WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.160 How far away do you get when you when you relinquish control because the thing is is you relinquish control 2 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:09.760 But you still take full accountability and responsibility for the results. That's what's wild is that you have to say 3 00:00:09.760 --> 00:00:15.200 I'm going to give this over to you. I'm losing control and yet I'm still responsible. That'll trip you up 4 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:23.040 The wealthiest people in the world see business as a game this podcast the game is my attempt at documenting the lessons 5 00:00:23.040 --> 00:00:26.080 I've learned on my way to building acquisition.com into a billion dollar portfolio 6 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:31.040 My hope is that you use the lessons to grow your business and maybe someday soon partner with us to get $200 million in beyond 7 00:00:31.040 --> 00:00:33.040 I hope you share and enjoy 8 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:41.520 What's going on everyone? I want to talk about the entrepreneurial journey as it relates to control 9 00:00:42.080 --> 00:00:45.920 And the reason I think this is so important and this is probably the biggest reason that people get stuck 10 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:47.120 All right, and so at the end 11 00:00:47.120 --> 00:00:50.880 So what I'm going to do here is I'm going to explain kind of how control shifts throughout the entrepreneurial journey 12 00:00:51.120 --> 00:00:52.480 Where people get stuck? 13 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:59.760 And I'll tell you basically the most valuable rule of thumb that I've learned in scaling our companies. All right, so first thing is 14 00:01:00.400 --> 00:01:04.960 The reason entrepreneurship is so difficult is because it forces you to change who you are your identity 15 00:01:04.960 --> 00:01:09.440 The values that you supposedly have as you continue to grow and I'm not saying you're you know honesty etc 16 00:01:09.440 --> 00:01:13.440 Those types of values, but the the way that you see the world and how you operate 17 00:01:14.080 --> 00:01:18.320 Because in the very beginning you most of us at some point have to transition from 18 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:23.440 A lack of control to complete control right and what I mean by that is either you you know 19 00:01:23.440 --> 00:01:29.920 It's straight in entrepreneurship where you shifted control from your parents to yourself right or if in many other instances 20 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:35.600 You started you had a job someone else was kind of responsible for your income for the most part because they're paying you 21 00:01:35.600 --> 00:01:37.680 You weren't generating yourself and then 22 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:43.760 And so you're you're very limited right and then you jump to taking complete ownership over all of your outcomes 23 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:45.520 Right and see if complete control 24 00:01:46.080 --> 00:01:50.080 The difficult thing is is that the thing that takes you the first step that huge leap of saying 25 00:01:50.080 --> 00:01:55.600 I'm going to be completely in control is usually the thing that will stifle most entrepreneurs who are trying to grow right because 26 00:01:56.240 --> 00:01:59.120 If you have complete control and complete ownership that's great 27 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:04.640 But there's only one of you right and so what what that leads to is kind of this this buyback 28 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:09.520 And I think the first time I heard this recently was demo tell us talking about buyback principle. I just like the the terminology 29 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:12.400 But basically you just continue to buy back 30 00:02:13.040 --> 00:02:16.320 Your time as you continue to grow the company and so in the very beginning 31 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:19.120 Most people are buying back 32 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:24.720 Support time so it's just kind of like you know lower skilled support tasks that they're doing in their business 33 00:02:24.720 --> 00:02:29.680 So it's like them and then they've got maybe an assistant right and then after that there might be higher level 34 00:02:30.160 --> 00:02:36.560 Support or administrative tasks that might be like billing collections contracts all that kind of stuff that might happen in the business 35 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:40.560 After you have like your kind of support role taking care of from there 36 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:45.360 The next level of control that people have to give up is selling right no one can sell like me 37 00:02:45.760 --> 00:02:49.920 No one gets it like I get it people just don't relate to my customers right and the issue 38 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:57.520 Is control you're trying to control the whole thing and the thing is is that every time you add someone in the buyback more of your time 39 00:02:57.520 --> 00:02:58.960 You relinquish 40 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:02.800 Control and so the thing is is that every level of entrepreneurship 41 00:03:02.880 --> 00:03:04.080 I'm telling you right now 42 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:08.400 It is always uncomfortable because the thing that you are now holding on to is the thing that you have to give up 43 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:14.000 And this has been one of the hardest things for me and a lot of part a lot of this is because we identify 44 00:03:14.640 --> 00:03:20.160 With being the thing right in the beginning. I'll give you a simple example because we work so many gyms 45 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:22.640 In the gym lunch company 46 00:03:22.640 --> 00:03:28.080 People will be like no one treat trains a class like I do right so that's the first level of fulfillment right first level of 47 00:03:28.480 --> 00:03:32.240 Of delivery is is training right? It's also the first thing they need to outsource 48 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:37.920 And the reason for that is because the market will pay someone $15 an hour somebody will come in for $15 an hour to do that work 49 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:42.640 Well, if you have work that pays you $100 an hour then you should be doing the $100 an hour or not the $15 an hour work 50 00:03:43.040 --> 00:03:47.280 But they think because they like to feel special they like to feel unique 51 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.000 No one can train like I can train 52 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:54.960 Well, I mean obviously there's probably some people train a lot better than you so maybe you should let them do the train right 53 00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:58.640 And then after that usually the business owner will do contracts billing 54 00:03:58.880 --> 00:04:01.520 You know and they're usually not that good at it anyways because they're entrepreneurs 55 00:04:02.160 --> 00:04:07.280 And so that's the next thing that happens right and so then the next piece might be some sort of assistant of some kind or some sort of 56 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:11.840 Right hand operator that would help you out right and then again there. It's like well. No 57 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:14.400 I don't trust anyone with the money if I'm not looking at the money 58 00:04:15.200 --> 00:04:20.720 Then then we're gonna we're gonna lose well. I used to say the same thing until I had someone who's better at tracking the money than I am 59 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:26.000 Huh crazy right? It's I had to give up control of the money. I'm not saying I'll look at it right 60 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:27.840 But I had to give up control of it 61 00:04:27.840 --> 00:04:34.000 And so then I'm just selling right because that's the highest value thing I could do at the time was I could just talk to people and get them to give us money 62 00:04:34.320 --> 00:04:38.160 Right, but then eventually there's too many too many consultations that have to happen 63 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:41.520 I still have to run the business right and so I have to give that control over to someone else 64 00:04:41.520 --> 00:04:46.160 Which is probably one of the biggest and most difficult people. This is usually the either thing that gets in the way people going 65 00:04:46.960 --> 00:04:50.960 I'd say it from a million over sort of doing over a million so up to a million dollars a year 66 00:04:50.960 --> 00:04:54.800 You can just sell yourself right like you yourself can sell and you can have these other people resisting you 67 00:04:55.040 --> 00:04:58.480 But once you cross a million, it's usually difficult to be doing the selling yourself 68 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:02.080 And that's really have to start scaling sales. You have to give that control up, right? 69 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:09.600 Any most in Asian quick break just to let you know that we've been starting to post on LinkedIn and want to connect with you 70 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:13.040 All right, so send me a connection request and note letting me know that you listen to the show 71 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:14.240 And I will accept it 72 00:05:14.320 --> 00:05:18.400 There's anyone you think that we should be connected with tag them in one of my or layless posts 73 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:21.840 And I will give you all the love in the world. All right, so let's get back to the show 74 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:30.240 The next level after control of doing control of the sales is now you have to teach other people 75 00:05:30.960 --> 00:05:33.680 In a group not just one person, but a group of people had a sale 76 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:37.680 So you have to manage sales team you have to recruit you have to hire you train compensate etc 77 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:43.200 And again, this level is a control but again here here even with the sales team you're talking maybe three maybe 10 million 78 00:05:43.840 --> 00:05:49.280 When you get to 10 million trying to go to 30 the level of control that you're giving up here is leadership 79 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:54.640 Weird right because there's too many departments too many people you can't lead everyone 80 00:05:54.960 --> 00:06:00.400 Right, so you have to lead a small group of people and get them to lead the people who are underneath of them, right 81 00:06:00.960 --> 00:06:04.160 And so again, that's a level of control. It's control over your your culture 82 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:06.240 And obviously you want to lead it you want to lead by example 83 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:11.040 You want to be the most distilled down version of that thing so that it it permeates right 84 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:13.440 But as you continue to buy back 85 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:17.360 I think the question that I like to ask myself is what am I what am I trying to control 86 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:24.000 What am I trying to control and I think if you think about that and then rather what part of my identity am I giving up 87 00:06:24.640 --> 00:06:28.960 By giving up this control. I used to think I was the you know such a great salesman right 88 00:06:29.520 --> 00:06:31.520 It no one can sell like I can sell 89 00:06:31.760 --> 00:06:34.560 But I you know what I can't sell 12 guys 90 00:06:35.520 --> 00:06:36.960 Right 91 00:06:36.960 --> 00:06:39.120 I literally can't you know I can't do it 92 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:46.320 And so and if the business model requires you know only a soup like your level of sales to to make it work 93 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:51.200 Then the models broken right you should be able to have people close half as many as you and still make the model work 94 00:06:51.440 --> 00:06:54.800 Right now obviously over time you want to get them to sell better than you because all they're doing is selling 95 00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:58.560 Right whereas you were when you were selling the way you did you were running the business 96 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:03.360 And so with each each of this kind of cycle is you have to give up control 97 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:05.040 And so 98 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:09.120 I told you the beginning that I will give you the rule of thumb that has been has served me very well 99 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:12.640 In running my companies which is how far away do you get 100 00:07:13.280 --> 00:07:17.840 Right how far away do you get when you when you relinquish control because the thing is is you relinquish control 101 00:07:17.840 --> 00:07:20.640 But you still take full accountability and responsibility for the results 102 00:07:21.280 --> 00:07:22.640 That's what's wild 103 00:07:22.640 --> 00:07:25.040 Is that you have to say I'm going to give this over to you 104 00:07:25.840 --> 00:07:28.240 I'm losing control and yet I'm still responsible 105 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:30.640 That'll trip you up 106 00:07:30.640 --> 00:07:33.120 But the rule of thumb that I use is nowhere the bodies are buried 107 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:35.680 nowhere the bodies are buried 108 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:38.880 And so what I mean by that is if I don't know 109 00:07:39.840 --> 00:07:41.840 Where the flaws are in a department 110 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:44.000 I'm too far away 111 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:48.400 So if I'm if you know if I talk to let's say a marketing director or I talk to a sales director 112 00:07:48.400 --> 00:07:50.640 I talk to you know customer support I talk to 113 00:07:51.200 --> 00:07:55.840 You know finance and I don't know where the bodies are buried like I don't know what the issues are because 114 00:07:56.320 --> 00:07:59.440 Every department has issues every department has problems. It's a business 115 00:07:59.440 --> 00:08:03.520 It's made of humans and humans are imperfect right which means that there are always imperfections 116 00:08:03.520 --> 00:08:07.120 There are things that are not working as well as they could if I can't name 117 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:11.920 Problems if I don't know where the bodies are buried in the department 118 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:17.120 And I'm too far away right now when I say that it doesn't mean that I have given up too much control 119 00:08:17.200 --> 00:08:19.680 That's not the issue. It's just I need more transparency 120 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:25.040 I need to be paying more attention to that area and this rule of thumb has served me well 121 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:29.360 So if I start hearing only good news from a department and I don't hear anything negative 122 00:08:29.840 --> 00:08:31.120 I'm too far away 123 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:35.360 And this has been my my manager or leadership rule of thumb that has really helped me a ton 124 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:40.240 Is nowhere the bodies are buried and so this is the entrepreneurial journey in a nutshell 125 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:45.680 I got a lot of feedback from the zero to a hundred million dollar video that I made of kind of the steps from a business model perspective 126 00:08:46.640 --> 00:08:49.200 But from the personal perspective the issue is control 127 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:53.760 And that's why most people can't get stuck because they have all these personal issues that prevent them from controlling 128 00:08:53.760 --> 00:08:56.800 I'm sorry Alex. They just don't trust people. I've trust issues. Well get over it 129 00:08:57.360 --> 00:08:59.680 Because you're not going to build something great without trusting other people 130 00:09:00.400 --> 00:09:03.920 So if you want your mom or your dad or the thing that you know, you have your trust issues with 131 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:06.320 To be the reason that you're not successful 132 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:11.120 They give them more power go you know power to you right just get just keep giving them control over your life 133 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:14.400 Because you have these issues right or you can decide 134 00:09:14.880 --> 00:09:17.040 I think this person's done enough damage to me in my life 135 00:09:17.760 --> 00:09:21.680 I'm not going to let them stop me from accomplishing what I want to accomplish 136 00:09:22.160 --> 00:09:23.840 And so I'm going to take back that power 137 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:28.080 I'm going to take back the control over my outcomes take responsibility which may feel shitty in the moment 138 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:30.320 Because it means I suck 139 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:34.640 But at least I suck and I don't point at them saying they suck because I can control what I do 140 00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:40.320 And as a result I can go through this process and continue to buy back and really control buy back and really 141 00:09:40.800 --> 00:09:42.320 Control buy back and really control 142 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:48.400 First of the doing then of the admin then of the the ops then of the sales and then of having a sales team 143 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:53.600 And then of the leadership and then continuing on and on as we really push more and more control right 144 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:56.080 How can you be free if you control everything?