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::reinvent the wheel, but they apply the Eisenhower matrix. Apply
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::something to get priorities in place. Tackle them in a
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::logical order that will add value because, yeah, they'll be
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::endless. There's always going to be a list. But the
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::day is only 24 hours long. Yeah. Today should be
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::eight hours long, not 14 as well. Absolutely. Yeah. I
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::think the thing that really was so formative in my
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::Life back in 2017 was learning a business operating system
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::and understanding that I have to work on the business
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::more than I work in the business to what you
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::guys do. Which is really helping people get to exit
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::or have their business exit ready. Right. Which is not
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::about selling your business, it's about having an exit ready.
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::There's a different thing there. Once it's exit ready, then
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::you create yourself. Freedom. Right. I so often think about
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::businesses as children and you might relate to this. I've
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::got a 22 year old daughter and you know when
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::you first have the idea conception, then you think you're
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::excited. Then this little cretin gets born and you don't
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::sleep anymore. You worry all the time you're dealing with
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::shit and vomit and all sorts of things. Yeah. But
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::you get through that stage and it gets a bit
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::better. Then you get the terrible twos where there's all
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::sorts of pain points and you navigate your way through
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::that and you go up and then they get to
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::that five or six years old age where actually they're
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::quite cute and they look up to you and daddy,
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::you're the best thing in the world. Right. Then they
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::get to 8 years old or 10 years old and
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::you're not the best thing in them is all friends.
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::And yeah. You get to the teenage years and suddenly
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::the teenage years become a real problem. And I think
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::so many business owners get stuck in the teenage years
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::because they're trying to control our children. As I said,
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::My daughter's 22. What we're trying to do is we're
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::trying to make them ready to go out in the
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::world and have their own experience. And businesses are so
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::much like that. Yeah. Business owner owners see a problem
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::in the world and they say, I can go and
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::fix that problem. And they have a vision and then
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::they take you through this process and the step by
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::step of getting to fix that vision. And if you
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::can't step away from your business and let your business
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::go and it's the two week or three week holiday
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::challenge. Right. Can you leave your business tomorrow, three week
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::holiday and actually have the whole thing carry on running?
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::When it gets to that stage, then you're ready. I
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::love the imagery. The keep raising. I often see when
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::we are having our initial or discovery steps, the elephant
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::in the room is actually my kid is ugly. The
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::kid is ugly. When you pop the hood and you
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::look under the hood, my kid is ugly. So I
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::can sense the hesitation in some of the people of
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::really opening up and telling Us what's going on, what's
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::making them not sleep at night? Because you're at some
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::like a proud father you're ashamed of showing. Hey, I
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::have all these problems. Things that don't allow me to
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::relax or think or execute to be exit ready because
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::they're so consumed by that worry. However, what's the definition
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::of insanity? Roy? Do the same thing over
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::and over. Yeah, I think there's something else in this
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::rod business owners. There's a few things that I always
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::talk about. It's a lonely world. You go out and
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::first of all you tell your wife and you tell
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::your friends and after the third time you've told them,
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::they don't want to hear anymore. So that's a massive
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::problem. The second problem is that we compare ourselves consistently
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::to how other people are doing it. So we look
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::at Mr. 25 Year Old who made 4 billion and
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::you're like why can't I do that? So we were
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::consistently comparing and then with that comparison we go the
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::other way. We feel guilty about not being able to
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::do that. So we then get very scared to ask
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::for help. There are so many tools and so many
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::things out there and so many ways to do it
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::that we believe we should be able to do it
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::ourselves. And that just locks us in this never ending
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::cycle of staying in the same place. I'm going to
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::take you to a little habit roller now but I
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::promise that I'm going to get us back on track.
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::So I've met something that changed my life and actually
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::it's how I met Brandon Moon, my partner that he
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::already interviewed called F3. Now F3 is a organization.
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::F3 stands for fitness, fellowship and faith. It's a group
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::of men that work out together. It has completely changed
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::my life because I didn't know something that existed for
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::middle aged men called the sad clown syndrome. So
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::there's a book on it, it's called Free to Lead.
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::If you want to go read it, that explains how
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::it is and how these guys found about it and
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::how this guy's found that the only way for men
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::to cure that. And I'm thinking any person is have
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::trusted people that you can talk to and men are
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::men. They will create bonds through pain and suffering together.
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::5:30 in the morning, working out and there's the F2
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::way. But I can, I'm sure that can be applied
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::elsewhere. However, I'm going to focus on the sad clown
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::syndrome which if you don't know what it is, it's
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::actually being diagnosed in comedians right now, what a comedian
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::is that guy who's always funny. They sell funny. So
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::they have to look funny, be funny, and be entertaining
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::all the time. Guess what? A lot of comedians suffer
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::from depression, right? We saw examples out there where
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::that it ultimately leads because the facade has to be
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::the facade of I'm happy, I'm this funny character. But
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::inside, when they are suffering from depression, it can really
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::cracks them down because they cannot show that. Now I
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::want to go back to the business owner. So the
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::business owners time and again suffer from sad clown theory
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::applied to business. In the outside business has to look
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::good, has to be great. I have to be successful.
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::But in the inside, when I'm alone and I'm looking
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::at my phone and going back to the $4 billion
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::guy with their in their 20s, they're like, oh, I'm
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::a failure. I have all these problems. And then they
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::don't have who to talk to because spouse, kids and
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::closest friends are tired from listening to it. Or maybe
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::he doesn't want to even share with those on fears
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::that they won't see me as successful or don't see
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::me as that role model. And entrepreneurs, they are trying
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::to be that. We know that's a trait. It's a
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::personality. So sometimes going back to my business owners the
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::other day is, oh, Hafa, you're more the financial guy,
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::right? You should be my cfo. I can talk numbers.
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::I'm like, no, dude, I'm here for you too, as
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::a leader and as your trusted advisor to have these
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::conversations because I know you cannot have these conversations. And
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::then to anyone else, I know you cannot come home
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::to your dinner table and be offloading that on your
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::kids and your wife. You don't want to do that.
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::So bring it on. Let me help you deal with
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::your team problems. Because if we don't, I cannot execute
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::on the plan we agreed I would execute anyway. It's
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::a path for failure. I hope I brought you back
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::safe and sound. No, this is fundamentally part of my
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::methodology. I call it the Owners Thrive method. And part
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::of the methodology, first of all, is time, but because
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::I don't have time. And then after that, it's health,
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::right? Because what we do is we put ourselves second,
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::right? We get overweight, we get unfit, we get mentally
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::very drained. I've been there. Ended up in a hospital
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::bed and then trying to commit suicide because I've been
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::right at the bottom of that barrel, right? And yeah,
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::this is because we give so much to other people
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::that we don't keep anything for ourselves. Right? Yes. I
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::do breath work, I do meditation, I do cold exposure,
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::I do my storm, all these things. Because I have
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::to be the most powerful person I can be. I
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::have to love myself, I have to understand myself. I
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::have to understand why I'm having these bad feelings about
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::things and really dig into that. And I can't do
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::that. You can't pour from an empty loss. Right. And
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::how do I do that? I have to make myself
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::time first of all, you know, so those are the
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::first two pillars of my method. The next after that,
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::we then get to the business operating system. We then
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::get to. Okay, now I've got some clarity. Now I
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::can look after myself actually. Now we can focus on
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::how do we actually grow and build the business. What
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::are the skills that I don't have right now? What
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::are those trusted 40 year old methodologies that the big
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::corporates are using all the time that I don't have
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::the access to? I was lucky enough in 2017 to
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::be able to go and spend £100,000 on a business
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::coach that taught me the entrepreneurial operating system. Yeah. I
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::then became a coach and I've since become a coach
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::for Bossup, which is a business operating system that is
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::significantly more. So these things all they have to go
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::together. You can't have one without the other. And to
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::your point. Yeah. If you keep on going into somebody
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::and he hasn't got the time and he's in a
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::very bad place mentally and physically, he's just not going
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::to be able to step up. Right. So you have
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::to take into control of that situation, give yourself time,
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::give yourself energy and the results are so much better.
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::And back to you what One of the first things
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::we normally have to tackle is that time crunch is.
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::Yeah, okay. We're here because you have to admit to
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::yourself you wouldn't able to escape that cycle on your
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::own. And let's make sure we find that time and
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::we create that wedge or you know, a pie chart
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::from your time allocation so we then can work our
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::things. And putting a system in place just as you
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::describe is one of the time and time tried ways
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::of doing it and download how they do their business
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::into a system. Boss is a great example to do
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::it. Right. Okay, now I can work on the business
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::not in and very real. It's something that us as
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::TDPine as we are growing. And by the way, I
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::love the imagery, it's about to become terrible too. So
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::is it already trying to misbehave and have me pull
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::all nighters, which I'm not going to admit. So we
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::already working on systems and putting some things in place
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::to tackle that because there's no other way to, to
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::grow a business. And that piece. I've spoken to numerous
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::business owners now and I say I'd always start working
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::with this concept. Let's fix your biggest three problems first.
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::If I can fix your biggest three problems first and
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::I can give you back an hour a day, I
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::want you to then spend your time on your wellness.
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::And the biggest three problems come to either delegation. That's
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::the biggest one, right? Yeah. Somebody I would mention names,
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::but he was saying, listen, I don't have the time
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::to do anything. So what are you doing every day?
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::I don't know. I get to the end of the
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::day and I don't really know what I've done. I
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::haven't accomplished anything. I'm like, okay, go for the next
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::week and just track what you're doing. And he came
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::back and he said, I've got about a 100 interruptions
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::a week where I'm having to help people do what
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::they're doing. And I okay, yeah, whose fault is that?
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::And you have to be a little bit challenging. You
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::have to bring a challenger to. And he said, they
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::just, they asked me all the time, give them the
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::opportunity to do the job. Do this one thing you
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::tell your team as a whole team, you said then,
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::right. When you bring me a problem, I want you
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::to give me three possible solutions. And then let them
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::do one of those solutions. Don't tell them how to
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::do it. Let them do the one that is going
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::to be the least damaging. And if it's only going
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::to be 70% right. Let them do it. Yeah. If
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::it's not going to cost a business reputation or money,
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::just let them do it. The first thing it's going
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::to do is it's going to give them so much
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::more confidence in themselves. The second thing is going to
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::do is it's going to free you up. So he's
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::gone from 100 different interruptions a week down to about
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::five, right? Yeah. And now he's spending all this time
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::just working on the business. Learning to delegate was
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::the most liberating experience of my life. And I,
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::I can say that I learned that with the worst
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::and the best boss I've ever had. Here's
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::me being the CFO of this business that was already
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::fighting for survival before COVID and then covet hits and
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::then with that, a liquidity crunch. I was a cfo.
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::We needed to figure it out. So I was pulling
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::probably north of 18 hour days for months straight. We
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::survived. We were in a good place and
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::the worst boss. So that boss, the CEO, very
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::demanding, always looking for more, always squeezing everything he could
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::out of every opportunity, honestly doing his job masterfully. But
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::as I wanted to make sure I deliver, I would
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::get ingrained in everything that was going on and it
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::was starting to become completely unsustainable. 18 now there are
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::so many 18 hour days in the life of one
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::human right. I was scrambling. I would lash people in
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::meetings, have all that. The best boss showed up. I
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::don't know what's going on, but things are not okay
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::and they're not sustainable. So let me, let's talk. And
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::I was, yeah, I want to make sure I, I
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::am up to your expectations. So I am checking and
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::double checking, triple checking everything and meddling in everything people
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::do. And that's clearly unsustainable. So we had a very
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::real conversation. That conversation needs to happen where we agreed
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::on, okay, so this is what's going to happen. I'm
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::going to step out and start creating my team of
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::managers underneath me. And that's going to mean that some
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::of their deliverables are going to go straight to you
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::as the CEO. And sometimes that's going to fail, but
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::it's going to be a learning process. Then please don't
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::lash on them, neither on me. It's going to be
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::a process here because otherwise I'm not going to be
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::here for the strategic discussions that we need to have
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::to what comes next on this company that is, believe
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::it or not, it tried. Right after Covid, it was
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::in route to triple from where it was, which was
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::like crazy. But it did happen. He gave me that
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::freedom. And then I started to do exactly as I
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::said. I would give people a task when they would
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::send to me before sending to the CEO. I would
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::look and I would see the mistakes and I wouldn't
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::put it on my lap to solve. I'll just say,
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::nope, this is wrong. Redo it. In my, in my
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::line of business I could do that, especially because finance
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::is more back office. So anyway, you know how it
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::goes. Nope, redo it. No, redo it. Did it with
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::some of those managers three to five times and okay,
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::this is the way go look for it anyway. Maybe
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::it took me like three to four months and then
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::things started running at a completely different level. And it
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::was a transformational experience. It was the best experience ever.
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::And reason I'M telling is I'm hoping someone is listening
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::out there and they apply it to their lives because
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::it's. It changed me forever. You're there to steer the
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::ship right there to let the team do what they're
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::good at. Right. Give them the power, give them the
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::support, give them the training. Give them what they and
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::you can't find out what they do badly if you
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::keep on telling them how to fix things. And you
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::cannot train everybody. And you gotta go from being a
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::resource yourself to being a resource allocator. Now I'm saying
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::this person clearly needs training. I won't be able to
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::train them. I don't have that many hours. However or
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::probably 97% of the things out there, there's a way
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::to get them trained either online or offline or it's
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::the best investment to just invest some time on finding
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::that training opportunity and then sending them there. Even if
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::it's self taught. Go check this website. Go read this
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::book that's that pays off so much better. Right? One
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::of my favorite books is who not how. And it
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::talks a lot about this is right. You need to
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::find fix the problem not how you do it yourself.
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::And you go out and you build all your who's
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::and suddenly you don't have to do the house. Dan
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::Sullivan So that whole concept of just giving away some
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::of your power is the thing we struggle with. We
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::could carry on talking for about five hours. I'm sure
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::there's so much more to deal with all of this.
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::Maybe we'll do this again with you and Brandon. But
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::I want to really just touch on what you guys
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::do, how you do it. What is your place in
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::the world? What is your vision? Well, our vision is
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::that again you shouldn't be an employee in your own
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::business. You should have an asset. You should grow the
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::value of your business in the structure with an operating
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::system that gets you to a place where that business
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::becomes an asset. That you can do whatever. You can
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::pass it along to kids if they want to take
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::it. You can sell to your employees and now see
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::a company, a business. You can sell it to an
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::outside investor or go look for an investor if that's
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::what you want. But in either case, even if all
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::you want is mailbox money and sit on the beach
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::and drink trees and make that happen. We could make
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::that happen with some work with changing that job into
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::an asset. So that's what we do. We create those
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::options. Normally that comes on a journey of growth, structuring
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::with systems and processes and always looking for
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::the fastest ways to maximize that business value. Because if
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::you run your business as if you would sell tomorrow,
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::but if you would run your businesses like that, I'm
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::pretty sure you're going to be the closest possible to
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::perfection and the most efficient place you could be. Amazing.
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::And on that note, I'm going to say we've got
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::your QR code here to get to your website. I'll
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::put all your details on the bottom and, yeah, what's
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::your favorite way for people to contact you? We love
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::LinkedIn. That's our drug. So we're always on LinkedIn. In
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::terms of social media, that's the place to find us,
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::send us a LinkedIn message. We'd love to engage, have
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::a conversation. No expectations. Just trying to get to know
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::business owners that are out there listening and want to
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::have a chat. And you guys do an awesome thing
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::where you send out a coffee. So go on the
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::website and see if you can get yourself some coffee.
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::That's awesome. I've had it. It's great. We just do
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::that for the nice people. All right, thank
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::you very much for joining me, sir. Thank you, sir.
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::Have a great day.